The morning we left Ranna Beach it was pouring rain with thunder and lightening. Looks like the rainy season has really started. Fortunately the rain stopped later in the morning so our plans for the day were not affected. If anything the temperature was cooler which made it more pleasant.
From Ranna Beach we headed north a couple of hours to Udawalawe. This is a large natural park with a lot of wildlife, but is mainly known for seeing wild elephants. We hired a jeep and headed into the park in the late afternoon.
The first thing to strike you when you enter the park is the vastness of it. The mainly low level vegetation stretches on forever, with the odd tree here and there, and the mountians to the north form a background.
From Ranna Beach we headed north a couple of hours to Udawalawe. This is a large natural park with a lot of wildlife, but is mainly known for seeing wild elephants. We hired a jeep and headed into the park in the late afternoon.
The first thing to strike you when you enter the park is the vastness of it. The mainly low level vegetation stretches on forever, with the odd tree here and there, and the mountians to the north form a background.
The travel was over rough dirt roads.
While the park is known mainly for elephants, I think it would also be a bird-watchers paradise. Even though I don't know anything about it, I was fascinated by the number of different colourful birds that I saw.
And peacocks were everywhere.
We saw other animals like a wildcat, and waterbuffalo that had wandered into the park. But much of time was spent watching wild elephants. Apparently the females stay in groups with the young, and we saw a few of these.
The tour ended with a stop at a lake where there were more birds, and people fishing.
The elephants look like they're posing for a group photo.
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