Day 8 - Jeep Safari at Yala

Snake neck Cormorants and black headed Ibis.

Next day was the jeep safari in the Yala National Park. It was a very bumpy ride with huge potholes - even could be called craters! We stopped to photograph anything of interest. I had to delete a lot of previous photos to make room on my memory.

This little bird is a White-browed Fantail and she was sitting on her nest right next to the road. She was not a bit perturbed by all the photographing going on nearby. While we watched she left the nest and her partner came to take over.

This is a yellow wattled Lapwing sitting on a nest. We saw loads of water
buffalo. They were also being used to plough the rice fields in other parts of the country.

I think this is a grey heron, but honestly my photos are not much good are they?

I just loved these brilliant green bee-eaters which were darting all over the place.

In this picture there is a Painted Stork, a Spoonbill and two Warthogs.

Well, that is just some of the things we saw. Notably we did not see the leopards or the sloth bears which was disappointing, but not all that surprising. We did see a few elephants and crocodiles and the land Monitor.

We were also disappointed not to be staying at the Yala Hotel which is closed for refurbishment. This was advertised as "view some of the local wildlife from your observation deck, or step into the jungle from your luxury chalet to watch the elephants walk by or the elusive leopard sunning itself on the rocky outsrop close by" HUH

Where we actually stayed was the Mandara Rose Hotel which did not match up to the advertised Yala Hotel!!! Although we did see some wildlife close by - there were a lot of flies and a few cockroaches in the rooms.!!! The swimming pool was very good though and had some shady trees around and the food was good too. Not many of the staff spoke English either which made life difficult.

After the very tiring 4 hour safari yesterday, we had a day at rest.

Snake neck Cormorants and black headed Ibis.

Day 7 - Nuwara Eliya or Little England

Next day we were taken on a bus tour of Kandy which is a very pretty town and more modern than any we had seen so far (except in Colombo).

Then we went to the Botanical Gardens for a stroll round the lake. We saw lots of beautiful trees and one full of fruit bats.

Next stop was a tea factory in the hills. Nuwara Eliya is up in the hills and much cooler than anywhere we had been so far, with no humidity. Although, still nice and warm, about 29 degrees. It was a beautiful day - just like England on a nice summer's day. The tea factory was very interesting - very old fashioned. The factory is 140 years old, although the machinery was 40 years old but all worked perfectly. A lot of the work is done by hand. There are 600 tea pickers, mostly Tamil women. The original owners had brought Tamil workers over from southern India 140 years ago, and these workers are their descendants.

We then had a tea tasting and opportunity to buy tea to bring home to England. All the tea sold in England is blended, but here we were trying the unadulterated tea from this particular plantation. It was lovely - best without milk.

Then on to our next hotel, the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya. Very colonial. We were welcomed with tea and cakes - very English. The gardens of this hotel are gorgeous and again very English all set round a lovely green lawn. My camera memory was full by this time, so no photos, but Cynthia took lots, so perhaps she will add them to this post.

Day 6 - Elephant Orphanage

Next day we drove to the elephant orphanage at Pinnawela. Here we saw over 100 elephants - not all orphans, many new babies. We saw some being fed from bottles - huge bottles which are emptied in a few seconds and have to have constant refills. We also saw a poor blind tusker. He is well looked after, but cannot go anywhere by himself and is kept chained. He was eating some coconut branches when we saw him.

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river where the elephants are taken every day for a swim and play in the water. We saw some of the bigger baby elephants ducking one of the small ones and the mother and sisters soon came to protect the little one. Just like naughty boys playing together.

On the way back to the hotel we made an excursion to the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. This is a very holy place for all Buddhists as it houses the tooth relic which was brought to Sri Lanka in the 4th century. Again, we left our shoes with the shoe wallah outside and had to pay 25 rupees to get them back.

Day 5 - 7 Kandy

Next day we have another 2 hour drive but on the way we stop at Dambulla to visit the impressive Cave Temples. There are in fact 5 caves with beautiful icons and murals covering the walls and ceilings. To get to the caves one has to walk up a steep hill and finally 150 steps. But well worth the climb. We had to remove our shoes, but were allowed to wear socks so it was not too bad.

This picture shows the king cobra who is supposed to protect the Buddah.

