Elephants, Monkeys and Turtles Oh My!

We have slipped into the chilled beach life very easily. Our routine is a “busy” day where we jump in a Tuk tuk and head down the road a bit to our favourite spot Hiriketiya beach. A beautiful horse shoe bay with perfect beginner breaks and more advanced out at the point. We smash ourselves learning to surf, ($2.50 to hire a board for an hour) boogie boarding and swimming for hours thanks to the deliciously warm Indian Ocean.

When our bellies start to rumble we always seem to end up at Salt House. It’s run by Aussies, has a really nice vibe and we can’t go past the delicious burgers and sweet potato fries on a treat day or crunchy fresh salad on a light day. They are also the only place I can find that serves a decent rosè, so we find ourselves there for a chilled avo drink too. Hiriketiya is definitely our favourite sport in Sri Lanka and would recommend Salt House or Jasper House to stay close by.

This is then followed by a “quiet” day where I get in a decent workout. I’ve signed up to freeletics, a personal trainer app that give you new 15-30mins workouts each week. It quick, convenient and helps me maintain some strength and not completely go to pack. Backed up with hanging by the pool, reading or iPads and sunset soccer or volleyball on our beach. It’s blissful and we all could quite happily continue this forever…

We did drag ourselves away from our daily rituals to visit Yala National Park. Featuring some different animals to the ones we saw at Kaudulla National Park, including the elusive Leopard. Yala is a spectacular park, with the coastline on one side and the thick jungle on the other. It makes for beautiful scenery even without the wildlife. We weren’t lucky enough to spot any leopards (it’s quite rare) however we saw elephants, spotted deer, water buffaloes, mongoose, crocodiles and some of the most beautiful bird life.

I had to laugh at my children as they sat in this awesome safari jeep they we so ho hum about seeing more elephants. We have seen so many now and everyday just at home in our villa we see monkeys, squirrels, peacocks, Iguana and turtles swimming while we are at the beach. Its almost become normal, but I’m sure they will look back with fond memories.

This time of year is the season for the green turtles to lay their eggs on the beach at night. We couldn’t take any photos as it disturbs the mother turtles (You can see some on TripAdvisor). I was equally in awe and horrified at this massive turtle laying 100-150 eggs. We were so close to her we saw her eggs dropping into the hole she had dug and could see her shaking with physical exhaustion as she did so. I was quite shocked to learn that the survival rate for the babies is only 1 in 1000. So while I questioned morally whether it was right we were all there gawking at her as she gave birth, at the same time I could appreciate the great work the conservationist do. It was truly amazing experience, the kids were fascinated and will be in our memories forever.

These weeks of freedom have been incredible! No work, no school and minimal responsibility. We are just soaking this precious time in before school starts as our time won’t be as free but as Pearl did remind me “It’s not like we can go for a surf in our lunch break at home mum.” Very true darling very true!