First stop in Sri Lanka was Hambantota. We went on a Safari. It was about a 70 minute ride each way. Not really the way they portrayed it but still we had a lot of laughs. There was ourselves and our friends and two people from the cruise ship who were from Zambia. As we were approaching the reserve area one of the people from Zambia called out excitedly that there were elephants ahead – they were actually cows and some water buffalo. We didn’t let him live it down the rest of the journey – it set the tone for the rest of the safari. We saw a peacock, some spotted deer, lots of cows and water buffalo, I think there were a few oxen as well. We did see a few beautiful birds, monkeys, many elephants (the real ones) and some wart hogs. We rode in an open air jeep above an air conditioned cab for the driver. We didn’t miss the fact that the driver was completely safe in his air conditioned cab while we felt a little like bait in the open aired jeep. It was a long five hours over bumpy terrain and the wind rustling through our hair. Did I mention that the weather was sweltering and humid? It was good to get back to the ship.
Our second stop in Sri Lanka was Colombo. Here we arranged a private tour (with friends) of the area. The weather temperature was 88 degrees but noted that it would feel like 108 degrees – and it did. We stayed mainly in the immediate city area. We went to a park, the municipal hall, sampled tea and toured the city areas. In the end we decided to go back to the ship a bit early because it was so hot out. Tomorrow will be our first day in India.
there are many photos of the safari – click on the first photo to enlarge and scroll through all. The Colombo photos are separate so again click on the first of the set and scroll to see all
