Udawalawe National Park - elephants galore

Hi All,

Our journey to Udawalawe National Park wasn’t an easy one ... To make our way from Adams peak we could have got a 4 hour taxi for £50 or tuk tuk for about £35 but decided to get a string of busses for a total of £2 each! We got the first two with no problems, each took around an hour. Then we sat on the third for 45 mins before it set off; 4 slow, winding hours later arriving at a bus depot. After 6 hours of buses and a 2am start we were feeling pretty tired so debated whether or not to get a tuk tuk for the remainder of our journey. We decided to stick to our guns and get the remaining two busses. Thank god we did. The weather turned crazy and monsoon rain with lightning struck the road right in front of us. The roads became flooded and the paddy fields began to look more like lakes. We saw a stranded tuk tuk and one which had crashed - we were very thankful not to have been in it. We finally got to Udawalawe around 7pm, 8 hours and 5 buses after we started!

The journey was totally worth it for THE most incredible elephant spotting safari! Neither of us have ever seen so many of these majestic animals roaming freely and crazing so happily. Udawalawe is a 120 square mile National Park home to over 500 wild Asian elephants - the most concentrated anywhere in the world. We were lucky enough to spot herds of adult female elephants, many of which had young calves. The most adorable baby we saw was around 3 months old - the tiniest elephant we’ve ever seen! This cute calf stuck close to its mother, frequently drinking milk and trotting to catch up if she moved a few paces away.

Our driver had eyes like a hawk and managed to spot an array of beautiful birds in the trees - all of which he knew the name of! We saw peacocks roosting in the trees, the males’ tail feathers hanging beautifully. As the morning went on they flew down and began their mating dances, strutting around with their tails proudly fanned out. In addition to this, we saw water buffalo bathing, crocodiles in the lake, monkeys nit-picking and sambar deer.

The following afternoon we visited the Elephant Transit Home. We were slightly sceptical knowing how awfully some elephants are treated in Asia but after reading up online decided to visit. We are so glad we did. Their work to rescue orphaned calves and release them into the wild at around 5 years old is fantastic. Our experience was completely hands off and involved watching them at feeding time from a viewing platform; this ensures they have limited human interaction so can be successfully returned to their natural habit. Content with the ethical principles we were able to sit back and watch these adorable babies receive their milk and then munch away on greenery. The youngest were given bottles while the older ones latched onto a tube that was then filled with milk by the keepers using a funnel. One managed to trumpet midway through and cover his friend with milk! Even more adorable was watching the younger elephants learning to use their trunk effectively. Sweeping the floor was obviously easier than twisting the greens into their mouths!

That evening over a delicious dinner we tested each other on the elephant facts we had learned. Did you know female elephants are pregnant for 22 months? They have 5 toes on their front feet and 4 on the back. They eat up to 150kg a day and drink 130litres of water.

Just a short post this time, we will let the pictures do most of the talking...

Love R and D xxx