Last Days in Sri Lanka!

So, I'm sorry it's a bit late. We haven't seemed to have the time but using the Internet in India is hugely cheaper than in Sri Lanka so I am doing them both today!

Our last few days in Sri Lanka were particularly memorable ones, we met our driver early morning on 16th April. He was the same age as us and pulled up in his sisters car, a very nice Japanese people carrier with A/C. We started early and went down the south coast further east towards Yala National Park, along the way stopping at a Turtle hatchery, Various Buddhist Temples and to see the stilt fisherman. The towns: Koggala, Welligama, Mirissa, Matara, Dickwella, Tangalla until we reached our destination... Tissamaharama.

It was all very interesting and there was some particularly idyllic beaches along the way but what struck me most was the turtle hatcheries, I can't say I enjoyed this experience. Though the people are doing a good thing in general, buying eggs from local fisherman and replanting them safely in protected sand to expand the turtle population, I couldn't help but think there is NO WAY that it is a non profit organisation and that the poor big turtle they kept in a tank not much bigger than itself to show visitors what they grow into looked extremely un-happy and Daniel and I almost smuggled it out and ran off with it down the beach!! The day was otherwise fantastic and finished in a trip to Yala National Park by Jeep! This was a truly magical experience and certainly lived up to my expectations for our first ever safari. In moments of entering the park we saw a leopard and hoards of elephants of all ages! There was loads of peacocks (Which made me think of home and Grans house) and some beautiful colourful birds. I have to say I think the monkeys were my favourite, they swung daringly from tree to tree in an almost acrobatic manner! We stayed there late and had the pleasure of a sunset on our drive back.

The next couple of days were followed with a magnificent trip to Ellie and a walk up "Little Adams Peak" I know...we planned to do the big Adams Peak but ran out of time. I am however slightly glad about this as I struggled with making it to the top of the little one! We had the most enchanting view of the mountains in the place we stayed in Ella and even when it began to thunder and lightening, Dan and I still sat out on the balcony admiring the shots of lightening snatch down the valley while the rain poured down! Just Phenomenal! After this we headed to Kandy stopping through Budalla, Nuwara Eilya (Little England) and other little stops on the way! By this point Daniel, Sharn and I had talked about everything and anything. Sharn was a great driver and a lovely guy who very kindly drove us to the airport the next day at 2am in the morning for our flight to India.

In all Sri Lanka was a beautiful country and very friendly although not backpacker friendly and everything isn't budget apart from when we stayed at Ransi and Phillips at the South Ceylon which incredibly cheap compared to anywhere else we found!

Onto India....