Monkeys, Birds, Lizards, Snakes in Sri Lanka — Oh My!

Day 85, 2024 Grand World Voyage

Thursday, March 28, 2024; Colombo, Sri Lanka.

I had lots of opportunities to see elephants in Sri Lanka. To feed them. To bathe them. Perhaps even to ride them, although not on any of the Holland America excursions. The practice is controversial. (Not so much around 1960, when as a small child I rode the beloved Ruth at the Little Rock Zoo, now renowned for caring for aging female elephants.)

The tours to see elephants at the Millennium Elephant Foundation or the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage are some of the most popular for cruise passengers visiting Colombo. But the long journey from the port (up to three hours each way) makes for a long day, and I have learned to appreciate tours of about five hours or less.

Instead, I opted to see snakes, lizards, monkeys and lots of birds (identified through the magic of Siri).

We spent almost two hours in small boats in the Muthurajawela wetlands just north of Colombo on my morning tour, and I was back on board for lunch and to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. Extremely hot temperatures, even for Colombo, dampened my thoughts of returning to the city, even after a late afternoon rainfall cooled things – a bit. Our sail-away was scheduled for 11 p.m., but I was asleep by then.

A bimini, or canvas tarp, covered our open boat, and with the movement we remained pretty comfortable. I was glad I brought my neck fan, which provided a little air circulation for my head even when we weren’t moving. While I normally just take photographs with my iPhone, I brought along my Panasonic Lumix FZ80. Its 60x optical zoom is far better than the 5x optical zoom of my iPhone.

Still, with the boat constantly moving, most of my photos were a bit disappointing. I need to improve my focusing ability. Still, there wasn’t much I could do about the constantly moving boat, as leaves and the heads of other passengers moved in and out of my frame.

We quickly saw a water snake, which was enough to make me rethink my decision not to wear the bulky lifejacket assigned to me. The canal was only about 50 feet wide (built during the colonization by the Dutch, who know a thing or two about canals). I assumed I could easily swim or wade to shore, but that was before I saw that snake. Our guide said it wasn’t poisonous, but I’m not sure I believed her.

The canal was lined with palm trees and vegetation, with breaks for shacks, houses and even villas. Locals fished while kids played. One man waded through the canal collecting the plastic trash that had washed into the water. I wonder if he knew about the snake.

Someone on our boat spotted a monitor lizard swimming in the vegetation along the canal’s edge. We saw a number of birds, both near the ground and high in the trees. Some pelicans flew overhead.

In the lagoon men fished with nets and poles from small boats. Wooden stakes marked “fish farms.”

We paused among the mangroves to enjoy fresh coconut water straight from the shell, small bananas and spicy crackers.

Once back to the ship, I shopped the busy vender stalls, or pier boutiques as we call them. A t-shirt featuring an elephant outline (the elephant face on the front and its rear on the back) drew my eye, but I couldn’t find a color I liked. We’ll see lots more pier boutiques as we sail on to Africa.

I missed the opportunity to photograph the stunning Lotus Tower after dark, so I borrowed a photograph from my friend Bob Voorneveld. I guess I’m getting old – these opportunities to go back to town for dinner sound good in principle, but by evening I wimp out for dinner on the ship.