Sri Lanka 2015 Final Instalment

We’ve seen some interesting stuff in the last few days, predominantly wildlife orientated. I’ve just picked out the main highlights for this email but we’ve packed a lot in again.

The first of these was the Elephant Transit Home (ETH). This was established for the rehabilitation of orphaned wild baby elephants. Natural and anthropogenic pressures leave dozens of elephant calves orphaned and/or injured every year, but at the ETH these young survivors are given a secure place to develop physically and socially. The calves are fed every three hours and receive medical attention. Since it was created, the ETH has rescued, rehabilitated and re-introduced into the wild more than 90 elephants. It currently has over 30 elephants.

Then it was glamping in Yala National Park – at least it was posh camping compared to last year’s safari. The semi-permanent campsite was next to a lake with lots of birdlife including wild peacocks. We enjoyed an evening barbeque and campfire next to the lake then woke the next morning to a champagne breakfast.

We had a couple of nights stop in Unawatuna. From there it was a stone’s throw to UNESCO World Heritage Site Galle Fort. In 1505 a Portuguese fleet was blown off course and took shelter here. Apparently Galle was either named after the Sinhala word gala meaning rock or Portuguese word galo meaning cockerel as that’s what they heard crowing while sheltering here. In 1640 the Dutch took Galle and then in 1796 it passed into British hands. The Boxing Day tsunami hit this area quite badly but the fort withstood it with the solid walls limiting the damage as opposed to the new quarter which was badly hit. According to our guide, a couple of hundred buses were swept out to sea and 10,000 people lost their lives.
During our time in Unawatuna, we were subjected to tropical storms and torrential downpours which we later learnt were due to a cyclone out in the Bay of Bengal. Our first evening, at least, was nice and we strolled along the Fort walls just before sunset to see the historic buildings before settling down to watch a spectacular sunset. Our evening meal was in one of the many restaurants that are in the renovated Old Dutch Hospital.

After all the strenuous exercise – trekking, climbing steps, cycling, and swimming - I treated myself to a 1hr+ Ayurveda body massage. The legs were still sore from the trek up Adam’s Peak and the massage was bliss.

Yesterday we enjoyed a boat cruise along the Madu River before visiting the Kosgoda Sea Turtle Sanctuary & Research Centre. Five of the seven species of sea turtle lay their eggs along the coast of Sri Lanka (Green, Leatherback, Loggerhead, Hawksbill and Olive Ridley). Unfortunately human egg-poachers take the eggs to satisfy the demand for turtle omelettes and therefore they never hatch. Those that do hatch run the gauntlet of birds, fish and other predators as they make the perilous journey to the beach. The research centre pays more than the black market value for the eggs and incubates them in a hatchery. They are then kept in a tank for 3 days where they are then released into the wild under the cover of darkness. There are pros and cons for this type of conservation. In other parts of Sri Lanka, the beaches are patrolled and the eggs protected in the sand. The centre claims that the survival rate is increased from 1% to 25% by their intervention. It is also a hospital for injured turtles and a sanctuary for any disabled ones. We did see 1, 2 and 3-day old turtles as well as some of the injured and disabled ones.

On the way back to Negombo we had a city tour of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s Commercial & Administrative Capital.

After a final farewell dinner (a final Sri Lankan rice and curry, something we’ve eaten a lot of over the last two weeks), our group have started going our separate ways. We are enjoying a last (relaxing) day in Negombo before we too make tracks for home….

So, until the next time we go wandering off round the globe……

Farewell from Sri Lanka,

Kath

Sri Lanka 2015 Part 2

So it’s the second instalment of the Sri Lankan adventure and we’ve packed more in. It feels even more like a real workout, but we’re enjoying plenty of good food and on the whole the weather has been good.

Dambulla Cave Temples are five royal rock (cave) temples hewn into a 160m granite outcrop with numerous statues and images of the Buddha (reputedly around 150). It is one of several UNESCO World Heritage sites in this country that we are visiting on this trip and was the first stop of Day 6.

