A1 Highway

We were up early to prepare for bags out by 7 and departure by 7:30 a.m. Since three meals are included today, we tried to pace ourselves at breakfast.

The A1 highway (notice the British-style highway designations) is a 2-lane road in quite good condition, but it is so crowded with trucks, three-wheeled “tuk-tuks”, pedestrians, motor scooters, and other buses (oh, yes, and a few cars) that traffic moves only as fast as the slowest tuk-tuk. There were occasional bursts of speed after (finally) passing something, but overall, we averaged less than 30 mph.

Sudeshna lectured us on Sri Lankan history, in great detail, for a full two hours before we stopped. His knowledge is encyclopedic, but despite his depth, he needs to find a more concise and better organized way to present it. Today he was sketched the roots of the Tamill Tiger rebellion, beginning prior to the arrival of the Portugese in the early 1500s. Whew! Glad there wasn’t a quiz to follow.

We finally made a coffee break at a roadside restaurant where Su bought some typical Sri Lankan “sweets” for us to try. Most of them weren’t very sweet at all. Few cultures share the American taste for refined sugar. Back on the road, we were spared the lecture this time. We turned off the A1 onto the A6, which runs more nearly north, rather than northeast.

Another stop along the way was a weaving shop where some very brightly colored threads were being spun, dyed and turned into cloth.

Lunch came at a typical Sri Lanka fast food spot along the road. Fast food here is rice and curry. We had the dall curry, which is the least spicy. It was accompanied by lots of rice, some plantains, red cabbage, greens, and a small piece of chicken. Quite good, and the large plate sells for about $1.60 American. Dessert was extra, but the ice cream was OK. Mary’s cake, however, was typically British.

We finally arrived at our destination around 2 p.m. It’s a fairly large resort in a rural area in north central Sri Lanka, near two national parks. After getting our welcome juice and settling in, most of us signed on for an optional trip to one of the national parks for a wild game “safari.

Each jeep held 4 people, and we were in with the only other married couple in the group. Only one of the singles remained behind. Suspension on the jeeps is a bit of a rough ride, and they seem to be geared pretty low — maximum speed on the highway was only about 65 kilometers per hour (kph, about 40 mph). When we turned off the highway, we were soon on a very rough, single track dirt lane that, in the U.S., would have been closed as a road under construction. It was rough going, and to make things worse, it had begun to rain.

On the way in, we saw some monkeys very near the road, as well as various birds, including a golden eagle. Our main goal was the lake area, where Asian elephants congregate in the afternoons this time of year. We were not disappointed.

The herd was about 70-80 of the large beasts. The rain held off so we could open the top cover of the truck, and we — along with about one jeep per elephant — were able to crowd in quite close to them. It was quite a sight.

The rain resumed just as we started to leave the park. It was coming down pretty hard, and we pulled all the top and side covers on the jeep. Still, a couple of big male peacocks managed to show themselves to us as we passed the trees on which they were perched.

The rain got to be so intense, we began to fear that the dirt roads in the national park would turn to deep mud and mire us in. Four-wheel drive is a wonderful thing. The going was slow, and the rutted roads gave us quite a rough ride, but we got out without incident. We were back to the resort before 7 p.m. for a large dinner, then called it a day