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During my Sri-Lanka adventure, we did so many things I thought I might not do in my life, from tea leaf picking to facing my fear of heights by climbing the ancient fortress in Sigriya.

The Best Bits of Sri Lanka

But my favourite part of this wonderful holiday was with the most iconic and biggest land animal on the earth, the elephant.

The first time I encountered this creature was halfway through our fantastic journey. When I found out that I was going on one, I felt so nervous yet overjoyed and when we were all on the elephants we started to walk around the lake nearby.

After half an hour wandering around the lake, the elephant was led in the river. I waited eagerly with my fellow elephant riders before the elephant lifted its trunk and soaked us in water, it felt wonderful, the cold water on our hot bodies it cooled all of us down from the burning hot sun.

sri lankan elephantSri Lankan elephant

The funniest Elephant in Sri-Lanka!

Fortunately, that wasn’t the last time I saw the natural beauties of Sri Lanka. A few days later on our way to the Yala National Park, we came across a huge (well they’re all huge) elephant bull blocking the road.

We were stuck on the road until the drivers assistant took out some bananas and gave them to the elephant. Almost everyone on the bus was shocked (besides the bus driver, his assistant and our tour guide.) As the elephant let us pass, we looked back only to see that it had eaten its food and had resumed its position on the road ready to block unsuspecting drivers.

All of the kids laughed as we left this strange and funny sight. As we approached nearer, I looked forward to the wonders of seeing rare animals. We were all out to look out for the legendary leopard.

Leopard in Yala National ParkLeopard in Yala National Park

Sri Lankan Wildlife

We got into groups and drove around observing the wild buffaloes, elephants and birds. We soon reached the coast and looked at the beautiful blue Indian ocean.

Soon after admiring the seaside, we got back in our Jeeps and travelled back to our coach. After all that, we went to our seaside hotel and enjoyed some free time with the other families at the pool. – By Ameera Mian Aged 13

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