SL5 Baby Elephant Walk - Day 28

After our buffet breakfast overlooking lake Kandalama off we went to visit the Dambulla Cave watching some sea eagles above the waterhole and Temples, high up in the rocks above a modern (and rather garish) modern temple with a huge gold Buddha. It dates as a place of worship back to 1BC, but over the years many kings commissioned statues and frescoes that cover the five caves of the complex. All together there are around 150 Buddha images, and the paintings that are now visible date back to the 19th century. Thongs back on - they must be removed along with any hat when in a Buddhist holy place - we headed east to the ruins of Polonnaruwa, where kings ruled the central plains 800 years ago. The ruins date back over a thousand years, and although more compact than Anuradhapura they are still spread over quite a large area. In some places only the stone outline of buildings remain, but in others they are still well preserved in form giving a good idea of how things were. The Royal Palace group and the Quadrangle in particular had impressive buidings, stone carvings and inscriptions . 500m away are the Gal Vihara, a group of Sinhalese rock carvings - four separate carvings of Buddha cut into one slab of granite. The standing Buddha is 7m high ; the reclining Buddha is 14m long and the remaining two smaller, but all are an amazing example of the craftmanship from this era.

Following a lunch of red rice and curries, with curd and treacle for dessert, we headed to Minneriya National Park where - we were told - elephants congregate from July to September as the northern waterholes dry up. Cynics that we are - and also not not wanting to get our hopes up too high - we sat in the back of a safari jeep just for us as our driver sat in the passenger seat offering encouragement to our young safari driver and we set off for the first waterhole. Fifteen minutes later we rounded the bend to arrive and were greeted by the amazing sight of a herd of about 30 elephants - from mature adults down to youngsters and babies. We stayed there for at least 30 minutes watching their antics, and they were not bothered at all by the twenty jeeps that had congregated in the area. We eventually moved on, watching the sea eagles soaring above the waterhole, as well as other bird life dotting the shore. Next waterhole, a herd of a dozen elephants that kept us entertained ; then going on further we found another herd of twenty or so who proceeded to move to their waterhole for a wash before ambling back to the shore and eventually disappearing into the bush. Some monkeys were seen on the return trip, although we now know they are pretty much everywhere outside of major towns and most temples seem to have a resident troop ; and last water crossing we saw a crocodile sunning itself on the bank. We returned to the hotel hot and dusty, and headed straight to the bar for a refreshing couple of beers each before a shower and dinner.


Things we learned about Sri Lanka today #5 : there are three types of coconut in SL - the common brown coconut that we all know; a green coconut that is used for cooking; and the orange "king coconut" that is on sale in a roadside stall every 50m or so. Our driver stopped today to buy us one each. The top is cut off, a straw inserted and you drink the coconut juice inside. It is clear, rather than a coconut milk, but is meant to be very nutritious and refreshing. That is why locals stop for one along the road as they travel. One side effect is an urgent need to wee about two hours later : for once we didn't mind paying to use a toilet at Polonnuwara as we were both desperate by that time. Walking around the ruins was so less stessful once that mission was accomplished.
PS : it is difficult to add photos to the blog on the IPad, but is easier 24 hrs after uploading to Google cloud. I have added some to past posts so each time you log in scroll down to see if there are any new additions...