Day 8 Kandy to Gal Oya

Headed off to the Royal Botanical gardens in Kandy first thing . They are beautiful and well laid out . Saw the memorial garden where the Queen, Princess Anne and Prince Edward have all planted trees along with many other visiting dignitaries. There were the obligatory monkeys and a big tree full of fruit bats.
We then set off on our long journey to Gal Oya national park. We went past the Kandy cricket ground which is about 20 miles outside of Kandy - match tonight between Sri Lanka and Pakistan .
We drove over very high mountains and saw many examples of land slides caused by the cyclone back in November. The part of Sri Lanka where we are now is very quiet and untouristy.
We eventually arrived at the Gal Oya lodge which is set in the jungle . We are staying in a little wooden bungalow and is what can only be described as rustic . Our bathroom is outside but nicely appointed but Verity not too keen!
We had a nice swim to relax and discussed our excursions over next two days . We had an early supper and then went with a personal naturalist on a night walk . We saw babblers, a frog mouthed owl and he was very excited that we also saw a mouse deer. All nocturnal . Hard to photograph. The rooster is the national bird of Sri Lanka . Learnt about the problems the peacocks are causing in Sri Lanka . They kill snakes and hence the mice and rats normally killed by the snakes are growing in population. Think it is going to be a hot night under our mosquito nets .Read more