Group B: Alexandria, Josh & Jade

We slept in. We packed up the buses and left Nuwara Eliya at 10AM. Travelling through many winding roads, most of us observed the beautiful landscape while others were once again made a little carsick by the winding mountain roads. Lunch was waiting for us in a touristy town called Ella, where lots of recognizable items were on the menu. Continuing our journey, we stopped at Ravana waterfall along the edge of the highway. The waterfall is named after a mythical King from a well-known Sri Lankan legend.

Our next stop was at the Buduruwagala Ancient archeological site carved in the 9th century. Before entering the site, we were given lotus flowers which in Buddhist culture serves as a reminder of the impermanence of all things. This site features the two branches of Buddhism: Theravada and Mahayana. The class was given a quick tour by the site guide. He shared with us that his family has being guiding in this spot for three generations. Buduruwagala means: Buddha images carved on stone. The carvings featured 7 Buddhas total, 3 on each side and the largest in the middle. He also showed us many images you could find created by the natural features of the rock such as a lion, the face of a women, and the rock its self is even in the shape of an elephant. Remnants of the white plaster and orange paint used to cover the granite remains. When we approached the buddha statue for the first time, we spread the petals of our lotus flowers and with a bow placed the flowers at an alter as an offering. As we left the site our guide showed us footprints left in the ground from a local elephant who roams the site. We ran into land and water monitors and took some time to observe and photograph Alexandrian Parakeets and an Indian Coocoos. Before hopping back on the bus some of us grabbed a refreshing soda or mango juice from the nearby restaurant.

Back on the road, this time on a much straighter and flat highway, we headed through Wellawaya. The bus abruptly stopped as there was a star tortoise crossing the highway. Dilini ran out to move it to the shoulder and we waited patiently for the tortoises’ head to pop back out to get a good picture.

After a hot day of travel, we arrived at the Sunflower hotel in Katharagama and were greeted with a refreshing glass of watermelon juice. Many curious monkeys climbed around in the trees surrounding a courtyard pool. After swimming in the pool and settling in we met for two more article presentations. In the hotel common room Alex Brandt and Ravindi Menikrama gave their article presentations. Alex discussed the conservation of wildlife diversity in Agroforestry. Ravindi discussed local endemism between the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.

With dusk approaching on this day of travel, many bats become active outside. After trying water buffalo milk curd with honey for dessert, we headed to bed to prepare for our early safari morning.