Blogs from Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

We certainly weren’t relishing the idea of leaving the beautiful airconditioning to head back into the furnace of a safari camp again, but an evil-looking centipede basically chased us away, and we were keen to see a sloth bear. We’d heard good things about Wilpattu, that it was “the best” national park etc, and well, Yala had some making up to do! So we hopped in the van for the relaxing and cool journey to Wilpattu. We arrived just before lunch and relaxed under fans in our tent before a tasty lunch under a tree. We requested a later start to avoid too much heat and started the journey to the gate with some trepidation over what furnace-like conditions lay ahead. But we needn’t have worried. Beautiful tree-lined roads meant a lot of shade and much ... read more

Week 3 started with a Saturday shopping trip in downtown Anuradhapura. First stop the bank to stock up on Sri Lankan rupees then the supermarket for a few supplies, including mosquito spray for our room. The city has had water tanks (a but like reservoirs) scattered across the area for centuries so perfect breeding ground for mossies- and they are big. We then spent a fruitless 30 minutes looking for a camera battery without success. All of this shopping done with a tuktuk taking us door to door as its too darn hot to walk. Our evening trip with Chumi our friendly tuktuk driver was to Minihitale the birthplace of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. It was nice to get out of the city but I didn't make it up to the stupas as it was still ... read more

As we drove towards the northern tip of Sri Lanka we realised our driver Saman was nervous. We knew he wasn’t happy about going to Jaffna, but we had told the company we wished to visit the area prior to booking with them. Jaffna is the capitol city of the northern province, a peninsula which bears the same name. The majority of the city’s population are Sri Lankan Tamils and most are Hindus. It was also the region that, until 2002, was involved in a long running civil war between Sri Lankan government troops and Tamil guerrillas. It was effectively a no go area for many years and has only recently has welcomed tourism and the dollars it brings. It is still not on the established tourist route, probably because of it’s distance from the rest ... read more

After 3-4 hours sleep, my alarm went off as Glyn and I were to be picked up at 5.30 for a safari around Wilpattu National Park. Upon stepping out of our room, Bandara was straight on us, wanting to give us coffee but we tried to explain we had no time, 'but it's included' he called. 'We are due to be picked up in 5 minutes' we explained. Undeterred, Bandara followed us up the dirt track to the roadside where we waited for our pre-booked Safari, but Bandara wanted us to do our safari though him, despite Glyn explaining over and over again, and showing him a print out of the booking. 'Jeep man come?' he said (not for the last time by a long chalk). Jeep man was late and after 10 mins, Bandara was ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling north from Negombo to Wilpattu National Park, then east to Anuradhapura. We left Negombo around 8:30am after an early morning visit to the beach town’s fish markets and lagoon foreshore. We initially travelled north, hugging the western coastline for just under an hour until we arrived in the small township of Madampe to visit a local home-based industry cooperative. We’d stopped here for a factory tour and meal a few weeks earlier, but today we were only passing through. The cooperative manufactures a number of different coconut products, including rope from coconut fibre and treacle from coconut sap. We sampled fresh coconut juice and frothy warm toddy (fermented coconut sap), and our guide picked up a bottle of the cooperative’s trademark treacle. We left the cooperative mid-morning and continued our ... read more

Today we had booked first class train tickets to Jaffna, a town right on the northern tip of Sri Lanka. It looked to be the best spot to try and get to the start of Adam's bridge for photo two and large enough to find a party for New Years Eve. Our train was the Colombo to Jaffna Express and extremely modern. First class had much more comfortable seats than the previous trip although the trip was only 3.5 hours so I will hold back on saying they were great. Sri Lanka changes considerably up in this northern area. It's very flat and desolate, it sort of felt like heading to the end of the world. The roading and rail infrastructure is new, having been rebuilt and extended recently resulting in an increase in tourism. The ... read more