Madu River Safari

Today was the last day of our Gate 1 tour of Sri Lanka. We left Weligama Bay and drove to the Madu River to take a river safari.

Madu River Safari

Half my tour group was on one safari boat and half, including me, on a second boat.

Mangrove Forest

We went through this mangrove forest.

Madu River

We passed some houses along the river.

Prawn Farming

Cormorant

Among other water birds, we saw this cormorant on the prawn farming fence.

Coconut Stop

We stopped at the building on the right for a coconut milk refresher.

I have put my photos of our Madu River Safari on a slideshow. Go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/madu–river–cruise/   (Slide Shows, Asia–2, Sri Lanka, “Madu River Cruise”).

Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center

Our next stop was at the Victor Hasselblad Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center in Kosgoda. Victor Hasselblad is a manufacturer of digital and film cameras. He founded his first turtle hatchery in 1978 in Kosgoda and it is the oldest sea turtle research & conservation center.

Sea Turtles

There are seven types of sea turtles, six illustrated on this board: green, olive ridley, hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, and Kemp’s ridley. The seventh type is the flatback which is found only on the coast off Australia.

Sea Turtle Eggs

The sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches of Kosgoda, each depositing more than 150 eggs at a time.To keep the eggs away from predators, volunteers pick up the new eggs every night and bring them to the center where they are buried until they hatch.

Baby Sea Turtles–MOVIE

Baby sea turtles were swimming in a basin. I took a movie of them.

Sea Turtles

There were larger sea turtles in another basin. These should be hawksbills, the sole source for tortoise–shell items and, hence, endangered.

I have put my photos of the Victor Hasselblad Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center on a slideshow. Go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/kosgoda–sea–turtle–research–conservation–center/        (Slide Shows, Asia–2, Sri Lanka, “Kosgodo: Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center”).

Lunchtime

For lunch, we had our choice of fast food restaurants at a small mall. Some of us chose Pizza Hut. Actually, its pizza wasn’t that bad.

Souvenir Store

We had a bit of time to check out the souvenir store at the mall.

Parliament Complex

We next headed toward Colombo where we would spend the night. We did a drive–around. The metropolitan area of Colombo has a population of about 5.6 million and is the largest city in Sri Lanka. It is also Sri Lanka’s commercial capital with Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte as its adminstrative capital. The Parliament Complex in the photo is in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte right outside Colombo.

Independence Memorial Hall

We stopped at the Independence Memorial Hall in Colombo, a national monument that commemorates the independence of Sri Lanka from British rule in 1948.

Colombo Municipal Council

Colombo has a number of beautiful buildings dating back to British colonial times, such as the Colombo Municipal Council building, 1866.

Lotus Tower

The Lotus Tower is new and opened in 2018. From the angle of the photo, it may not look that tall but it is the tallest self–supported structure in South Asia at 1148 feet (350 m) tall. Its design was inspired by the lotus flower which symbolizes purity. It contains exhibition halls, museums, conference halls, restaurants, supermarkets, food courts, hotel rooms, and an observation deck.

Altair Building

Another new building is the Altair, a luxury apartment building. One side of it is a 68–story vertical tower and the other side is a 63–floor leaning tower. Our tour of Colombo was not extensive. You would need to spend an extra day in Colombo to see more of it on a longer tour.

I have put my photos of Colombo on a slideshow. Go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/colombo–drive–around/  (Slide Shows, Asia–2. Sri Lanka, “Colombo Drive Around”).

Colombo Street Food Festival

We arrived at our hotel in Colombo, which was to have a crowded and noisy street food festival on the side of it. We didn’t eat dinner at it, but had our farewell dinner at a Hilton nearby. Some of my tour group left this evening to fly home and others left the next day. I didn’t leave as tomorrow I would start a five–day private tour of Northern Sri Lanka. I very much enjoyed my Gate 1 tour and also the fellow travelers on it.