Safari trip in Habarana

Monkey business

Friday afternoon I recovered from a very stressful morning of whale watching, at the fancy hotel just outside of town.  I said goodbye to Hanna, Mary, Rachael and relaxed at the Chaaya Blue hotle.   All the wealthy Sri Lankans and foreigners stay at the Chaaya Blu hotel when they come to Trincomalee.  The hotel has some lovely grounds, a clean beach, and two pools to enjoy.  Other local foreigners also take advantage of the facilities at hotel, and the hotel does not say anything to the "non" guests so long as you buy a drink or meal.  I really like this location because the beach is so clean and  I am  not distrubed by the locals (aka men shouting at me "hello madame", sitting beside me, or taking my picture).
That afternoon as I was eating my hamburger (which was like heaven, because it wasn't rice), I met a group of 40 something Sri Lankan men playing cricket with their wives, girlfriends and children.   They were staying at the Chaaya hotel for their annual class reunion. Most of the men were born and raised in Sri Lanka, but now reside all over the world (Canada, Switzerland, Australia, and Norway).  They offered me drinks and wanted to know why I was in Sri Lanka.  I joined the group for a couple of hours and made some new friends.  Ian and Rebecca were the most friendly of the bunch, and are fellow Toronto-ians.  They asked about my plans for the weekend.  I explained I was thinking of taking the local bus to Habarana, to go on a safari to see elephants. Immediately Ian suggested they drop me off in Habarana, as they would be traveling through the town on their way to Columbo.  His wife said "gosh, you are brave to go on those old, dusty buses.  I couldn't imagine doing that!".  The group had rented a large coach bus for their trip and had lots of room for me.  I immediately said yes!  Yeah, for a/c and comfortable seats.  The journey would be at least 3 hours, so the comforts of a coach bus were very much appreciated.... not to mention less dusty!

Saturday I met my new friends at the Chaaya and we all climbed onto the coach bus, headed for the Cinnamon Lodge in Habarana (which is where I had arranged my safari out of).  It was a great bus ride.  I sat beside a lovely lady from Australia and she told me all about her family and her Sri Lankan husband.  I was everybody's friend, and it felt like I was a family member.  It was a hoot.  They were making dirty jokes on the sound system of the bus and teasing one another the whole way. 

I ate my lunch at the Cinnaomon lodge and enjoyed the luxurious atmosphere of the hotel before my safari started.  It was easily one of the fanciest hotels I have ever been to in my life. There were men greeting you as you arrived at the front entrance, dozens of bell boys wanting to carry your bag, pool boys offering drinks to the people tanning along side the pools, young men running around offering towels to the swimmers, waiters with towels hanging over their arm as they served their guests, pristine gardens and grounds, beautifully designed buildings, large trees hanging over the pool, teak furniture everywhere, etc.  It was something that you would see in the movies.  I was blown away to have found this expensive oasis in the middle of a very poor town.  I felt like an imposter in my ratty clothes.  I was expected to kicked out, but instead I was treated like any other wealthy person at the hotel.  It was amazing.  I asked how much the rooms cost per night; $150.  Not bad. I was glad to have been able to enjoy the hotel, however I was not so happy to have booked my safari from the hotel.  Since I was a single traveler the hotel said I had to pay for 2 seats on my safari.  They would not take a lone person out... I was told this was to cover the cost of gas.... total BS, but whatever! I later asked my safari guide about this, and he told me that was not true.. but a policy only the hotel has.  Grrr.

I met my guide at the hotel and I climbed into the jeep.  He was a very friendly guy, who was curious why I was traveling alone (apparently I should be with a man, more specifically my husband.  "Why are you not married"? is a common question I get). The safari started at 3pm.  This is not the ideal time to see wildlife, as it is still too hot.  The animals start to get more active either extremely early in the morning (like the rooster outside of my hotel in Trincomalee;  he starts his crowing at 4:30am), or later in the early evening when the sun is going down.  We drove around the park (I cant remember the name of the park as it is a smaller one, only 15 000 hectares) for several hours.  We did not go to Minneriya park (most famous for its safaris), because apparently the elephant activity was not as good this time of the year. My guide explained to me a few things about the local wildlife; he is not a naturalist, only a local resident who taught himself about the names of the animals and their habits,  so the explanations were so-so.

Here are a few things I learned:
-females have a box shape figure, and the males are more sloping/rounded
-males do not travel with the herd, but usually alone until mating season
-average elephant weight is 2.8 or 3 tonnes
-average elephant eats 240 kg per day
-a single pregnancy term is 22 months; average female has 5 babies, 1 every 3 or 4 years.
-elephants only eat new grass, which is one of the reasons they migrate to different water sources depending on the time of the year.    

After my safari was over, I asked my guide if I could be dropped off at the bus station.  He was very puzzled why I was not staying the night and why I would be taking a local bus alone.  He tried to convince me to stay in Habarana for the night.  He offered to have a BBQ together, go camping, and in the morning take a hike up into the mountains to see the sunrise.  It sounded very cool, as we would sleep in tree forts above all the animals below.   However, I was not sure if I should be camping overnight with a strange man.  I declined his nice offer, but he insisted I should come back next weekend.  He gave me his card and made sure that I call him.

While we waited for my bus, my safari guide and I had some tea at a local restaurant that was owned by his buddy... and later we had Sri Lankan beer called Lion.  We talked about his family, his job, and life in Sri Lanka compared to Canada. I asked about life during the war, his father who had been killed in the 2004 Tsunami, and about his work with the safari.  We discussed elephant attacks and stupid things that tourists have done to provoke the animals.  My guide said that elephants frequently charge the safari jeeps, but mostly because the drivers get too close the the elephants when a young calf is amongst the herd (which actually had happened that day when we were out in the jeeps; a mother had charged a jeep and the driver had to throw a water bottle at the animal to scare it away.. exciting). 

At about 8:30pm I finally climbed aboard the bus and left for my home in Trincomalee.  It was a 3 hour journey, along some very bumpy and dusty roads (all of which were under construction). Apparently they do not rebuild roads section by section, like in Canada, rather they tear up an entire road and take months and months to complete it.  I was on the bus for 3 hours, and about 2.5 hours of that was under construction.  My white capris were not so clean by the end of the trip.  No other woman was in sight, both on the bus or on the streets.  It seems that women do not travel at night.  I was the source of many stares, but everyone was very friendly and helpful.  When we arrived at the bus station in Trinco (this is what locals call Trincomalee), a young man ushered me off the bus, helped find a trishaw, and spoke to the driver in Tamil to make sure I would get back to my hotel.