Visit Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, the Dambulla

12^th March 2017

Our program for today is to heads out of Colombo, heading North to Dambulla with a few stops along the way.  We were all checked out and on our way by 9.15am,

Today is Poya Day, a sacred day on the Buddhist calendar which occurs on the full moon each month, is a public holiday, and alcohol is not allowed to be served in public places.

Colombo is a spread out city and it takes quite a while to clear suburbia, before we are out in the countryside. The outer suburbs are really not much different, perhaps slightly more modern in a few areas, but still shophouse lined roads busy with traffic and people.

Once in the rural areas we see signs of the agriculture that supports much of the population, rice paddies, coconut plantations ( in some cases cinnamon was planted under the coconut palms), rubber trees and various fresh fruit and cashew nut stalls along the roadside. We stopped at one and bought some rambutans to eat along the way.

Rice paddies

Coconut plantations

We stopped to buy some rambutans

There are a number of Buddhist Shrines also, with large Buddhas, some located high on hills overlooking townships.

Our first destination is the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, established to protect Sri Lanka’s abandoned and orphaned elephants. The orphanage now boasts a herd of around 70 elephants and has become a major tourist attraction.

We arrived at around 12 noon and some of the elephants were shortly expected to walk back through the town, from the river where they had been taking their daily bath. Within 15 minutes the street from the river to the reserve was filled with elephants , slowly returning to their reserve.

Elephants on their way back up from the river

Once they were all back inside, we entered the reserve, and went to an area where they were feeding to get a closer look.

In another area of the reserve a few small elephants were in a separate yard and were quite playful.

By now it was getting warm and we were getting hungry. Our driver suggested we walk down to the river to have lunch at a hotel on the riverside, and we can watch another lot of elephants enjoying their bath in the river. It was a great idea, although being Poya Day, we couldn’t have a cold beer.

The Sri Lankans are great recyclers, making paper from elephant dung ???

Enjoying our lunch watching the elephants bathing

Having enjoyed our visit to Pinnawala, we were back in the mini bus and on our way to Dambulla. We are climbing up in elevation of there are more patches of thick rainforest, where land was not cleared for coconut plantations. We also begin to see more monkeys, not all of whom seem welcome by the roadside stall holders. We also see the odd one in some of the small towns we pass through.

Typical small town streetscape

There are more Buddhas and a few Stupas. The landscape has also changed and were are seeing a lot more mountainous peaks, , some looking like volcanic plugs.

As we approach the lake on which our hotel is built, the daily afternoon storm strikes with very heavy rain. The roads have degenerated to narrow dirt roads and progress has slowed.

In light rain we arrived at the Heritance Hotel Kandalama, our home for the next 3 nights. It was designed by one of Sri Lankas’ famous architects, Geoffrey Bawa, and it sits high on a ridge along the edge of the Kandalama Reservoir. It is designed to blend in with the environment and is very nice.

Because it is surrounded by natural vegetation and rocky outcrops, we are told not to leave our windows or balcony doors open or unlocked when we go out, otherwise we can expect to have monkeys visit.

The hotel has 2 restaurants and we thought we would try out the buffet one tonight. It doesn’t open until 7.30pm, so we have a drink from the mini bar with Sharon and John, as apparently this is allowed on Poya Day.

The storm has come back with vengeance with very heavy rain and lots of lightning. We have a long walk along covered outside corridors to get to the restaurant, but manage to get there without getting wet. Once seated, we are surprised that the waiter thrusts a wine list in our hands. I asked if they were allowed to serve wine on Poya day, and it seems the restaurant got a special dispensation.

The buffet was excellent with a wide range of well prepared local and Western dishes. It really is the best way to try the incredible range of Sri Lankan dishes.