On the Road

Day 18: Today, we left Jaffna to drive to the Wilpattu National Park, a 149–mile (240–km) drive through the countryside. We had to stop for the cows in the road a number of times.

Christian Gate

We were traveling from the north of Sri Lanka. The farther south we got, we saw a change in the religious structures, now more Christian and Buddhist ones rather than Hindu.

Elephant Crossing

We are getting close to the Wilpattu National Park. This sign is for an elephant crossing but we didn’t see any elephants. We are now back on the tourist track as some tour groups include Wilpattu National Park in their tours.

Big Game Camp

I would be spending the night at the Big Game Camp outside the Wilpattu National Forest. This is ecotourism, which includes accommodations that are not harmful to the environment, such as staying in my tent as shown in the photo. There were six other guests staying at the camp, all from the UK.

Big Game Camp

Inside my tent. It was dark inside even during the daytime. You had to keep the netting zipped up to keep out the mosquitoes. There was another netting to keep zipped up to the bathroom. It was not a good place to stay when you have to repack for a flight back home the next day. I had to do most packing using my flashlight even though there was a lamp in the tent, but I had to use my flashlight to find the switch. The light in the bathroom was so dim that I had to put my makeup on by rote. Dinner and breakfast were brought to a table outside my tent as the walk to the dining tent was so far away. The dinner dishes weren’t cleared and it didn’t look like any wild animals were around as the food left on the them wasn’t disturbed. The staff at the camp were very nice, and without lights, the sky was full of stars, but from this experience, I know that I make a bad ecotourist. I don’t have the correct frame of mind to be one.

Wilpattu National Park

After arriving at the Big Game Camp and having lunch there, I went on a safari to Wilpattu National Park. Wilpattu National Park is the largest national park in Sri Lanka at 508.5 square miles (1,317 sq. km.) and is known for its leopard population. I didn’t see any leopards, though, as the sign says, the leopards were watching me. I also didn’t see any elephants.

Wilpattu National Park

We did see some animals other than leopards and elephants such as these spotted deer. (Mahen, my friend who lives in Colombo, was recently at Wilpattu National Park and did see a number of leopards, so there should be a good chance that you might see them at the park.)

Wilpattu National Park

A toque macaque monkey was exploring our safari truck while we were off it having drinks and a snack.

Wilpattu National Park

We also saw many birds in the park such as this painted stork.

I have put my photos of the Wilpattu National Park on a slideshow. Go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/wilpattu–national–park/    (Slide Shows, Asia–2, Sri Lanka, “Wilpattu National Park”).

Wilpattu to Negombo

Day 19: We left the Wilpattu about 9:30 a.m., with the plan of the day to drive to Colombo to meet Mahen, my friend in Colombo, there. Actually, the original plan for this day was to leave very early from Wilpattu to drive to Kalpitiya for dolphin watching. When I was told that we would be leaving at 6 a.m., I decided to skip it. Also, we were to go on a small fishing boat out in the ocean, which Mahen told me would not be a very good idea. We passed this sign on the road, but I think it really means “wildlife lovers.”

Wilpattu to Negombo

There was a lot of beautiful scenery on our drive, such as this coconut plantation.

Wilpattu to Negombo

There were also some interesting scenes such as these wild donkeys crossing the road.

I have combined my photos of our drive from Jaffa to the Wilpattu National Park and our drive from the Wilpattu National Park to Negombo on a slide show. Go to  http://www.peggysphotos.com/jaffna–to–wilpattu–to–negombo/    (Slide Shows, Asia–2, Sri Lanka, “Jaffna to Wilpattu to Negombo”).

Negombo

We never made it to Colombo and we didn’t meet up with Mahen. Solomon, my driver/guide seemed to make sure that we didn’t make it to Colombo. We were supposed to meet Mahen at 4 p.m., but at 4 p.m., we were in Negombo at least an hour’s drive away, maybe more as traffic was very heavy as the road into Colombo had been closed that morning for National Day rehersals. It might be that Solomon didn’t want to have to deal with the rush hour traffic from Colombo later on or because he had the mistaken idea that Mahen had been my tour guide on my Gate 1 tour and so I didn’t have to see him again. I think Solomon realized that he had really goofed when I told him that Mahen wasn’t my guide and that I had met him on a trip to Europe. I was very disappointed.

Going Home

Solomon then asked me if I wanted to see more of Negombo since we weren’t going to make it to Colombo. I said no, please take me to the airport. My plane wasn’t leaving until 1 a.m. the next day, but I really wanted a “safe place,” one where I wouldn’t be with my guide, no potential head–on collisions on the road, and an end to my trip even though I really had on great time on it. At the Colombo airport, I couldn’t check in with Singapore Airlines until 9:30 p.m. (I got to the airport about 5 p.m.) and you couldn’t go up to the main airport until that time, so I ate dinner, bought souvenirs, and practiced patience. After I did check in with Singapore Airlines, after convincing them that I should be able to take my overweight carry–on on the plane (I had put my recently bought souvenirs in it and forgot about their carry–on weight limit) and that I should be allowed into their lounge even though I would be flying on Silkair to Singapore, all went very well except for an unannounced gate change. The lounge was quiet and had good free food, the stopover in Singapore was only long enough to get a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant, the Tokyo stopover was very quick and organized, and from Tokyo to LA, I had a row of four seats to myself. And even my Superheshuttle to my part of LA was at the curb and I was the first one let off it. My flights home took about 25 hours. Photo: one I took when I first arrived in Colombo.