A visit to a spice garden in Matale included a talk/demonstration about different spices (Vanilla, Cardamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Turmeric, Spice Tea, Chocolate/cocoa bean, Green/Red pepper corns, Ginger and Cinnamon) and where they come from as well as what some of them can be used for in traditional indigenous Ayurvedic medicine. The demonstration included a surprise but rather enjoyable shoulder massage.

Kandy was home to Sri Lanka’s last independent kingdom. It survived two centuries of colonial incursions until it fell to the British. The stay included a visit to the golden-roofed Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha supposedly snatched from the flames of Buddha’s funeral pyre and smuggled into Sri Lanka in the hair of a Princess. During puja (prayers/offerings), the heavily guarded room housing the tooth is open for devotees and tourists but you don’t actually see the tooth as it’s kept in a gold casket. It is rumoured that this is only a replica and the real tooth is hidden somewhere secure. During the reign of the Kings it was a symbol of sovereignty and whoever had custody of the tooth had the right to rule the land.

Whilst in Kandy, we also visited a Batik, Tea Factory, Gem Museum & Lapidary and Wood carving centre as well as taking a walk through a market & bazaar. In the evening we were entertained by a cultural show (10 dances plus fire walking).

At an elevation of 2243m, the mountain in the UNESCO World Heritage Central Highlands area variously known as Adam’s Peak (place where Adam & Eve first set foot on earth after being cast out of the garden of Eden), Sri Pada (sacred footprint of the Buddha – there is a Buddha temple right on the summit), Samanalakande (translates to ‘Butterfly Mountain’; where butterflies go to die) and/or the footprint of Hindu god Shiva has been focus for pilgrimage for over 1000 years. In all it’s about 5200 hard, uneven steps to reach the summit which then have to be retraced back. In theory the sunrise is spectacular and on a clear day Colombo is easily visible 65km away. As dawn illuminates the mountain, the sun casts a perfect shadow of the peak onto the misty clouds down towards the coast. As the sun rises higher the eerie triangular shadow shrinks back towards the mountain and eventually disappears into its base. At least, that’s the theory. The reality for us was a cloud shrouded peak with no hint of sunshine and regular tropical torrential downpours. Still, we’d managed to follow in the steps of the pilgrims and climb the fourth highest mountain in Sri Lanka, which is twice the height of the highest mountain in Britain.

We had an overnight stop in Nuwara Eliya (translates to ‘City of Light’), a small town nicknamed Little England and the Hill Country’s ‘Tea Capital’. It was ‘discovered’ by the British colonial officer John Davey. It feels very British even having the coldest weather of the trip so far - English summer temperatures and rain!

Horton Plains is 2000m high undulating plateau covered by wild grassland (patina) which gives way to montane forest further up the slopes. It used to be inhabited by a herd of Pygmy
Elephants (a subspecies of the Asian Elephant) but they were hunted to extinction by the
colonial hunters. One such hunter was Major Thomas Rogers, a colonial officer who supposedly killed over 1400 elephants. He was struck down by a bolt of lightning, a fate considered by some as a sign of the anger of the gods. His tombstone has also been struck twice by lightning.
We trekked to ‘World’s End’ so called because the plateau comes to sudden end and plunges 870m into the valley below. From the lookout on this stunning escarpment you can see just about see all the way to the sea. We had torrential rain before we started the walk, but
fortunately it had stopped by the time we started walking and brightened up into a hot sunny morning. Later the guide told us that we’d been incredibly lucky; normally the weather is wet and usually the view from World’s End is one of cloud and mist. After missing out on Adam’s Peak, we were pleased to see this.

Then we took a scenic train ride from Ambewela to Ella with a prime standing room only spot by the window and a cool breeze whilst watching the scenery go by…

There’s more to come, so keep posted for the final instalment.

Still wandering,

Kath

Sri Lanka 2015 Part 1

The ‘teardrop’ in the Indian Ocean, the ‘Pearl in the Necklace of India’, Sri Lanka is only 30km from India and a few hundred km north of the Equator. At 435km long and 244km wide, this 66sq km island is one of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots as well as being an island full of culture and history.

