Day 7 Sri Lanka

Our shuttle bus took us down from the hotel to our tour bus. We have grown used to the roller coaster ride around the hairpin bends surrounded by steep drop-offs. It’s quite an experience watching the tuk tuks and shuttle buses negotiate the tight track. Goodbye Heritance Tea Factory, a unique experience.

On our trip out of the mountains we made a stop to see the historic 9 arch railway bridge. A convoy of tuk tuks took us from Ella town about 1 kilometre to the bridge.

There are 5 to 6 trains that cross this bridge per day and our guide had organised for us to be there for a train crossing. Well worth the visit. We filmed the train and its passengers and they filmed us. We enjoyed watching the train go over this picturesque structure surrounded by lush tea plantations and misty mountains. 

The mood on the bus turned sombre when we passed the spot in the mountains where a bus had run off the road and overturned crashing down a steep incline, killing 18 people just before we arrived, however, we felt very safe with our driver Nanda.

Yala National Park is famous for having the highest density of leopards in the world. Whilst we saw lots of animals, the leopard stayed elusive. I don’t even know if it was real but someone spotted a leopard high up a tree so we joined the 4×4 jeep queue and I think I saw a paw or maybe a tail! The other group went the next day and several of the ladies dressed in their best leopard skin outfits.  This was obviously the secret as the leopards came out from the trees and walked in front of their jeep. Oh well thats nature for you. Sri Lanka only has 2 seasons, the dry and the monsoon. I hope it was the dry season as the park was very dry, dusty and hot. Occasionally we’d spot a bright blue Kingfisher or peacock which seemed out of place amongst the dust and dry. We also saw 20 other species so another great safari:

Land monitor, White spotted deer, Kingfisher, Crocodile, Peacock, Banda Itsu (colourful bird), Stork, Spoon bill, Water Buffalo enjoying a bath in whatever water they could find and a very cute baby too, Camellion, Green bee eater, Squirrel, Sri Lankan jungle fowl (national bird), Grey heron, 1 very elusive leopard’s tail or paw, Horn bill, Mongoose, Sambar deer, Grey monkey, 3 elephants one of which was an ever so cute baby. 

On our way out of the park, we noticed a herd of deer wildly scattering. The jeeps stopped and turned off their engines.  We could hear these wild noises. It was the deer calling out warning the other animals that a predator was in the area. It was another unique experience. 

It was dark by the time we arrived at our hotel, Double Tree by Hilton so we didn’t really gauge the magnificent setting we were in. A night time swim, a drink at the pool bar, some snacks and our 12 hour day was done.

Day 8 Sri Lanka

Today is a free day and what a place to have it. After another sumptuous breakfast, enjoying the Sri Lankan traditional egg hopper, Ruthie and I grabbed 2 bicycles and started exploring. The hotel was adjacent to a lake which was a 18km trip to go around the lake. We were full of good intentions but with the heat and dust and wind, we wisely decided that 10kms was enough. In that time we met the friendly locals, came across 2 fishermen standing in the lake with a background of water buffalo and apparently crocodiles, dodged tuk tuks and loved every minute of it. There were lots of “Ayubowan’s ” along the way. 

We met Amy and Paige back at the 80 metre outdoor pool and a swim resuscitated us, maybe helped by the bloody mary and mango daiquiri.

Time for a relaxing traditional Balinese massage to get us further into the night.

Tonight we were meeting at the rooftop bar for the sunset. It was our guide Karnal’s birthday. Karaoke was on the schedule and Karnal entertained us with a traditional Sri Lankan song. The group were very familiar with each other now and chatted the night away.