After we left the cool highlands, we headed down to the south of the island to visit the national parks. On our way, we sampled a custard apple, a bizarre fruit I have never seen or tasted before. The husband said it was a cross between a pineapple and an avocado, which seems like a fair approximation to me, but it really wasn't my favorite thing we tried. The boys also turned their noses up at it, but they did try, which is all we ask! As we were driving, our driver also mentioned that sometimes elephants wander out onto the roads that pass the parks and we should probably get some bananas to bribe them off. Wait, what? He also showed us the electric elephant fences protecting some towns. It seemed too bizarre to be real: elephants roaming free? Surely not!
After more slow progress, we did pass into the national park area and we started to see signs telling us to drive even more slowly to protect the animals. There were also peacocks everywhere, something I never thought about seeing. Who thinks about wild peacocks on all sides? Not me! Around one turn, we came across a tuk tuk stopped on the side of the road and the driver flagged us down. He handed us a half a jack fruit in a plastic bag in case we needed it for the elephants, and then waved us on. What is going on? People handing you free fruit as you drive along? But then, we came around a curve and there was an elephant in the brush beside the road. The driver drove past (quickly, for once) and then we stopped 50 feet away and watching the elephant thrashing around in the bushes. Our driver said we should wait and give the jack fruit to the next elephant (!), so we drove on...and ran into two more elephants. Look at the pictures below; we were actually closer than we seem in the photos, which was amazing! The boys were beyond excited, which was so much fun for all of us.
After our elephant encounter, we reached Katagarama, where we were going to stay for two nights and do a safari in the national park one of those mornings. To be totally honest, Katagarama was the low point of our trip. Our hotel was filled with bugs, there were no restaurants open for dinner when we arrived tired and hungry, the only "grocery" store in town sold only powdered milk and packaged cookies, and we were all a bit cranky. Eventually, we drove to Tissamaharama and ate a fine dinner but we were all wiped out and needed to get to bed early for our early morning safari. Fortunately, our safari was awesome! We ended up not going to Yala National Park as planned because they were closed because of drought conditions, but we went to Ruhuna, which is either another side of Yala or another park altogether; I couldn't really work out which! We loaded ourselves up into an open, elevated safari jeep in the dark hours of the morning and headed for the park, where we paid our entrance fee and drove off, the first of a half dozen other jeeps that were also there. And almost immediately we started seeing animals everywhere. I started to make a list so we could remember everything: monkeys, jackals, spotted deer, great kingfishers, green and blue tailed bead catchers (little birds), egrets, fish eagles (two kinds), white necked and white tailed storks, crocodiles, pelicans, water buffalo, mongooses (mongeese?), starlings, sand pipers, cuckoos, parrots, kites, crested hawk eagles, hornbills, imperial green pigeons, more peacocks, some other ferret-like animal no one could identify. And that's not all; I couldn't list all the birds we saw, there were so many. We were very close to all the animals and the boys loved it. Heck, I loved it! The safari was all it was cracked up to be, which was great because the boys had been looking forward to it the most. At the end of the safari, we hadn't seen any elephants, and apparently that's not allowed, so we left the part and drove off on the road we had been on the day before and, lo and behold, we ran into three, one of which stuck his trunk in the window of a passing bus in order to get the bananas he wanted. Apparently, the elephants hold the drivers hostage on the road until they are fed, because the drivers don't want to anger them and risk the elephants tipping over cars or busses or upsetting motorcycles. So they're wild elephants...with street smarts!
After the safari, I just couldn't face another night in Katagarama, so we decided to check out early and head to the beach instead, putting that sad little town behind us. It was the best decision we made, because the beach was so much fun, and you'll hear all about it next!
After more slow progress, we did pass into the national park area and we started to see signs telling us to drive even more slowly to protect the animals. There were also peacocks everywhere, something I never thought about seeing. Who thinks about wild peacocks on all sides? Not me! Around one turn, we came across a tuk tuk stopped on the side of the road and the driver flagged us down. He handed us a half a jack fruit in a plastic bag in case we needed it for the elephants, and then waved us on. What is going on? People handing you free fruit as you drive along? But then, we came around a curve and there was an elephant in the brush beside the road. The driver drove past (quickly, for once) and then we stopped 50 feet away and watching the elephant thrashing around in the bushes. Our driver said we should wait and give the jack fruit to the next elephant (!), so we drove on...and ran into two more elephants. Look at the pictures below; we were actually closer than we seem in the photos, which was amazing! The boys were beyond excited, which was so much fun for all of us.
After our elephant encounter, we reached Katagarama, where we were going to stay for two nights and do a safari in the national park one of those mornings. To be totally honest, Katagarama was the low point of our trip. Our hotel was filled with bugs, there were no restaurants open for dinner when we arrived tired and hungry, the only "grocery" store in town sold only powdered milk and packaged cookies, and we were all a bit cranky. Eventually, we drove to Tissamaharama and ate a fine dinner but we were all wiped out and needed to get to bed early for our early morning safari. Fortunately, our safari was awesome! We ended up not going to Yala National Park as planned because they were closed because of drought conditions, but we went to Ruhuna, which is either another side of Yala or another park altogether; I couldn't really work out which! We loaded ourselves up into an open, elevated safari jeep in the dark hours of the morning and headed for the park, where we paid our entrance fee and drove off, the first of a half dozen other jeeps that were also there. And almost immediately we started seeing animals everywhere. I started to make a list so we could remember everything: monkeys, jackals, spotted deer, great kingfishers, green and blue tailed bead catchers (little birds), egrets, fish eagles (two kinds), white necked and white tailed storks, crocodiles, pelicans, water buffalo, mongooses (mongeese?), starlings, sand pipers, cuckoos, parrots, kites, crested hawk eagles, hornbills, imperial green pigeons, more peacocks, some other ferret-like animal no one could identify. And that's not all; I couldn't list all the birds we saw, there were so many. We were very close to all the animals and the boys loved it. Heck, I loved it! The safari was all it was cracked up to be, which was great because the boys had been looking forward to it the most. At the end of the safari, we hadn't seen any elephants, and apparently that's not allowed, so we left the part and drove off on the road we had been on the day before and, lo and behold, we ran into three, one of which stuck his trunk in the window of a passing bus in order to get the bananas he wanted. Apparently, the elephants hold the drivers hostage on the road until they are fed, because the drivers don't want to anger them and risk the elephants tipping over cars or busses or upsetting motorcycles. So they're wild elephants...with street smarts!
After the safari, I just couldn't face another night in Katagarama, so we decided to check out early and head to the beach instead, putting that sad little town behind us. It was the best decision we made, because the beach was so much fun, and you'll hear all about it next!
No comments:
Post a Comment