Discovering Sri Lanka's Wild Side

24th May 2012

The most exciting prospect of a trip to Sri Lanka, for me, was the snorkelling. The fish in the Sri Lankan waters were strange but colourful. There were a few particularly ugly fish but these were just as interesting as the wonderfully bright ones. Our guide for the day soon told us that if we wanted to see some sharks, they would probably be on the other side of the island. We swam around for a while without much success but soon enough we found a shark. I desperately wanted to get closer but the rest of my family continued swimming.

Another special experience with wildlife was visiting a turtle sanctuary. This may not seem very exciting and it wasn’t as thrilling as swimming with sharks but it was wonderful all the same. We were allowed to pick up the turtles, smaller than a hand. They were clambering over each other in their small pools. There were also some larger turtles being kept at the sanctuary. All turtles raised there are eventually released into the wild but these older turtles could never be as they were either missing limbs or had other physical problems that would impair them in the wild.

One of my favourite moments of the trip was when I spotted a leopard at Yala National Park. We woke up early to be at the gates when they opened at 7:00 am. It was chaotic when we finally got inside. There was a herd of range rovers chasing each other around the park, desperately trying to find a leopard for their occupants to briefly glimpse. We did not want to spend our morning like this and so we told the driver to move away from the pack and follow a different route.

This was a brilliant decision because it was not only more peaceful but within half an hour of leaving the group I successfully spotted a leopard. At first my family would not believe me as they did not wish to admit the competition was already over, but I was correct, and although we did not come away with any clear pictures the experience was thrilling.

The wildlife certainly contributed to making the trip exceptional, but there were other activities that I also enjoyed and were absolutely remarkable as well. Sigiriya, otherwise known as the lion rock, is a challenging but very fulfilling climb. The rock is a 5th century fortress; a lion is impressively carved into the rock although not much can be seen now apart from the paws. You can walk up the rock, which stands 600 feet high, on a combination of ladders and steps. From the top there is a magnificent view of the luscious and green surroundings. The climb is hard, especially in the middle of the day as it is almost unbearably hot, but it is extremely satisfying reaching the top and simply collapsing underneath one of the few trees that grow sparsely up there.

I had visited Sri Lanka before this trip. However, I was not bored at all. There is so much to do in Sri Lanka; our whole itinerary was different apart from Sigiriya which is so worthwhile that we loved climbing it again. The hot weather is sometimes a little overwhelming but this merely makes the cold drinks even better when you finally jump out of the air conditioned van.