Sri Lanka Adventure - Day one

Saturday, August 11th, 2018

We have a very early start this morning. Mahl has planned a two-day excursion and hired driver Dilruk for the duration so we can spend our travelling time catching up with each other. She has also brought breakfast to eat en route.

It takes us hours to get out of Colombo and through countless villages and towns via Ratnapura to our destination Udawalawe where we visit the Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home and Orphanage in time to see the little and not so little orphans being fed.

This is Namal
click on the link and read his story

Namal was found with such a badly injured foot that it couldn't be saved. He has received a prosthetic foot, funded by the Zoo in Cologne, Germany. He is getting used to walking with it.

My back hurts watching the poor boy walk. Just look at his spine.

I can only hope that he will never be re-homed in the wild.

Little group by little group is led in to get their drink of milk - just one of several per day.

Some are just tiny babies.

A big pile of tree branches has been put there and as they finish their milk, they go and have a bit of a feed. The tiniest ones are not eating yet, they rely solely on the milk.

The pile of leaves doesn't last long at all. But I'm quite sure they get plenty more behind the scenes.

After the visit to the orphanage, we drive on to our hotel where we will be staying for the night. We have lunch and a very brief rest and then get picked up by a Safari vehicle for a 3 1/2 hour safari in the Udawalawe National Park.

The first animals we spot are monkeys in a tree.

There are lots of dams - water holes.

Painted Stork and two Black-winged Stilts

Black-winged Stilt

There are elephants everywhere. I'm in heaven.

Black Capped Kingfisher

Young Eagle learning to fly

There are crocodiles too. 

Little Green Bee-Eater

Buffalo

Two Black-winged stilts, Painted Stork and Black-headed Ibis

Red wattled Lapwing

This Little Egret is so close to the crocodile that I'm actually holding my breath. But it is smart enough to back off.

Grey Heron

Water Buffalo
This picture reminds me of one of my paintings.

The sun is going down on the elephants.

Spotted deer

The shy Spotted Deer are the last animals we see as we're leaving the National Park for the day.

When we were picked up, Ranga, the driver, had to hunt around for a crate to serve as a step so I could reach the ladder on the side of the vehicle. Coming back to the hotel, he cleverly parks himself so we have the low wall of a garden bed to step down onto. Nobody is complaining.

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There is a pool and I have to have a quick dip before dinner, but it gets dark quickly.

Dinner at the hotel is a buffet and is just wonderful.

Our room is very nice too.