26-Feb-2024 Hambantota, Sri Lanka

For our stop in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, we booked a safari through "Safari in Sri Lanka" taking us to Bundala National Park. They were very easy to deal with, and the guy running the company, Pradeep, was also our guy for our excellent Tuk Tuk tour in Colombo a couple of days earlier. There are several parks around Hambantota, and we chose Bundala for it's proximity to Hambantota - the other parks required a good bit more driving there and back.

Each of the nature parks have their own focus and Bundala National Park is an internationally important wintering ground for migratory water birds in Sri Lanka.

 



Much of the park looked like this as we set out from the main gate.

We got picked up in a 6-seater jeep, and drove about 45 min to the park.

With birds being the focus of Bundala, we did see many, but mostly from a distance. The blue and green bee-eaters were the most colourful.

 

If you look carefully, you can see some stork chicks in the nest around Mom's (or Dad's) feet.

We also came across a few lizards and crocs along the way, adding some variety to the sightings.

Half way through the safari, we stopped on a cliff next to the ocean to stretch our legs, and take in the sea air. There were some turtles in the water, but that just didn't translate in the pictures.

We also saw monkeys several times. Their human-like expressions make them look both curious about us, but given we weren't offering food - their curiosity didn't last long.

Last but not least, we were lucky enough to come across this big guy. We were told there weren't a lot of elephants in this park, so we were lucky. He checked us out at first, but then decided we weren't a threat and continued eating. We took the guide's word that the elephant was big - he was so far away, we really couldn't tell. (Not that we have much of a frame of reference anyway.)

This jackal was near the elephant, and we would have missed it but the the guide pointing it out.


Leaving the park, we came across this herd of cattle, wandering along the highway.

We made our way back to the cruise port with another interesting experience in Sri Lanka under out belts. Our 3 days in Sri Lanka had been nicely varied and altogether interesting.

Colombo, Sri Lanka (Day 2) <  Hambantotoa, Sri Lanka  > Phuket, Thailand
[Asia Adventure - Spice Route Cruise 2024]

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