As soon as we hit the grasslands inside the park boundary we could see the lovely Sri lankan Sambar Deer grazing and were even treated to a close encounter by the trailhead.
Before you enter Horton Plains National Park you have to pay the entrance fee of 20 American Dollars. The preservation of this National Park is extremely high and this is clearly evident when all persons and bags are searched in order to weed out any plastics (aside from drinking bottles) or flammables. Beware smokers, this is a nonsmoking trail and they do confiscate all lighters and matches upon entry. Obviously not an issue for us, but could result in some not so thrilled hikers.
The 9 km loop trail is a mixture of surfaces and scenery through montane grasslands and cloud forest. Often the clouds and mist role in by early afternoon so it is best to get an early start to the day as the views are amazing when clear.
The huge drop and scenery at Mini World’s End and World’s End is truly breathtaking.
Other animals we saw while visiting were the Horned and Green Lizard. You have to look real hard to see the Green Lizard, both in the wild and in this photo.
One more look at the Sambar Deer before we leave the Park.
Make sure to stop and visit Ambewela Dairy Farm on your way back to Nuwara Eliya. If you don’t have time to visit the farm, just grab some fresh yogurt to go…trust me it’s worth the stop.
After our stay in Nuwara Eliya we drove down through the mountains towards the town of Tissamaharama (Tissa). We chose this location due to its close proximity to a couple of National Parks that we wanted to visit.
As you make your way from Nuwara Eliya to Tissa, the town of Ella is a nice quiet village to break for a coffee and snack. Quite a touristy spot, so though small, there is a good variety of food options here. We stopped at the Good Cafe and had the best coffee we’d had in days. Another spot of interest just outside of Ella, is Ella Falls. The picture above is the view of the falls from the highway.
And as you are cruising from place to place in Sri Lanka, don’t be surprised at what you will see on the road.
On one 94 km drive we counted 126 dogs on the side of the road. Surprisingly, given the driving scene in Sri Lanka, 125 were alive. Trust me when I say drivers here are crazy! A common element it would seem, across Asia.
We stayed at Elephant Stay Guesthouse (http://elephantcampguest.blogspot.com.tr/) in Tissa for a few days while we explored the nearby Udawalawe and Yala National Parks. Our host family was truly wonderful and prepared some of the best home cooked meals I have ever eaten, including Water Buffalo Curd drizzled with Coconut Honey.
While the main drag of Tissa is quite busy, the side streets offer a much more relaxed, mellow experience. One thing is for certain in Sri Lanka, if there is a body of water, there will be people swimming.
To visit the National Parks in the area we booked jeep safari trips through Ajith Safari Tours (http://www.yalawild.com/).
Our first jeep safari was to Udawalawe National Park. We loved this early morning safari through the park and this is where my dreams of watching Elephants in the wild were realized.
Watching the females and young Elephants was truly magnificent and I could have observed them for hours. The big males, on the other hand, were a totally different experience. This is the last picture I captured of these two males as the one closest to the road started to charge the Jeep. From that point on I was too busy looking backwards to see where the jeep was going in reverse as quickly as possible. We happened to be visiting while the males were in musth (looking for females) and during this time they can be very aggressive and unpredictable. A real threat, as on average 50 people are killed a year by Elephants in Sri Lanka. Okay, so we laughed about it afterwards, but I have to confess, my heart was pounding out of my chest when that bull was coming at us and even though the Asian Elephant is smaller than its African Cousin, those suckers are HUGE!!
As well as Elephants, we saw a variety of wildlife including; Fish Eagles, Serpent Eagles, Hawk Eagles, Bee Catchers, oodles of Peacocks, Crocodiles and Spotted Deer.
We also watched this Long tailed Macaque walk around on his hind legs in the grass. Our guide figured he was on high alert due to snakes which are not only deadly for monkeys here, but people as well.
On top of the wildlife, the scenery at Udawalawe is beautiful.
The following day we went on our second early morning jeep safari to the coastal Yala Natioanl Park. At Yala we saw more Elephants and other wildlife, but sadly no Sloth Bears or Leopards were to be seen.
Much like Udawalawe, we saw a variety of birds and crocodiles, but at Yala, we also saw Wild Boar…
and Land Monitors. The burl on this tree makes a perfect home for a young Land Monitor.
