Sri Lanka - Lake Tissa ride and sea shore

Next morning, we got up early, the weather was gorgeous, and it was driving me crazy to think that this could be the day for a perfect safari as planned. However, nothing could have been done about the wrong decision at that moment. Thank god our hotel had bikes for customers, so we went for a ride along the Tissa lake before breakfast. Great ride, I recommend it very much! We spotted a giant tree with loads of parrots in it. We met a guy floating on a rubber wheel on the lake and got close to varan crossing the road.

After breakfast, we left the hotel for our final destination. We finally reached a sea shore with beautiful turquoise water and bright coloured fishing boats.We also stopped to see the famous stilt fishermen, unfortunately our guide stopped at very first one he saw - he was there by himself, his stick not even in the water - so this was a very dissapointing last stop of our trip. I will write more about how stilt fishermen work nowadays in one of next posts.

Na druhý deň ráno sme stali veľmi skoro, bolo úplne nádherné počasie a mňa šlo roztrhnúť pri pomyslení, že toto mal byť náš safari deň. Nuž čo, v tej chvíli sme s tým už nič nemohli urobiť. Chvalabohu náš hotel požičiaval bicykle, a tak sme sa šli pred raňajkami aspoň previezť okolo jazera Tissa, nech ten deň nie je úplne márny. Bolo to super, odporúčam ak budete mať takú možnosť. Na obrovskom strome sme videli kŕdle krásnych zelených papagájov, muža na nafukovacom kolese sa plaviť po jazere a stretli sme aj varana.

Po raňajkách sme vyrazili do našej finálnej destinácie. Konečne sme sa dostali až na pobrežie s nádhernou tyrkysovou vodou a pestrofarebnými rybárskymi člnmi. Zastali sme aj pri slávnych rybároch na koloch - bohužial náš sprievodca zastal pri úplne prvom, ktorý tam stál osamotený a jeho kôl nebol ani vo vode, úplne zle (hlavne keď o pár sto metrov ich boli desiatky), takže to bolo veľké sklamanie. Viac o týchto rybároch a ako v súčasnosti fungujú napíšem v jednom z nasledujúcich príspevkov.

Sri Lanka - Yala National Park

Going on a safari was on my bucket list. And still is. This african safari with loads of elephants, impalas, zebras, girafes. This sri lankan is not bad at all too. But it could have been better if I listened to my inner voice. From the beginning I was sure I wanted to do the morning safari, mostly because of the beautiful morning light for shooting. I was talked over by our guide to do the afternoon one, and as a weak person, I agreed at last. So instead of beautiful 6 hours in the park I got 3, and the last one in the dusk. It was desperately not enought. And I think it was not fair as we paid for a half day safari. And the light was blah after an afternoon rain.

We saw a lot of different birds, monkeys, buffaloes, deer, wild pigs, crocodiles. Thank God an elephant ran across the road very close to us, otherwise I would be dissapointed that I did not see any from a decent distance. We did not see a leopard, which is the top attraction of this safari park and this place is one of the world`s best parks for spotting it. To spot him creates real craziness, all jeeps gather at one spot when someone sees him and all the people are trying to get a glimpse of him somehow. I was not worried much because of not seeing the leopard as I was that we have such a short ammount of time in the park. So if you go there sometime, do not make the same mistake. I still regret that decision.

Ísť raz na safari bolo mojím snom. A pravdupovediac, stále to snom ostáva. Také to africké safari s hordami slonov, antilop, zebier, žiráf. Ani toto srí lanské safari nie je zlé. Ale mohlo byť lepšie. Keby som počúvala svoj šiesty zmysel. Totiž od začiatku som bola presvedčená, že chcem ísť na ranné safari, hlavne kvôli krásnemu svetlu. Dala som sa však naším sprievodcom presvedčiť na popoludňajšie, som slabá povaha. A tak namiesto 6 hodín v parku sme mali len tri aj to ku koncu už v šere. Bolo to zúfalo málo. A hlavne sa mi to nezdalo fér keďže sme zaplatili za poldenné safari. A fotky vyblité.

