Blogs from Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

Arrived Friday in Ella by train, the journey was fantastic. The scenery from the train was something else. We worked our way high into tree tea plantations where we saw workers busily toiling,in the sun. The workers earn a pittance with the women getting 450 rupees a day and the men 600 rupees. So in effect £2.25 for women and £3.00 for men, so think on everybody,! Today Wew climbed little Adams peak, it is a small hill that looks over Ella. Hard work in a very hot morning sun so a cool beer was a small reward after the climb. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and every new town or province has a brand new experience. Oh and the foods is always good, something that is always high on my list. Tomorrow we travel ... read more

26th Feb – We got up at 0600 to go to an Island. We went there is a canoe. It was made out of wood and this man paddled. It cost 200 Rupees (1.00 GBP) there and back. At the island there was a big jungle, and we were surrounded by palm trees. There were enormous leaves bigger than my head. We walked through rivers and a local village. It was really noisy with bird sounds and music from the houses. We were careful not to get bitten by leeches. Sophie Today I went whitewater rafting where I did Grade 2 and 3 rapids. It was very fun because it was so rough that I got covered with water. There were big drops and small drops. I liked the big drops best because they had a ... read more

Goodbye MEF! Today is my last day at Millennium Elephant Foundation, I've had an amazing time here and I'm going to miss the ellies so much! Earlier today I had a ride and a 'shower' with Seetha, which was lovely. Now I'm packing up my things ready for another weekend at the beach before I get dropped off at the airport on Sunday evening. Next stop, Singapore!... read more

Yesterday Amie's friend American Dave arrived, they met through Sandith who is the manager here at MEF. They invited us to come with them for lunch at their friend Sheehan's house, which is about an hour from the foundation. We all squeezed into Sandith's pickup truck and headed off (travel in Sri Lanka always involves squeezing too many people into a vehicle). Seehan's house is beautiful, it's a barn renovation out in the countryside, and lunch was delicious. In true Sri Lankan style, lunch turned into dinner and dinner turned into breakfast. I imagined that we'd only be out for an hour or two max! I should've known better. We stayed up drinking arrack with coconut juice and eventually passed out. This morning we were feeling a little bit worse for wear, and Sheehan provided us ... read more

Millennium Elephant Foundation, Horton Plains and Adam's Peak. Hi everyone! I decided to wait a week before posting my first proper entry since I left, just so I would have plenty of news to update you with, but now I have so much to tell you! I've had an amazing week here. I arrived in Colombo slightly early as my flight didn't touch down in Male as expected, so I had some time to kill in the airport before Amie was due to pick me up. Luckily I had my book with me ('Love in the Time of Cholera') so that kept me occupied. At 4pm we left the airport, arriving at the foundation 2 hours later. I was introduced to the mahout that I'm working with, his name's Kapilla and he's very nice but always ... read more