Day 1:
Guests arrived the previous day and company driver Ruwan picked them up and transferred to Galleface Hotel Colombo. One of the oldest colonial hotels in Sri Lanka facing the Indian Ocean.
Company Guide Pradeep picked our fifteen guests up from Galle face hotel around 9 am and transferred to Aggressor Safari Lodge. It took around 4 hours to get to the lodge. On the way, Pradeep stopped at a local restaurant for refreshments. Guests arrived at the lodge at 1pm and after the welcome drink Praddep introduced the lodge and other staff to the guests and briefed them on the next few days.
Day 2:
After breakfast we left for Sigiriya for an exciting day ahead. Around 10 am we started to climb the rock they both were very fast and we managed to climb up to Lion Rock within 40 min time. As usual the surrounding views were fantastic. Guests took the opportunity to take a few pictures.
Around 1.30pm we had our lunch & guests enjoyed local foods in a restaurant in Sigiriya.
About 2pm we drove back to Habarana and entered Eco Park to see elephants gathering. There were a few small groups of elephants totaling more than 100. A few baby elephants interacted with their mothers, we kept our distance from them since herds are very protective of the baby elephants.
After the elephant safari we got back to the lodge around 7.30 pm, had a local dinner right after and had a few interesting conversations.
Day 3:
Early morning we went on our first Wilpattu national park game drive. At 6 am we entered the park. As a keen bird watcher Mrs. Wendy was surprised by the number of different birds she saw at the park. Malabar pied hornbill was her favorite. They saw elephants, large samba deer, crocodiles, leopards, bear etc. It was a perfect safari. Back to the lodge we had local rice and curry as requested by guests. Then we visited a local ancient temple dating back to more than 125 years. Evening time we took guests to the local dam where they witnessed small wild animals and lots of birds. Around 8 pm we had dinner.
Day 4:
After breakfast we left for Anuradhapura our first kingdom (3rd century AD to 10thcentury BC) we visited Isurumuniya, Tuparamaya, Sri MahaBodiya, JethawanaAramaya Ruwanweli Maha Stupaya etc… There was no sunny weather and it was a good time to walk.
From Anuradhapura we went to Polonnaruwa and on the way guests had a mixed lunch at Rajarata Hotel.
Around 2pm guests checked in at Deer park Hotel.
Around 6pm we went to the monkey research center to do the Loris tour. The guests received a warm welcome and cup of coffee. After the coffee we started our Loris tour. We spent about two hours there and managed to see five Loris’. We went back to the hotel about 8.45 and had dinner.
Day 5:
After breakfast we left for Polonnaruwa ancient city around 8.30 from the hotel. Polonnaruwa belongs to the 10-13 centuries AD. In there we first met a head of about 30 macaque and we spent 20 minutes watching and photographing their activities. Then after a short walk the family of macaques came toward us. We went to see Manik Viharaya (Stupa) and the Monkey Kingdom main film location and Gal Vihara. Around 12 we went back to Deer Park Hotel. Guests stayed a little longer there and enjoyed the pool. After we went back to the hotel, on our way we stopped in a local small shop for afternoon tea. For dinner, the guests were served local food called Pittu.
Day 6:
Today the guests slept for a bit longer and had a late breakfast. Guests took the opportunity to explore the lodge. Our senior staff Bandu and I took them for a walk. Again Wendy saw a lot of local birds, especially Ceylon Spurfowl, an endemic bird of Sri Lanka. They also had a village walk. Bandu took them to a local market.
Around 2pm we went for our second game drive at Willpattu Park and we had a very successful secession with a variety of animal sights. We had both a local and western dinner with a few glasses of wine.
