DAMBULLA BUDDHA
SWIM PRACTICE
A pack of at least 10 wild elephants eating a breakfast of fresh forest trees – that’s why we woke up at 3:30AM this morning and started our drive to Polonnaruwa. The road to Polonnaruwa from Kandy cuts right through Minierya National Park where the largest gathering of Sri Lanka elephants live. My strategy of an early morning drive to see the elephants paid off BIG. We sat on the side of the road for about 20 minutes watching elephants tear down the forest. We observed that Elephants look both ways before crossing the road – look past those big flapping ears. They have a march about them where they bend at the knee to 90 degrees as they are walking – pretty cool to see. The elephants were about 20-30 feet away – too close for Dwana. I noticed that Terrence out driver was ready to punch it (the accelerator, not the elephant) if we needed a quick get-a-way. Only once did the elephants seemed disturbed and one made their distinct BBBRUUUMPPPHH sound! I think he was telling the others elephants to look out for the little baby elephant. Elephants in the wild – close up. CHECK. And that was just the beginning of our trip – of our morning. We arrived in Polonnaruwa just as the postcard salesmen arrived and just as the park opened. Terrence drove us around all the amazing archaeological sites. Ezra and Viena did OK. The only time Ezra was bummed was after an encounter with a salesman selling overpriced trinkets. Ezra said, ” I do not want to look at OLD things … I want some NEW things!” A small inconvenience for a wonderful place.
oneworldtwokids 