As you may have guessed, I didn't sleep so well last night. I woke up at 3.45 am to the sound of a heavy thunderstorm hammering down on the roof and couldn't get back to sleep. My beautiful wife was less than impressed with me. Especially as I kept asking if she was awake...
In the end I gave up trying to sleep altogether and decided to go for an early morning jog around track that delineates the periphery of the hotel complex. I figured that 6:00 am would be an optimal time to see birds and I wasn't wrong. I saw bedraggled peafowl hunched in big dead trees, bright green barbets and bee-eaters zipping over the water catching insects, pairs of bright yellow orioles foraging in the trees, and even the national bird of Sri Lanka, a male Ceylon jungle fowl, complete with flame-like crest. I also saw our friend the ruddy mongoose padding along the track in front of me.
Breakfast was a very tasty affair. I opted for the Sri Lankan breakfast, which put Amber's American breakfast to shame, comprising chicken curry, red potato curry, coconut sambal, chilli sambal, daal, fish curry, rice noodles, rice noodle hoppers and rottis. It definitely set me up for the day.
Our plan for today was to climb up Sigiriya rock, by far the most impressive attraction this area of Sri Lanka has to offer and a definite must-do as far as our itinerary was concerned. Stanley picked us up at 8.45 am and drove us straight to the ticket office located in the Royal Gardens, to the west of the site, beyond the outer moat. We paid $60 for two people and headed over the inner moat (pausing briefly to feel sorry for a stray puppy who was paralysed from the waist down and forced to drag his back legs along the ground - awful, I had to pull Amber away in tears) and through the formal Water Gardens whilst Stanley parked up. We met up with him in the Boulder Gardens and he accompanied us halfway up the hill, to the point where the stone steps started to get steep in the Terraced Gardens. At that point his fitness levels got the better of him and headed back to the car. Amber and I continued onwards and upwards.
Sigiriya rock is the hardened magma plug of a volcano that eroded millennia ago. Nowadays it is a World Heritage Site, but prior to that it was a Buddhist monastery site, complete with sacred caves, natural archways, a mirror wall covered in ancient monastic graffiti and steps carved out of huge boulders.
Perhaps the most famous aspect of climbing Sigiriya rock is the horror it presents for people who suffer from vertigo. Before this trip I had read several stories of the route to the summit, with tales of people taking one look at the spiral staircase attached to the cliff face by what appear to be rather unsubstantial thin metal beams and 'choosing life' instead. I have no love of heights, but thankfully have always been able to conquer my fear by concentrating on other things in the environment (like the steps, not the view down!) and the statistical unlikelihood that I would be the one to plunge to my death when so many other people have survived the ordeal before me. Looking up at the rickety stairs fastened to the cliff face was enough to leave me feeling distinctly weak at the knees, but I dragged my sorry ass up them anyway. Some of the steps were rusting apart, which didn't help! Amber found it all rather entertaining, as she is used to me being the fearless, relaxed one on our holidays. Nothing like the care and support of a loving wife, eh?
Anyway, thanks to my unwillingness to suffer mockery at the hands of my wife, we made it past the terrifying section - which involves two sets of enclosed spiral staircases and an enclosed ledge hundreds of metres above ground which houses ancient frescoes of incredibly well endowed bare-chested women - and carried on up the famous Lion Staircase to reach the top in double quick time.
I am glad we did.
The view was nothing short of spectacular.
I got some great photos, my favourite being one of Amber leaping for joy from the top of a low wall, arms and legs in all directions!
Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, I spotted a male garden lizard in full breeding colour - performing his territorial display for all he was worth - on the top of one of a wall. He was amazingly photogenic and, crawling slowly on my stomach to get ever nearer, I made the most of this opportunity to get some great shots. As luck would have it, we saw another group of these lizards on the way down, so there will be no shortage of photos of this species in my collection.
Having started the climb around 9:30 am, we were reunited with Stanley in the car park at 11:30 am, where I spotted a small group of toque macaques sitting on the roof of a souvenir hut. They are obviously pretty used to human presence and had no problem with me snapping away.
After visiting Sigiriya rock, Stanley took us to an ayurvedic spa where, for just $50, we were treated to two hours of wonderful treatments, which included: a head and shoulder massage, a full body massage, 10 minutes lying in a herbal steam box, 10 minutes in a sauna and a special treatment good for headaches and sinus pain that involved have hot water infused with herbs trickled onto our foreheads from a bowl with a string hanging from it. By the end of it we were both a horribly oily, sweaty herb-infused mess, but a quick shower later left us both feeling refreshed an revitalised. I have no shame in admitting I love a good spa treatment, when it really is good, and this definitely was one of the better treatments I have experienced. Ayurvedic power for the win!
Lunch was a simple-but-scrumptious beef curry, made all the better by the antics of a large troupe of toque macaques playing in the trees around the restaurant. They are a comical looking species, with most adults having centre-parted hair and very stern expressions. Great to watch them leaping between the palm trees, especially one of the females and her tiny baby, which was clinging on to its mother for dear life, upside down, as she hurled herself around the canopy. Got some more great shots. I am so glad I made the decision to buy myself this (Panasonic LUMIX FZ200) camera for this trip, I have been so impressed by all that extra zoom.
Stanley was keen to get us involved in some more activities to afternoon, suggesting that we go see the wild elephants at Kaudulla National Park, but given that it is expensive to get into the parks and that a paid guide is compulsory, we decided we'd much rather wait until we are in Yala to get our wild elephant fix. We made a short pit stop to grab some bottled water and made our way back to the hotel.
Once back at Vil Uyana I headed out to take a walk up the road outside the hotel in search of more weird and wonderful wildlife, but there was a storm brewing and I didn't get more than half an hour into my walk before the rain started and I had to abort the mission. Amazing how well animals can predict the onset of rain. They had all gone into hiding long before the rain started and all I saw on my walk was a trio of very miserable looking peafowl hunched down on top of a dead tree in preparation for the downpour.
I love swimming in tropical rain, so once I got back to the room I persuaded Amber that we should go and use the hotels lovely freshwater infinity pool and embrace the storm, which we did, although sadly the rain stopped as we left the room. I think the hotel staff thought we were crazy to be going swimming in those conditions, but it was great to be out in the elements with a dramatic backdrop of brooding rainclouds and the occasional flash of lightning. We even got to add another bird to today's list: a greater coucal.
After our swim we got changed and headed out for a pre-dinner drink. Amber had a very strong Black Russian and I had a large bottle of Lion stout (Lion being the local beer brand), both of which left us rather inebriated! We swayed upstairs to dinner and enjoyed a couple of curries and a very quaffable Gewürztraminer, all to the sounds of a somewhat better live musician (compared to last night - he was still no virtuoso!) and his mandolin-like instrument.
Today's additions to the wildlife list are as follows:
- Ceylon jungle fowl
- toque macaque
- woolly-necked stork
- purple heron
- white-rumped munia
- Indian robin
- brown-headed barbet
- little green bee-eater
- greater coucal
- snakehead (Channa punctata) in Sigiriya inner moat
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