Sinharaja Forest

My third bus of the day; two bus changes, covering just 120 kms in only 5 1/2 hours! I was so happy to get on this; the third and final leg of today's trip back to Colombo from my weekend at Sinharaja Forest that, had there been any aisle space I would have been compelled to do a 'Bollywood' dance routine up the aisle.

I'm a seasoned bus traveller now, know all the protocols such as the first row of seats are reserved for buddhist monks, the second row of seats for pregnant women or mums with babes in arms and the third row of seats reserved for the disabled. After that it's anyone's............ I love the hawkers who sell peanuts and bhajies etc and always announce themselves in the same manner - they sound similar to auctioneers I think, but instead call out 'Lukalukalukaluka' in a loud, strident voice. And then, how frequently, somebody who is clearly disabled/disadvantaged will embark before a bus leaves (often with a certified sheet of paper confirming their ailment) and give a lengthy spiel to the bus passengers, their audience, then walk down the aisle collecting any monies offered - and it is generally always given, which is nice. It's all become rather enjoyable if I travel light and I was, as I knew I had a 2-3 km walk up the forestry trail ahead of me on my arrival to reach my lodgings for the next 2 nights.

The return leg was by bus but going to Sinharaja forest and Martin's Lodge I'd felt it wiser to hire a driver and suss out the lie of the land first and try to remember the towns we would pass. I guessed that it'd be far easier to explain I wanted to head to Colombo on the way back than it would be to mispronounce the names of three towns on the forward trip. What a good job I did even though it cost $110 as opposed to $1.20 by bus; I would never have found the place and my driver was a wonderful guy, resolving all the usual conflicting advice about where the 2 1/2km forestry track up to Martins Lodge began when we finally reached Sinharaja forest. The last town on the bus route according to my notes which was 'Kalawana' was still well short of Sinharaja itself and I would never have been able to explain or understand how I needed to cover the last stretch so having the driver was good.

I'm back at the Colombo City Hotel for my final night nowand have showered and cleaned up - I arrived to a rainy Capital City last Friday and it wasn't looking any better Saturday morning when we set off for the drive to Sinharaja. It really didn't look good for birding as the sky remained overcast and the walk up to Martins Lodge hadn't produced much birdlife since it was 3pm and not the ideal time of day anyway. I looked forward to an early start on the Sunday birding for all the wet zone endemics in this famous world heritage site. However, it poured all through the night Saturday with thunder claps too - so much so that I was seriously worried that flooding or landslides would hinder me getting back to Colombo for the flight home and I had a restless sleep, Still raining Sunday morning and over breakfast Martin commiserated with me, but then the rain stopped and held off for the most part, long enough for me to bird a trail to the village (3 1/2 kms) taking me back down to the forestry office to pay the daily entrance charge and then back up through the trail I'd used the day before. Still had some downpours between the dry spells so I was rather a drowned rat on my return but the birding has been good and the endemics are reasonably easy to get here. Drying my clothes was a problem in the damp environment but Martins Lodge is fantastic and the food was the best I'd had in Sri Lanka. He has a family of Sri Lanka Blue Magpies (endemic) arrive every morning around 6am to hunt insects around the communal verandah area and they were not at all shy. Also a pair of Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill (endemic) come daily to attack their reflections in the glass window of the bathroom of the cabin I had.

Altogether I got13 endemics here without much effort and the best birding was Monday morning, which dawned dry and sunny, I left the lodge shortly befoe 8am to slowly walk back down the forest trail and onto the village to catch the 10.30am bus, the first of 3 that would take me back to Colombo. On that walk I got a couple of mixed feeding flocks that were just great and the last endemic that wrapped up a great trip overall, has been most fitting as it was one I especially wanted since I'd named the http address of my blog after it - 'eumyias'

My one extravagance for the trip………….and I sure am ready for it.

Two nights at this award winning and understated hotel.  The Kandalama Hotel designed by Geoffrey Bawa and built adjacent to Sigiriya and with views across to the Sigiriya Rock.  Utterly beautiful  and to quote ‘Its effect on the visitor parallels that of Sigiriya, as a nuanced ‘third space’ between landscape and architecture  is developed through the thoughtful integration and juxtaposition of building and environment’. 

