Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon is a country of 220 million people who live on a small island resulting in 300 people per square kilometer. Our tour involved a 3 hour each way bus trip to Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage. Our guide was a wealth of information, practically talking none stop all the way. I will try and give some of the facts that most interested us.
The country has a history of many many other invaders who conquered, and ruled. Recently they have suffered from a civil war sparked by the Tamil Tigers which is over, although there is still unrest in the north. Eighty percent of the population is Buddhist. The Tamil's are Hindu and there is a small Catholic population as well. The British introduced tea and coffee and rubber - all of which remain in large plantations and each provide a large revenue stream for their economy. We saw coconut palm and rubber plantations enroute. The coconut palm is called the tree of life and when a family builds a home, this is the first thing they plant. The number of products that are produced from this one tree is prodigious: thatch, baskets, rope, coconut milk, coconut, coconut water, to name a few.
There are 500 species of birds on the island, 200 of which migrate here annually. The 200 stay here because if you draw a line south from this country there is no land. There are over 20 varieties of snakes, 5 of whom are lethal like cobra's and vipers (yikes!). There are 22 varieties of bananas, and we saw lots of pineapples, durian, watermelon, and papayas for sale along the road. We tasted small bananas for lunch that were the sweetest, most delicious we had ever had. As for tea, there is high ground black tea with milk and without milk varieties, low ground, green, and gold and silver tip (very expensive). They are also famous for their gemstones, which are one of the major exports.
Colombo, our port is a typical port town and it is not the capital. It has a colonial past and that is evident in some of the port buildings, although they are long past their heyday. The port itself is a large container port and one of the largest container ships we have ever seen was docked.
Erika went on a private tour today of other elephants, and their tour bus didn't gain admittance to the port area, and she said there were armed guards at the entrance on the rooftops..- I missed seeing those. Leslie told us that when she and Karen returned in a taxi, one of the port security guards told her to give him some money - she said why? and he said because you have it. Corruption and security are obviously still dicey here.
While we had seen a lot of poverty in Vietnam, it was even more evident here with true shanty towns just outside of the port entrance along the railway tracks. On the way back I saw a small boy about 10 asleep on the sidewalk - completely alone. In spite of the poverty our impression was of great industry - a lot of people working manually at repairs of every kind - mechanical, home repairs, new construction. But is all elementary and rough. It is still, from what we can see a country of small mom and pop businesses. We saw a lot of lumber yards which ranged from ones with no visible organization to better, but all the wood was rough sawn, not finished. Our guide told us that in an attempt to kickstart the economy, the government, a few years ago, had offered international businesses free land and infrastructure if they would establish their businesses here. They could in addition take all profits and dividends out of the country. The only goal was to get employment for their young people. Many international apparel manufacture brands have located here. We think they employ children, even though education is compulsory. Literacy is 95%. The guide said there were two major roads, which by the way are mostly populated by tuk tuks, these 3 wheeled taxi vehicles that weave madly in and out of larger traffic. The roads were paid for by the world bank which tells you how terrible the economy has been and still is.
Once we were out of the city, we saw a lush, green jungle environment that evoked the pictures we had grown up with of Ceylon. Great towering palms, large canopied flowering trees were everywhere. Rice is the number one crop which is vital for food and we saw lots of rice paddies with water buffalo. Ever so often we passed through villages which were really just groupings of small stands along the side of the road, selling their wares. Each village seemed to specialize - baskets and what appeared to be really elegant and beautiful bamboo furniture, a town of hardware shops, a village of pineapples and strangely a village of children's blow up water toys. I am convinced that the most profitable small business is bridal shops as there were a vast number of them and billboards advertising them. The contrast of the exquisite brides, elaborately dressed and made up contrasted with the poverty in a strange way.
The most striking thing was how friendly the people were - as we flew through these villages people and children waved and smiled and when we stopped for traffic they signaled for me to take their picture. They are a particularly attractive people. I had a very difficult time with pictures today, because we were traveling at break neck speed and our camera shutter doesn't operate fast enough.
The elephants were the highlight of the day. There are African elephants who have larger ears and only the males have tusks and Indian elephants who have smaller ears and both male and females can have tusks, but only 3% do. The orphanage was started in the 1990's. In Sri Lanka an elephant may kill a man, but a man may not kill an elephant. If he does it is a 10 years prison term. If an elephant ruins a person's farm, the government provides compensation. This orphanage has evolved into a breeding station. Until this place was established elephants never bred in captivity, but now they do, however because this population of 72 elephants (from the original 5!) has human scent and does not know how to forage for food, they cannot be released into the wild. There is a sister organization on the other coast that releases them after 5 years. The female chooses who to mate with, and only mates with one male. Males who do not mate often become rogue and can go on rampages.
We loved this tour. There were 32 elephants ranging from 4 months to many years down in the river stream when we arrived. There was a restaurant overlooking the river. We spent an hour
watching them. We were invited to come down and a guide brought us two elephants up to where Barry and I were standing so we could touch them. There trunks felt weird - wet and really rough and they really do use it to explore and smell you. They were so gentle and curious with us. We were in a little corner by ourselves - as there were hundreds of people at this venue.
After a delicious lunch we shopped a bit in the stalls along the walk to the bus, then crossed the street to the main area of the orphanage in the extremely hot sun to see some others being fed. Here we met Sama who at 4 years lost her foot by a land mine and whose other front leg is grossly misshapen from supporting the weight of her body for her remaining 8 years.
Then we went to meet a 69 year old male "tusker" who is blind as a result of being shot by a man. He went on a rampage and today this large animal who stands alone under a rooftop shelter. I was invited to step into his pen, which I did and touched his trunk and patted him. Then it was off to buy tea, and home to our ship after another 3 hour ride.
We were hot and tired, but managed to dash to the sail away, dinner with Karen and Jonathan, and then to the show where " The Unexpected Boys" performed a Jersey Boys-like evening which we loved. We crashed in bed.
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