silvernomads

It was sad to leave Yala as we had so enjoyed our safaris into the National Parks even though the roads were extremely bumpy and bone jarring - the wildlife more than made up for all those aching muscles! The Chaaya Wild Hotel was excellent, well located with the beach and lagoon so close to our jungle chalet. In fact as we were checking out the the swimming pool area was a ‘playground’ for a group of monkeys enjoying the vista whilst no-one was around and a crocodile was sunning itself on the lagoon edge behind the pool. Several Painted Storks were foraging in the shallow water which was fascinating to watch. They immerse their half open beaks in the water and sweep them from side to side and snap up any small fish that are ... read more

After breakfast we set off from Kandy to visit an elephant orphanage but our driver guide, Jaywa advised us to visit the Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF) instead which he thought was better and less ‘touristy’. The MEF charity has eleven elephants rescued from situations such as ill treatment from mahout owners or retirement from working in local temples. The MEF charity was founded in August 1999 with the assistance of the World Society for the Protection of Animals and has been working continually to improve the care, protection and treatment of elephants in Sri Lanka by providing a place of sanctuary and medical services and facilities for the country’s fast dwindling elephant population. Since the MEF’s inception, care and sanctuary has been provided to more than 60 elephants. The day we visited the foundation had elephants ... read more

We left Hikkaduwa on the South West coast heading towards Negombo via Colombo and the roads were busy due to public holidays and festivals. Sri Lanka marks the main Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and some Christian festivals as public holidays. The dates of many Buddhist holidays change from year to year as they are determined by the movements of the moon (Moon Days). April sees both Good Friday and also the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, so our visit coincided with both of these and the roads were busier than normal although ‘normal’ is still hectic. Whole families ride together on individual scooters and motorbikes - we saw many carrying both parents and two children and some even with three children including very young babies squashed between the adults. It was quite strange to see one coming ... read more

Where in the world would you hear someone say ‘may you live long’ upon meeting you for the first time, but in the Cook Islands - the Cook Island greeting Kia Orana, means exactly that. It is a unique first gesture of friendship from a special Polynesian people, renown for their hospitality and warmth. This we experienced as soon as we set foot in this island paradise being greeted at Rarotonga Airport with smiles and song even at the late hour of midnight, which was the time we finally arrived. The Cook Islanders have their own Maori language and a population of about 13,000 scattered over 15 islands. They are believed to be related to New Zealand Maori and it is thought that they arrived in the Cooks about 500AD. Later the land was divided among ... read more

We came out of the Atherton Tablelands and continued on to Etty Beach which had been recommended by the previous campsite owners. In fact they had even telephoned and booked the last available power site for us as we had forgotten it was a holiday weekend and we were lucky that they had one space available. The hills of the Tablelands were now behind us and we travelled through large banana plantations equally matched by Sugar Cane fields. As we neared the coast we rounded a small headland and stopped suddenly for in the road right in front of us was a huge Cassowary. We had been hoping to see these very unusual birds since we arrived in Queensland but had almost given up as everyone said they are very rare. They are an endangered species ... read more