The third major stop on our trip after visiting the high elevations of Nura Elliya was to head back down the mountain to the national park at Uda Wallawe ((Learn more about Uda Wallawe)). It was definitely more rural and off the tourist track. We stayed at a very small resort called Kula’s Hideaway that only had 7 rooms. Very nice digs for being so far from everywhere. On Dec 31st we took a morning Safari into the park and despite coming close to getting stuck in the mud twice we saw dozens of elephants, peacocks, a host of birds and two crocodiles. Kai loved playing “spotter” with the binoculars.
Chandrasiri arranged a New Year’s eve “party” down by the lake which we thought it would be rude to decline. He seemed very excited about it. Turns out it was with the same crew that managed the Land Cruiser for the safari that morning – Chandrasiri drove us close to the lake in the van and then we went the rest of the way by 4-wheel drive in the safari truck. As the sun set on 2011 we were on the shore of Lake Uda Wallawe with some bowls of wild boar and lake fish and a couple of bottle of the local firewater – coconut arrak. Drums were produced and songs started. Crystal and I sampled the food and were thankful that Kai and Nora didn’t want to touch it. The coconut arrak disappeared surprisingly fast. Nora kept trying to wander away to chase fireflies which made us nervous as at least one wild dog was prowling the perimeter looking for the chance to dart in and steal some food. It was definitely a New Year’s Eve with bit more character than recent years.
