Eagle in the forest
Yesterday’s blog covered today too, but since it all passed in a bit of a blur I’m going to fill in some of the more pleasant gaps.
One thing I remember is the scents of the Sri Lankan dry zone forest. So many amazing smells. My best attempt at describing some: spicy pencil shavings, barrel-aged pinot noir, jalapeno flavour crisps, nice old lady perfume, garlicky marijuana, sweet gewurtztraminer. All of these quite distinct and I’ve no idea which were from flowers, from bark or leaves, or maybe even buried tubers.
Of the wildlife, the toque macaques are a worthy source of joy. Tiny monkeys with Donald Trump wigs! What’s not to love? As usual, they are very photogenic due to their anthropomorphic faces and poses, though there is already a problem brewing at the picnic site here: they will swoop in and grab anything that looks like food if you leave it unattended for a second.
Indian hare
We’ve only had three meals in Sri Lanka so far, and the two local ones have been superb. The first breakfast at a roadside restaurant on the way to Wilpattu, the kind of sprawling plasticky place I’d steer clear of by instinct elsewhere, the second dinner at our safari lodge. Vegetable dosas for breakfast and string hoppers for dinner, but both meals tied together by bowls of amazingly deep and smoky-earthy daals, and a really bright bowl of finely chopped coconut sambal. Dinner on our second night was a more European affair of breadcrumbed swordfish fillet with boiled veggies and potatoes. Why oh why?
More toque macaque
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