Wanderlust - 04.2020

86 wanderlust.co.ukApril 2020

INDIA

SRILANKA

Delft

Island

Nainativu

Island

INDIAN

OCEAN

BAY OF

BENGAL

YalaNP

BundalaNP

GalOya

NP

Udawalawe

National

NP

Minneriya

NP

Wilpattu

NP

Sinharaja

Forest

Kn

uc

kle

s

Ra

ng

e

DondraHead

Batticaloa

International

Airport

Alankula

Beach

Mirissa MawellaBeach

Beach

DalawellaBeach

RekawaBeach

KahandamodaraBeach

Casuarina

Beach

(HillHattonCountry)

Kandy

Matale

Kadugannawa

Sigiriya

Dambadeniya

Dambulla

Anuradhapura

Mannar

Talaimannar

Anamaduwa

Kalpitiya

Tonigala

Jana

Nuwara

Eliya

Pattipola

Haputale

Demodera

Badulla

Ella

Galle

Mirissa

Weligama

Habaraduwa Tangalle

Batticaloa

Passikudah

Kalkudah

Trincomalee

Nilaveli

COLOMBO

Polonnaruwa

0 40 km

All

Maps

byDavid

Murphy/Digital

Mapping

Previous

page:

Shutterstock

This

page:

Nature

Picture

Library;

Dreamstime,

Shutterstock

mouths.Theanimalsappeared

unruledasweraptlyobserved

them,thenourdriverpointedto

thedistantlakewherefurther

herdsdotteditsbanks–acount

of 300 seemedconservative.

MinneriyaandKaudullaare

connectedbyawildlifecorridor

andthespotwhereelephants

congregatedependsonthe

day.Ourdriveradmittedwehad

beenlucky,althoughour

journeyaroundSriLankaoften

resultedinserendipitous,

right-time,right-placeevents,

suchasseeingdolphinswhile

€ishingand,aswewalkedhilly

teatrails,stumblingacross

sari-cladfemaleteapluckers

weighinghugebagsofleaves.

WhileSriLanka’ssheerdiversity

ofmountains,teaestates,

coral-walledfortsandpristine

beachesdazzles,thecharming

peopleandever-presentwildlife

leave€irmimprintstoo–like

elephantsintheKaudullamud.

W

e stepped
outside our
hotel and
the heavens
opened.
It was past 4pm, but we were
determined to try our luck
in Minneriya National Park and
witness ‘The Gathering’: the
largest congregation of wild
elephants in the world.
When the driver turned up
in his Mahindra jeep, he smiled.
“Not Minneriya”, he said in his
broken English, “We go Kaudulla”.
Slightly taken aback, we
climbed aboard and set o’ ,
racing through the rain to
Kaudulla, Minneriya’s lesser-
known sister reserve. We were
the last vehicle to enter and, as
we navigated our way through
dark jungle, we passed plenty of
Jeeps heading the other way
but precious little wildlife.
Finally, we emerged onto
a large plain, and while the rain

had eased, dark clouds billowed

low in the sky. We pushed on,

passing more exiting Jeeps with

sodden occupants.

Our driver seemed to relax,

and at that point the dark grey

shadows of elephants started to

emerge on the horizon. More

appeared in the grasslands and

soon they were close enough

for us to smell the earthy hunks

of grass they plucked with their

trunks and twisted into their

⊳

EXPERT TIP

Drive yourself around

the island by tuk-tuk.

Tuk Tuk Rental

(tuktukrental.com)

hires trishaws on your

behalf from a network of

local drivers, provides

hour-long lessons and arms

all travellers with maps and

suggestions for venturing

along roads less travelled.

If you prefer company and

bikes, Soul Riders

(soulriderstours.com),

is a reliable outit based

near south coast Galle.