Sri-Lanka: The Birds and the Teas

On the road -- touring the island of Sri Lanka. I've already talked about seeing the elephants. Imagine so many elephants on a small island like Sri Lanka! Once we left Colombo we stayed in unique hotels -- some were like B&Bs but others were nice little hotels. Our first one was amazing and was simply named "Nice Place Bungalows" and consisted of a cluster of bungalows.

It had a central bungalow with the restaurant, a lounge and a little shop. Paths meandered from that spot to connect little chalets (or bungalows). We were in our own chalet with a little veranda. It was nicely laid out: two beds with mosquito nets, nice sized bathroom, chairs in the room and two woven chairs out on the veranda. A path beyond the central building led down through the bush to a pool that was quite relaxing with chaise lounges and birds flitting about. Throughout the grounds were trees and bushes bursting with flowers and birds. We sat on the veranda to relax after being in the vehicle and listened to birds singing from all sides. I pulled out my camera and was able to get some of them on film.

There were ground birds and plain birds with beautiful voices and beautiful birds that showed off their colors. The ground bird might have been a type of grouse. The yellow bird was exquisite and I decided it was a Common Iora. Then there were Myna birds and my favorite, the Flycatcher.

This one is the Ceylon Paradise Flycatcher. You can see the crest and the blue eye. They have a long tail which is sometimes what catches your eye at first. I saw him catch a butterfly or katydid. He took his time eating it and you can see bits sticking out of his mouth in the photo below. And of course there was one eagle who perched in a tree and just watched us for a few minutes before moving on to find prey. From my research I think he was a Crested Serpent Eagle. He has yellow

across the beak from eye to eye. Something must have caught his eye while we watched and feathers came up on both sides of his head, making a crest. Behind all the birdsong was the constant hum of insects, flying beetles, crickets and goodness knows what else.

And then there were the flowers. You are accosted by colors all over Sri Lanka. Things grow very well and you see hanging flowers and blossoms on tall stalks. I have never seen so many colours of Hibiscus - and I grew up around Hibiscus. This hotel had beautiful red ones in little flower beds. There were Bougainvillea and one bush looked like the 'double bougainvillea' with more flowers together than the standard bush. Bushes of yellow flowers and white flowers abounded and birds flitting through them all.

Sigiriya Rock: a climb to the heavens

The next day found us in the shadow of the big Sigiriya Rock. It is an amazing example of what Kings can do when they have enough money and workers to put behind their ideas. The rock stands almost alone in a flat plain and, if you look on a map, its position is (almost) perfectly in the middle of Sri Lanka. It's also called Lion Rock because it looks like a lion sitting on its haunches. It is a UNESCO site because of its historic value. King Kasyapa first developed, or built upon, around 480 AD. Historians have found evidence that the area was used as far back as 5500 BC but the elevated palace was not built there until King Kasyapa ordered it. The surrounding area contains organized gardens and water features and on the very top of the rock is the palace with a pool and various facilities. Over the years it has also been used by monks and was known for religious activities.

The gardens at the foot of the rock, are designed to please. They include pools, channels dug into the ground and serpentine waterways with fountains and ponds. Some are easy to see and understand the design, which is symmetrical, but others are lost in the undergrowth or have crumbled over time, so their design is not clear. The garden has raised sections that no longer have flowers but the design of each in relation to the next raised section is very appealing. I wish I was able to take a picture of it all from directly above to show you the overall design but the best I can do is from the walls of the Lion (as I climbed) or from the top of the lion rock. If you wander around the base of the rock you will find caves and a type of amphitheater which is called an audience room, with a huge stone throne at one end. You could wander around this area for a long time, finding treasures everywhere.

But, if you have the energy and the time, you have to make the effort to go to the top, not just for the view but for the experience itself. To climb to the top you enter through wide steps that have huge lion paws on either side (I don't have a photo of them). Then you climb over 1000 steps to reach the top plateau. There are stone steps, brick steps, metal steps and spiral stairs. It is actually quite safe now and there are rest stops in every possible location as you climb. At the top are the

ruins of the palace. It was extensive at one time and took up the whole area. It included many rooms, a surprising number, and a deep pool which still holds water. The view is breathtaking. You

have a 360 degree view of the surrounding plains. The top is flat, whether it was always flat is unknown, but you can see the foundations and walls of what was there.

There are smaller rocks jutting out of the plains nearby and there are stories of the King having a secret passage to another nearby rock where he would take his damsels. Speaking of damsels,

there is a cave with Frescoes of damsels throughout the room -- every wall in fact. You can no longer take photos of the Frescoes in order to protect them as they are deteriorating. I have some pictures which did not use a flash and were easily visible. Historians believe there were up to 500 Frescoes during the King's time which have broken off and disappeared. It is amazing how there is not more damage when you see all the people climbing around the rocks, the ruins and the garden.

Tea Heaven: to tea or not to tea

Much of Sri Lanka is hilly. That is why it was surprising to be in the plains when you saw Lion Rock. The hills are perfect for tea and most of it is grown in the south of the island. Remember one of the best teas was (and some are still called) Ceylon Tea. Ceylon became Sri Lanka in 1972 when it became the socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the 4th largest producer of tea and is the 2nd largest exporter. Even today you will see that many of the tea varieties will have a percentage of Ceylon tea in their leaves. The variety of altitude and soil quality allow different teas to be grown which has resulted in their high production.

We visited the Kandy region to see their teas and stayed in a little hotel surrounded by fields of tea. We took an evening stroll through the paths in the tea and saw a few stragglers still pulling leaves off of the tea bushes. The hill country was quite cool and I was surprised the tea grew so well there. I grew up in Kenya which is

also an exporter of tea and the tea grew on lower hills with warmer weather - not hot but warmer than Sri Lanka. But Sri Lanka tea is the best, as far as I am concerned.

Kenya comes in second. We visited a tea factory and saw how they dry the leaves and learned how they select the different grades of tea. Then they get packaged. They harvest both little leaf and big leaf teas.

Beautiful Kandy: Dances and Orchids

Kandy, the city, was also cold. It was so hilly, I don't know how they actually built up the area. I would be afraid in the rains that the whole city would wash away. Our hotel was a beautiful hotel with several layers and the windows overlooked the hilly city. But for me I think the highlight of Kandy was the Botanical Gardens - AAA Absolutely Awesome and Amazing. First off it was huge! It had paths leading everywhere. I don't think it was possible to see it all in one day but we took a number of different paths to get an overall look at it.

It was a gorgeous day and there were flowering trees edged the paths and even the forested areas had flowering plants at the bottom of them. Paths took you for a stroll along a creek and then through a shaded grove and into an open field with arches and gazebos slathered in colored

flowers. I don't know flowers as well as I know animals and I was wishing I was more knowledgeable. Trees had waterfalls of color. I mean they were loaded with flowers to the point you thought the branches might break under the weight. The Garden also had monkeys (I wasn't surprised at all), they seem to be everywhere. And there were more birds, many I did not know.

There was a greenhouse of orchids which I will show in my next blog. And just to end on an unusual note I will show what was in a lot of the trees.

Bats! Yes, bats! They were fruit bats which are bigger and their faces are not creepy like people expect bats to look. Their faces look like a small dog really. I worked at Toronto Zoo for years and we had fruit bats, which were also called 'Flying Foxes' and their faces look like fox faces. Once you got past the fact they were bats...you could look at them and see that their faces were almost cute. No joke! But -- when they start swooping low out of trees to fly and they scrabble up the branches to find a perch (upside down) you feel your skin crawl... well maybe a little.