On Safari

Hey everyone,

It's safari time. In just under an hour, we're heading out and the jeep will pick us up. Since I didn't want to waste time in the hammock, I thought I'd tell you about yesterday's day and our journey from Ella to Udawalawe.

With a tear in our eye, we said goodbye to Ella yesterday and decided to embark on another bus adventure. In just under four hours and with two transfers, we managed to leave about 100 kilometers behind us and reach the hot lowlands, just before the southern coasts.

When you change places, you feel like you're in a completely different country. The climate changes, the view into the distance, but also the colors of nature that surround you. It's a fresh start every time and the beginning of another adventure.

After yesterday's day, we can confirm some prejudices that claim that it is dangerous to ride domestic buses. Unlike the intercity buses, the slightly smaller rural buses are much older, more run-down, and worn out. However, these facts and the constant creaking and cracking of the bus during the journey do not prevent the drivers from racing through the winding roads of the highlands at what feels like a hundred miles per hour. Every few hundred meters, you hit your head on the seat in front of you because the driver seems to love braking from 100 to 0 in two seconds to let a schoolchild get on or a dog pass the road.

During the journey on the first bus, we sat next to the open door the whole time and could watch as the bus went into the curves only a few meters away from the edge of the mountain. That was a slightly uneasy feeling, and all the time I told myself "nothing will happen, after all, we're not the first ones to take this bus - the driver will surely know what he's doing."

Changing buses twice also means finding the right bus at least twice, fending off a horde of ambitious taxi drivers who want to take you to your destination for super "cheap" prices, and politely but firmly making it clear to the flying traders that you don't want to buy any more fruits, vegetables, or nuts because you never really know where these goods come from.

Nevertheless, it's worth it! It's always worth sitting next to the locals, driving through the many small villages, exchanging smiles, or having brief conversations with the person sitting next to you. All the things you can't see and experience when you're guided through the country by private guides and travel the distances between the individual stages in air-conditioned cars.

When we arrived at the guesthouse in Udawalawe, we were able to recover from the hardships of the journey quite well. A beautiful property with clean rooms and two hammocks in the garden.

Since we were the only guests until then, the manager could spend a little more time with us and spontaneously took us on a tour of "his" resort. He showed us mango trees, coconut palms, cotton plants, all kinds of fruits, and herbs. It was actually sweet to watch how much he loves his garden and how proud he is to be able to present all these plants and herbs here. In addition, at that moment, an iguana wandered through the garden, a squirrel eagerly tried to crack the coconuts, and some squirrels frolicked on the wall of the property. We are simply in the middle of nature here. And we noticed that when we encountered a two-and-a-half-meter long snake on our subsequent walk to the village. I can tell you, that was a shock. It rustled right next to me in the grass, and I thought it would probably be a dog, a bird, or a cat as usual. But quite quickly, I realized that this time it was not a pet. In the first moment, I felt like in one of those monster animal movies on Tele5. But that didn't last long, as immediately after the snake experience, we passed a school, from whose open windows about twenty young girls waved at us, blew us kisses, and greeted us excitedly with a few simple English words. Despite the increasing number of tourists, we Europeans are still something special here and accordingly often in the center of attention.

Okay... Short break, the jeep is here. Let's go, on safari! Yippee.

...

About three and a half hours later and with about 350 more photos on my camera, we just returned from Udawalawe National Park. Yes, we were in Udawalawe, not in Yala as originally planned. In fact, yesterday we spontaneously decided against Yala, the largest national park in Sri Lanka, because we heard stories that it would be super crowded there and the many jeeps with tourists on board would then go on a 'hunt' for the best motifs and animal sightings. And since we didn't necessarily want to support that, we quickly changed our route and went to the slightly smaller Udawalawe National Park.

It was really cool. We saw many elephants, water buffaloes, eagles, an iguana, a turtle, crocodiles, foxes, and incredibly many different birds. We can't compare it to Yala, but here too, there were moments when suddenly 6 to 7 jeeps stood side by side, with their engines running, trying to give 'their' tourists the best view. Not nice, but just business. Thankfully, that wasn't the case most of the time, though. Most of the time, it felt like driving alone through a savanna in Africa. It was hot, dusty, and the orange sand road wound through flat vegetation, past waterholes, lakes, and small forests. Animals everywhere, amazing sounds, and a pleasant, non-intrusive smell of wild nature. It was really beautiful!

We spent the two evenings at the accommodation. There was (of course) delicious rice and curry. But the special highlight this time was that we weren't alone. On the first evening, we sat until late with two young girls from Würzburg and philosophized about age, experiences, and life.

Today, we met an older couple from Norfolk, England. Another exciting evening, with a beer or two, fantastic stories, and a short debate about Brexit yes or no. Both were for no and always have been.

It was truly one of those special moments on our tour. And it was great to experience that age definitely doesn't matter.. You just have to take the time and overcome it.

In this sense, enjoy the photos. We're heading to bed now and tomorrow we'll hit the road again towards the sea. Sending you big hugs, Sina and Matti.