Day 05 - Wednesday 23rd January

Today we would be doing an early morning safari in Yala National Park. So it was another early start. Because it was still dark, we had to organise for a staff member to escort us to the reception area. There we picked up the breakfast boxes that had been prepared for us and set off in the jeeps at about 5:30am.

Once again the first stop was at the park HQ to buy the entry tickets. However, the park doesn't open until 6pm and so we were in a line-up of jeeps waiting at the entry gates. The sun was appearing over horizon at about 6:15pm.

I guess the purpose of going early was to maximise the chance of seeing animals but it was a disappointment because the sightings were fairly sparse. Perhaps the prettiest animal we saw was a painted stork.

At about 8:30am, we stopped at what looked like a camping spot next to the beach. It probably wasn't a camping spot but it was the closest thing to civilisation since we entered the park. There were toilets and dozens of jeeps had parked there for a break from the site-seeing.

On the way back, we saw the highlight of the morning. Someone had spotted a large animal in the lake near a side road. When we arrived, it looked like a big grey blob but then we saw it flap its big ears above the waterline and realised that it was an elephant having a bath.

Shortly she decided to roll over in the water. So we saw her four legs in the air above the water. Then she rolled over and stood up so she could spray water over herself with her trunk. Finally, she slowly walked out of the lake onto dry land. This made this morning's outing worthwhile.

This afternoon, we would be driving to Nuwara Eliya. When the bus set off at about noon, we soon came across a group of monkeys playing on the road in front of us. There were buffaloes in the lake beside the road and further on we saw local people swimming in a canal next to the road.

Soon we stopped for lunch at the Calorian restaurant which is across the road from restaurant where we had lunch yesterday. This restaurant has a thatched room supported on timber poles. As with yesterday's restaurant, many of the patrons were young backpackers.

The road then took us up into a mountainous region. It was a very windy road. I would have felt more comfortable if there had been some fences or barriers between us and the valleys below - particularly because our bus wasn't always on the left side of the road.

Near the top, we stopped at a waterfall, Ravana Falls. It was obviously a popular tourist spot and was made even more interesting because of the monkeys playing on the side of the road, in the trees, on the rooftops, on the signs and across the bridge. They were having a great time.

At about 4:15pm, we reached a town called Ella and turned off the main road onto a rough, narrow road. When we stopped, Neil said he wanted to show us a great view nearby, Small Adam's Peak.

For the first part of the journey, he organised tuktuk to take us along the narrow dirt track on the side of the hill. Then we had to walk the rest of the way. Several of us have heart problems and decided to stop climbing when we saw how high the mountain was.

By this time, we hadn't had a comfort stop for a while and so I accompanied Suzy and Mandy to walk up a nearby hill to a hotel complex overlooking the valley. This would have been a great place to stay.

The bus left the area after 5:30pm. According to our itinerary we were supposed to have been at our hotel by now. I overhead Neil ringing the hotel several times: "I know we are supposed to be there at 5:30 but will now be 6:30"; "I know I said we would be there at 6:30 but it will now be 7:30.

In the end we reached the hotel at about 7:45pm - more than two hours late. Neil kept on saying we were late because the road was windy. I kept wondering how the road could have suddenly become windy today whereas it wasn't windy in the past.

The Grand Hotel at Nuwara Eliya is truly grand. Apparently, it was built in 1891 as the residence of the former Governor of Sri Lanka, Sir Edward Barnes. It is in the style of an Elizabethan-era manor house.

We received a royal welcome from a line-up of staff before proceeding to our rooms. It was an impressive room except it had twin beds with separate sheets and doonas. Because of the altitude, it had heating in each room. However, there was no air conditioning.

Dinner was in the hotel restaurant which was also truly grand. It was like walking into the ballroom in a palace. The buffet meal had plenty of choice in the main room and there was more to choose from in the enclosed terrace next door.

Our group sat at one long table. Suzy and I ordered a Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Chile. There were two pianos in the room and there was a musical duet entertaining us next to one of them. Someone had found out that it was Neil's birthday and they presented him with a small cake with a candle on top.

I loved the choice of chocolate desserts - a great way to finish a long day.