Uda Walawe … and Lots of Elephants!

It is 100kms from Ella to Uda Walawe so we decided to get a car to take us. As we left Ella we stopped briefly at Rawana Falls …

… then the road hugged the hillside as it slowly descended to the valley. All of a sudden the scenery changed … the rice paddies were back and the temperature rose to 30°!

We took a short detour to see the Buduruwagala rock carvings, thought to date from the C10th. The Buddha is 16m together with goddesses, but we liked the Hindu inspired trio best as the carving was more intricate.

The last stretch of road took us alongside the border of Udawalawe National Parks and we stopped twice for elephants standing near the fence …

… until we realised they are there because the cafe the other side of the road throws bananas for them to get tourists to stop, and maybe have a drink!

Our plan had been to chill for the afternoon and take a safari into the park in the morning, but when we arrived at Silent Cottage, we were told that since it is busier in the mornings, we might be best to go straightaway, so with little ado we were heading off again!

We had already seen the stretches of water from World’s End and we passed the huge reservoir whose catchment area the park was originally set up to protect. Today the park is home to some 600 elephants roaming over 302 sqkm so we have our fingers crossed!

We got lucky quite quickly, seeing this little group on the far side of the lake, and we watched them for a while before seeing what else was around. We have never seen as many wild elephants before in all our travels together so we were thrilled.

The painted storks caught our eye …

… then this little chap on his own.

Further on though, we really struck gold with this group although it was a little disconcerting to see how many trucks were watching, in all maybe 30 … but I guess the elephants had the choice to walk off if they wanted and the trucks have to stay on the track.

We watched them for quite a while. Seriously snacking was going on. They kicked the grass with their foot to loosen it, used their truck to gather it into a bunch, flicked it against a leg to get the dust off before putting it into their mouth. There was a mother with a baby and a couple of youngsters …

… and the boys!

All this was thirsty work so a drink was in order …

The bull elephant, who had gone for a bit of me-time on the island then decided it was time to swim back …

… and he was huge!

I was amazed that the trucks didn’t disperse, but I guess these elephants are completely used to being watched, and he just walked nonchalantly passed the vehicles … putting his head right against ours and rocking it slightly … I was too surprised to take a photo … but Chris thinks he has a couple of close ups. Then he walked off.

A little late the park warden came and dispersed the vehicles and the show was over, but it was time for us to make our way back anyway, with a couple of final shots as we left.

We returned to a shower and rice and curry served by the guesthouse … and then retired to play UNO with a couple of beers we’d brought with us.

The breakfast entertainment was the bird table attracting all sorts of visitors … the most stunning being this crimson-backed flameback woodpecker.

After all our rushing around, the seaside is now calling …

Map