Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Day Two

Tuesday, October 17, 2017


Baby Elephant
Today we arrived in CMB after a long day of flying yesterday. It was 11:42 in the morning but we didn't get out of customs until around 1:30. At the airport we received our rental which was very small. We then drove for about 2 hours to go to the Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala. We barely
missed the chance to feed the Elephants but we got there in time to watch them play around in the river. Afterwards we talked to one of the Directors and she allowed us to go feed the elephants ourselves. They were super cute and playful. One jumped into the water and splashed mud all over Keeley and Elyse. We then drove to our hotel in Sigiriya. It was a short 2 hour drive after a memorable day with the Elephants.
Feeding Elephants Milk

Elephant Orphanage - Natural Environment: Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, established in 1975. Pinnawala has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. In 2011, there were 88 elephants, including 39 males and 49 females from 3 generations, living in Pinnawala. The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage started off with the introduction of five abandoned baby elephants to the premises. They were named Vijaya, Neela, Kadira , Mathlee and Kumari. The tragedy with these misplaced or abandoned babies is that they cannot survive in the wild on their own as they need milk from their mother until they are almost five years old. They hence need to be hand raised for their survival. They caters not only for the abandoned babies but also for those injured and maimed within the jungle. It has become one of the largest tourist attractions in the country due to its distinctive population of elephants.

Hotel Sigiriya
 
 
Hotel: The hotel was located a short 12 minute walk away from Sigiriya so we could get there easily in the morning. The Rooms were beautiful and we had an excellent view of the Ruin. It was called Hotel Sigiriya. We checked in at around 9:00 pm and went up to our rooms. We decided to go for a late night swim to relax before our trip to Sigiriya tomorrow. The pool had an excellent view of the large place we would trek early in the morning. Shortly after we had settled in the pool we heard something rumble. We sat completely still and then a large
elephant walked up to the pool. He started drinking the water but shortly sprayed it out. I'm guessing he didn't like Chlorine. But all the water splashed all over the 5 of us making that a night to remember.

Weather: It was sprinkling when we arrived, as it is nearing the end of the monsoon season in Sri Lanka. The air was a humid cool and the beautiful Mid-Day dun embraced us peaking through the light gray clouds as we stepped out of the airport. It was a new climate to us, but a comfortable and beautiful one after our long captivity in the stuffy airplane. This soft tone in the air embraced us for the rest of the day creating a peaceful yet exciting greeting and marking a great way to start our trip.

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