One of the magical things about Sri Lanka was the abundance and exoticness of the wildlife. We got introduced to this fact early on, when we were rudely awoken to the demolition of the room directly above us. But - wait - we were on the top floor! It was a band of monkeys taking an early morning romp on the tin roof. Fantastically colored birds were everywhere, peacocks strutted by the roadside, parrots cackled in the trees, and the rice paddies swarmed with white egrets. Mongooses scurried across the road. Lemurs hung out at the temples, snatching the tasty offerings seconds after they were left. Even the squirrels were magnificent.
The flowers were equally astounding. The roadsides were littered with wild flowers in bloom - including most of the species that are cultivated in western gardens. Just about every spice known to man grew here - both cultivated and wild. Tropical fruit trees of every variety had their branches bent low under the weight of the fruit - dozens of kinds of bananas, jack fruit, bread fruit, papaya, mangoes, guava, dragon fruit.
Most stunning of all were the wild elephants we visited at Uda Walawe National Park. We headed out in a safari jeep (a first for us) and within 5 minutes had spotted our first elephant. We say dozens of them over the course of the afternoon.
Monkey hanging out at temple
Flowers everywhere
Fancy squirrel
Monitor lizard
Going on safari
Egrets by the dozen