Sigiriya - Village life with wild elephants

Sigiriya is a small village surrounded by diverse nature. The place is known for the Lions Rock and the ruins on and around the rock. There are also many wild elephants and other animals here. Signs on the roadside warn of encounters with the animals, as they can be quite dangerous.

Today we took a tour on a scooter. Our first stop was the gas station, because we ran out of gas - apparently this is common in Sri Lanka. The gas station attendant was very communicative. In general, the locals in Sri Lanka are very open-minded. You always get good tips for sights and excursions. That's how we heard from the gas station attendant about the sighting of elephants that were only 1 km away from the gas station. So we hopped on the scooter and headed towards the elephants 😁. And indeed! Suddenly an elephant came running out of the forest and stopped by the roadside to eat 😃😍. We stopped immediately opposite the elephant on the side of the road, which was unreasonable and dangerous, as we later learned. It was impressive! When do you get to encounter such an impressive and wild animal up close?!

In the afternoon, we took a tuk-tuk tour with our host through the surrounding villages. What sounded like a relaxed exploration ride turned out to be more of a tuk-tuk safari for us! He showed us many beautiful places and viewpoints off the beaten path, and we saw so many animals. We were particularly impressed by the beautiful lakes and the many different birds. He also told us a lot about the local nature and picked fruits and herbs for us to try. During the tour, we saw chameleons, eagles, pelicans, kingfishers, water monitors, weaver birds, cormorants, and many other animals.

At the end of the tour, we suddenly had to stop because there was a traffic jam on the road. From the jungle, which extends to most of the roads here, a huge male elephant had stepped onto the road. Since it is mating season, the bulls can be aggressive and one should keep a sufficient distance. Only when the bull took a few meters away from the road, the locals dared to continue driving. Although this encounter with the impressive giant left us feeling a bit uneasy, the tour showed us once again how much we love Sri Lanka. We both felt really arrived on our journey today and are very happy that we have already decided to return after the Maldives.

In Sigiriya, the encounter between humans and nature is also very evident. The elephants live in the surrounding forests and have to pass through the human habitat to move from one forest to another. They don't let walls and fences stop them and tear them down if they can't get around them. Since they also like to eat rice from the farmers' fields, there are tree houses on many fields where the farmers keep watch at night to protect their harvest. There are also several signs for humans warning of places where the risk of encountering elephants is particularly high.