YALA, Sri Lanka — Mugger crocodiles bask along the edge of the shrinking reservoir, waiting like everything else in Sri Lanka’s drought-hit Yala National Park for the green tankers that come every day to pump in water.From next week, park managers will be taking their emergency measures even further by banning tourists from the watering hole and other busy areas, to give the animals a breather after months without rain.”We have to put the animals first,” said 58-year-old wildlife ranger Sujeewa Nishantha.”The closure is necessary as animals suffering from heat stress need easy access to water and visitors would be in the way,” he told Reuters.His tasks include tracking the water trucks trundling down dirt tracks, topping up ponds across the sanctuary, where spotted deer, wild water buffalo, Tufted Gray Langurs and the park’s famed leopards all come to drink.The rare month-long closure of the most visited areas is a potentially painful step in the build-up to the peak of tourism season — an important earner of foreign currency for the country.
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