Hambantota, Sri Lanka
Our port in Hambantota gave us a look at the more rural, southern portion of Sri Lanka. We drove past rice paddies, little villages and networks of irrigation canals. Our destination was the Udawalawe National Park for an elephant safari jeep tour. We learned a lot about elephants on our tour. For example, we discovered that the “gentle giant” who might tenderly pick up a drunken caretaker and deposit him at his home, would, when under the influence of his musth (or heat) kill that same caretaker. And when the hormonal rage had passed, he would mourn the loss of his friend.
The elephant above is enjoying sucking up the water in the muddy pond and slapping it on himself with his trunk. The mud cools and protects the animal and gives him an attractive spray tan.
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| You can see the collar on this elephant. The animals do roam free in the park. The collars are for tracking purposes. This elephant came from the Elephant Transit Home for orphaned elephants and was released into the park when he was judged ready to be independent. |
The Udawalawe Park was formed in 1972 to protect and preserve the nation’s once robust and later dwindling elephant population. Since then the protected creatures have multiplied in size and sometimes present a conflict with farmers if they get into their plantations. Even one elephant can easily destroy more than a ton of food in a day. Nevertheless, Sri Lankans are proud of their elephants and zealously protect them. The park is a very popular tourist site and is also home to birds, monkeys, water buffalo and other animals.
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| A peacock eyes us impassively from his perch. |
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| This chameleon does pushups on his branch. |
After our safari, we visited the Elephant Transit Home. This is a wildlife protection facility established in 1995 to care for abandoned and lost baby elephants. Here they are fed and cared for until they reach an age and weight when they can be set free in the park, generally at about 5 to 7 years old. People arrive in droves to sit in a stadium style stand and watch the feeding for the elephants in the afternoon. It’s fun to observe the elephants’ behavior as they jostle for space at the feeding area. We saw one larger bull establish his primacy by pushing the others aside, dragging the feeding pan away, and, once that was done, companionably share the food as the others gathered around the feeding area again. You can see the drama below.
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| Good fellowship restored, the elephants huddle around the feeding pan again. A heron perches on a back and observes the process. |
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| The baby elephants are being milk fed here through tubes. They often arrive sick and malnourished. These are elephants whose mothers may have died or lost or abandoned them. The father elephant is never in the picture. |
We made friends with this local family while sitting in the stands. We bonded over chocolate and Disneyland. The older little girl greeted us in beautiful English, “How are you today?” Charmed, Jeanne shared her pillow chocolates from Oceania with the group after asking their mother if it was okay. Since the girls clearly liked Mickey Mouse (note their tee shirts), she told them she lived near Disneyland and showed them pictures of her and the family in the park. They were impressed. The next thing we knew, the young man, the mother’s nephew, handed Jeanne his phone and asked her to talk to his sister who was on a video call. We were celebrities! It was a delightful visit and we said goodbye to our new friends with regret.
J and J Travel 