After Tissa and exploring the parks, we headed towards to the fort city of Galle stopping at Mirissa and Tangalle beaches for a dip and a rest.
We also stopped to see a Buddha that was constructed after the Tsunami of 2004. This Buddha was built specifically for the people to visit and mourn the lost and pray that nothing like that will happen in Sri Lanka again. I truly hope their prayers are answered.
Then we reached Galle Fort which is where we would call home for the next 3 nights. The guesthouse we stayed in was 125 years old and was built by the grandfather of our host family. One morning here we tried a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of Coconut Sambal (top left), Hoppers (middle), Dahl (bottom right), Wood Apple Jam and my favorite, Vadai (bottom left).
The town inside the Galle Fort is gorgeous and rich with history and is now considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort was first built in 1588 by the Portuguese who were then defeated in the 17th century by the Dutch who extended its fortification. Subsequnetly, the Dutch were defeated by the Birtish Empire who maintained control of Galle and Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) until Febuary 4, 1948.
Inside the fort the roads are narrow and quiet. Great for walking around and discovering all the nooks and crannies of this historical town.
On top of being a perfectly quiet spot, Galle Fort is also close to many beaches like Unawatuna where one can escape from the summer heat. Absolutley gorgeous beaches in the area!
With our time in galle at an end we headed for the train station to start our trip North towards Colombo where we would catch our flight to Turkey and say farewell to Sri lanka. Such a wonderful visit to a wonderful country. For an island about double the size of Vancouver Island and a population of 20.48 million, Sri Lanka has done a wonderful job at preserving their natural habitat.
Good-bye Sri Lanka, I hope we shall one day meet again.
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Paul and the kids, including Sophie, gave presentations about themselves to a group of approximately 75 year 1 and year 3 students.
One of the best things about visiting the schools is meeting the students.
Our final night in Kuala Lumpur was spent with family and was highlighted by Chelsea, who seemed to be smiling from the time we arrived until the moment we left. Chelsea just finished another round of chemo a few days prior so it was such a blessing to see her natural demeanour before we departed.
Saying good-bye to Malaysia, we hopped on our four hour flight to Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka for me is paradise, though we did arrive in the middle of summer so Colombo was at its hottest, highs of around 32-34 daily. Our apartment was in a perfect location, close to Viharamhadevi Park, Race Course Mall, The National Museum and lovely little cafe’s like The Barefoot Cafe and shop.
Viharamahadevi Park (also known as Victoria Park) is a well used park in the heart of Colombo. It was one of our favorite stops in the middle of the afternoon to sit under a shade tree and escape from the heat of the day. Lydia loved spending time with the ducks, but there were loads of other sites to take in at this park.
Hordes of big Fruit Bats in the trees. I mean these suckers are huge…they put our little Swallow sized bats in Canada to shame. Luckily, they only eat fruit and never fly low to the ground. Sadly, we did see a baby bat that had fallen from the tree that would surely perish, but apart from hand raising it ourselves, there was nothing we could do. Our guide said the mother will never come down to save it. Sad for the little fellow, but no shortage of fruit bats let me tell you.
Ant nests in the trees. These ants don’t bite, but if you touch the nest, they all swarm to that location.
The Sala or Cannonball Tree is a beautiful tree that has great importance in the Buddhists community. It is believed that lord Buddha was born, enlightened and died under this type of tree. If you look closely at the flower, you will notice the very recognizable dome in the centre that is commonly used in many buddhist structures. The top half of the flower curves over to protect this dome from all the outside elements. We also found a Cinnamon Tree and every part of that tree smelled good enough to eat!
Of course no stay in Sri Lanka would be complete without watching a Cricket match by the Race Course Mall.
The National Museum was under renovation so many of the exhibit areas were closed, but what we were able to see was very cool. All the exhibits were written in English which was great for us, but unfortunately for us, it was not air-conditioned, so not the ideal location to hide from the heat like we were hoping.
The taxidermy portion of the museum was a little ghoulish, complete with a two-headed, four-footed goat.
Most of the exhibits in the taxidermy section appear to have been done in the 1960’s. It was like taking a step back in time.A fresh glass of house made Ginger Beer is a must if visiting The Barefoot Cafe in Colombo. The shop is filled with Sri Lankan made goods, but alas limited space kept purchases to a minimum again.