Videli sme množstvo rôznych vtákov, opice, buvolov, srnky, divé prasatá, krokodíly. Chvalabohu nám cez cestu prebehol aj slon, celkom z blízka, inak by som bola sklamaná. Nevideli sme leoparda, ktorý je hlavnou atrakciou parku. Nájsť ho je úplný masový ošiaľ, všetky jeepy sa zhrčia na kopu a ľudia ostria zrak. Ale to ma až tak netrápilo, ako skôr ten veľmi obmedzený čas v parku. Takže ak sa tam raz vydáte, neurobte chybu ako my. Stále to rozhodnutie ľutujem.

Entrance gate

Beautiful landscape of the park

 

Bumpy red roads

This made my day

 

Gathering to see a leopard

Sri Lanka - Lipton´s seat

We got up early (around 5 a.m.) and drove to see the Lipton´s seat. I am pretty sure most of you have at least once in your life drank a cup of Lipton tea. And this cup comes from this place! The seat is in the heart of Lipton plantations. It is supposed to be a spot, from where Sir Lipton observed his property.

The road there was rather curvy up the hill, taking quite long. The hills appearing from the morning mist were dreamy. We arrived at the sunrise, still a lot of fog everywhere, and couple of different roads among the tea plantations, so it took a while to find the right one. But then we made it. While waiting for the mist to dissapear, we had a tea and small breakfast at the top. Have to admit that these are the most beautiful tea plantations we saw in Sri Lanka (and we saw a decent number of them).  We spent maybe two hours there, just not having enough of the views.

On the way back to Ella, we were passing small villages, and especially Haputale looked very interesting and worth a longer visit (next time for us maybe).

We had a good breakfast with an even better view at our hotel and moved on. Leaving Ella we stopped to check Rawana waterfalls, which are right next to the main road. Some local guys were dipping in the refreshing water, and there were a lot of people stopping there like us. It is a nice sight, but if you have been to Iceland,this will not impress you much.

Vstali sme skoro ráno (o piatej) a vyrazili sme autom na Lipton´s seat. Som si istá že každý z vás aspoň raz v živote pil čaj Lipton. A ten je práve odtiaľto! Lipton´s seat je v srdci ich plantáží. Je to vraj miesto, odkiaľ sa Sir Lipton kochal svojim impériom.

Cesta hore je kľukatá a hrboľatá, trvá to hodnú chvíľu. Z hmly sa nám vynárali kopce a kopčeky a bolo to rozprávkové. Už na vrchole sme aj trocha zablúdili, pretože tam bola hmla a niekoľko cestičiek medzi rozsiahlymi plantážami, ale nakoniec sme našli tu správnu. Práve svitalo, svetlo bolo ostré, no výhľadom bránila rozvaľujúca sa hmla v údolí. Pri čaji a malých raňajkách v bufete na kopci sme čakali, kým sa rozplynie. Musím uznať, že toto boli tie najkrajšie čajové plantáže, ktoré sme na Srí Lanke videli (a to sme ich podľa mňa videli skutočne dosť). Strávili sme tu asi dve hodiny, ako sme sa nemohli nabažiť toho pohľadu.

Cestou naspäť do Elly sme míňali malé dedinky, a hlavne Haputale vyzeralo veľmi malebne, určite by stálo za to ho trocha dôkladnejšie preskúmať, aj to okolie (takže my zrejme nabudúce ak...).

V našom hoteli sme si dali dobré raňajky s ešte lepším výhľadom a vyrazili sme ďalej.Opúšťajúc Ellu  sme sa zastavili obzrieť si vodopády Rawana, ktoré ležia hneď pri ceste. Dole sa močili nejakí miestni chlapci, a bolo tam aj dosť pozorovateľov ako sme boli my. Vodopády sú to celkom pekné, ale pokiaľ ste boli napríklad na Islande, tak vás rozhodne neokúzlia.

 

Look at this beauty!

View to the valley

Tea pickers "locker room"

Local village

Tea pickers

My only picture with a tea picker. Here at Lipton´s they have modern bags for tea leaves

Tea break

Passing Haputale

Back for breakfast

This lady was posing for money, not really picking the te leaves

Leaving Ella

Rawana waterfalls