Blogs from Udawalawae NP, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

Pleasing to report that this time the brochures did not lead us up the dusty bumpy path in search of a pipe dream, and there are, in fact, a heap of elephants in Udawalawe National Park. First item on the agenda today was a cooking class, which actually consisted of us sitting and watching Geoff cook. They clearly read my brief! But he did a great job of curried dhal, which we then enjoyed for breakfast. The call of the airconditionined car had us almost breaking into a sprint from the tent, and we all looked as though we’d run a marathon by the time we got there! Drove like maniacs to the Elephant Transit Home where they take abandoned young to raise before putting them back in to the park. The babies live in the ... read more

Today, because it was so special, I've included a large number of photos. Hopefully everyone will enjoy them and feel some of the joy we felt being able to do this safari her in Sri Lanka. Udawalawae National Park was originally created to provide a habitat for animals that were displaced when the Walawae River was dammed. It was created in the early 1970's and is about 300sq km in area. It is a very important habitat for both water birds and Sri Lankan elephants. In addition to the park there is an elephant transit facility for the rehabilitation of orphaned baby elephants to ultimately release them back into their natural habitat. The baby/young elephants are raised here for five years then returned to the park where they are, presumably, accepted into the herd (to be ... read more

Given that we were chased by an elephant back in Kaudulla, I was a bit dubious at first when I realised we were surrounded by a small herd of them in Uda Walawe. But our latest jeep man seem unconcerned as did the elephants. Udawalawe National Park is one of the main parks in Sri Lanka and around 10kms from where we were staying. Today's jeep is the best one yet giving Glyn leg room for once, a roof and my feet didn't touch the floor. As always we had the back of the vehicle to ourselves.The early morning drive took us past the reservoir with the sunrise reflecting nicely upon it. Wire fences run along the edge of the road to apparently stop the elephants wandering into traffic, but they still come right up to ... read more

Crikey, day 10 already! Must be time to move on too as we've been in this place for THREE whole nights. The people have been lovely but the bathroom doesn't drain properly so you have more sand in your feet when you come out than when you went in. Also the fan is crap and nights have been very hot-during another power cut last night the room would have baked bread. But the breakfasts were good and plentiful and included in the bargain price of just over £6 per night. No haggling, no pretending to know English, just £6 a night. The other day our tuk tuk driver had introduced us to his son who had a tuk tuk too. Quelle surprise! He had offered to take us to Uda Walawe for 5000lkr in under 2 ... read more

When I was waiting at a bus stop in Ella, a man approached me and offered me a ride to my next destination. At first he offered it to me for 2000 rupees, then when I refused he went away. He came back about a minute later, and offered it to me for 1500. Nope. The bus was approaching and then he offered it to me for 1000 rupees. Rain was brewing as I looked up. Would have cost way less to take the bus but it would have been three bus transfers in potentially crappy weather. Plus 1000 for a 110 km ride in a car was a steal. Turned out this driver had brought two travelers up to Ella and was heading back and wanted to make some kind of coin, regardless of how ... read more