Welcome to Sri Lanka, a beautiful and incredibly underrated country floating off the Indian peninsula. I was privileged to spend 5 days exploring Sri Lanka with a personal guide as part of Singapore Airlines’ #squadSQ trip. The first day of this trip was spent seeing as many elephants as I could. Straight out of the blocks I visited elephant orphans at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage then went on an incredible Minneriya National Park safari, where elephants, water buffalo and many species of bird can roam free. On the way was Dambulla Rock Temple, so we squeezed this in as well.
I arrived in Sri Lanka at about midnight the night before. I opted not to buy a washing machine or flat screen tv in the duty-free market (?!) and met my guide from Aitken Spence Travels in arrivals who took me to the Cinnamon Lakeside Resort in Colombo. Thankfully I was travelling business class on Singapore Airlines so I was comfortable and fairly well rested when I landed.
After a very brief stay at the Cinnamon, my guide — Thushith — and I headed out in the morning for our first stop of the tour: Pinnawalla Elephant Orphanage.
Pinnawalla Elephant Orphanage
We arrived at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage during bathing time, which seemed to be the best (and very popular) time to visit. Bathing time happens every day at 10 am is where about 40 elephants come out to the lake for a play and a wash in the water. The elephants were quite placid but were happy enough that people were around.
There was plenty of space for the elephants to be themselves and I didn’t get the impression they were being oppressed or anything like that (contrary to a few reports I read prior). Some of them came quite close while others were happy to keep a distance. There were a couple of elephants couple that were having a real good play about 50 meters away, splashing around. It was fun to watch.
One guy handed me a small bunch of bananas and said “here, feed the elephants” I said ok without really thinking as he put them in my hand. As I gave it the tiniest bit of thought I realized he probably wanted money from me for the service so promptly gave them back. My guide confirmed this. One thing I’d forgotten about developing countries is that where there are tourists, there are locals hoping to trick the tourists into giving them money.
We then walked across the road to where the elephants live when it is not bathing time. There is a nice open field for them to play in and a handful of elephants were left behind from batching because they are either too young or might be aggressive toward the other elephants. If that’s the case we saw a couple in chains and I believe this is for the safety of the visitors and the other elephants.
Animal tourism is a bit divisive these days, and rightly so because animal attractions in some parts are truly exploitative. But I didn’t get that vibe here. I didn’t feel like the elephants were mistreated and it’s important to remember that the elephant orphanage is exactly that: an orphanage. It isn’t a sanctuary where the aim is tourism and elephant rides, it’s an orphanage for elephants whose mother either died or abandoned it. Some were born there, but because they were raised by human hand, it would be tough to reintroduce them to the wild. So it’s an orphanage first, and tourist attraction second. Welcoming tourists is how they fund the operation.
The road from Pinnawalla was beautiful. It wound through villages and was a constant stream of green on both sides with the density of houses and local shops, ebbing as we flowed through villages. Banana and palm trees featured heavily on both sides as well as iluk grass, which looks similar to sugar cane and up close not dissimilar to lemongrass. Every now and again the trees would clear we’d have a lovely view of rice fields dominated by a mountain backdrop. It’s a great part of the country to drive through.
There was an area on the way to Dambulla where the forest completely blocked out the sky and monkeys roamed free. I saw them climbing on vines and sitting on the roofs of the local restaurants waiting for food. If we’d had time, it would have been a pretty cool spot to stop. Unfortunately, the itinerary beckoned.
Dambulla Rock Temple
The second stop of the day was in Dambulla. Specifically, the Dambulla Cave Temple. The Dambulla Cave Temple is one of the popular attractions of Sri Lanka. It has supreme historical and religious significance to Buddhists. When we arrived, my guide suggested I put on some long pants because in Buddhist temples they want knees covered (and shoes off). I didn’t love this requirement because it was a million degrees out, but since he was a Buddhist himself, I wasn’t about to offend him by ignoring his and the temple’s request. That could have made it a long tour!
From the car park, it was about a 10 minute walk up a hill on stone steps. For anyone with even a hint of fitness it’s a pretty easy walk. We stopped about halfway where the trees cleared and gave a lovely view out over the plains and nearby hills.
It’s a strange sight, the Dambulla Cave Temple. There’s a large, wave-like rock overhanging the hill and the Buddhists have built a facade in under it such that it appears that the building is actually supporting the rock.
Inside are hundreds of Buddha statues and frescoes spread across 4 caves. It’s incredible to see these statues and paintings that have survived for centuries, hidden from the elements and protected from vandals throughout centuries. It’s quite dark inside and lighting is minimal so photography is challenging, but the detail and skill is so evident.
