Day 22 - Chicken, Pigs and Cows

After a very uncomfortable night in a hot and sticky room we rose early at 4.30 and got picked up for safari, it was a really cool jeep with open sides and comfy seats, set out for Yala National Park with high hopes of seeing elephants and Leopards.

The national park was about a half an hour drive away, when we arrived, there were loads of jeeps waiting to go in, totally different to the safaris in kenya. When we entered all eyes were peeled on watch for leopards... It never happened, we were pretty disappointed, at one point we thought they had spotted one as he started driving super fast bombing it through the park to an area where all the jeeps had congregated, seemed a little fake like a zoo when all the jeeps are queuing to see one animal, our driver was really rude and drove up the side and overtook loads of people. Turns out it was a sloth bear but it had gone by the time we got there. The national park was absolutely beautiful, it was amazing because it was on the coast with a beautiful beach along side the wilderness, a real contrast of landscapes. So we didn't spot any leopards or any elephants but we did see chickens, pigs and cows.... And buffalo, peacocks, mongoose, crocodiles, monkeys, spotted deer, bee eater birds, changeable hawk eagle?! So to be fair we did see a lot but it wasn't quite the incredible creatures we were imagining, we also left the park early and we weren't happy with our driver so in the end we did complain...

We got back to the hotel and had some tea and breakfast, then started to think about moving on to arugum bay, we were going to brave the buses... But then ended up getting an A/C taxi again.. Such students. It was much more comfortable though!

Arugum bay is a quirky little town on the easy coast, that is known for it's amazing surfing unfortunately this is low season so the surf is pretty small and it's quite quiet. We had already booked our accommodation that we had seen recommended in the guardian, it is incredible, it's called 'Beach hut' and all the rooms are treehouses or cabanas on the beach. We've got a beach cabana for the 4 of us, it is very cosy! The room isn't sealed or anything and made of corrugated iron, very basic! I got into bed and the slats fell out and sawdust fell down from the ceiling! But despite this it is so unique and like nothing else it is amazing, everyone here are very chilled traveller types so we are having a few days of relaxation.

Yasmin and Jess, 2 girls from Warwick are also staying here so it's really nice to see them, we went for a swim in the sea and had dinner with them, and they taught us how to play the local Sri Lankan game of Karram, which is similar to backgammon I think.. Involves flicking little counters on a board, we weren't particularly good at it!! We were all knackered from our early morning so had an early night, in our little love shack we could hear the waves crashing on the shore, very relaxing to go to sleep to.