Holiday pics, part 5
Feb. 24th, 2013 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusYes, we're nearly at the end, just one more post to go!
I don't have any good pics of Horton Plains National Park, probably because it was so misty while we were there - one of the trails leads down to a waterfall and our guide said he couldn't remember so much water there for years. This was no surprise to us, considering how much it had rained. We were also supposed to be able to see as far as the coast at World's End but sadly the mist again defeated us, so you could see a couple of hundred yards when we got there and just about make out the edge by the time we left!
So instead you'll have to make do with this stunning view from a place called the Ella Gap:
On the way south to Yalla we also stopped off at the Ravana Falls, along with what seemed like half the local Hindu population...
And the usual visitors...
We were due to go to Yalla National Park one afternoon but the rain was far too heavy to make it possible, probably even heavy enough for these guys!
So instead we ended up leaving our hotel at 5am (complete with the ubiquitous cheese and tomato sandwich breakfast much beloved of Sri Lankan hotels), which was before sunrise so hence the red eye on this fellow:
Yalla National Park is full of birdlife, with more peacocks than any stately home might want, among other things...
Animals were less easy to spot, except for those like this handsome land monitor, who was posing by the side of the road.
Plenty of deer, water buffalo and wild pigs, but not much spotted other than that - one leopard was spotted but had managed to find itself a place that made it almost impossible to be photographed without significant risk to life and limb!
This painted stork was looking for fish and frogs, apparently unaware (or not bothered, given its size) that right under that flow of water was a crocodile... Like these two, nearby:
Then, after the national park it was off back to the coast, with a few pics of fishermen and a lovely sunset (the view from the bar, of course!).
The final post in this series will be of pictures from Galle, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, first visited by the Portuguese in 1605 although it had been a thriving port long before that.
I don't have any good pics of Horton Plains National Park, probably because it was so misty while we were there - one of the trails leads down to a waterfall and our guide said he couldn't remember so much water there for years. This was no surprise to us, considering how much it had rained. We were also supposed to be able to see as far as the coast at World's End but sadly the mist again defeated us, so you could see a couple of hundred yards when we got there and just about make out the edge by the time we left!
So instead you'll have to make do with this stunning view from a place called the Ella Gap:
On the way south to Yalla we also stopped off at the Ravana Falls, along with what seemed like half the local Hindu population...
And the usual visitors...
We were due to go to Yalla National Park one afternoon but the rain was far too heavy to make it possible, probably even heavy enough for these guys!
So instead we ended up leaving our hotel at 5am (complete with the ubiquitous cheese and tomato sandwich breakfast much beloved of Sri Lankan hotels), which was before sunrise so hence the red eye on this fellow:
Yalla National Park is full of birdlife, with more peacocks than any stately home might want, among other things...
Animals were less easy to spot, except for those like this handsome land monitor, who was posing by the side of the road.
Plenty of deer, water buffalo and wild pigs, but not much spotted other than that - one leopard was spotted but had managed to find itself a place that made it almost impossible to be photographed without significant risk to life and limb!
This painted stork was looking for fish and frogs, apparently unaware (or not bothered, given its size) that right under that flow of water was a crocodile... Like these two, nearby:
Then, after the national park it was off back to the coast, with a few pics of fishermen and a lovely sunset (the view from the bar, of course!).
The final post in this series will be of pictures from Galle, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, first visited by the Portuguese in 1605 although it had been a thriving port long before that.
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Date: 2013-02-25 12:32 am (UTC)It makes me want to travel the world, like you! :)
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Date: 2013-02-25 08:17 pm (UTC)