Udawalawe National Park

In the morning, we went on a three and a half hour safari through the national park. We were only two and had a driver and a guide just for us. The vehicle was a pickup truck with seats built on top.

On the way to the park entrance, we saw a lizard about a meter tall (later we even saw one in our garden). In the park, we saw elephants (smaller than African elephants and most of them don't have tusks) including baby elephants, buffalos, deer, an eagle, jackals, kingfishers, and bee-eaters - beautiful little birds, peacocks, a chameleon, and crocodiles. We didn't see any leopards (there are only four in the whole park).

During the crocodile-spotting, we almost got stuck in the mud with the Land Rover, and while the wheels were spinning, I got a decent amount of mud on me (photo above). But that's part of it!

The visit to the park was a great experience overall, and we were very happy with our guide and the driver.

In the afternoon, we stayed at the resort and enjoyed the pool and the pleasant weather. In the evening, I had a different kind of experience in the pool :) We were hanging out at the edge of the pool, facing away from it, when a frog crawled onto my shoulder from behind (previously, it had swum through the pool at an astonishing speed). I was startled for a moment, but then we laughed heartily at this surprise.

At night, we were delighted by the fireflies dancing around our terrace.