In jogjakarta it was the Becak, in Vietnam it was the Cyclo, now our new mode of transport is the Tuk Tuk.
After a few nights in Colombo we boarded a train to Kandy. Turns out we were travelling during the Sri Lankan New Year so the train was packed, but we did manage to score some tickets in first class. Even though it was assigned seating, it was complete mayhem when we boarded. All of our assigned seats were taken and the people occupying them down right refused to move. I noticed a man in street clothes at the back of the car that everyone appeared to be yelling at so I assumed he worked for the train. I showed him our tickets and explained that people were in our seats. He told me “they would simply have to move”. I said, “I know they had to, but they were not”, so he had a go at it. A bit more successful than us, he at least got 3 of the 4 seats back. Nobody had the heart to move the elderly lady in my spot so I sat in the seat beside her.
I love this sign at the Kandy Train Station.
Our place in Kandy was a perfect spot for us and it even came equipped with a family of monkeys. It was a two minute stroll to Kandy Lake and a lovely walk around the lake to the Sacred Tooth Temple.
No walk around the lake would be complete without a couple of Water Monitor sightings.
The Sacred Tooth Temple in Kandy is said to house an actual tooth of Lord Buddha. The Temple was very busy while we were visiting due to the Sri Lankan New Year, but we timed our visit between special ceremonies when it was less busy.
Just as the Temple was busy due to the New Year, the town of Kandy was super quiet. Most of the shops were closed for the holiday with an additional one day of mourning for a revered Chief Prelate Buddhist Monk that had passed away mid April 2015. The streets were adorned with orange cloth in memoriam.
Another shout out to my pals at the Salvation Army.
It seems fire crackers are in order when celebrating the New Year in Sri Lanka so we got into the festivities and fired off a few of these bad boys ourselves.
Our favorite street food in Kandy was Veg Samosas and Naan wraps served in reused sheets of loose leaf paper. Looks like math homework to me.
Our big outing from Kandy was a 2 hour drive North to Sigiriya Rock. According to legend, King kasyapa built his palace on top of this rock and named the area the new capital of Sri Lanka in 477 – 495 CE. About half way up the rock the king had a giant lion gate built around the entrance. Today, the only remnants of the lion are the feet.
The climb to the top of Sigiriya after the Lion Gate.
The Frescoes or paintings at Sigiriya would have at one time covered a large portion of this rock, but have since been lost. There is still however, some paintings left on the ceiling of Cobra Hood Cave. All you have to do is climb a spiral metal staircase attached to the side of the rock to get to it. For two fellows afraid of heights that is no easy feat, but both would agree, well worth it.
At the base of the climb we came across a snake charmer.
After Kandy, we moved along to Nuwara Eliya and the famous Sri Lankan Tea Plantations. Along the three hour drive we stopped to see some beautiful sites.
A tour of the Glenloch Tea Factory. This was once a Scottish owned Tea Factory established in the 1800’s, but has since been turned over to the people of Sri Lanka.
A wee spot of tea to complete our visit.
We stopped to watch these guys collecting Avocado’s on the side of the road. What you don’t see is the guy way, way up in the tree. He picks the avo’s and tosses them down to the guy with the white material strapped to two sticks who then catches them. A couple misses…instant guacamole, but overall pretty affective. Paul said of all the jobs of the three guys down there, he’d take the one of the guy sitting on his bike texting.
The stunning Ramboda Falls and valley.
At the end of the steep climb we completed our drive in Nuwara Eliya at Misty Mountain Villas ( http://www.mistymountainvillas.com/ ). Upon arrival we were greeted with some lovely tea and ginger snap cookies.
We had a quiet, secluded sitting area with a great view of the town below. Reyal, our host and owner of Misty Mountain Villas was fabulous. He Made sure all our needs were met and arranged safe drivers for all our outings.
We all love Sri Lanka. Based on its natural beauty alone would be enough reason to visit this country, but the people are just so very lovely. I could not say enough wonderful things about Sri Lanka. We love, love, love it!
Over the next week we will visit some National Parks in the Southern portion of the Island and then head West for the fort town of Galle.
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