We started at sharp 3 in the morning as our tour iternery was packed with places to visit. And took the Colombo- Puttalam road which was quite clear at that time and reached Puttalam at 4.45 and had breakfast at a known place ( One of my friend’s old family friends). It was a very tasty meal and afterwards left for Wilpattu and went inside around 7am.

Though we circled inside till 10.30 , we only saw wild buffalos, Deer, crocs, Jackals and some birds. The roads were ok except for a couple of places which were flooded slightly.

Green Imperial PIGEON	Peacock in full flow
Malabar pied Hornbill	Hi-LUX following
Crested Drongo	Crocodile submerging

Wild Buffalo

We then proceeded towards Anuradhapura and the road from Nochchiyagama to Anuradhapura was horrible with lots of pot holes. After Anuradhapura we turned from Maradankadawela and went to Giritale passing Habarana and reached the Hotel at 1.30 pm as the road was very good. After Lunch we went to Kavudulla park saw some Elephants on the left side of the bunt and a lone grown Elephant in the open area near the lake. Some Eagles were also seen. The office has been done up beautifully recently with a small museum etc.

Kavudulla bunt	Baby Elephant
The lone Elephant	The lone Elephant
Tortoise	Changeable Hawk Eagle

We had a good buffet dinner at the hotel retired early to our rooms a little tired as we had done 450 km for the day.

Giritale hotel

Giritale hotel

Giritale hotel

The following day after breakfast we left for Passikudah around 10 am .The entire road from giritale-kaduruwela-welikanda-valachchanai was a treat to drive. It was fully carpeted and most of the time the road was very straight for miles.We touched 160km/h at times with ease. Near Valachchanai police station we turned left and passed Kalkudah and reached the beach.

The straight road from Kaduruwela

Turn off to Passikudah

A kovil in Kalkudah

Police station in Kalkudah

We managed to get a piece of private beach just close to Mallu Mallu resort that was opened on 2 days after we went. The water was great , very clear and was about 4 feet only after 20 meters. We could see a big cro 200-300 meters away from us. We were in the water for almost 2 hours as we did not feel time passing. One of my friends who is a senior police officer organized lunch packets from a restaurant close by and consumed in a hut close by.

Famous beach with calm sea	Passikudah Beach
	The hut where we changed and had lunch

Afterwards we left and reached Minneriya park just minutes before the books were closed. The water levels of the lake inside had risen up very much though it is pretty dry at present and the park had closed the by roads leading to the lake and we went on the main roads. We saw a herd of 15 Elephant with 2 very small ones at close range and came out passed 6.30.

The herd in Minneriya	The herd in Minneriya
very small ones at close range

The following morning after breakfast we all 8 of us went for a herbal massage at the hotel and I must tell you it was really soothing.this take about an hour and after the full body and head massage you are put under a kohomba enclosure and steam is sent all over. Then you go into a mud hut for sauna treatment and a hot water shower is taken finally. Afterwards we had a swim in the pool and checked out after lunch at 3.45pm.We reached Colombo around 10.30pm. It was a very enjoyable trip

Having fun in the pool