Sri Lanka

More wonderful photos and interesting info moulesy. Thank you. I loved the look of the botanical gardens, the fruit market and the 'Agatha Christie' hotel.

We had a long and rather tiring 8 hour journey down to Yala on the very south tip of Sri Lanka today. Passing some wonderful mountain scenery and waterfalls along the way. The highlight was the visit to the elephant orphanage at "lunchtime"! 

The orphanage cares for baby elephants which have been abandoned in the wild or whose mothers have died. The aim is to stabilise them until they are about 7 years old and then, if possible reintroduce them to the wild. Apparently,  it has been a great success. It was quite a comical spectacle watching them being allowed in a few at a time to get to the milk station and then across to their food. The tiniest ones really sprinted in to make sure they got their fair share. Some obviously found the grass on the other side of the fence more appealing though! We watched them for about half an hour before they all trudged off back to the reservoir.

To cap it all, when we arrived at our hotel which is right in the centre of the park, the first thing we saw in the car park was this huge bull elephant. The hotel is actually a series of lodges set over a large area and we aren'the allowed to move between our lodges and the main reception area without an escorts because of the danger of wild animals on site.

Tomorrow is an early (5:30!) start for the first of our jeep safaris. 

Great photos! Will look forward to the next instalment. Armchair travel is so easy. 

Hope you are having a great time Chris.  It all sound and looks wonderful.  Enjoy.

David

Some wildlife from around the national park - plenty of monkeys, warthogs and water buffalo but sadly no elephants or leopards today! 

Also plenty of birdlife though most far too quick for me. But we did see this gorgeous pair of green bee eaters and this tiny blue humming bird. 

We also visited the beach where the Boxing Day tsunami hit Sri Lanka in 2004. There is a simple but poignant memorial sculpture and stone right next to the foundations of one of the beach bungalows which was swept away in the disaster.

Wonderful photos moulesy.  What a wonderful experience you are having. I look forward to the next instalment.

Was thinking of going to Sri Lanka one day ,but thanks to Mr M's superb travel log ,wont bother now. That's a few grand that can stay in the bank .☺☺.Mr M the other place you could help me out with is Israel .!!.

My daughter and husband came back from Sri Lanka last weekend.  They flew out from Birmingham with Emirates, travelled independently and booked accommodation via Airbnb - and were glad they had booked it as they were surprised how busy those places were, especially more Germans than Brits. They found Airbnb hosts very helpful - for example in booking a tuk tuk for full day tour in and around Kandy  and telling them what and what not to pay. 

They toured using trains and taxis,  but met many people who had a car with a driver meet them at the airport and staying with them the whole time - people who admitted  they were too cautious to travel alone but who said that making conversation at every meal  with a local driver got very tedious. They tried to assure those people that it was easy and safe to travel without a full time driver, but failed . 

Yesterday evening we went to the holy town of Kataragama, one of the few sites in the country where there are Buddhist, Hindu and Moslem temples in the same compound. We visited the large stupa where tradition has it a lock of hair from the Lord Buddha is kept. We saw a colourful procession and we're then blessed by a Buddhist monk (who rather spoilt things by then telling us he'd lived in London for 35 years and could recitell every London postcode and location by heart! )