Sigiriya - 150 elephants and a wonderful hike to the sunrise

On the next day, as planned, we drove with Namal to Sigiriya in the north. There was also a hostel owner from Munich in the car, but she spoke to Namal in such a rude and condescending manner that we just couldn't stand her. Namal would have liked to do a safari with us after our arrival in Sigiriya, to which the Munich girl protested.
It was nice that Namal still stopped at two temples and a spice garden. Here we promptly received a little tour given by an incredibly lovable local plant lover. The funny thing was that after 10 years of working in the tourist-infested spice garden, he had learned to tell every single sentence of his tour in German and with an ultra funny accent, more or less comprehensible. It was hilarious.

We continued to Sigiriya. There we said goodbye to Namal, who promised to do the safari with us next time.
In Sigiriya, we were greeted by an incredibly cool hostel located in the middle of nowhere. There were hammocks outside, a slackline was stretched between the trees, and the walls were painted. Everything seemed very harmonious and peaceful. We took our beds, which were hanging from the ceiling on a rooftop terrace.
Next to my bed was a sign warning of monkey thefts. Wow, what an unusual outdoor accommodation.

In the afternoon, a jeep arrived to pick up other guests from the hostel for the safari. Since there were still two seats available in the car, we spontaneously decided to join. Wrong decision, because the safari was terrible. Two guides, both of whom didn't speak a word of English, drove us to a starting point from where we made our way into the jungle in a convoy of countless other jeeps. We drove directly along a well-traveled trail to a water body where 150 elephants were standing. We stayed there for a long time, then drove to another spot on the water body and eventually turned back.
Sure. It was incredible and absolutely fascinating to see such a huge herd of my favorite giants in one place. Even more frightening, however, were the many, in the end there were probably between 50 and 100 jeeps, on which tourists blocked each other's view with their huge cameras. The noise of camera buttons being pressed was louder than that of nature.

So, this was supposed to be a safari?
For me, it was really not a pleasant experience, but rather a visit to the zoo. In the end, it was a (albeit expensive) proof for us of the incredible luck we had with our special night safari in Panama.
We spent the rest of the evening at the hostel. Singhalese food was cooked for us and the entire hostel, as there were no restaurants around, had dinner together. We got to know many other backpackers, exchanged stories with each other, and had a few beers together.

On the next day, Merle and I went on a hike to the 'Pidurangala Rock' with an Australian and a Dutchman, where we watched the sunrise over the famous and most famous mountain in Sri Lanka, the 'Lion Rock'.

The unbelievable view and listening to the awakening and increasingly loud sounds of nature left me speechless and was one of the absolute highlights of Sri Lanka.