January 10
Today we left Galle. We have had a very enjoyable stay in Fort Thari Inn. No complaints with it at all. Sadly Summit only told us this morning that he could arrange a car to take us to Uda Walawe and he would have given us a good price.
We had arranged to meet our car and driver round the corner at the restaurant but the driver very kindly came to meet us and help carry the bags. So far we have not been onto the fort ramparts this early in the morning- well 9.30am before all the tourists arrived. It looked deserted. The children from the village school were huddled under the trees for shade. It’s still pretty hot at that time of day. The children look very smart as they all wear white. The girls have white dresses and the boys have white trousers and white shirt.
We were introduced to our new driver and bags were loaded into a smart air conditioned minibus. The estimated journey time was just over three hours. We travelled along the coast road in the direction of Matara and then turned onto the new dual carriage way.
One sign we do not see in U.K. Is: SLOW, BEWARE PEACOCKS. I commented to Paul and asked the question why peacocks? We soon had the answer as we slowed down to allow two beautiful peacocks to cross the road.
The main EO1 is a toll road which the driver paid as we went through the toll. We were then back onto single lanes passing through towns.
The driver pulled over and picked up his wallet before leaving the bus. I assumed he was going to cross the road to the bakery to purchase his lunch but Paul told me he had seen a police officer with a speed gun and sure enough a quick look through the rear window and our driver is walking away with a police officer. When he came back I tried to ask questions but with his broken English I didn’t get all the answers I wanted. I understand he was stopped for doing more than 50k in a town area. I asked if it would cost him money and he said no but I’m not sure that conversation was fully understood.
Driving in Sri Lanka…. well we thought it was bad in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia but this is about the same. Put you life in the hands of who ever drives you!!!!! There is a pushbike on the road, the Tuk tuk decides to overtake it. A car comes along and decides to overtake both of them. Our bus comes along and can’t wait so on a blind bend chooses to overtake the car which is overtaking the Tuktuk which is overtaking the motorbike. I just shut my eyes and pray. This is pretty well the style of driving regardless of who you go with, blind summits, bends, single lane traffic, nothing stops them from overtaking if there is another vehicle in front!!!
Thankfully we arrived safely at LeGreen, Uda Walawe.
We were greeted by a number of staff who soon unloaded our bags and we were directed to the reception area where we were given a complimentary fruit drink and asked which elephant tours we wanted to do as we were only here 2 nights.
We chose to go to the elephant orphanage and see the baby elephants being fed.
This is a rehabilitation centre where the babies are rescued and cared for until the age of five years when they are released back into the National Park.
They have evidence of their success in the last twenty five years with elephants being released and going on to be parents themselves. There is no contact with the elephants by the public and we had to stand on a viewing gallery behind several electric wires.
The elephants seem to come to the area naturally from the neighbouring surroundings. They are fed 4 times a day. We went to the 3pm feeding. The elephants are allowed into the feeding pen in 4,5 or 6’s. They walk up to a rail where the keepers are standing behind with either very large bottles or a tube and a funnel.
The elephants are fed their quota of milk. It is just so adorable to see the very small ones being fed with their bottles and how their trunks hold onto the bottle. Once they have had their milk they wander to the side where a pile of sugar cane awaits them. The whole process probably only took half an hour but it was very interesting. It all seemed very natural for the elephants. Once they had all been fed a care man herded them up and pointed them in the direction of the gate and they sauntered out into the wild again till the next feed.
I would recommend this sanctuary (Elephant transit home) as from what we saw the elephants live as naturally as possible.
We then went into the information building. There are some very interesting facts here on the life of an elephant. Very well presented for adults and children.
Our Tuktuk driver was waiting for us in the car park and returned us to the hotel. Time for a quick swim in their pool before dinner.
There is nothing else around here for miles so be prepared to eat in your hotel. At least this one has some beer!
We had a very enjoyable dinner, Sri Lanka Curry and rice cooked to order and very well presented.