Sri Lanka 3. Onwards and Upwards, then Downwards

 

an early morning walk up from our accommodation at Amba

not wildly encouraging

Most passengers disembarked from the train at Ella leaving it to trundle on along the single track to some unknown destination.  Ella used to be a small village with not much other than the station but now it’s a large tourist honeypot village,
mainly catering to young backpackers.  We’ve seen these places in many countries, cheap accommodation, cheap restaurants and bars with virtually nothing of the host country on show.   Pausing only to buy some of the four inch long delicious bananas we never see in England and being asked if I wanted them for today or tomorrow, it was bye bye Ella.

 

Clove Tree Cottage

After a tortuous climb into the thickly wooded hills we got to Amba Estate where we were staying for a couple of nights in the delightful Clove Tree Cottage.  That climb took us from a fairly high altitude to an even higher 6.000 feet so we had sunny mornings, comparable to a good English summer, and cloudy late afternoons.  A really comfortable climate and a perfect tropical location for me.  
There were glorious views along the valley from Clove Tree Cottage with huge hills to either side covered in trees and dotted with the odd habitation.  Occasionally a path could be seen zigzagging its way up and down, only to disappear as the sun moved and the shadows highlighting the paths moved with it.  Yes, I know it’s us spinning rather than the sun moving but do cut me some artistic slack. 

 

Amba is an organic farm, guesthouse and social enterprise with a co-operative relationship with many of the locals, selling and incorporating other farm products in some of theirs.  They grow tea, coffee, spices and make some good jams which I’ve never seen before.  Ginger and Passion Fruit turns out to be absolutely delicious.   The tea bushes are inter-planted with acacia which fixes nitrogen in the soil so they don’t have to spread fertiliser around while the bushes themselves are sprayed with an organic foliar feed, cow urine, which can be definitely smelt on the air in the plantation but not in the cup.  It is very peaceful here with noise limited solely to bird song and the odd voice heard from a distance across or along the valley.  The food, which was traditional Sri Lankan was very good indeed consisting of about five or six different curries with unsurprisingly, rice.  Dessert was the commonest in Sri Lanka, curd with syrup.  Curd doesn’t sound so good to me but it’s just buffalo yogurt with sweetener and really is delicious, especially after curry.  I don’t remember anyone ever questioning Miss Muffet’s diet.  We liked it so much here that  we decided we’d try to come back at the end of our organised tours for the last few days before flying home. 

 

two more views from a walk in the hills above Amba

After too short a stay, Niroshan arrives and we head down from the hills to the much hotter and drier plains where we’ll begin a variety of safaris and early morning starts.  Many people associate Safaris with East or South Africa but Sri Lanka has some wildlife which might surprise a lot of people.  There’s also prolific bird life, many of it with outrageous colour schemes but also many LBB’s (birders TLA for Little Brown Buggers).  Fortunately, Niroshan is excellent on birds. 

 

Niroshan and Heather tucking into a King Coconut

Bundala National Park is where we’re headed for an afternoon safari.  It’s on the coast and at 62 sq km is a relatively small National Park but it is a Ramsar site (wetland of international importance).  For comparison, according to Wikipedia Poole is 64.88 sq km.  On the way we stop for a traditional refreshment, a King Coconut.  These are a russet colour, unripe with the husk still on.  

The stallholder lops off the end to make a hole and there’s a coconut brimful of delicious, cool coconut milk sitting in a natural insulated container.  No plastic at all if you’re quick enough to stop a straw being shoved in it.  Once we’ve finished and following a request from our Sinhalese Speaker in Residence, a sliver is almost cut off the side and the whole coconut is split into a hinged pair of halves.   We tear the sliver off and it becomes a spoon to scoop out the very soft coconut flesh from inside.   Having Niroshan with us we pay between 50 rupees (18p) and 80 rupees (30p) per coconut but are yet to find out what the opening bid for one is when we’re unaccompanied.

 

 

A Land Monitor, this one's about 3 feet long

Bundala is a maze of shallow lagoons of both fresh and brackish water, saltpans, water channels, extensive reedbeds and many small pools.   We transfer to the standard vehicle for such trips, a four wheeled drive open sided jeep with three or four rows of two seats behind, raised higher than the driver providing us with
clear views all round.  We have a driver who’s separated from us in the cab and just us two and Niroshan in the best seats.

 

Black-winged Stilt

Streaked Weaver Bird nest

Before we get in the park there are birds to see.  Well they just don’t recognise the boundaries do they ?  Some we recognise from Europe but just as for all the trip so far many are exotic to us.   However there are a lot of Black-winged Stilts, one of my favourites.  Bee-Eaters are everywhere.  Just in the park we see our first elephants which are always a big treat to see the in the wild.  These are Sri Lankan Elephants, the largest of three sub-species of Indian Elephants but still smaller than the African Elephants and with smaller ears.  While both male and female African Elephants have tusks only male Indian ones do and even then it’s only about 7% of them.  These days only Indian Elephants are trained to be ridden or carry out heavy lifting but I have often wondered (yes, this is the way my mind works) that Hannibal and his famous Alpine trip to beat up the Romans would have used African Elephants.  Presumably the knowledge of how to train African Elephants has been lost. You just have to experience the sound of a herd of elephants moving because there isn’t any.  They are completely silent although probably not on the rampage or a Saturday night out.  So anyone who accuses someone of making a noise like a herd of elephants is almost certainly unwittingly paying a compliment.

 

female elephant and calf about four months old

Even in a 3 hour visit we see Langur and Macaque monkeys.  I imagine the root of the word is different but Langurs do move in a languorous way and are very elegant while Macaques are somewhat more rowdy.  There are many crocodiles posing dangerously like logs on a bank or in a river, some just showing a snout above the water.  Most water buffaloes we see are appropriately standing or sitting low in the water.  We also spot wild boar, Ruddy Mongooses and many birds.  Incidentally, I have nothing against the mongoose, it is called the Ruddy Mongoose.

 

Water Buffaloes doing what Water Buffaloes do


and to finish, why do you think I carried our room safe to the hotel restaurant ?
 

Covering 19 Jan 22 – 21 Jan 22