Christmas Safari

Our trip from Nuwara Eliya to Yala National Park was another slow drive down the mountain with some very scary sheer drop-offs – all on my side of the vehicle. Those who know me know that I’m quite frightened of heights, but all I could think of was that my mother and sister, Diane, would have jumped into the driver’s lap to avoid being so close to the edge! The countryside was absolutely beautiful, and I continue to be amazed at the way they use the land. A country of 20 million people in such a small space means that the land use to sustain the population must be efficient. Farms and tea plantations are on the terraced hillsides and houses are perched precariously on the hillsides, too.

Terraced vegetable fields

The cities aren’t at all like what I consider a city to be; they are more like overgrown villages, teeming with people, and I have the hardest time understanding how all these little merchants eke out a living from their tiny shops.

We arrived at Yala National Park and our hotel for the next two nights at about 1:30. Our accommodation is separate cottages which are very comfortable and only slightly rustic. Because we are in the National Park, wild animals roam freely. Therefore, when we want to go between our cottages and the restaurant after dark, we need a staff member to accompany us to avoid encounters with the animals. Within 20 minutes of our arrival, we saw two elephants – one about 25 feet from our cottages, and the other about 15 feet from the lobby! After checking in and a quick lunch, we met our guide for a safari through the National Park. We bounced our bums across the jungle for about 3 ½ hours and saw elephants, wild boars, water buffalo, crocodiles, peacocks, deer, elk, many birds, but sadly, no leopards. They are, as you might suspect quite elusive, but some other people staying at the hotel had seen one. Here are some of the sights/animals we saw. I have great camera (a lovely parting gift from my colleagues at UofC when I retired), but it doesn't have the telephoto lens that those National Geographic photographers have.

Deer

Elephants - honest they're there on the other side of the lake!

Monkeys

The Park is right along the Indian Ocean and we were shown 3 points at which the tsunami hit the park. We stopped at one spot where there is a memorial to the victims. It was quite moving and kind of a reverent and reflective experience to be there.

Tsunami Menorial at Yala National Park

Since we arrived here on Christmas Eve, we partook of some of the festive events the hotel had planned for the evening. There was eggnog by the pool, a buffet dinner (not another buffet?!), but this time there was turkey; a raffle (none of us won), the scariest Santa I’ve ever seen,

Would your children run screaming from this man?

and country and western music by Elmo and Dante (they were reeeeeally bad – but funny bad). The view from the top of the building that has the lobby, restaurant and bars was spectacular –I’ve not seen so many stars so clearly in many, many years!

When we woke on Christmas morning, it was raining and the sound of the rain on my roof was so nice. It lulled me back to sleep, and since we did not have to travel anywhere today, it was nice to be able to be lazy . . . a bit of an unusual Christmas morning, but enjoyable nevertheless.

We have had breakfast and a walk on the beach – the Indian Ocean is about 100 meters away from my cabin. Then off to the pool – it had stopped raining – and now I am sitting on my porch and watching an elephant march around ripping leaves off a tree not 20 feet from me – amazing!

It really is different than seeing them at the zoo!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!