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Published: April 26th 2024
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We’ve taken to undertaking our activities in the dark - given it’s about 600 degrees by 7.30am, it seemed like a good idea to start at 4am to see if that made it any more pleasant…alas not. By 5 minutes in, we were still coated in sweat as we hauled arse up what can only be described as a ginormous mountain - Pudurangala. The idea is that you haul arse up there to see the sun rise over Sigiriya which is sacred.
About eleventy billion steps carved into the rock, many many sweaty puffing bodies and we made it about half way on this ‘easy to moderate hike’. Given that part had half killed us, the ‘slightly challenging’ bit at the end was set to be a showstopper! Which it was, for me, I was physically incapable of hauling my arse through a tiny crevice in the rock, so I sent the others ahead for the promised “glorious” views of the sunrise.
I relaxed with a Buddha while the mist rolled in off the hillside. It was cool and peaceful and I wasn’t at all disappointed that I had been arse-blocked. The downwards procession of people began, all looking
somewhat disgruntled…perhaps that rolling mist hadn’t been as pleasant for everyone?! Yep, that’s right, me and the Buddha had actually enjoyed the best of the view from where we were - further up, there was nothing to see except a valley full of clouds and a few monkeys and dogs! Me and the Buddha were in the know!!
We trundled back down the mountain, now we weren’t in a rush for the sunrise…they’d obviously changed the path while we were up there because it was really easy and took literally 15 minutes and none of us could understand why we’d made such a fuss, and nearly had a coronary. Still sweaty though!
After that obvious highlight, we enjoyed a day of relaxation and rest before a dance and cultural show in the evening. A series of dance acts, some which depicted traditional folk dances, others which were representative of offerings, but all with very elaborate and beautiful costumes.
Our other day in the area, we enjoyed a morning with some monkeys - our first stop was the macaque family, or rather two large troops, totalling over 100. A fruit tree marked the centre point of their territories
and we spent about half an hour watching them interact within their own troop and then with each other.
There was constant activity, whether it be the kids playing around the trees with each other, grooming or jostling over rank within the troop. Once the dominant troop had finished with the tree, the call went out and the troop we were with headed over for their morning feed. We sat on the wall and watched their interactions, particularly delighting in the game of ‘chicken’ the younger ones were obviously playing over who could run past us and touch us without being chased away.
Next stop was the purple faced langurs who stayed high in the trees and were not keen to interact other than throwing their food scraps in our general vicinity.
Then onto the grey-faced langurs, who were long and loping as they ran past us, half alarmed, half curious as to our business. A few of them were happy to stop and check us out and we enjoyed gazing into their beautiful faces as they went about their days.
The heat was rising and it was obvious that our scheduled tour of the ancient
city of Polonnaruwa was going to be a roaster. So we observed some of the ruined buildings from afar and from the coolness of the car before heading back to the hotel for a swim.
The afternoon activity was to be a safari in Minneriya to see elephants but our guide advised that they had moved and we were better to go to a different place. So we bundled into another jeep, inexplicably with an open roof, to enjoy not only the heat and humidity but also the full sun, in Hurulu Park. We managed to see a few elephants including a gorgeous 6 week old baby before the sun became too much and we had to call it a day. Back to the hotel for a cool down and to await the arrival of the dark and some respite from the sun once again!
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