Sri Lanka - Safari!

Safari doesn't immediately come to mind when one thinks of Sri Lanka but it is famous for it! Particularly for leopards at Yala National Park and for blue whales off the coast of Mirissa. For this alone, I descended the heavenly Ella and plunged back into the soupy humidity to hunt for leopards with my camera. Yala is a huge park but one that is world famous for the highest concentration of leopards in any given area. The Yala leopards are the top predators within the park and every person I had spoken to who had been there had seen one. I started pre-dawn to try to beat the crowds but as the early hours rolled past, we were soon joined by many other jeeps. It was quite disconcerting to have so many jeeps vie for the attention of the elusive leopard. There were sometimes 6 or more jeeps on the red dirt roads jostling for a glimpse of the leopard at one of its favoured spots. It had been 3 hours and no sight of a leopard, I had resigned myself to not seeing one when, 100m in front of our jeep,crossing the road like he owned it, was a young male leopard. We zoomed towards it as it sauntered into the undergrowth and my trembling hands only caught the last swish of its tail, as if to say, 'now you see me, now you don't'.

From elusive leopards to the biggest creature on the earth, the blue whale. Recently discovered off the coast of Lanka, off the tiny fishing village of Mirissa, is a pod of blue whales.

Years of civil war kept researchers and scientists away and so the discovery of the pod was only 2 years old. These giants are several buses long and are notoriously shy. I joined 6 other tourists on a leaky fishing boat as we traveled out to the Indian Ocean. It was the tail end of the whaling season as the seas were getting rough. About 1.5 hours out to sea, we see blue whales! 4 of them and a humpback. We see alot of humps from its back and many many diving t

ails but didn't get a chance to see one poke its head up - there is a scientific name for this but it looks like the whale sticks its head up and has a nosy around at all the boats. We get close to 50m of some of these whales and we see the arch of its back but never get to see or appreciate it's full size and glory. If I had been here a month earlier, I could have possibly dived or snorkeled with the whales.

Mirissa was my last destination before a whistle stop at Colombo and home. I spent lovely days at the beach, in the sun, eating fresh fish and learning to surf. Sri Lanka is an enchanting place and one that I will always remember fondly for its people, its gorgeous natural wonders and fiery curries!

Sri Lanka - Ella and Ceylon Tea

My trip to Ella had to be the most beautiful and most horrible train trip i've taken. I had not pre-purchased 1st class tickets a month in advance, meaning my chance of getting a seat in the viewing carriage was nil. I purchased a 2nd class ticket which came with a warning that it was the middle of the Singalese new year and my chance of finding a seat was next til nil. Still, I was optimistic. I had caught trains in India, China and Egypt - surely Sri Lanka was not going tobe a problem! The pity I saw in the station master's eyes was starting to worry me...The train rolled up and i was a little surprised to see how much in disrepair the old steam train was in. It was a mad scramble to get on board quickly to grab a seat with my backpack on. Unfortunately, I had climbed into the 3rd class carriage, where the locals were standing in an open carriage. The carriage was so packed that I had no chance to get into 2nd class and was stranded in the dining car with other lost foreigners. However, making the most of a bad situation, I spent the next 7 hours standing up, making new friends of local families heading to the hills for holidays. A few hours into the journey, the train passes through gorgeous hill country, with tea plantations, waterfalls and magnificent scenery. I happily spent half my time hanging out from the side of the train, taking photos and enjoying the fresh mountain air.

Ella is extremely beautiful and staying at the Waterfalls Homestay run by

Aussie expat couple, Martin and Karen, was the perfect balm after the harrowing first couple of days in Sri Lanka. I spend the next few days hiking with a lovely Swiss family and their 3 boys to Ella Rock and Little Adam's Peak, chilling out at the beautiful guesthouse, playing with Martin's many dogs and cats and chatting with Karen. I loved that gorgeous place, which was just so clean and comfortable, i didn't want to leave. Karen and Martin areliving my dream. I still recall the conversation I had with some travellers in Sihanoukville in Cambodia over 10 years ago where we talked about opening a guesthouse. In my dream, the guesthouse looked exactly like Waterfalls Homestay - serendipity!

