Acquiring Merit at Sigiriya and Dambulla

Life in the jungle continues as ever, with countless birds and animals sighted, friendly local farmers met, impromptu Sinhalese lessons from the clever and curious children, and of course continuing spectacular vistas and panoramas every time I look up to the horizon!

We had a day off a few days ago, and seized the opportunity to visit the impressive Sigiriya, an ancient Buddhist monastry site built upon a hardened lump of magma, its volcano long since eroded. You get to walk right to the summit, along some perilous staircases in which it is well advised not to look down! Definitely worth the view from the top though: mile upon mile of lush, verdant jungle and distant, shrouded mountains.

Later in the afternoon we visited the Dambulla Rock Temples: another hike uphill, then the caves themselves are cool and dark as you enter. The ceilings and walls are frescoed with images of the Buddha and his life, and the caves are filled with a multitude of statues of the enlightened teacher. So quiet is Sri Lanka that even in these renowned places, you have the caves to yourself at points, perfect for quiet reflection and thoughts.

I'm currently writing this from the main campsite in Wasgamuwa, with the tank below shimmering in the late afternoon light, the Knuckles mountain ranges visible in the distance.We're just about to go to the treehut for some elephant-spotting, so for now I will leave you...

Wasgamuwa Walks and Kandyan Culture

Well, managed to get to an internet cafe so decided to do a quick blog update. Arrived at Wasgamuwa National Park very late on Monday night, so first port of call was bed! Our bedroom is basically a brick barn with an open wall, so at nighttime we can hear the crickets and frogs singing us to sleep. Tuesday we had a guided tour of our main sites, the HQ site where the laptop and researchers stay, and the tree hut, a fantastic treehouse built high in the boughs of a tree that we sit in every evening at dusk to watch for signs of elephants. On our first night we were lucky enough to see a herd of eighteen of these fantastic animals, mohters, aunts, sisters and babies, all steadily and quietly grazing, moving as they foraged. On the way home to our basecamp we also saw a lone tusker, dark and skulking in the tree line.

Day to day life here is quite idyllic, consisting of early mornings woken by the rooster, a leisurely breakfast of rottis and tea, and then a hike through the beautiful lands of the park: either a transect searching for signs of elephant or leopard or a monitoring of the electric fences used here to encircle the villagers, protecting them from the elephants. Of course, it is so hot here that even a short hike will leave us exhausted. It gets dark by seven, so early to bed, apart from the odd evening when we have a 'bottle party' with Chintaka and Sarath, our staff members who stay at basecamp, sampling the local arrack, a liquor distilled from coconut.

Following a hard weeks work we have come to Kandy for a few days, a big change from the rural peace we are now used to! The city is a riot of colour, noise and scary road-crossings! Visited the fantastic Botanical Gardens yesterday, and today we had the confusing task of catching a bus from Kandy's central bus station to take us to the Millenium Elephant Foundation. We had a brilliant day, washing elephants and being liberally drenched in return! Photographs will follow shortly, they are difficult to upload due to the format I am shooting in!

Tomorrow we plan on visiting the Temple of the Tooth, a temple on Kandy lake that houses a tooth taken from the funeral pyre of the Buddha himself. Afer that we return to Wasgamuwa, and hopefully more sightings of the wild elephants!

Until then, ayubowan!

The Beginning...

Well, I'm currently on my fourth day on the island of Sri Lanka: the flight was long and tiring and I was very grateful to reach terra firma again! The taxi ride to Ranweli was an eye-opener, seeing the poverty was a bit of a shock despite expecting it, although I had to laugh when I saw one man ferrying his poor cow in the back of his tuk-tuk!

Ranweli is situated on the west coast, and we are about 100 metres from the Indian Ocean: as you can imagine, some beautiful sunsets. The village is situated between the ocean and a long, winding river flanked by mangroves, a haven for a plethora of birds and water monitors. On Saturday I went on a river tour on a boat, and saw enough kingfishers to last a lifetime: pied, stork-billed, white-throated, even our own little blue and orange Eurasian! Coupled with some impressively large basking monitors and countless egrets, herons and waterbirds it was a wonderful experience.

To be honest the rest of my stay here has been unashamedly lazy: sitting by the pool, walking on the beach, swimming and acclimatising to the spicy food. But, I figured that Ranweli is going to be my only luxury stay during my time here, so why not?!

Tomorrow I head off to Wasgamuwa National Park to join the Sri Lankan Wildlife Conservation Society as a volunteer for four weeks. Elephants here we come!