Hotel wraps itself around a rock face

Extensive undercover and open walkways for birding as the hotel is 1km long

You arrive in the lobby which rather than being the ground level is the 5^th level of the building and an enclosed walkway abuts a cliff around which the hotel wraps itself.   The hotel is 1km long and the walkways on each level are open and feel a part of the forest that surround it, providing viewing from ground level to canopy level of the forest.

I’d read about the hotel in a birding trip report when it was described and the author made reference also to the fact that it offers great birding given its location at the northern end of the Knuckle Mountain range and so making possible both wet and dry zone wildlife species.

I was happy to be upgraded without asking and enjoy my personal view across to the Sigiriya rock – the bathroom has a spa with large French windows that open out and I will be bathing in that this evening and inviting the outside in (not people just the environment……………….)

Happy me to be here!

Transported to another era………..

The train ride was great, very comfortable and wonderfully breezy with the window clipped up and just looking at the passing landscape. It’s all straight out of the Victorian era and I felt like I was in a period drama and it was just delicious. Isn’t it amazing that everything crafted back then functions so well still?  Not like our throwaway society today! Instills a sense of pride of ownership I should think – all that character; I’d be proud to lovingly polish the brass and the wood counters too………….

Everything ran to time and despite the Lonely Planet guide stating there is a 3 hour wait with the switching of trains at Gal oya it was, in fact, just a 15 minute wait before we made tracks again onto Polonnowaru.

The first 2 hours I virtually had the 2^nd class carriage all to myself but on the last hour of the journey I shared it with a carriage full of school children and their teacher  and they were very excited to practise their English on me.  It was a good trade off though as they plied me with food from their lunch packs – biscuits and savouries which were yummy – and I’d gone without breakfast so it was very welcome. Also was very sorry not to have my camera ready quick enough to photograph a warning sign for ‘Beware Elephants crossing’

So proud of myself……………………

I took a local bus – walked up to the main road along the dirt track from the hotel and flagged the next bus that trundled along that was heading to Trinco town (only 4 kms away).  Just as on previous trips we were all squashed in and I had to stand until a seat near me became available.  But I gained such a sense of achievement for doing it without assistance – of course it was bearable with only one small backpack to contend with. 

Only took about 15 mins and I got off at the bus station and went to a bank with ATM and withdrew some more cash for the next week.  

Took a saunter down the shopping street – enjoying the fresh produce markets, freshly caught fish stalls and king coconut stalls where I stopped to partake of coconut drink and then scooping out the young flesh. 

There are many backstreet tailor shops and lots of bicycle repair shops (wish we had these in Brisbane).  People were friendly.  Was a bit of a reality check to see all the signage for tsunami evacuation procedures. 

Lost my bearings a bit in finding the Train station and found I’d walked a couple of Kms too far so hopped on a tuktuk to go there and enquire about tickets for Monday and enroute got the driver to stop off at a shop so I could buy some 'curd'.

Monday's train will leave at 7am and it’s a 3 hour trip with one train change and the total fare will be $1.20.  I can travel second class and it all seems easy enough except I can't pre-pay and reserve a ticket but today’s been a big step forward in gaining more confidence in tackling the challenges.

Not quite paradise but still nice…….

Well I decided I just couldn’t face another marathon bus trip – and can you blame me?  My options were get a bus from Dambulla (2 hours from the project) to Trincomalee (then a four hour trip) and face not getting a seat – standing room only; as the bus would only be passing through enroute from Colombo and probably already full or if I wanted to be assured of a seat then first travelling to Kandy (4-5 hours travel from the project) where the Trinco service starts its journey from a bus interchange  then factor in an additional 4 hours back to Dambulla and through to Trinco so 8 hours plus 4 would have involved travelling from dawn to dusk.  And this time I wouldn’t be travelling light I would have my entire luggage with me; so another huge backpack to struggle with through people and down narrow aisles.  Sounds insane doesn’t it!  So after talking to Chinkhata I decided to hire a driver and use one of the projects 4WD and go in comfort for around $80 all up as the driver would need to turn around and make the trip back as well.  My driver was Darshana and it turned out to be a good decision as he was great company, spoke English quite well and was a wealth of information and stories – he had a close shave during the war while doing Conservation work around Trincomalee and because he didn’t speak or understand Tamil he was nearly shot by a soldier so the trip today brought back a number of memories for him.

