Larry and Darla's Mission to India Blog: Visit to Sri Lanka--March 2016

We flew to Sri Lanka on Sunday night, March 20, 2016 on Sri Lanka Airlines.

This is the only airport we have seen that has washing machines, refrigerators, TVs and other electronics in a duty-free store.

We gathered the next morning at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo and headed south along the Sri Lanka coast--destination: Yala National Park.

The 12 of us were comfortable travelling in a new air conditioned 16-passenger bus.

The Sri Lanka west coast is beautiful...

Fishermen sitting on poles along the beach catch lots of fish that they sell along the highway.

A member opened a new restaurant in Kalutara and named it after Elder and Sister Condie, the couple missionaries serving in Sri Lanka.

We stopped for a boat safari at the Maduganga Lake Biodiversity Area.

A very cool place to check out the coast flora and fauna.

It was a leisure float down the river with an outboard push...

We stopped at Cinnamon Island and had some foot therapy...

hundreds of fish nibbling at our feet.

Here are Elder and Sister Little--our Self Reliance Missionary Couple--with their feet getting the treatment.

Sister Berrett takes the foot plunge...Sister Grundy enjoys the nibbling.

Sister Newton is still undecided about the whole thing!

Elders Condie and Grundy let their hair down a little...

On Cinnamon Island there was a demonstration how cinnamon sticks are made. They cut the inner bark off of cinnamon tree branches and let them dry about three days. They also showed us how palm leaves are weaved for roofs, walls, fences, etc.

Then it's back in the boat and head out to some tree tunnels.

Down the river we found a man in a boat with a cute little monkey. Sister Newton was able to hold him. Is he smiling? I think so.

Just chillin'...

Cool, clear water and green all around...

Heading back to the boat dock...

We found a tree tunnel over the water.

Very Cool.

We had lunch at Balapitiya.

Mmmmm good fresh large shrimp, steamed vegetables, french fries and Diet Coke! Yes!!

Back on the road heading south to the bottom of the island of Sri Lanka.

We arrived at the Laya Safari Resort late in the day.

We stayed in two-unit bungalows with a great view of the Indian Ocean.

This was an all-inclusive resort. Breakfasts and dinners were full buffets with Sri Lankan, Indian and other foods.

President and Sister Berrett.

For the next 3 days we went out morning and night looking for the elusive leopards of Sri Lanka. This park has the highest concentration in the world.

We rode in specially designed jeep-type vehicles that had seats for six people.

We found a mongoose, monitor lizard...

and a wild boar: Pumbaa!

We saw lots of birds...

A Malabar Pied Horn Bill, an Eagle...

And UWBTs--Unidentified White Bird Things...

Bee-eaters come in various colors in Sri Lanka.

The bird below is the Bird of Paradise. It has a long white tail that trails like a white ribbon as it flies.

Havin' a good time...

Is that Beauty and the Beast in the Jeep?

Two animals in one shot!

That deer went past the big male elephant pretty fast.

This is the one that got away...we searched for a leopard for three days ... no luck.

Here is a sequence of an elephant dusting herself--for cooling-off and protection from the sun and insects.

Four little monkeys sittin' in a tree...

All the animals seem to gravitate to the watering hole. There were two elephant families that came to this water hole to play and cool off. As the first family left, the second family entered the water hole.