This weekend, a group of twelve of us hired a minibus and
endured a seven hour drive to the beautiful Arugam Bay on the East coast of Sri
Lanka. By the time we arrived in our five bedroom apartment complete with a
kitchen, dining room, and outdoor party space (for a mere £10 per person per
night FYI), we were so ready to start the party. Vodka was consumed rather quickly,
make-up was applied to faces and outfits that showed our knees and shoulders
were selected. Four tuk tuks arrived to take us out for the night. Or so we
planned. We asked to go to a bar. Five minutes later we were pulling up to a
very deserted, rather shady looking side street to an admittedly beautiful yet
totally empty bar. A few people bought some beer (which actually was delicious)
and we tried a second time to instruct the tuk tuk drivers to take us to a
beach party. They got it half right. We arrived at a beautiful beach, that was
completely dark with not a single bar, shop or person in sight. It wasn’t what
we wanted but my goodness it really was breath-taking.
You’ve never known true
freedom until you’ve been on an empty beach, at night, whilst slightly tipsy
with a group of wonderful friends. We paddled in the very shallows of the sea,
the water wonderfully warm. But the part that really took our breath away were
the stars. Away from all light pollution, in the darkest night, the sky was the
clearest black. I have never seen so many stars in my life. There were stars
upon stars upon stars, with almost no space in between. It was like someone had
been given a blank canvas and thrown stars across it until there physically was
no room for any more. And the way they swirled around each other looked like we
were looking at distant galaxies. The brightest star of them all, glowing a
gorgeous burnt orange colour and taking pride of place in the night sky was Mars.
I have never seen a planet in the sky before, and there Mars was, as clear as
anything. I actually cried at the sheer beauty of what I was witnessing, and I
wasn’t the only one who did. There was a lot of hugging each other and being
amazed at how lucky we were to be the ones to witness this. It’s sad that no
photo or description will ever do it justice. All I have is the memory
imprinted within me that I was fortunate to be able to share with new friends.
The next morning we all went for a hangover breakfast.
Drinking had continued after we returned from the beach and into the early
hours of the morning. After breakfast we hit the beach, immediately stripped
down to our bathing suits and ran into the sea. The water was so warm and
clear, it was just perfect, and a pretty instant hangover cure. Arugam Bay is a
popular surfing spot, so the waves were big. We swam out for a while, and were
tossed about by the waves, being turned upside down multiple times. At
lunchtime, I had chips. I had been craving chips for days, and I was so happy
to finally have some in my belly. I headed back to the hotel earlier than the
others due to bad sunburn despite the factor 50 sun cream and having stayed in
the shade almost all day. After cooling off and showering we all went out to a
beautiful restaurant on the beach front for a starlit and candlelit dinner. We
ate our Western food (I had pasta nom nom nom) to the sound of the waves
rolling up to shore.
After only two hours sleep, I woke up at 1.15am to prepare
for our 2am departure for Udawalawe. Less than half an hour into the journey
the driver stopped rather suddenly. He turned his headlights up to full and
told us to look out the front window. A few metres down the road, three wild
elephants were casually crossing the road. I have never seen a wild elephant,
and here were three right in front of us at 2.30am. It was an incredibly moving
experience, despite my tiredness. At 3am, when almost everyone else in the
minibus was sleeping, the driver pulled over and declared to me that we had a
flat tyre. I got out of the van with my torch to provide light for him to
change the tyre. It only took about 15 minutes, and it was so peaceful standing
in the warm night air at the side of an empty road under the stars.
We arrived at Uddawallawe just before 6am ready for our
safari. After some confusion about costs that were too much for our sleep
deprived brains we set out in two jeeps into the national park. It took almost
no time at all before we came across our first family of elephants. They
crossed in front of us to drink from a small pool of water and we watched on in
complete awe. When they were done they walked towards us and past the jeeps,
almost close enough to touch. It was then that the sheer size of them became
clear. They really are magnificent creatures and I could have watched them all
day. Later on we came across a one month old baby elephant. I’ve never seen
such a small elephant. It was so adorable! There really aren’t words to
describe the experience of seeing so many elephants, so I’m not going to try.
It’s something I will never forget. All of us fell asleep at the end of the
safari, the lull of the jeeps movements proving too much for our drooping
eyelids. We had more confusion over money for the tip, which was too much to
deal with on two hours sleep, but I refused to let it spoil the experience. The
weekend really was incredible, and one I will treasure for a very long time.
There were so many moments where I felt like the luckiest girl in the world
over and over again. I am so completely in love with Sri Lanka, and I can’t
believe I’m almost half way through my time here. The entire country is so
enchanting, and I’m so excited for the exploring that is still to be done.
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