In 2004, the devastating Tsunami from the Indian Ocean killed 40,000 Sri Lankans and wiped out countless homes and villages along the southern end of the island. The enormous waves that headed straight for Sri Lanka wrapped themselves around the coast from Colombo in the west to well up the east coast. Over a thousand people lost their lives in a commuter train that was swept away.

As we travelled along the coast from Yala towards Colombo, there are still many signs of the devastation. Some buildings still remain in ruins, while the rest have been built in these last 13 years. The vegetation is quite barren in some places.

We stopped at a memorial, of which there are many, for the lives that were lost. In the picture below you can see a sculpture that shows the height of the four waves that hit the coast. In the background is the slab foundation of a guest house where over 20 people perished.

Tsunami memorial

This was in the Yala National Park. Nature is amazing. When the waves hit, all the wildlife had moved inland, and were safe.

We’ve had a great time enjoying the variety of things to see and do in Sri Lanka, but have been looking forward to our visit to Yala National Park and Nature Reserve – a lot! It’s 1200 square kilometres in the south of the island, and mainly dry woodland, scattered with brackish lagoons. The big drawcard here is the leopards. There are thought to about 40 of these beautiful, elusive cats in the area of the park that we will visit and it’s considered one of the best places in the world to see a leopard in the wild. As well as about 300 elephants, they have 200 species of birds, water buffalo, spotted deer, wild boars (not a big attraction for us), crocodiles, mongoose, monkey and the very rare shaggy coated sloth bear.
We stayed at the gorgeous Cinnamon Wild Resort which has a long driveway at the entry skirting a lake with painted stork, water buffalo, pelicans and crocodiles. As we slowly passed the lake we were greeted by two crocs mating. As you do when the tourists go by. The pool (not the lake) was a great place to be in the 38 degree heat after the 6 hour drive from Arugam Bay.
Our hopes were high as we headed off at 5.30am for our safari. There are dozens of companies using hundreds of converted jeeps to trawl the dirt road in the park looking for wildlife. At least we are not here in the peak of the season. Praki says it gets a little bit crazy then.

Our first encounter was with this lovely creature…….

There were many groups of spotted deer. We saw one pair having an antler fight, making a racket with the click clacking.

Unfortunately, if you see deer, there are probably no leopards around. Not a good sign for us.
We came across some amazing birds. Our guide, Praki, knows all about the wild life here. He’s like a walking encyclopaedia.

Adjuvant

Chestnut Headed Bee Eater

Peacock

There were plenty of peacocks wandering about, but none that showed off their tail.
We saw this wood pecker (below) tapping his head off on this tree to make a nest.

Next up – the Hornbill. Such a weird looking bird!

Hornbill

There were crocs in most of the water holes, hanging out harmoniously with water buffalo and birds. Clearly not hungry while we were watching.

A little one.

A medium one.

A big one.

Still no leopard.
The kingfishers were easy to spot with their stunning blue colour. When they fly you can see they are red breasted (left) and the one on the right is white breasted.

And some other birdlife…

I’ve read that sometimes the elephants are hard to find here in Yala. Luckily this wasn’t the case for us. We saw this huge male, about 30 years old, pop out of the bush, no indicator, and lob in front of us. So we followed him down a track…..

…..all the way to the lake where he cooled himself off with a few sprays of water.

Cooling off.

We loved watching him.
And still no leopard.
But……we came across another couple of vehicles stopped ahead of us with cameras pointed to the scrubby bush on the left. As we reached them, we saw a mother Shaggy Coated Sloth Bear and two cubs – one riding on her back and one following behind. Here’s the best photo we got below. It all happened so fast.

Shaggy Coated Sloth Bears

The safari jeep driver was excited, Praki was excited, and we were really, very lucky to see these bears. Smiles all over the Landrover!
On the way out of the Reserve, we found a group of elephants sheltering in the shade in the heat of the afternoon.

Adult and three young elephants

See the baby hiding out the back?

It’s a female with three young ones. She must be babysitting for other mums. The smallest baby is only a couple of months old, and the other two less than a year old.
As we rolled back into the resort we could watch the evening antics of the residents in the lake while rehydrating…with a gin and tonic of course.

Evening animals

We had a great day, and even though we never saw a leopard I think we scored one better with the Sloth Bear family…….you see: glass half full. I think Praki felt sorry for us! He has been to this wildlife reserve over 70 times and seen the leopards about 36 times (I think he keeps count). He kindly shared the photos below with us. Our leopard day will have to wait.

After Kandy, we headed east through the countryside to the coast. After the hustle and bustle of Kandy, and the tourists of the ancient sites and temples, we spent three nights in Arugam Bay. It’s a tiny place of a few hundred people. But it’s packed with cool places to stay right on the beach, more cafes and restaurants than you could believe and one long street. There’s yoga, real coffee and hammocks galore.

The view from the rooftop bar in our hotel.

The beach is lined with fishing boats while their owners hang out waiting for the next tide. This area has a significant Muslim population, and they tend to keep together at one end of the beach.

Looking toward the point.

It was really hot here, at least 38 degrees the whole time, and no wind. The water was the place to be.

Keeping an eye on the kids

The visitors here are mainly surfers and backpackers, lots of Europeans as well as Australians. John and the boys met a guy in the surf who lives about 100m from us back at home and recognised John from surfing at Winki. Then he met another guy from Geelong whose kids go to the same school as ours. Very small world.

Now for the surf….Arugam is supposed to have the best right point break in Sri Lanka, and is pretty well-known amongst surfers. (I’ve never heard of it) It’s also a good excuse to go somewhere off the beaten track. John and the boys managed three solid surfs each day, plus a couple either side.

Patrol Tower, Sri Lankan style

We ate great curries, numerous lassies (fruit smoothies made with yoghurt), yummy roti and paratha breads – in fact we ate way too much. No body wants to get on the scales for quite some time.

One morning we went a half an hour’s drive along the coast to Whiskey Point for a different surf break. It was super hot on a barren beach – the tsunami smashed everything away here in 2004 – so I found a lovely new hotel with a nice pool while they surfed. But then they found me …….

The three Musketeers

It wasn’t our idea, but Praki wanted to show us some of the lovely Botanical Gardens (147 acres) started by one of the last kings and enhanced by the British during the time of their rule. And we are glad he did. It was a peaceful, green break in what had been a frantic few days.
Some of the trees are pretty old now and unique to Sri Lanka. Most visiting VIPs get to plant a tree – like Yuri Gagarin!

Big old tree. A good climber.

If you followed our blog back in 2012 when we travelled round (half of) Australia, you would know that I have a devotion to the Boab tree which I found the need to hug at every opportunity. Nothing has changed for me, so when I saw this stunning Queensland Kauri tree, well I just had to give it a hug.

Love!

There were many highlights, and it was well worth the visit.

HUGE canopy on this beauty.

Sitting 500m above sea level, Kandy has a (very slightly) cooler climate than the lower lying rest of Sri Lanka. The hill town was once the capital and fell to the British in 1812. It has many beautiful colonial buildings from that era including the stunning Queens Hotel which would rival the better known Raffles in Singapore.

Queens Hotel is at the lake’s edge behind the trees.

The town sits around the lovely Kandy Lake, with the hills covered in old architecture and remnants of the British rule.

We also went to a cultural show with plenty of local drummers, singing and dancing finishing with some very showy fire walking and even more impressive fire eating. I reckon my chicken biryani was better though.