9. Waw Pitiya: Wow
The action at Udawalawe National Park is at the lake
08.15.2021 - 08.15.2021 81 °F
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Chapter 9, August 15, 2021
Today is moving day. After sleeping in—until 6:30—my coffee arrived at 7:00. Breakfast is at 8:00 and I again had the opportunity to have a lengthy conversation with campmate Richard. His story would make a great book and I have taken the liberty to introduce him, via email, to Amy Butler at thestoryscribe.com should he be interested and/or need expert assistance to pursue the idea.
Packed, I check out and depart at 10:00 in the back seat of Mr. Kalika’s Toyota. The drive—a bit over an hour—is instructive but not remarkable. The best part was the opportunity to be in air conditioning for a while.
Mahoora Udawalawe Tented Campsite lies in terrain very different from Yala. But more significantly, the staff here feels somehow on edge. There is vast open space and, after a few steps up a short rise past empty tents, I am at my tent which is #2. Again, I am the lone client here.
First impression? Negative. Unneeded furniture (the place is unoccupied except for me) is piled here and there making for a look of abandonment. The staff is, unlike Yala, lacking in smiles. That said, there is a cool towel of greeting along with a tall glass of cold lemonade but it is provided by trusty Avinka, not Mahoora Udawalawe personnel. A bonus (I think) is that there is room for me to roam about here.
Lunch is at 1:00 but it is in a canopied area where there is no electricity to power one of their many floor fans. The air is very still there so if the air won’t move the bugs and the heat (it is 91 degrees) own me. I say I will skip lunch but they come up with an alternate plan taking me back to the internet canopy (where there is electricity) and grabbing a fan from one of the many unoccupied tents. Perhaps it was the food or more likely it was me but lunch was inedible except for the soup to start (pumpkin) and the fruit to finish.
The WiFi router was initially as dead as the elephant hip socket bone against which it was propped. But reliable Avinka (who has moved with me from Yala to Udawalawe) sprang into action and found another router and soon I had internet…albeit in an uncomfortable location.
My initial Udawalawe game drive was at 2:30. I needed to feel the breeze in my face as I rode in the safari seat bed of the Toyota pickup. The park entrance is about 35 minutes away. After three stops to satisfy formalities, we driven by driver Asanka for only a moment or two before we happen upon a lone elephant. Then a group of three. Then another loner followed by a group of five. To get to the end of the story, we spent time with 50 elephants today and even watched one swim all the way across Waw Pitiya (a lake). Golden Black Jackals surveyed a Sea Eagle first catch a fish and then try to protect the too-heavy creature from marauding crows.
Upon arrival back at camp, again it was up to Avinka alone to do the work of three people. The place just isn’t up to Mahoora standards on this day, so much so that I ask to cut my stay here short by one day. That is accomplished so this first night will also be my last night here. No matter because, just as Nathasha saved my trip from multiple cancelation situations, Avinka saved the day with this afternoon's drive. Here is Avinka in action:
