From May 25th to June 6th we traveled throughout Sri Lanka. We arrived in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka at approximately 12:00 am on the 25th… midnight! After a late check in, we crashed hard. The next morning, Dad had to work early, so we went to the buffet breakfast with Mom and then headed to the pool. When we first went to the hotel pool, it was pretty cloudy and we suspected it was going to rain. Then, part way through our swim, it started pouring! Charlotte and Mom got out and took shelter under a cabana, while Nat and I stayed and played in the pelting rain and wind. Eventually, it got so windy that the pool staff said it was too dangerous to stay in.
After quick showers, we went to Dad’s friend Sid’s house. Sid has a young daughter named Layla. She is 3 and was happy to have some new friends come to her house and play. We had lots of fun.Then we went to dinner at Paradise Road, The Gallery. It was an awesome day.
The very next day we took a 2 hour drive to Galle. Galle is at the very southern tip of Sri Lanka. We stayed in a beach front villa named “Victoria”. When you first walk in, you have to cross pavers that look like they’re floating in a fish pond. Then, you enter a courtyard with beautiful art, comfy seating and a private pool. On the far side of the pool was a staircase leading directly to the beach. It was paradise.
On our 4th day we went to the Mohamodara turtle hatchery. It had big turtles, small turtles and even eggs. There are five kinds of sea turtles in Sri Lanka. They are the (1) loggerhead turtle, (2) olive ridley sea turtle, (3) hawksbill sea turtle, (4) green sea turtle, and (5) leatherback turtle. The hatchery offered a free tour of its facility which included 7 or 8 medium sized concrete tanks. These tanks held 1 or 2 turtles each. The turtles were previously injured and either awaiting veterinary help or recovering and preparing to be released back into the ocean. After the tour, we had the amazing opportunity to release baby olive ridley turtles. The babies were only four days old and were kept in a separate circular tank. We were able to select a baby turtle from the tank and carry it carefully to the ocean. The ocean had huge waves and our baby turtles were very small, so we had to quickly place them on the beach at just the right time so they would get swept out to sea. It took a few tries, but eventually they all made it.
After our turtle adventure, we drove to Weligama Beach to go surfing. We had never surfed before, so we took a short lesson. Then, we rented our surf boards and hit the waves! Even though I was new to surfing, I was able to catch a few good waves. Surfing is a mix of easy and hard. The easy part is standing up. The hard part is staying up - keeping your balance while the wave is moving. After surfing, we ate lunch at the Nomad Cafe. It was a really fun day.
The next morning we got up early and took a two and a half hour drive to Yala. When we arrived, we met our resort ambassador. He showed us around the resort and took us to the beach while our room was getting ready. We found a tortoise in the rocks on the beach.
It had a very nice shell. After that, we went to our room. Our room was called a cocoon. Cocoons are domed shaped rooms. Ours had a private pool with salt water filtered from the ocean. We also had a walkway to a second room called an urchin. This is where the kids slept.
Yala offered two safaris: one in the afternoon, and one in the morning. Since it was afternoon when we arrived, we took a dip in the pool then went on the afternoon safari. We saw lots of animals including skinks, parrots, an elephant family, mouse deer, spotted deer, a leopard, crocodiles, spoonbills, water buffaloes, hare, peafowl, jungle fowl, painted storks, blue heron, white egrets, white headed eagle, common hawk, lesser adjutant stark, mongoose, stilt birds, serpent eagle, giant squirrel, squirrel oriel, monitor lizard, and langur monkeys. There were a lot of sightings!
After the safari, we went to an outside event called “sun downers.” Sun Downers occurs around sunset every night. Guests go to the beach, chat, drink and eat snacks. We got mocktails and treats. Then we rested and did a little school work before dinner. It was a long day and we were exhausted… so exhausted that we all voted to skip dessert!
In the morning we went on the morning safari. We saw a lot of the same animals with the addition of a wild boar and a few new birds.