About a litre size clay pot of home made yogurt for 80 cents

A real highlight of today has been finding yogurt – nobody makes it like the Indians and on our drive through we drove through an area called Kanthale famous for it’s yogurts which are sold in clay pots on stalls at the side of the road.  I recalled I’d read about this in Lonely Planet too (the pots are so quaint you really want to keep them) so asked Darshana if we could stop for me to buy some. We got to taste the yogurt and I bought a pot to take with me. Sooooooooooo delicious! 

Darshana demonstrates how solid the yogurt is

A little taste test with honey

The drive was interesting to Trinco as there were many road blocks with soldiers and a lot or road repair work still being undertaken since peacetime.  We were never stopped so I think these days it’s more a show of strength as Darshana said just after the war buses and lorries would be held up for around 4-5 hours at the road blocks and have to unload everything from their vehicles and have them fully checked before they could proceed.

So as I said, it’s not quite paradise………………..everything you do here in Sri Lanka seems to require enormous effort one way or another. You get there in the end and it’s a beautiful country for sure but nothing is easy and effortless like we are used to things being.

Aqua Inns

I’ve arrived at my new quarters for the next 4 nights ‘Aqua Inn’. It’s a bit grubby but then so is everywhere else apart from a couple of very expensive resorts which I’d decided were way overpriced.  The couple that run it are nice, lots of things don’t work very well and a guy has so far had to fix my light by fiddling about with the wiring, reset things so that I had electricity when it just decided to all drop out and find me a bucket so I could rinse some clothes through.  When I had my shower, I was delighted to find it was hot water, even though it was little more than a trickle but then I found I couldn’t turn it off and it took me a good 10 mins to work that one out – was too weary by now to go and find Mr Fixit again, even though he’s been very obliging. Other than that the room looks comfortable and I’ve a ceiling fan so all good.

Contrary to Whale Watching being promoted here in May on the internet, it seems that May is too late for whale watching so not sure whether to give it a try regardless or drop that idea……………… am never sure what to think as advice is very often conflicting here.

This afternoon I got a tuk tuk to Nilaveli beach where all the boats leave for Pigeon Island and snorkeling and that all went smoothly enough. In fact, it was lovely!  There are few to none organized tourist attractions here – it’s a case of work out all the logistics yourself and just go for it but it was worth all the effort as I snorkeled off the island this afternoon and felt myself really relaxing and experiencing something I so thoroughly enjoy again.

Asraff sorting out the Pigeon Island NP conservation charge for visitors

Asraff (aka Zorba the Greek) and his brother Abdul Karim

The local I met on the beach at Nilaveli whose brother takes his boat over to Pigeon island is great – every time I look at him he just brings to mind for me Anthony Quinn in the role of ‘Zorba the Greek’ – same big presence and personality.  He talked me into taking another trip out next day with his brother to snorkel at another spot called ‘Red Rocks’ and then onto a lake to do some birdwatching after that to his home and he will have lunch arranged.  They are both delightful and both in their late 50’s by all accounts with lots of children and grandchildren.  So good when you connect with a local as it all becomes so much more simple and pleasureable.  I’ve also found a tuk tuk driver I like (Sadar) who I am using to get me here and there and this afternoon I managed to make him understand that I wanted some more yogurt and find a shop for me that sold it.

Red Rocks for snorkelling

Lunch was delicious

I’m currently negotiating with ‘Zorba the Greek’ to see if he can find me a driver and vehicle for my next trip which is 3 hours away in Pollonowaru to stay at the Primate Centre for 2 nights and bird there.  If it’s too expensive then I’ll go to the train station tomorrow and see if I can book at seat on a train for Monday.