Sri Lanka - April 2011

Another April, another awesome month of taking advantage of public holidays! With 2 weeks to spare, I scour the globe for somewhere that's not too far and still exotic enough to appease my nomadic spirit. Isettle for Sri Lanka.

My sister's immediate reaction when I tell her is, "Why do you

always want to go to places like that!" It's true, why do I always want to travel like that? By like that, she means, backpacking to foreign destinations where people don't speak English, where I don't know anyone, where the food guarantees giardia, the roads are bad and there's always a threat of civil war looming. I don't know why i'm attracted to places where travel is hard... actually I do, it's because when I arrive at a place where I don't know anyone and I have no plans, it really tests my skills, challenges my senses and makes me feel so free and alive.

I arrive in Sri Lanka in the dead of the night - midnight in an airport that amusingly has more whitegoods being sold in duty free than perfumes. The number of stores selling washing machines and fridges was astounding! My friend later tells me that it's to attract cashed-up workers from the Middle East, on the way home to see family after a few years of slaving in the desert. What better gift to bring back to the wife you haven't seen for years than a washing machine?!

I catch a taxi to Negombo, a beachside town that I hardly see as I roll into town at 2am and leave at 630am the next morning. I'm on my way up north to see the UNESCO famed sites of Sigiriya and Dambulla with a side trip to visit an elephant orphanage. The drive through winding country roads with lush rice fields, framed by gentle rolling hills, is so picturesque that I fall into bucolic bliss.

It's several hours before we reach Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, a place that has gathered a bit of controversy from naturalists who claim the centre is exploiting its elephants for

profit. I see many elephants being herded by mahouts with cruel looking wooden batons with nasty metal hooks. I'm sad to see a huge blind bull elephant with magnificent tusks chained up. What surprises me are how vocal the elephants are, trumpeting loudly and also growling menacingly whenever a tourist got too close to the young babies. The babies were hilarious, so playful and small and ever agile and mischievous. The highlight was bath time for the elephants - loud trumpeting heralded the stampede of around 50 elephants, rushing towards the river to the delight of throngs of tourists. It was very sweet to see the matriarchs keeping a close eye on the babies, one which was swept off his little feet with the currents threatening to sweep him away before a protective trunk picked him up and settled him back to his feet.

After Pinnawala, it was another long drive to get to Sigiriya, a mysterious rock formation with remnants of a palace or temple at the top. I bumped into an Aussie tourist and we climbed up steep and rusty metal stairs precariously tied to the side of the rock. Through the soupy humid air pregnant with the promise of rain, we made our way to view mysterious cave paintings of, depending of whether you believed it to be a temple or palace, sexy half naked court dancers or the goddess Tara. Either way, it's amazing that after 2000 years in this wet air, the paintings were still so well preserved. Still higher up, we pass through giant lion's paws carved into the side of the mountain to reach the top where nothing much was left of the palace/temple that existed there. It was a tad cooler and a welcome breeze was blowing through. How

ever, the breeze also hinted at rain and we rushed back down the rock and I was in the cab for all of 10 mins before the heavens opened up and monsoon rain thundered down.

Checked into the Holiday Inn - nothing like the cheap and cheerful chain hotel but attempting to leverage some of that brand, my guesthouse was fine but had that damp feeling from being in this humidity. I was a little disappointed (ok a lot) by the pathetic shower with pressure so weak that it merely trickled water out. I had a pleasant surprise when I first turned on the tap in the basin and instead of water, out came a little black frog! I thought it was very cute but fortunately no more frogs came out after the first one.

At dinner, I got talking to a lovely family, expats living in Laos and backpacking through India and Sri Lanka with a 3 year old cherub. I was so impressed that a family of 3 were travelling for 5 weeks with only one backpack! And Ethan the cherub, like my own similarly aged nieces and nephews, was soon demanding his iPad!! and out came the iPad which Ethan then proceeded to operate confidently. These babies are so techie!