We arrived back from the Nuwara Eliya region late in the evening. The remaining few days of our trip would be spent with family and friends.
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Traveling to the end of the world.
One of our last excursions was to Horton Plains National Park - a world heritage site in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. We visited "World's End" - a sheer precipice with a ~3,000 foot drop!
Read MoreTea!
One of the best parts of our trip was exploring a little bit more of the family staple: tea!
Read MoreRamboda Falls, Sri Lanka
Ramboda Falls - the 11th highest waterfall in Sri Lanka and 729th highest waterfall in the world.
Read MoreRoyal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya
Gratuitous flower and orchid photos await you...
Read MoreAt the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka.
The Pinnawala elephant orphanage provides a safe home to elephants who would otherwise not survive in the wild.
Read MoreKandyan Cultural Dance
One of my favorite parts of the trip was our visit to Kandy - the "cultural capital" of Sri Lanka. On the night we arrived, we attended a traditional Kandyan Dance.
Read MoreI miss my family. (An evening at the Dutch Burgher Union)
One of the best parts about visiting the Dutch Burgher Union was the discovery of an Art Gallery in the facility - and a list of featured artists that have shown there over the years.
Read MoreA brief window into Galle Fort
After meandering our way down the coastline, we finally found ourselves at Galle Fort.
Read MoreMoonstone Mining
While I wasn't much of a jewelry person before, I will say that watching gems being mined makes me think even more about what I'm purchasing and how it is produced.
Read MoreTemple in the sea
On the way to Galle Fort, there is a temple that sits just off the shoreline.
Read MoreThe Ariyapala Masks Museum & my acquaintance with mask-making
I was determined to dig a little deeper into the Mask-Making aspect of Sri Lankan culture.
Read MorePolonnaruwa
One of my favorite stops, without question, was Polonnaruwa. A UNESCO World Heritage location, you can spend days in this site without seeing everything.
Read MoreMaalu Maalu - Fish Fish!
Our trip to Sri Lanka was a little bit of everything: family time, new places, intense, beautiful, relaxing... Maalu Maalu in Passekudah was definitely part of the "beautiful, relaxing" portion of the trip.
Read MoreAn afternoon at Arugam Bay
Though it was not quite the season for surfing, we decided to make a day trip to Arugam Bay anyway - and it wound up being a pretty fun adventure.
Read MoreTragedy at Dutch Bar
Our quest to explore the country and find other Dutch Burghers led us to the Batticaloa area.
Read MoreWar, Beauty, and Trincomalee
The Trincomalee leg of our trip was intense, and the Trincomalee area itself a wearying place to travel.
Read MoreKanniya Hot Springs - Trincomalee
While staying in Trincomalee we went around to some of the local sites, one of which my aunt remembered visiting as a child: Kanniya Hot Springs.
Read MoreSigiriya - the Lion Rock citadel
Fortified in the 5th century, Sigiriya is one of several World Heritage sites in Sri Lanka.
Read MoreMinneriya Wildlife Sanctuary
Colombo is awesome, but there is soooo much more to see in Sri Lanka. After a few days of visiting relatives, we hit the road. Our first destination: Minneriya National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary.
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We arrived late in the afternoon. Apparently the best time to go is in the morning (and in August) - so the staff were a bit surprised by our arrival. We piled into a jeep anyway and prepared for a wild, dangerous adventure.
And apparently this is my safari face:
We stood up in the jeep holding the cages and drove through the park for about two hours, ducking for branches along the way. Our guide said he wasn't sure we would see an elephant - but that we would give it "full try - full try."
Even though it wasn't the right time of day or the right season, there were still loads of beautiful birds in the park.
(Peacock ≠ elephant.)
And even though we didn't see very many animals in the park, the scenery itself was really lovely.
(bird ≠ elephant.)
Sri Lanka is home to some of the most beautiful birds in the world.
Monkey! A Grey Langur.
(monkey = awesome! But monkey ≠ elephant.)
We saw a family of spotted deer frolicking in the woods.
(deer = cute... but deer ≠ elephant.)
And then they saw us.
But they didn't dart - they kept eating. Apparently my safari face is not very intimidating.
After our two hour tour, we left the park. But our driver took us on a little side route before heading back to the hotel. You see - apparently the road cuts through part of the giant national park. At dusk, you've got just much chance of seeing elephants near the road. And as the sun began to set, to the right of the road, we saw three elephants walking along the edge of the woods!
Because it was dark, it was really hard to get a good shot... but I still managed to capture the moment. Elephant = elephant!
eee! It was really amazing and a very different feeling to see an elephant in the wild. So majestic!
Links of Interest
- Wikipedia: Minneriya National Park
- Sri Lanka Tourism Site - Minneriya National Park