This morning we were taken out to go on a trip to a local village in the forest. We started out by being driven in a tuk tuk to a local lake. All of the lakes in Sri Lanka are man-made, collecting water in the monsoon season and preserving it for the dry times. We got into a double canoe with a platform between them and were rowed across the lake. Along the way we were shown many different types of birds - eagles, stork, kingfisher and many more. Our boatman made...

This morning we drove for two hours to reach Pinniwala Elephant Orphanage. There are 84 elephants there and all have been rescued from areas around Sri Lanka. We arrived in time to see a procession of elephants going down to the river to bathe. They stay there for 2 hours. While this was starting we walked around the orphanage to see some of the other elephants and to feed them some leaves. All of the keepers were very friendly. When we walked down to the river t...