The road to Udawalawe
It rained heavily (very heavily) last night and we had another misty breakfast - this time complete with a little visitor who came to see if we'd left anything behind.
Our check-in at the Green Safari Lodge was not till 1pm so we opted for a late departure. It's 100km from Ella to Udawalawe and takes around 2.5hrs. Right on time VJ and his van arrived at 10.30am. Its a pretty hair-raising trip from Ella down the mountains to Wellawaya. Ella sits at just over 1050m, Wellawaya is at 180m and the road clings to the side of incredibly steep hills. In half an hour you're 'down' … the temperature rises and the humidity jumps. No photos of the spectacular scenery - I was more intent on watching the road and VJ's driving.
From Wellawaya its flat driving through farming land, past one side of the Lunagamvehra National Park and on through Thanamilwila. Soon you see the unmistakeable elephant fence which announces that you're now in the Udawalawe National Park. And much to my delight elephants at the fence line - much to my NOT delight, they were being fed by tourists roadside. I'd done a bit of reading on this area and one thing that was reiterated numerous times was the plea for people NOT to feed elephants as it develops dependency and puts both elephants and people at risk.
We checked into to our lovely little bungalow, sorted dinner and tomorrow's safari plans and about 2.30pm headed for the Elephant Transit Home in time for the 3pm feeding of their babies.
Its only about 1km from our hotel to the ETS so we wandered in. Udawalawe is a funny little nothing town. A police station, an Army Engineers workshop, 2 hair salons, a handful of 'restaurants,' a school and a mobile fish vendor. If not for the elephant safaris into the National Park and the Elephant Transit Home, no-one would ever stop here.
Supported by organisations like the Born Free Foundation & Cologne Zoo (who pay for the prosthetic limbs for disabled elephants) the Elephant Transit Home was set up in 1995 to care for orphaned baby elephants till they are able to be released back into the wild at about 5yrs of age.
There are currently about 30 babies here - some just tiny ones who are only just past bottle feeding, others not far from being released back into this or other national parks. The first baby was from Anuradhapura and in the years since over 130 orphans have been successfully returned to the wild. All the returnees are now fitted with radio tracking collars and monitored for the rest of their lives. Happily, the ETH reports that many of their orphans have gone on to become parents themselves.
Feeding time is a frenzy, the babies have become well conditioned and we arrived to see a growing group waiting (not so patiently if the noises were any indication) at a gate. Let in a few at a time, they trotted (some actually at more of a gallop - to the amusement of the watching crowd or humans) towards the milk centre. Since scientists & vets yet to formulate an elephant specific milk formula, these babies get human baby formula and are monitored carefully for any signs of lactose intolerance.
The babies race to the fence, trunks up and mouths open. Human feeders are equipped with large funnels with a hose on the bottom. The babies literally grab the hoses with their trunks and shove it in their mouths waiting for the feeders to our in the milk. From my vantage point in the viewing area I'd guess the jugs held about 3-4litres and each baby got 3 'loads'. This was gutsed down quickly and the next baby takes the hose.
After their milk, the babies head for a big pile of what looked like sugar cane or palm fronds and munched away happily till it was time to return to the park for a few hours before their 6pm feeding.
I didn't take many photos - far too intent on watching the antics of these little ones, particularly this little guy who was 'sucking his trunk' the elephant equivalent of a human sucking their thumb.
The ETH also has a small info centre and a skeleton of one of the local elephants shot some years ago. I'm going to show this photo to everyone I know who ever wants to ride an elephant in one of those basket contraptions so they can see just where the elephants spine is in relation to where that god-awful basket sits so cruelly on its back.
Tomorrow we're up at 5.30am for our elephant safari - so looking forward to this!
Our check-in at the Green Safari Lodge was not till 1pm so we opted for a late departure. It's 100km from Ella to Udawalawe and takes around 2.5hrs. Right on time VJ and his van arrived at 10.30am. Its a pretty hair-raising trip from Ella down the mountains to Wellawaya. Ella sits at just over 1050m, Wellawaya is at 180m and the road clings to the side of incredibly steep hills. In half an hour you're 'down' … the temperature rises and the humidity jumps. No photos of the spectacular scenery - I was more intent on watching the road and VJ's driving.
From Wellawaya its flat driving through farming land, past one side of the Lunagamvehra National Park and on through Thanamilwila. Soon you see the unmistakeable elephant fence which announces that you're now in the Udawalawe National Park. And much to my delight elephants at the fence line - much to my NOT delight, they were being fed by tourists roadside. I'd done a bit of reading on this area and one thing that was reiterated numerous times was the plea for people NOT to feed elephants as it develops dependency and puts both elephants and people at risk.
We checked into to our lovely little bungalow, sorted dinner and tomorrow's safari plans and about 2.30pm headed for the Elephant Transit Home in time for the 3pm feeding of their babies.
Its only about 1km from our hotel to the ETS so we wandered in. Udawalawe is a funny little nothing town. A police station, an Army Engineers workshop, 2 hair salons, a handful of 'restaurants,' a school and a mobile fish vendor. If not for the elephant safaris into the National Park and the Elephant Transit Home, no-one would ever stop here.
Supported by organisations like the Born Free Foundation & Cologne Zoo (who pay for the prosthetic limbs for disabled elephants) the Elephant Transit Home was set up in 1995 to care for orphaned baby elephants till they are able to be released back into the wild at about 5yrs of age.
There are currently about 30 babies here - some just tiny ones who are only just past bottle feeding, others not far from being released back into this or other national parks. The first baby was from Anuradhapura and in the years since over 130 orphans have been successfully returned to the wild. All the returnees are now fitted with radio tracking collars and monitored for the rest of their lives. Happily, the ETH reports that many of their orphans have gone on to become parents themselves.
Feeding time is a frenzy, the babies have become well conditioned and we arrived to see a growing group waiting (not so patiently if the noises were any indication) at a gate. Let in a few at a time, they trotted (some actually at more of a gallop - to the amusement of the watching crowd or humans) towards the milk centre. Since scientists & vets yet to formulate an elephant specific milk formula, these babies get human baby formula and are monitored carefully for any signs of lactose intolerance.
The babies race to the fence, trunks up and mouths open. Human feeders are equipped with large funnels with a hose on the bottom. The babies literally grab the hoses with their trunks and shove it in their mouths waiting for the feeders to our in the milk. From my vantage point in the viewing area I'd guess the jugs held about 3-4litres and each baby got 3 'loads'. This was gutsed down quickly and the next baby takes the hose.
After their milk, the babies head for a big pile of what looked like sugar cane or palm fronds and munched away happily till it was time to return to the park for a few hours before their 6pm feeding.
I didn't take many photos - far too intent on watching the antics of these little ones, particularly this little guy who was 'sucking his trunk' the elephant equivalent of a human sucking their thumb.
The ETH also has a small info centre and a skeleton of one of the local elephants shot some years ago. I'm going to show this photo to everyone I know who ever wants to ride an elephant in one of those basket contraptions so they can see just where the elephants spine is in relation to where that god-awful basket sits so cruelly on its back.
Tomorrow we're up at 5.30am for our elephant safari - so looking forward to this!
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