Uda Walawe, Elephants Galore

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Panamure to Thimbolketiya
Kilometers: 15 Elevation gain/loss: 160/190

The plan was to follow my GPS through the fields and back lanes connecting Panamure to Thimbolketiya, thus avoiding the main roads and the crowded, noisy city of Embilipiitya. Sri Lankans, certainly once you are away from the tourist mad centres, are remarkably hospitable. Even if they have little, they will warmly offer you a coconut from their tree, or a meal, or any help you may need. So, when my plan to wander through unpaved footpaths became known, I soon had a full entourage of guides and guards to accompany me. My own posse! With me was the talkative and well-informed Kanangara, who at 70 years old, kept pace like a man half his age, and the delightful, smiling policeman Sangadasa, who struggled bravely to carry on despite being hindered by a foot injury.

We walked passed banana plantations and fields of vetiver, the area being too dry for much rice cultivation, crossing through impoverished villages where the men don't work (not much) and the children don't go to school (not much). There is little industry in the area, education seems pointless, and a general ennui seems to have settled over many of the people.

In no time, we had reached the main road and found our way to my guest house. Chosen only for its ideal location along the route, the inn turned out to be little more than the Sri Lankan equivalent of the cheap 'n dirty motel on the outskirts of town where you take your one-night-stand for a quick shag. Or worse. No glass in the windows, no lid on the toilet tank, cold water pouring directly from a shower pipe with no shower head, one dim 20watt bulb illuminating a dark room painted dark red. A single dubious sheet on the bed and pillowcases I didn't even want to touch with my bare hands. Nothing but the best for me, eh? My posse was suitably unimpressed and advised me to avoid all but minimal contact with the dodgy staff (lest they get the wrong idea).

I comforted myself with the fact that it was only for one night, and struck out for Uda Walawe, the national park famous for its elephant population of almost 500. Go to Yala National Park, deep in the south-east, and you can enjoy a great number of different species, most notably leopards. You, and the 400 other jeeps EACH DAY that roar along the dirt roads jostling for position, causing knotted traffic jams and scaring away all but the most intractable and inured buffalo. Uda Walawe, by contrast, has a wide open feel to it, much like the African savana, and you're unlikely to see another jeep during your entire trip.

Of course, you're not likely to see the full zoo of animals Yala offers, but if it's elephants you're after, you can't beat Uda Walawe. There's also a great little orphanage nearby, where they ready the elephants for rehabilitation in the park, and it's encouraging to see so many of the now-wild elephants (about 50) wearing radio collars, proof of their successful reintegration. At sunset, head for the reservoir, where large herds gather.

After a bumpy afternoon of being thrown and jostled about in the back of a jeep, photo-op happy and having had my pachyderm quota thoroughly satisfied, I returned to the flea-pit where I was to pass the night. I threw a clean sheet over the bed, ate a packet of bisquits for my dinner (deciding not to risk the dining room), and hightailed it outta there come first light of morning.