Negombo was an interesting little town, our first encounter with Sri Lanka. We wandered around the various markets and street stalls before finding ourselves on the locals beach behind their houses where sadly plastic bags and plastic bottles are strew everywhere, a far cry from the section of beach by our hotel which was virtually immaculate. The following day, which was the first day proper of our tour, we saw the ‘touristy’ stuff. Once a Portuguese and Dutch trading port, the attractions include the Old Dutch Fort, the Dutch Canal, churches and the fish market. Negombo’s lagoon as well as sea trawler fishing boats supplies the market with fresh fish which are auctioned off there. Our group comprises a GP, PA and Electrician from London, a nurse from Bath, 2 travel agents from Australia (Sydney and Gladstone) and an Insurance Broker from Toronto. Brits 6, Aus. 2, Can 1!

The main afternoon attraction of the day was a 5 hour game drive in Willpattu National Park. Sri Lanka’s largest national park yielded quite a selection of animals including Kingfishers, Serpent Eagles, Hornbills, Asian Elephant, egrets, grey monkeys, crocodiles, ducks, cormorant, peacocks, black-headed ibis, chameleons, monitor lizards, plovers, stilts, white-spotted deer, jackals and rabbits, but no sign of any leopards disappointingly. This was in lieu of the later trip due to be taken to Yala National Park on the itinerary – weather conditions mean that the park is closed.

Anuradhapura is a 4^th century BC monastic complex of both archaeological and architectural ‘wonders’ that is still used for religious purposes. It was the first ancient capital of Sri Lanka and is also home to the ‘Sri Maha Bodhi’, a sapling taken from the tree under which Buddha had his enlightenment. There are a lot of dagobas (shrines) including the ‘Jetavanarama Dagoba’. It was originally believed to have been 120m high and thought to have been the third highest monument in world when it was built (beaten by the two Egyptian pyramids). Now with damage / natural disasters it is partly destroyed and only 70m of it remains.

Polonnaruwa was a thriving commercial and religious centre 800 years ago. This archaeological site of tombs, temples, statues and stupas was Sri Lanka’s second ancient capital. It has the Galpota (Stone Book). This is believed to be the world’s largest stone representation of a book. The stone inscription (longest in Sri Lanka) extols the virtues of the then King, Nissanka Malla. The slab, weighing 25 tonnes, was dragged from Mihintale 100km away (so it says on the inscription anyway). For both Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa we hired bikes to cycle round the sites.

Sigiriya (Lion Rock) is a rocky outcrop that rises 200m above the plains below. Originally on the flat topped summit there was a monastery. This was usurped by a King and developed into a pleasure palace-cum-fortress. A later king then returned this to the monks. This archaeological site can only be visited by climbing 1,300 steps to reach the summit. Part-way up the rock there is an open air spiral stairway from the main path leading to a long sheltered gallery in the rock face. There is a series of painting or frescos of women believed to be of celestial nymphs or concubines of King Kassapa (who built the fortress). Half way up was a large platform on which a pair of Lion’s paws was encountered. It is believed that this is part of the original entrance which included an entire Lion’s Head. Visitors had to pass through the mouth to gain access. It is from this that the rock derived its name. Sigiriya Gardens are amongst the oldest surviving historic gardens in Asia. At the foot of the rock are the terrace gardens and the two great stairways leading to the main entrance. Below the terraced gardens and merging with them are the boulder gardens. Stretching out from them are the three distinct units of the water garden.

So far the visit has also included two visits to local villages for lunches. Today’s visit also included demonstrations on turning rice paddy into rice; grounding millet into flour and how to make a coconut sambol (shredded coconut mixed with a curry/salt/pepper mix) from scratch from getting the husk off the coconut to the finished product.

That’s the main activities though we have seen a lot more other things. The next few days are likely to be more action packed so look out for the next instalment.

Ayubowen,

Kath