Sri Lanka is a beautiful island with plenty of ancient cultural edifices and wildlife. We visited the natural park reserve Wilpattu on the west coast and went on a jeep safari into the interior of the park. There was an abundance of animals for various birds, iguana, many mongoose, wild pig, deer, and a leopard as the sun was setting. On our way to Sigiriya we saw a large wild elephant walking along the highway at night. There are also plenty of trained elephants many giving rides to tourists like us. We visited several old temples some originating from 200 BC. On the monetary side, we found the price of local produce is very reasonable. They have all of the tropical produce you can think of papaya, bananas, passion fruit, guava, and some unknown fruits. We had a very good hotel, called the London Palace, in Anuradhapura, for a modest price. We enjoyed Kandy, the old capital of Sri Lanka, and visited the Buddhist temple we liked the best the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic supposedly housing a tooth of the Buddha. The city itself is located in rolling hills with water courses interspersing the terrain.
On March 10th we leave for Sri Lanka with our new crew member Jaclyn Walker for the Uligamu in the Maldives.