A drive through fields of rice ripening ready for the harvest,our guide pointed out little wooden shelters in the trees where the farmers go at night to frighten off the wild animals who might flatten or eat their crop and all around we noticed heavy duty wire fences to keep the elephants and deer out as well.We passed some huge lakes that had been built over the years and in the case of the one we stopped at 700 years.
This was at Polonnaruwa,our second world heritage site in 2 days,the capital of Sri Lanka from the 11th to 13th centuries .A vast temple and palace complex that was destroyed by some invading Indians who took all their wealth and lost until rediscovered by British archeologists in the 19th century.The highlight was definitely the Buddha statues and cave carved out of a single rock. he still looks as serene today as he did then.
In the afternoon we took a jeep safari into the Minneriya National Park and almost immediately we came upon some wild elephants calmly munching their way through pampas grass as they wandered along.As we drove deep into the park we kept on stopping to view more elephants.One was by a river we needed to cross and he took fright making a barking noise as he rushed into the undergrowth on the bank side.We also saw eagles,peacocks,mongooses and an iguana.
As we returned we passed the villagers starting to gather the rice harvest,threshing and sorting the rice from the chaff by the side of the roads.We even had a jungle fowl cock rush across the road and very splendid he looked too,he is the national bird of Sri Lanka. At the hotel there was time to have a swim in the pool as the sun set and floating in the water we watched some bats fly past.