Elephants and Monkeys - Polonnaruwa and Minneriya NP

 Today had a little later start.  On the way to our first stop we spotted locals drying their rice on the road…we couldn’t believe that cars just avoided it and many remarked that it wouldn’t happen at home.  The barriers to the ‘rice line’ were sticks and branches…no signs, no drama!  

Our drive continued and we saw the largest of man made lakes (built around 11th C); rice paddies and lush fields growing sweet potatoes.  The structures on stilts in the paddocks are watch towers…where the farmers will sleep to watch for elephants who trash their paddocks.  They use fire crackers to scare them away, and farmers will take turn sleeping every night in these watch towers, working as a commune!

 Our beautiful air conditioned bus took us toward the ancient but well preserved temples, tombs and stupas of Polonnaruwa.  All designed in a Quadrangle complex.  We had bikes to ride between stops…and while the idea was wonderful, the head and humidity made it less so.  After a couple of stops, I opted to hand the bike back and bus it between the last two stops.  

We visited the remains of a seven story royal palace - the rock temple of Gal Vihara and the statue of 12th C King Parakrama.  There were large temples made of bricks that contained large stone carved Buddha statues - the windows designed to allow the sun to hit what would have been gemstone eyes to make the statue body sparkly with fleets of colour.  There were King palaces with audience halls and there was another temple that had large statues of  Buddha completely carved from the institute stone which looked to be granite.  How this could happen so many years ago without machinery just boggles my mind.  One statue (one of four) is carved of a fearless Buddha statues stands 8 m tall, is anchored in the stone it is carved from seamlessly and does not have any joins that I could see.  There are no chip marks either…no evidence of the sort of tool that made it.  The highlight for me was spotting a mother monkey who had a very new born baby clutching her belly.  The small group were not at all frightened when I stepped closer continued their grooming session before walking away….it was special.  

After our bike ride exploration, we drove on to a local Grandmothers house for lunch - to again have a traditional style lunch - chicken curry, papadums, a variety of vegetable dishes finished with fresh fruit.  

It was then onward to the Minnneriya National Park where we very quickly joined the conga line of safari jeeps to head towards a small herd of Sri Lankan elephants in the wild.  The jeeps were chaotic - each gently tousling for a vantage viewing spot and it felt like the elephants were surrounded.  They were mesmerising…we saw matriarchs with several babies in tow…juveniles of maybe 3-10 year olds and a very pregnant cow.  There were perhaps 10-15 in total - all slowly grazing as they walked and they didn’t seem at all concerned by the jeeps.  

We moved around the herd from various angles (along with another 20 or so jeeps) to watch them graze in the grassland field.  Occasionally you could hear communication between mother and babies - I suspect the Mumas telling the babies to ‘get this side of the jeep’.  They didn’t seem at all bothered by the attention and kept grazing away.   

We left that initial herd to head in another direction and managed to spot two males off on their own…one a young 3-5 year old, the other maybe 10ish.  The older one gave us quite a show, coming with inches of the jeep and gently plucking the grass and weeds it wanted, shaking the dust and grit off and then eating it.  It was a mesmerising process just watching his trunk twist and turn.  Arno told us he would heat 250 kg of grass in a day!  

We had hoped to see more wildlife but only spotted a few peacocks, pea hens and a couple of birds.  

While I was absolutely delighted to see the elephants which were the main attraction - it was a little disappointing not seeing any other wildlife…it seems the park is a series of hectic jeeps Criss crossing in hunt of elephants…little else would be game to venture from behind the bush!

It was a late finish….we had talked to getting beers and watching the sunset, but it got too late and the clouds were blocking the sun.  Arni checked the next hotel and we were warned that as it will be Sri Lankan New Year and subsequently shops will close, if we wanted supplies we needed to do it there and then… so a few little packets of biscuits and a bottle of gin found their way into my bag!

Lions, Monkeys, Elephants, Pots and Massages!

 Dambulla Day 2

It was a 4.30 am muster this morning in order to get to Sigiriya (Lion Rock) to watch the sunrise, but also importantly to walk the 1200 steps in the relative cool of the morning and without the crowds.   It was still dark as we arrived and we walked the long path to the rock with what looked like archeological remnants to our left and right, so I was wondering whether it would be worth it…you know how some people get really worked up about an archaeological site, and yet all you can see is a pile of bricks….well then you have some idea of what I was thinking.   

AI pic of what they believed it looked like originally

Well, Sigiriya did not disappoint.  It was a little challenging at times, not for the muscles but more for the mind!   At points it was an open metal staircase, relatively steep and my bifocal lenses did not help…by the time I got to the top, the knee was telling me it was time to rest but my stomach was telling me to stay on hard ground for a while!   We climbed the last few platforms to dangle our legs over the terrace walls and watch the sun rise to the east through misty mountains and lineal cloud formations - it was beautiful.   When the sun was fully up, the enormity of the Lion Rock was more evident than it had been in the dark.  At the top of the rock was once a palace - complete with throne and swimming pool - all built into the rock-a huge feat of engineering and labour and Arni advised it was built in 18 years!   I can only imagine it must have been thousands of people and/or they were worked extremely hard!

When we descended, the lion feet were more obvious - we had walked right through them in the dark.  

It was back to the hotel for some breakfast and a short power nap before we climbed into the bus for another adventure…but on the way one of the most wonderful things happened.  We were driving along the road, and blocking the traffic coming the other way was a wild elephant.  He just stood there!  The tuktuks were not game to drive past him for fear of him tipping them over, however our big bus posed no problem so we just drove right up to him and I stared a wild elephant in the eye!  He was magnificent and looked right back to me.  Absolutely magical.  

We drove on further to the Village of Murray Kadawala - to watch a Mother/Daughter-in-law combination of master potters who demonstrated traditional Sri Lankan pottery techniques.   THey use no machinery - one turns the potter wheel by hand, while the other shapes the pot from local clay.  They explained that the process from forming to firing can take 2 to 5 days depending on heat drying the clay pot before putting glaze on.    The firing is in an open kiln that they make each time, smoothing the mound of pots with a mixture of rice hay and mud to seal it.  It was quite fascinating.  

They also served us a local herbal drink made from bely fruit and Jalapa, a sweet treat wrapped in kenda leaves.   

Lunch was in a Farmers Rest Hut in a local village.  A series of locally grown homemade vegetable dishes, rice and curried fish, topped of with fresh fruit desert.  It was a great experience to visit how genuine locals live, and one of the ladies demonstrated how they weave palm leaves for thatching and how to dehusk the rice and grind it with a grinding stone.   

After the walk up and down 1200 steps, a couple of us felt a little spoiling was in order and attended a local Ashram for Ayurvedic Massages - I had the full massage and foot reflexology topped of with a 20 minute steam room….the massage was full body, including head and hair.  When that was done the masseur worked on all the pressure points in my feet for another 40 minutes.  My skin was buzzing for hours after - all the stimulation was a natural high.  I was covered in oil from all the massage and then taken to a steam room that was the hottest I have ever experienced.  The floor was covered with neem leaves and it was to take 20 minutes.  At the 15 minute mark the masseur checked on me - every part of my body, including the soles of my feet were sweating!    I stayed another a few minutes before leaving - it was suffocating!   I took a cool shower which was wonderful but the skin buzzing is still happening some 6 hours later!  

A jeep ride back to the hotel before meeting for a quick drink and dinner with some of the group.  It will be a good sleep tonight!