Hambantota Sri Lanka 4/29/24

 Hambantota Sri Lanka

Today, we chose a Safari tour, which used up all of our time here.  About an hour drive to get in our jeeps, then about an hour to the preserve.  The jeeps were open windows and only 6 to a vehicle, so everyone was able to get good views.  Many of the pictures I am showing you are courtesy of Matti Chan and Telah Morrison, and other fellow adventurers, since my good camera went on the blink.  Having real issues with photos on this trip....but it was a great day, and the animals were very close to us...

This big boy was literally right by our jeep.  Very cool but also a little nerve wracking.  He was our first "spot"

Lots of birds all around the property and of course, there are monkeys.  The water buffalo was cooling off - it was a pretty hot day.  Glad our jeeps were covered.

This is Elephant Mountain.  Amazing how mother nature can be such an artist.  The sun was going down as were leaving the park, and was truly a great way to end our day.

These pictures are from Matti - we did not see the leopard, but he did and caught a few pictures of him lazing in the tree.

We saw mostly elephants and water buffalo on our safari.  our guide was really good at getting us around and out of traffic - Jeeps zigging and zagging everywhere.  At one point, he got a call that the was a leopard sighting, but it turned out to be nothing, and he got us out of there quick.  Had to be at least 30 to 40 jeeps trying to get a look.  He knew the shortcuts.

Photos courtesy of Telah Morrison.

On our drive home, the locals were enjoying a swim to cool off.  

We had a great day in the safari park, which is the largest in Sri Lanka, but Hambantota is a very poor city.  What is truly amazing is the care that the locals take in their homes and property.  It is very clean - no garbage, and very neat in their shops.  I am just sorry that we did not have time to visit some of the local shops and help their economy a bit.    On to our 2nd and last stop in Sri Lanka - Colombo.