Day 6-11, Yala, Weligama, Mirissa & Galle

The last 5 days have been an absolute blur but an incredibly fun and exciting blur! 

We started by traveling from Ella over to our hotel in the buffer zone of Yala National Park. The hotel was actually just incredible, we were staying in a pod which was reminicent of a colonial expedition into the jungle (but a lot more luxurious) and the staff literally could not do enough for us. It is probably the most beautiful hotel we have ever been to (Thanks Ange & Isa).

We sat and had some food and piled through a chunk of the cocktail list (we set it as our goal to sample all of the cocktails before we left in two days time). Once we had finished our lunch we headed out on our first safari of the trip and it was a belter. 

We were in an open sided jeep which took us into the national park and we managed to see loads of animals including elephants. But the highlight had to be seeing a leopard in a clearing about 10m away from the jeep (see if you can spot it in the grainy photo…). His name was Steve and it was so incredible to see him, we were both surprised at how big he actually was also! A really incredible and unforgettable moment. We will also never forget the look of disappointment on the faces of the jeep full of Italian travelers when they pulled up 10 seconds too late to see Steve. 

Back to the hotel and we joined the other guests for the “Sun Downers”, which was cocktails on the beach, it was really beautiful and we couldn’t help but just repeat to each other “how lucky are we?”. 

It was just fab. Fast forward a couple hours and more than a couple of cocktails and we were escorted from our rooms to the main dining area (we were told this was neccesary as the animals frequently enter the resort and NOT because we were hammered off the free cocktails and couldn’t be trusted). The dining area was this beautiful open structure and the food was really good. I have no idea how they keep all the wildlife out, but they seemingly do. 

A great night sleep in the four poster bed and we were up for our breakfast, so far we haven’t had it in us to start the day in the traditional Sri Lankan way with a curry, but Cam did have some spiced pork belly on his egg Benedict which was delicious. After breakfast we had some more cocktails and prepared ourselves for some great massages. 

De-stressed and limber we had even more cocktails and lay on the beach and had a light lunch as we had to prepare ourselves for our afternoon tea (all included of course as it would have been sandos that we had prepared before we arrived). 

Following some sun worship we headed to get our afternoon tea which was really great, so much so Cam even ate his fruit scone (he usually refuses the fruit ones back home) and of course we chased it with some more cocktails. 

For dinner, the hotel gifted us an experience of eating dinner on the beach, which was made even more special when the panicked staff told us that our dinner had unfortunately been crashed by an elephant, and one which likes to charge. The waitress was really apologetic, but we assured her that the unexpected guest only added to our experience and we were delighted! 

After even more drinks and some games of Switch - in which Kirstin held an ascendency for far too long - we headed to bed as we had an early morning safari. Whist we were not graced with another siting of Steve the leopard, we were lucky enough to see some more elephants and a very rare sighting of a Sloth Bear which was super cute! We also saw some cool dancing Peacocks. 

And so ended our time at Wild Coast Tented Lodges. It truly was a special place and we were gutted to be leaving. However, we did not dwell as we were off to Weligama. 

Our first stop in Weligama was yet another beautiful hotel which were gifted as a wedding present from Kirstin’s Bridesmaids (thank you Phoebe, Stacey, Caitlin & Lucy!). The room was stunning and overlooked the rice fields, it all had a very hippy dippy vibe which was really cool! We went out for a wander and explored what Weligama had to offer, it has a stunning beach and was full of surfers… We did not fit in as we aren’t cool enough! 

We went back to the hotel and chilled for a bit before heading to dinner where we were again treated to a lovely view and we planned some more of our journey. It was a lovely relaxed evening which was needed as we were once again up for another early start as we were off to Marissa to do some whale watching. In summary, no whales were watched, but we did manage to see some flying fish, some dolphins and some sea turtles (who may or may not have been mating!).

After the whale watching we stopped in Marissa beach for some lunch and see what it was saying to it and we are really glad we did as it was stunning and probably one of our favourite stops in Sri Lanka. Because we liked it so much we decided to stay for the afternoon and sun bathe and do our first surfing lesson. 

It was during the surfing lesson where we probably did something really dumb… however, we were lucky as it did not go badly. We arrived at the booth for the surfing lesson and we asked if we could leave our stuff at the booth and whether it would be safe. We were assured all was well in leaving our bags (containing all our cash, passports and phones) on the plastic table in the middle of the beach. It would be fine though as we would be surfing on the same beach and could watch the bags… WRONG. We were guided to a Tuk Tuk and driven 15 mins away. There may or may not have been tears of stress, but we were already there so we decided to push on with the lesson. 

Unfortunately we didn’t take any photos, so you will just have to believe use when we say that we got to grips with it fairly quickly and were able to stand up and ride the waves fairly quickly. We had a lot of fun, although on the back of our minds the whole time was whether or not our stuff had been nicked. This worry combined with Kirstin wiping out and giving herself a small concussion meant it was time to head back to Mirissa and see if we would be stranded or not. As it happened the Sri Lankan people are a trustworthy bunch so our stuff remained untouched and we learned a valuable lesson not to do the same again. Passports secured, we ventured to Galle. 

Front of the hostel

We arrived at our Hostel and it was quite Jarring having stayed in luxury hotels for the past 4 nights to be faced with a dingy pub at night time. We were also opposite the bus station which meant there were horns going off all the time. We were shown through the pub to the hostel round the back and in fairness, it was a small oasis in the chaos. We were shown to our room and were made to feel right at home as the room was called “Whiskey”. 

We grabbed a Tuk Tuk and headed into Galle Fort for some food. The fort is beautiful and it is definitely worth a visit. As we were a bit curried out we decided to get some home comfort, which for anyone who knows us, knows it was Neapolitan Pizza. It was excellent and lifted our sprints even higher than they already were. 

After catching up on some sleep, we gathered ourselves and went out to do something creative! As we had left our wedding rings back home for fear of losing them or getting them stolen, we decided to make new ones. We went to this lovely little workshop attached to a house in order to do so. We were invited into the house and treated to a Sri Lankan breakfast which consisted of a Coconut Roti with smashed chillies, a fried thing and a coconut pancake. It was all bloody delicious. 

We set about making our rings, being shown the more technically complex elements and having a go at the easier bits ourselves. It was a really great experience and the people were so so friendly. I would definitely recommend anyone tries this. Cam chose a tiger eye to replace the bracelet Angela had bought us for protection (which he lost on the first day) and Kirstin picked a moonstone ring. We both chose the same design of rings so we are matching. We closed off our last full day in Sri Lanka by walking around Galle fortress admiring the beautiful city. 

Closing our time in Sri Lanka, we have had such an amazing time. From climbing Lion rock on no sleep, to staying in the best hotels of our life, to enjoying tropical paradise beaches we are left uttering the same two phrases over and over. “How did we get so lucky” & “I love you”.