Upon arrival back at the camp we were given the best present ever - cold towels to wipe our faces off. What was truly scary was how dirty the towels were after about 30 seconds. We must have looked like we had been playing in a dust bin for the past 3 hours. Since we were somehow the only people staying at the camp they asked when we wanted dinner and 30 minute later we were being led to our own private bench next to a roaring fire. Speciality drinks were prepared and we cooled off while staring up at the stars we hadn't seen in months. Luckily the temperature had dropped with the sun and although fairly breezy, it was quite comfortable. After drinks we moved over to the table that had been set up for another great meal. Local starters of dried coconut and sausage followed by salads and capped off with barbecued chicken and pork, smothered in 'Mahoora Sauce' which we later learned from the chef was ginger, garlic, lemon grass and tomato sauce. That will be repeated at home for sure. Finally, we retired to our breezy tent, a well earned shower and the comfort of the safety net. It was an early bed time - wake-up call was at 5 AM for safari # 2.
Sleep was good - we were briefly awakened by some small creature that made a meal out of our soap of all items, but it was time to get dressed and on our way. Today would be a morning and evening ride. After again declaring the game was on we immediately spotted a leopard cub in the bush. He wasn't as confident as his mother though, and 30 seconds later he slipped away. We thought this was a good sign, but would ultimately prove to be the highlight of the day. We drove over 80 kilometres in the morning and although the views were incredible, for awhile we were down by the pounding ocean where the Boxing Day Tsunami washed ashore, the scenery and some colourful birds were all we had to show for our efforts. The afternoon trip out was the same, with a very brief spotting of elephants this time, but not much else.
We had considered sleeping in and skipping our last ride, but after the somewhat fruitless second day, our minds were made up to give it a go. Almost immediately, we were rewarded for our persistence. Leopard tracks were spotted on the road, they like walking on the soft dirt as it is easier on their paws. They must have been fresh as the jeep roared into high gear..... and then came to a screeching, skidding halt. Ahead on the path, sprawled in the dust as if none of us mattered, was another leopard. We would have been happy to have been done at that point, 5 minutes in and we had reached the top rung again.
The only animal we had really not seen, although plenty of smelly evidence of their existence abounded, were elephants. As luck would have it, on our way out of the park for the final time, a huge bull elephant appeared on the edge of the path. Our driver started shifting the vehicle back and forth which sometimes would make the elephant curious and want to follow the jeep. This seemed to be ridiculous until sure enough, we had a multi-ton beast stomping his way down the path after us. At one point I'm almost positive he could have snagged me with his trunk. Given I had just read in the local paper that 2 people had died from elephant attacks over the weekend, this was about as nervous as we got during the trip. Never mind the leopards with the razor sharp teeth and claws, watch out for the big guy! It turns out a jeep is faster than an elephant, even a really big one, and after about 15 minutes he was gone.
4 drives in the bush and too many photos and animal memories to count. The glamping was fun and the food was fantastic, but it was time to leave our own private campground behind. We packed up our gear and traded in our 4 wheel drive jeep for an air conditioned van. On to Galle and the tea plantations!
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