We then did some schoolwork and swam at the pool. Dinner that night was outside. My dad’s work friend joined us. After eating, the grown ups chatted and I played around the firepit with Nat and Charlotte. We had a lot of fun. The next morning we went for one final swim and then headed off to Ella.
Ella is a beautiful town in south central Sri Lanka that is known for its tea plantations. In contrast to the capital city of Colombo, Ella feels calm and quiet with rolling green mountains and waterfalls. We spent 3 nights in Ella and stayed at a hill side hotel called 98 Acres. When we checked in, we were received with a special welcome ceremony which included a blessing from the staff. They had a tray with a candle, flowers and some sweet tea drinks. Then they lit incense and circled it around our heads while giving us a red dot on our forehead. The red dot is called a “tilak” or “bindi” and is a traditional way of warmly greeting guests. Our tilaks were red and orange powders mixed together and then gently placed between our eyebrows. I liked it because it made me feel welcomed and special. (Although, later on I didn’t like it because it got in the way of my hat).
We checked into our rooms, dropped bags and headed out immediately to hike Little Adam’s Peak. Unfortunately, the hike was in the sun all the way to the top. However, since we started in the late afternoon, it wasn’t too hot. It took us about 30 minutes to climb up to the peak viewing area. From the top, we overlooked mountains of tea plantations, the town of Ella and the Ravana Pool Club. On our way down, Nat and Mom decided to try the zip line (neither of them had ever zip lined before). Charlotte, Dad and I continued down the path to the Ravana Pool Club.
Our hotel pool was closed for renovations, so we were given access to the Ravana Pool Club. Dad had our swimsuits in his backpack, so we quickly changed and jumped into the pool. The water felt great and from the pool we got a good view of the zipline and the countryside. When Mom and Nat joined us at the pool, Dad left early to do some work back in the room.
We stayed and played and even did some dancing when the club DJ showed up!
After a good night’s sleep we woke early and headed off for Ella Rock. Ella Rock is a huge rock formation right outside of town. It takes about 3 hours to hike to the top. The trail is a little tricky to find because it starts on railroad tracks, but then veers off into the tea plantations. Luckily, we only had to double back once. We were heading along when we saw a man standing on the trail. He pointed into the bushes and said there was a cobra. Sure enough, there was a large snake right next to the trail. We carefully picked our way around the snake and continued on our way. Mom and Dad had read about people trying to scam hikers by placing snakes on the trail and then offering to guide them in a different direction for a fee. We aren’t sure if the man was trying to scam us or not, but it was certainly crazy seeing a giant snake on the trail!
We hiked and hiked and finally reached the top. From the top of Ella Rock, you can look down and see for miles around. Ella Rock is much taller than Adam’s Peak, so the view is more impressive. There is a large stone ledge that juts out over the hillside. We didn’t get too close to the edge, but could still see a lot. There was a large eucalyptus tree at the top and Charlotte and I had fun playing in the tree and peeling off large pieces of its already-peeling bark.
After that, we hiked down and stopped midway at a small stand for fresh coconut water. The stand had some really cute baby goats. After our break, we found the railroad tracks and hiked for almost an hour in the sun all the way back to town.
We ate lunch and then hired a tuk tuk to take us to a famous railroad bridge called 9 Arches. (Somehow we squeezed all 5 of us into the back of one tuk tuk!) 9 Arches is a large train trestle that crosses a steep ravine. The train comes between 6-8 times a day, but when there are no trains, tourists walk along the tracks and take pictures.
We timed our visit so we could walk the tracks and then watch as a train rolled through the tunnel and over the trestle. During our time at the 9 Arches, we met a very sweet dog (who we named Layla). She followed us around and was super cute and friendly. Nat wanted to bring Layla home with us, but Mom said no. (Nat has probably asked hundreds of times to bring animals home… and Mom is always the bad guy).
After our long day on the trail, we decided that we had earned one last good swim. The next morning we woke up when it was still dark and headed to the Colombo Airport for the next leg of our journey… The Maldives! Little did we know it was going to be some of the best snorkeling we had ever done…
