October 9, 2013

Finally did something really exciting on Sunday last.  At this time of the year, there are elephant gatherings at watering holes all over the island.  No-one knows why they gather, but they come by the hundreds.  On Sunday, Amal organized a trip to Minneriya National Park to see the gathering there.  It was spectacular.  Beautiful cloudless day.  Our friend Gamini, who really organized the thing, estimated that we saw 175 elephants, including 2 big males in musth.  

When in musth, the males secrete a fluid from glands at the temple, about half way between the eye and ear.  You can smell it a mile away.  When they get to the herd which consists only of females and immature males, they go around sniffing all the adults to see if they are ready to mate.  We named them gynecologists.

The tanks at Minneriya are large and man made.  They serve as watering holes for elephants, jackals, water buffalo, monkeys, and lots of birds, all of which we saw.  We saw large brown pelicans, stilts, black headed stilts, rooks, cranes, and the most beautiful green bee eater.

Here are some pics.

Monkeys

A lone adolescent tusker

Green bee eater

Stilts

Black headed stilts

The smallest baby we saw

Spectacular sunset

The only fly in the ointment was when I got home, I couldn't find my phone.  Panic stations.  You have no idea how much you rely on your phone until you don't have it.  I don't even have a land line.  Thank god for Skype.  I called Amal on Skype and thankfully he found the phone on the seat of the car.  The next day, I Skyped my tuktuk man and went over to retrieve it.

I also went to pick up a package from the Kandy Central Post Office.  Apart from the fact that I showed up during the lunch hour when they are closed, it was quite an OK experience.  They still scribble everything in ledgers using carbon paper, but overall, it was pretty quick.

Continuing on with my arts phase, I did some Warli Art on the wall at the end of my car port.  Warli Art is a primitive art form that I think is quite decorative and easy to do.