Sadly, we are leaving Castlereigh Bungalow today, to continue on our way to Yala wildlife park. We really enjoyed our stay here. After a Sri Lankan breakfast of egg hoppers, curry, dhal, a couple sambals and potato curry, we were ready to hit the road with full stomachs.
Tea was served in our room at 7 am , prior to 8am breakfast
Egg Hoppers for breakfast
Once we berthed on the other side and had the bags transported back up to the minibus, we were on our way by around 9.15am.
Today we are heading to Yala National Park for our wildlife safari. We have to go over the mountain range on a very narrow road which carries a fair bit of traffic. Understandably, progress is slow and the driver really earns his keep avoiding trucks, buses, tuk tuks and motorcycles. One party often has to reverse to find room for both vehicles to pass.
We continue to be amazed at the huge stands of Australian Eucalypts that are widespread through this countryside
Equally as surprising, is that the tree of choice in the tea plantations to provide partial shade for the tea bushes, is Grevillia Robusta, Australian Silky Oak.
The scale of the tea planting in this region is difficult to describe. We seem to be driving through wall to wall plantations for hours, on pretty ordinary roads.
We stopped to stretch our legs near the top of our climb
There are tuk tuks are everywhere (see how narrow the road is)
Finally we are back on flat country, driving along a lakeside when we spotted a wild elephant just strolling along the roadside, but inside an electric fence that has been installed to keep them off the road.
There were no decent places to stop for lunch along the route we had taken, so our driver had warned us ahead of time to organise a packed lunch from our bungalow chef. It was 2.30pm, before we finally stopped by the road to eat it.
We were now only an hour or so away from our final destination, the Cinnamon Wild Hotel in Yala National Park. The countryside has become very flat and scrubby, with plenty of wetlands, and we are quite close to the coast.
Arriving at 4 pm we had our usual welcome drink whilst the staff checked us in. It was the first time we had been offered a mouth freshener on arrival, a teaspoon full of coarse sugar crystals and cumin seeds.
Soon we were off to our comfortable bungalows, fortunately they are close to the main facilities. We are warned not to leave our room in the dark, but to call reception for someone to escort us to the restaurant etc. Wild animals roam the hotel site at night. We were so close to the facilities we didn't bother.
Our room
Once settled in we went for a walk around to get a feel for the place.
The main restaurant
There is a very nice swimming pool (we are told not to swim in the lake, as there are crocodiles)
It is still very hot, so we go back to the room for a bit of air conditioning therapy, before going back out again a little later to have a better look around.
It is now getting close to dusk and we walk down to the lake to see if there is any wildlife.
First thing we spot. are the crocodiles.
Next the water buffalo start appearing from around the corner for they evening soak.
Mother and calf
Then the real entertainment began. Monkeys began appearing out of the bush and were swinging through the trees, stopping for a short meal, before continuing in the direction of the swimming pool. The presence of all of the people watching didn't disturb them at all.
This one let us know what he thought of us
This big guy had the prime dining position
We then discovered why they were heading to the pool. It is obviously a lot safer to have a drink here than by the lakeside, even if you do get a bit of chlorine.
Once they had their drink, they turned on the entertainment, rampaging around the pool, bouncing off the furniture and lounging in the bean bags that had been spread around one part of the pool.
We went off for a drink, and whilst in the upstairs bar above the restaurant, we heard what sounded like thunder. It was actually the monkeys landing on the roof and then scampering down to a lower roof to observe us having a drink.
It has been a long day and we are hungry. We agreed to give the buffets a break and went to the "Pug Marks" bar / a la carte restaurant for dinner.
The restaurant was surprisingly busy and there was only one table felt near an overhead fan, so we sat down and studied the menu. We asked if the fan could be turned on and we then faced with our first dose of Buddhist reality. There was a birds nest on the fan, and therefore it could not be used, as it would potentially harm the birds.
Undeterred, we had our meal and opted for an early night as we are "on safari" from 6am tomorrow morning.
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