Last day of another incredible adventure

Today I had planned a lie in, but the noise of the local traffic had other ideas. I didn’t mind too much, today was all about being lazy.

Yesterday I bought a ‘lucky moonstone ring’ but at the price I paid, I’m 99.9% it’s not real. It didn’t however bring me any luck today as I fell over in the sea and cut my knee, got very badly sunburnt, walked into the sunbed and bruised my shin and got bitten on the arse cheek by a mosquito. Thank God for aloe as I am currently very much on fire.

Decided to treat myself to a full body massage as well. No whale music here, just the sound of all the local tuktuk. It was so relaxing until she turned me onto my back, took the towel off and started massaging my stomach. She was edging ever so close to the boobies.. I think she saw my shocked ‘please don’t touch the nips’ face and decided to move onto the shoulders instead.

During our walk along the beach we were joined by some more local wildlife; the cows! It was nice to see some well kept animals rather than the scabby dogs.

Santa has enjoyed plenty of beer and wine today as he took full advantage of happy hour. We sat and watched the last sunset, enjoyed another varied buffet dinner, quality controlled the whole of desert corner and got the cases packed ready for an early start and long long day of travelling tomorrow.

Nilwala & Galle Fort

This morning Santa was left in bed whilst we went on a boat! Again we were treated to an array of wildlife as we cruised down the Madu River, including Kingfishers, fruit bats and water monitors. We were taken to cinnamon island where we watched them prepare… you’ve guessed it… cinnamon sticks and oil. I will never look at a cinnamon stick in the same way again due to amount of work that actually goes into it!

After the boat safari we headed to a turtle hatchery and conservation site and were able to see babies that had been born this morning 😍 we were able to hold some that were three days old, as well as seeing the work the project does with turtles who have been injured. They even had albino turtles which unfortunately could never survive in the wild. It was great to see their work and how passionate they were about the turtles.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at two of the monuments Sri Lanka has in memory of the 2004 Tsunami. I hadn’t really thought about Sri Lanka being affected by it, but 30,196 lost their lives here alone. Passing through the village where the monuments stand and you see empty houses where whole families lost their lives and they have been left untouched since that day.

We got back to the hotel and found Santa who had been sunning his rhino skin by the pool and beach. We grabbed a tuktuk and headed back to Galle Fort to do some shopping. A few ice creams and fridge magnets later and we hopped back into a tuktuk to tackle the rush hour traffic. I think I might invest, they manage to dodge everything!

This evening alcohol was back on the menu so we enjoyed cocktails and beer whilst watching the sun go down over the ocean. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Galle

We left Udawalae this morning ready for the long drive to Galle where we will be spending the last three days. Before hitting the road we stopped at the Elephant Transit; an orphanage for baby elephants to try and rehabilitate them. All 40 of them came for their 9am feed of milk and leafy branches which was so lovely to watch. I particularly liked the baby who was getting very stroppy because he wanted more food; he is literally me in elephant form. There was even one with a wooden leg! Unfortunately it includes one of the worst toilet stops. I don’t even want to know what I was paddling in….

We arrived at Galle Fort around lunchtime so headed straight for a beer; however no alcohol could be served today (for some obscure reason) so Santa had to settle for a Sprite instead. Hopefully the rule doesn’t extend until tomorrow as the hotel has a 4hr happy hour!

We had a short time in Galle Fort as is definately somewhere we will head back to tomorrow; via tuktuk of course. There’s some fabulous little shops there, I might have to buy a new case just to take it all home.

We enjoyed another sunset over the ocean tonight. Not as spectacular as our first one here but still a beautiful one. I am looking forward to relaxing on the beach on Friday, and finally getting a lie in.

Lunugamvehera

Today was the super early alarm time of 04:45! We were given breakfast boxes to keep us going on our way to Lunugamvehera National Park, however some of the contents was rather questionable.. I decided not the put the sausage anywhere near my mouth!

The safari started on the same style of jeep as yesterday and we crossed a bridge made of railway sleepers. How this thing can be classed as safe I have absolutely no idea 🤣 but we managed it across alive and didn’t plunge into the water below through the very rotten wood. We drove around for 3 hours but unfortunately we didn’t get to see any leopards. We did however see a huge variety of eagle (including one pulling a lizard apart!) Kingfishers, Bee Catchers, a very rare (so we’re told) Paradise Flycatcher and of course, peacocks! We also had a few crocodile and jackals thrown in as well. Our tour manager told us that in 20 years he has never been round a park where he hasn’t seen an elephant or a wild boar… How bloody typical!

This afternoon we were finally able to strip off, don the bikini and relax by the pool. It was much needed after a few days of early starts. Santa’s head is obviously glowing from slightly too many rays. Cases are all packed ready for us to move on to the final part of Sri Lanka tomorrow!

Udawalawe

We had an early start this morning (not as early as tomorrow mind… 04:45 alarm set 😭) as we had a lot of distance to travel. We left the dizzy heights of Nuwara Eliya and travelled through the mountains, stopping off at Rawana Ella Falls on the way. Standing at 19m it was a lovely place to visit but so many stray dogs everywhere (even more than normal) which was quite upsetting to see.

After a quick bag dump at the next hotel we headed out for Udawalawe National Park for our first of two safaris. We had probably only been going for about 5 minutes before we saw our first elephant. Words can’t really describe how amazing it was to see them being in their natural habitat. We saw adults and babies; eating, drinking and playing. We saw a large variety of beautiful birds and a slightly out of place peacock. Further into the safari we saw water buffalo and crocodile as well as an eagle. The landscape was spectacular and like nothing I have ever seen before. The rays coming through the clouds made it even more dramatic. As like every day so far, when 5pm came the thunder and lightning started and the heavens opened. My god did it rain!! But what an experience being in that environment in a storm.

Today has been an incredible experience and one I will never forget!