Where have all the elephants gone?

Hi everyone! How have you all been? I was down with a flu, the infamous 7day flu (as coined by my lil cousin sis), and am still recuperating. *cough* *sniffle*

So didn't get to catch up with my blog roll as often, let alone do a post. The weather's to be blamed cause the bright sunny days are long gone and we're having a freezing, chilly rainy season over here.


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The Elephants

Remember that I mentioned on the very first post on our Somawathie trip, that we met some strange to wonderful critters of the wild, and well not so wild ones? Here's some of them, including the elusive elephants.

Our route took us past Habarana jungle and two nature reserves - Somawathie and Minneriya. So it was inevitable to see elephants, right? My uncles helped me out, time to time, by shouting 'elephants! I see elephants!' whenever they spot something like these...





Um.. they do appear like elephants from a distant don't they, but with skinny legs and even white tones? O__o Both these were taken while cutting through Somawathie Strict Nature Reserve while the 2nd pic shows a Willu (marshland).

We were dying of thirst by the time we passed Habarana jungle on our way back, and then saw a lil cafe by the roadside. The tea we had there was the best tea I've ever tasted in my life. They served black tea (pure Ceylon tea, what else?) with the sweetest cube of hakuru (jaggery). The cups were preheated so it was blistering hot up to the handle. But the tea inside wasn't so hot and tasted heavenly. We tried coaxing the lady who made this tea to tell us which brand it was, but she only giggled and said it was nothing special. Grrrrrr...


While we were there.. a couple of safari jeeps zoomed past us. They suddenly stopped and made a huge ruckus, teasing each other right in the middle of the road! It was packed with a bunch of girls and guys, or should I say unruly brats? Then one jeep challenged the other and off they raced on their own virtual F1 track = the main road cutting through Habarana jungle! Yes, we're talking about a dense jungle packed with real wild animals. Were safaris supposed to be this noisy and rash? -__-

So as soon as we finished sipping our heavenly tea, we had yet another strange encounter. An elephant from Habarana? Well.. have a look...





Saw it? Well.. size wise.. it looks a lil too skinny and small in stature too for an elephant, isn't it? O__o Well this peacock, that I first thought was a wild one, was indeed a pet of a villager here. The folks here said it wasn't afraid of humans but I guess I was a lil afraid to get too near. So this was all I caught. CTRL + click to see it better.

Talking about Habarana.. this is what it looks like. *as seen while on the move*






So as the topic says.. where have all the elephants gone? I mean we passed 2 nature reserves and 1 thick jungle twice and it was high time we saw at least a silhouette of an elephant right?

We almost gave up hopes until we came up to Minneriya nature park. Up ahead a tourist bus was parked, almost hogging the road. So we couldn't overtake as the road was a bit narrow. The tourists were out and pointing towards the jungle. Minneriya nature park too is famous for its wildlife and especially for birdies both native and exotic.

Can you guess what they were looking at? Another birdie?




See anything unusual in the pic? Well look around that thick fringe of trees, towards the middle of the pic.



Well there's not one, but two of them. The first noticed our presence and then whispered something to the second. Then they turned around and gave us a good stare, or more like glare, as if to say

"Yo humans, no trespassing.. pretty please. This is OUR home man! got that? now beat it! shoo!! shoo!!!"

Finally after confirming we won't make a move, they both turned back and disappeared into the jungle. Talk about keeping law and order.. in the jungle. *phew*


Couldn't see anything yet? Well then.. CTRL + click the pic below. See the red oval? The two pachyderm cops-on-patrol were spotted right within that area. Tiny they may seem cause of the great distance but these guys are the biggest dwellers on earth. And you forgot that, didn't ya? =P

Guess we were lucky to see them freely roaming in their own home grounds. Not in Habarana, but in Minneriya.



That's all for today folks. Thanks for joining this lil safari. ^__^