We woke to birds chirping and the sun rising – once again an early start as we had a 7:15 am departure scheduled in order to get to Sigiriya at opening time.  The heavy rain of the night before had stopped and we had partly cloudy skies for which we were actually thankful as we have 1200+steps to climb and we hoped to do it before the heat of the day started.

Sigiriya is kind of like Machu Picchu, though not as remote.  In the 5th C. a prince decided he wanted to be king so he murdered his father; however he never got the support of the dignitaries so he had to find a new place far away to build his palace, someplace remote and secure = the top of Sigiriya Rock. 

There are lovely water gardens and boulder gardens on the way up to the rock/palace, and hundreds and hundreds of stairs winding sinuously up and around the megalith till you reach the Lion’s Paw Terrace, which marks the final ascent to the inner palace complex.  Not something to be undertaken by those afraid of heights, the narrow, steel stairs are 2-way, so a firm handhold is necessary to avoid being cast off by a stray swinging backpack, but the climb was worth it as the views are spectacular from the top.

After a shower break at our hotel we set out for a tour of the local village.  First we walked around a rice paddy field and Udi pointed out an elephant blind where, near harvest season, they have to post a night guard to protect the fields from hungry elephants. Each year 100 people die from elephant attacks and 250 elephants die.

We continued on circling a lake which provides irrigation water for the fields, and Udi found lots of lizards and monkeys and birds and snakes to show us!

Then it was lunch time!  Next door to our restaurant was a local Hopper stand so we all crowded in for a little demonstration on how to make and eat the traditional Lankan snack.  A hopper is a thin rice flour pancake sprinkled with either sugar or hot spice, rolled up and eaten.  

I won’t comment on every lunch but today was a bit special in that they created a buffet full of local Sri Lankan cuisine with a few concessions to those with sensitive tastebuds (like me) with barbecue chicken!  The food was delicious, almost everyone going back for more.

Our “optional”-not afternoon excursion was an elephant safari in Kadualla National Park. The 15 of us divided up into 3 jeeps and joined a huge conga line of vehicles bumping along rutted, pot hole-y, jungle roads chasing the elusive elephants.  It was a bit of a cluster as a few jeeps got stuck in the mud and no one seemed to be willing to assist, they either just tried to pass them or sat waiting/blocking traffic.  We knew it was unlikely we were going to see many elephants as it’s the rainy season but we did see a few, which was exciting, but in truth just enjoying the drive, standing up in the back of the Jeep swaying the bumps and dodging the branches, eyeing the lush scenery and basking in the perfect weather(no afternoon showers!) was enough.