After lunch and a comfort stop, we continue and call in at a Spice Garden where we are shown all the different trees growing that produce spices - cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, coca, etc. We then had a talk about all the different ways to use the spices by an Ayuvedic doctor. We also each had a 10 minute massage - 24 of us and 24 young men doing the massage. You just had to say where you would like them to massage. I chose my wrist which has RSI. It felt wonderful. The whole presentation was very interesting and illuminating and we were all anxious to buy the products which are supposed to help us slim, soothe muscle pains and cure almost everything.

We then carried on to the Chaaya Citadel Hotel in Kandy. The hotel was OK, but more of a town place than the lovely Cinnamon Lodge we had just left. The first night we just had time for a quick swim to cool off before we had to be ready to get back in the coach as we were going to an evening cultural entertainment. This was a very interesting dance display followed by fire walking. Health and safety wouldn't like it in this country - amazing. The whole audience were invited to come closer to the front of the stage where a bed of hot coals was carried in and laid on the floor. Sparks flying everywhere. The participants first gave a display of fire eating which looked ridiculous and impossible, then they walked across the coals. Between each man walking across someone fanned the coals to bring them back to life - spraying hot ashes amongst the audience!

When we got outside it was pouring with rain! The only rain of the holiday.

Day 4 - Polonnaruwa

The next day was an optional excursion to Sigirya or Lion Rock which we decided not to join but have a lovely rest wandering round the grounds of the fabulous hotel.

In the afternoon we joined the excursion to the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. These are mostly ruins which had been hidden in the jungle for hundreds of years till they were discovered in the early 20th century. This was once the capital of Sri Lanka and in the 12th century the then king built huge buildings, cleared the land and planted crops and created beautiful parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Notably the amazing carved rock statues of Buddah.
However, after that king, there were many civil wars and battles and by the end of the 13th Century the capital moved to another town and Polonnaruwa went into decline. If you would like to know more about this ancient city you can go to http://www.tourslanka.com/polonnaruwa.htm

Days 1 and 2

Taj Hotel, can't remember much about it. It was a very good hotel, rooms on the 6th floor with fabulous views of a park, comfortable beds and we slept all day.

Next day very tiring drive through a lot of traffic to Colombo, it took 2 hours. Manic traffic, loads of tuktuks, we passed International Cricket Stadium, many Buddhist and Hindu temples, red state buses chasing private buses to get to pick up customers first.

We have arrived at the time of a very special Buddhist celebration. It is 2600 years since Buddah attained Buddahood. He was born on a full moon, attained Buddahood on a full moon and died on a full moon, so the full moon is very important to Buddahs and they have a holiday once a month on the full moon. But this year the full moon is also the 2600 anniversary so there are huge celebrations. Everyone is busy making lanterns to hang outside their buildings and across the streets. It looks just like Christmas here. They also erect a Pandol which is a very large, colourful thing - how can I describe it? I suppose it is a focus for their celebrations.

After another 2 hour drive we arrive at Habanara and the Cinnamon Lodge Hotel. Very luxurious little bungalows in the grounds of a huge park with lakes full of water lilies and lotus, monkeys running around all over the place and masses of beautiful trees, notably the flame tree with its gorgeous red flower high in the sky, the the frangipan with luscious large white blooms, mostly white, although some were a salmon pink. Some lovely birds too.

The hotel is mainly open air. The dining room is open on all sides, so monkeys, mongoose, and chipmunks wander in and out and pinch your food if you are not careful.

No time to rest! Our first excursion was a much anticipated elephant ride for 1 hour. It was AWFUL!!! The howdah was simply a mattress strapped to the elephant's back with some webbing across and a heath robinson structure of iron bars which we were supposed to hold on to. The elephant swayed as he lumbered along and it was all we could do to hang on to these iron bars. The mahout kept telling me to move more into the middle but I kept slipping back to the barriers which dug into my legs and hips and back. My arms ached from trying to hold on and pull myself back into position. Along the way boys were selling bunches of bananas for 100 rupees which we were expected to buy and feel the elephant who put his trunk back and it was hard to reach him through the bars which then dug into ones arms. Fortunately I was not in the front so it was not my job to feed the elephant. Once on the way he stopped to eat grass and palm leaves.

Eventually when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the mahout took the elephant into the river and scared us all to death. Then another half hour walk back to base. On the way the mahout had the elephant pick up palm leaves to carry back with us. Then another hair-raising experience trying to get off!