We spent about an hour at the temple in total, including the walk up and down.
Safari in Minneriya National Park
When my guide picked me up from the airport last night, one of the things he asked me on the way to the hotel was if I was interested in doing a safari in addition to Pinnawala and Dambulla. I said if there’s time, absolutely. We made time and squeezed it in and it honestly ended up being the highlight of my 2 week trip on the entire #squadSQ tour.
If I leave you with one piece of advice for your next Sri Lanka holiday it’s this: do a safari!
I left my guide and boarded a Jeep at the adventure station about 15 minutes from Minneriya National Park. The safari track began surrounded by a dense scrub with a thicket of trees on either side. One way in, one way out. After only a minute or two I hear a “tap tap”. It’s Chamara, the guide for the safari (who is deaf and can’t speak well) tapping his ring on the roll bar to signal to the driver he found something. It took me a minute to see it, but sure enough, there was a gecko or lizard perched on a nearby tree.
I don’t know how he saw it. Maybe being deaf has genuinely heightened his spotting ability. A little further along I hear again, “tap tap”. Everyone else has missed it but on a low branch on a passing tree was a small Green bee-eater. I was starting to be really glad that Chamara was on my side.
The next one was a little easier to spot. Amongst the dense jungle was a lone elephant. Excitedly I pulled out my camera and snapped away as if the obstructing branches did not exist.
The road continued, winding through bush, bouncing over years of Jeep tire track ruts, holding onto the roll cage with one hand for stability, DSLR in the other. After 5 or 10 minutes of bush I was starting to wonder what kind of safari this was. Is it just spotting one small animal at a time through the bush? Maybe.
Then I caught a glimpse.
The trees cleared for a moment and in the distance I saw hundreds of small dark shapes grazing on the grass by the lake. The grin did not leave my face from that moment. Shortly after, the trees pulled away to reveal plains and lake and a herd of elephants and water buffalo just doing life together.
We followed the road around left and my heart sunk for a brief moment. In front of me and surrounding a small herd of elephants were 25-30 other jeeps, all vying for the best photo spot. I thought for a brief moment this safari was going to be us and 30 other jeeps chasing herds of elephants around with our cameras. Thankfully it wasn’t like that at all. Rather than queuing up we decided to come back later. We took a 180 and headed to the other end of the park.
We rounded a herd of water buffalo by the lake and entered the second part of the park where there were even more elephants. We stopped for a break near this large concrete structure that seemed to be some type of viewing platform. It was in amongst the trees so you couldn’t actually see much of the view but it was a nice rest stop. We saw another small group of elephants really close up before heading back to the large herd back by the lake.
There were a few Jeeps parked on a path with a good view of the herd so we stopped with them and just observed. The elephants played and elephant cubs followed their mothers. After about 15 minutes I noticed that one of two were walking towards us. Not long after about 10 or so followed and soon enough I didn’t need the zoom on my camera because they were within metres of the Jeeps allowing for some great photo opportunities.
Then, from behind us, a lone elephant appeared and approached a senior looking elephant. They exchanged words and had a tussle for a few minutes which certainly kept us in the cars entertained.
In between water buffalo and elephants, Chamara also spotted a handful of birds. We found a white-bellied sea eagle, an Indian roller, little green bea eater, Red-wattled lapwing, and a lesser adjutant.
The day was getting on and we’d been out in the sun for 2 hours by then so we called it a day and headed back and Thushith drove us to the hotel.
Stay at the Heritance Kandalama
The Heritance Kandalama set the tone for what would be a list of incredible hotels I stayed at in Sri Lanka. Set on the Kandalama Reservoir away from the distractions of civilisation, the Heritance is a magnificent property. The place has a large infinity pool and a huge buffet for both breakfast and dinner. And my room was unbelievable. I entered through a living room with lounges, a desk and a fruit bowl. Then walked a short corridor to the bedroom with a super king bed and another tv, on which I put the Tottenham game because it happened to be Saturday night.
In the morning, I realised the view from my room was also pretty special. The hotel is set on a hill such that it looks out over the trees and has a great view of the lake. In Australian dollar terms, the price is incredibly reasonable (around $200 a night) so if you’re in the area I cannot recommend the Heritance Kandalama high enough and I look forward to staying again next time I visit Sri Lanka. Hopefully this isn’t too far away.
All flights, transport and accommodation were provided by Singapore Airlines in association with Aitken Spence Travels but the fun I describe is 100% real and genuine.
Keep your eyes peeled because day 2 of my Sri Lanka is coming up soon!
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