Colombo, Sri Lanka

Once more off to watch the elephants but this time in a more civilized way. We took the express train to Pinnawala to an elephant rescue park that takes elephants that have been orphaned or acclimatized to human contact and can't take care of themselves in the wild. There are now about 60 elephants in the area. A few still need to be chained at times but most roam pretty freely around the area as you can see from the herd coming down the street by the restaurant we were eating at to use the river for their daily bath.
We watched the entire herd romp around the river and get their daily socializing done. Some played, some rested and others just would drape their trunk around each other and get close like they were old buddies telling secrets in each others ear.
We, of course, did the same in a restaurant just above the water with about 100 of the folks on the world cruise that we have gotten to know pretty well after being on the boat with some of them for almost 3 months.
The train was built in 1980 but recreated one of the old ones used during the WWII when the Commander of the Asian Command was headquartered just north of where we were. Much nicer then traveling by bus. Sri Lanka has come a long way from the days of the Civil War and terrorist bombings every week or so. It was good to see a country come out of something as bad as they went through with the spirit these people have. We wish them well. It is definitely worth a visit again in a few years to see what has happened.Read more