Blogs from Kegalle, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

Sri Lanka day 3 Two safaris, thunder, lightning and communication problems After 3 1/2 hours sleep I didn't hear either of the alarms we had set but luckily Claire did and we were soon up and ready to be collected for our first sfari of the day. I had booked and paid for two safaris via Tripadvisor and we re due to be collected at 5:30am. We tried and tried to explain this to Manuel (for he adopteth similar posturing to the character from Fawlty Towers) but he kept offering us tea and coffee and getting his mate to take us instead. He insisted on waiting for us at the end of the drive and kept telling us the jeep was late and asking 'jeep coming?' By 5:40 we were getting agitated more with him than ... read more

mmmm We've just been to the Maldives.....by mistake...... Apparently we're not the first and we undoubtedly won't be the last. Why is it never simple getting somewhere?? The trip began with roadworks and those dear numpties who love delaying people closing the mororway exit we needed to exit at. Luckily I like to get to the airport early and felt fully justified setting off early by the evil monster that is the M6. At the airport Claire had a pint of cheap lager, I had a coffee, it came to £9.35, I questioned it, it was apparently right. It's not right at all mate! We used their plug sockets to charge things and hopefully cost them a bit more. Gits. Istanbul airport is huge and we were getting our steps etc up as our Apple watches ... read more

In Pinnawala, on the outskirts of the town of Kegalla, Sri Lanka, there are moments along the day when it is better to be careful going out to walk on the streets. No problems with crime or the sun burns. No more than elsewhere. Traffic is not particularly aggressive. But it is the time when the elephants go to bathe in the nearby Maya Oya River. In 1975, the Sinhalese Wildlife Department decided to open a space where orphan baby elephants, coming from the jungle and from the Natural Parks of Yala, Bundala and Udawalawe were welcomed and carefully breed. Just on the first year six small proboscis, the two males Vijaya and Neela and females Kumari, Anusha, Mathali and Komali, already lived in the newly established orphanage. Initially the orphanage had several locations, including the ... 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