Yala Block One is the definitive Sri Lanka wildlife experience – a private jeep, a dedicated naturalist and entry at first light into the world’s most leopard-dense habitat on the planet. There’s no guarantee written into wild travel and that’s precisely what makes a sighting here mean something: this is wild, not a zoo. Alongside the leopard, expect wild elephants, sloth bears, mugger crocodiles and painted storks, with the private-vehicle format meaning you stay at every sighting for as long as it holds.