Yala

The best odds of a wild leopard sighting anywhere on earth, in dry scrub jungle that runs to an empty coast.

Every route we run through the wildlife belt passes Yala, and the question is never whether to include it but how many nights it earns. Our answer is 2 nights — enough to see it at the hour it is worth seeing and still leave in daylight.

Tell a consultant which month you are coming and they will say plainly whether this is the right place for it, or whether the same days are better spent on the other coast.