Mammals Mammals Everywhere

Since my last post I have been attempting to form some gills, averaging at least two dips a day in the sea. Morning and evening surfing is in abundance due to cleaner waves and lower heat levels at the beginning and end of the day. I've made three trips out to the reef now and have finally been catching some waves. We all pile into a small motor boat, hurl ourselves over the side and paddle out for the waves. You can duck out of the waves and paddle around saving energy and time on a reef break. Surfing with coral beneath your feet is really amazing. I'm trying extremely hard not to touch the little creatures as they die if you do. Have seen little shoals of leaping fish and a sea turtle flopping around.
This week I hooked up with the lovely Holly and Toby from Bude to charter a jeep into Yala National Park. This is the home of creatures galore and we were hoping to catch some of it bimbling around. After securing our driver in a crazy old dark green open truck we bumped our way into the park. After frowning at some ancient taxidermy in the park's museum we headed off into the heat of the day; around 35 degrees. The driver/guide asking 4 times if we had water. They chatted into their mobiles and broke a running sweat so we knew it was warm. Straight away we saw grey langur monkeys and warthogs racing along. Soon after we saw a couple of beautiful bee-eater birds. We continued to see a huge variety of birds including eagles, kites, stork, pelican, spoonbills and egrets amongst many others. We the saw water buffalo and salt and freshwater crocodiles. A couple of mongoose weaved around along with some deer. But then came the moment we'd been waiting for. A male elephant was on our track walking straight for us. We all held our breath as it advanced on the truck. I hoped that our driver Asayla was not about to receive yet another text message. The elephant approached and what I remember most was the soft sound of its beautiful round feet padding along. We could have reached out and touched him, it was unbelievable to think he was wild. He sashayed past for a drink at the watering hole and we followed him for a bit. Later another elephant passed us and walked into a pond of lotus flowers and started to slowly clear the pond, wrapping its trunk carefully around individual flowers and chomping happpily. Their trunks are unbelievably dextrous, even rounding up balls of grass to chomp like a small sweetmeat.We bumped on through red dirt racks and down to the sea with a huge round rock outcrop and palm roofed fishing shacks almost in the sea. A tsunami memorial stood there where a safari bungalow was destroyed killing everyone. The park was amazing and so rich in wildlife like I'd never expected.
After the tsunami the death toll in Sri Lanka I'm told was 75 000 in all. Laura was actually here when it hit and ran to take refuge on the roof of a house. As the water levels rose she and those with her thought it was the end. Luckily for her and me it wasn't but it was this that spurred her on to stay and fundraise and help in the aftermath. What she has achieved here is really remarkable. I spoke to a local fisherman who'd lost 75 people just from his village and both his parents. They are still trying to recover. Ajit's parents had a house on the beach. After the tsunami hit the government forbid rebuilding, allowing only hotels to be constructed on these prime plots of real estate. This is why Laura and Aj bought the land from Aj's parents to construct the Green Rooms surf lodge. They give his parents a share of the income and have protected a little bit for the community. They do not gate the property as many of the hotels do. Effectively many people lost their homes and businesses and had to drop down the ladder to survive. Even the lowliest backpacker is seen as well off here.
However the friendliness of the locals towards us visitors is high despite all this and nearly every single wave is returned and a hello always brings a response and a smile. The children are especially interested. Today a whole class of 6 year olds sat outside shouted hello loudly to me and two Belgian guys. We shouted and waved but I noticed the teacher sternly telling them off for bothering us. The children shout hello and fall about with the giggles, the girls shyly putting hands to their faces.
This morning was a highlight of the trip so far, although in just two weeks there have been many. I arranged to go out whale bothering and was blown away to have a close encounter with a blue whale. After spy hopping a bit, he came in near to the boat and surfaced properly four times in a row each time showing his whaley face and puffing out air from his blow hole. He gave us a bit of tail as a finale. It was just incredibly moving and again, like the largest land mammal, he appeared so gentle. Whilst he could have moved further away he stayed quite near leaving strange, large, flat patches of water behind his bulky self.We crossed paths with many local fishing boats and saw a few flying fish skitting around as we happily chugged back to the harbour. We were apparently lucky it came so close.
So tomorrow I head north and the internet may be sporadic again. I'm heading for the hill country, tea plantations, huge rock outcrops, waterfalls and old style Sri Lankan train journeying. Until then.....