Minneriya National Park

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Minneriya was an ancient city built by King Parakramabahu. Many tanks were built here to irrigate about 8500 hectacres of land. Minneriya is now a wild life and game park with diverse vegetation of dense forest, scrubland, and grassland. The rich biodiversity of the park is habitat for 24 species of mammals, 16 species of birds, 9 species of amphibians, 25 species of reptiles (and thank God, that none of these popped up as we drove through the park), 26 species of fish, and 75 species of butterflies.
This was an amazing experience! We were able to ride along in 4-wheelers looking for exotic animals. We did not see many animals that day. I figure that they were all looking for Noah's Ark since it had been pouring down. Although we did not see many animals, we did have some encounters with animals. Along the way to the safari, I noticed that Somalla's poor foot was 5 times it's size, now I may be exaggerating a little, but the poor girl's foot did look swollen. I figured that she had been bitten by a cobra, but others felt that it just might have been a spider. Luckily, the swelling went down the next day. Later on, while on our safari ride, a gigantic white spider with evil glowing red eyes (now, once again, I may be exaggerating a little, but the scare of that spider was just a horrible) attacked poor Laura. Luckily, she did not get bitten. Yes, we all were attacked by some exotic animal during our trip to Sri Lanka. I was attacked by 5, yes 5, parasitic leeches! I must admit, I still have nightmares.
The few animals that we did see throughout our safari were a few jungle foul, which to me look kind of like a turkey and a rooster, some spotted deer, and last but certainly not least, a mother and baby elephant.
On our way home to Woodside Hotel, it continued to pour. I was tired, cold, wet, dirty, and hungry. The harsh wind and rain was swallowing us whole as we rode down the slick streets. All I thought about during that time was how wonderful the US was. How I longed for a hot shower, warm dry clothes, a club sandwich from one of my favorite restaurants, and a peach belini to wash it down with. Then reality set in, I realized that we were going home to a mattress that was about a centimeter in depth, towels that reaked of mildrew, and a curry dinner. I couldn't eat anymore curry. I felt that if I did, it would probably come out of my ears!

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