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 - Little Adam´s Peak

If you are really short of time to climb Adam´s Peak and explore Nuwara Eliya tea plantations, there is one thing you can do to substitute for both. And that is an easy hike to Little Adam´s Peak. It saves you two  days of your itinerary.

Little Adam´s Peak is located in Ella. It got it`s name after it`s big brother, the holy mountain Adam`s Peak, because of the similar shape. It is supposed to be a very popular hike, but surprisingly, we did not meet many people on our way (probably because of dark clouds accumulating above us). It is really very easy hike (we started in front of our hotel called Ella Flower Garden Resort (the picture above is from there). You walk among the tea plantations, and if you are lucky enough (we were not) you will also see teapickers along the way. We met some local kids who insisted on picture but asked for money afterwards (I guess I was not experienced travel photographer enough to see this coming).  The surroundings are spectacular, all the green hills! Once again I took hundred pictures of tea bushes :-).  It takes less than an hour to climb up and there are some stairs - climbing them we still felt the big Adam´s Peak in our legs. But it is not a challenging hike and it`s quite short, and gives you a good impression of the landscape around Ella and the view is fantastic. So absolutely worth the climb! 

There are actually two tops, and I am not sure which one is the right one. We got caught by heavy rain at the top, so we did not manage to explore both. We ran down the hill soaking wet and enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing in the restaurant. After dark, we went to explore the night life in Ella - we ended up having rotti with our guide in the local shop.

Ak nemáte dosť času liezť na Adamovu horu ani na objavovanie čajových plantáží v okolí Nuwara Eliya, je jedno miesto, ktoré vám nahradí oba tieto zážitky. A tým je Malá Adamova hora. To vám ušetrí dva dni z cestovného plánu.

Malá Adamova hora sa nachádza v Elle (kam sme sa doviezli vláčikom v minulej časti). Meno dostala po svojej veľkej sestre, svätej Adamovej hore, vďaka podobnému tvaru. Výstup na Malú Adamovu horu by mal byť celkom populárny medzi turistami, my sme však takmer nikoho nestretli (možno to bolo tým, že sa nám nad hlavami začali zaťahovať mračná). Cesta na vrchol je naozaj ľahká túra (my sme začali spred nášho hotela, to foto hore je odtiaľ). Kráčate pomedzi čajové plantáže, a pokiaľ máte šťastie (čo sme my nemali), uvidíte aj zberačky čaju. My sme stretli zopár miestnych detí, ktoré trvali na tom, aby som ich odfotila, a následne si za to vypýtali peniaze (zjavne nie som príliš scestovaná aby ma to neprekvapilo). Okolie je nádherné, všetky tie zelené kopce! Opäť som neoddolala a urobila asi sto fotiek čajových kríkov. Hore to trvá ani nie hodinu myslím, je tam aj pár schodov, na ktorých sme ešte pocítili výstup na tú skutočnú Adamovu horu. Ale nie je to nič náročné, a hlavne získate obraz o krajine v okolí Elly a výhľady sú krásne, takže rozhodne ten výšľap stojí za to! 

Vlastne sú tam vrcholy dva a ja neviem, ktorý z nich bol ten pravý. Lenže nás na vrchu zastihol hrozný lejak, takže ísť aj na ten druhý sme nestihli. Utekali sme dole premočení do nitky a zvyšok dňa sme strávili v hotelovej reštaurácii. Po zotmení sme šli objavovať nočný život v mestečku - nakoniec sme skončili spolu s naším sprievodcom na rotti v miestnom obchodíku.