12/12/2025
Yala teaches patience.
Not because animals are rare,
but because presence is.
If you arrive chasing the leopard,
you’ll miss the birds,
the patterns in the dust,
the way elephants move like memory.
We stopped often.
Listened to a guide who knows when not to speak.
And because of that,
the leopard came.
The bear crossed our path.
The day unfolded instead of being taken from it.
This is how I travel,
less proving, more noticing.
Fewer plans, better days.
Yala isn’t something you do.
It’s something you’re allowed into.
