Sri Lanka, December 2017 − Travels − Captain Tom

Sri Lanka, December 2017

For this year's christmas trip with my dad we picked Sri Lanka. A little bit far away but with sun and warm weather and an alien but pleasant culture.

1 The Flight

It is quite a distance. We fly about 6 hours to Doha in Qatar and then another 5 hours from there to Colombo in Sri Lanka. At least the transfer time in Doha was just 1.5 hours.

A Boeing 777 is a huge aircraft
We cross the Balkan area. The city is somewhere in Romania.
It is extremely foggy in Doha. I cannot even see the terminal building.
Wir have passed India and leave it at the South Eastern coast
Arrival. We are in Sri Lanka and touch down in Colombo.
Upon arrival in the hotel I see my dad on a sunbed at the pool.
We see a marvelous sunset in the evening.
There are the usual little critters ...
... and some curious birds
2 Christmas Eve

There is everything one could wish for for Christmas Eve in the hotel. Decoration is excessive and the buffet quite nice.

Christmas decoration
Christmas Tree
Santa Claus comes riding an elephant
The sweets department
3 Whales and Turtles

Our first tour brings us to Mirissa in the very South of the Island. We want to see the extremely rare blue whales. Afterwards we will visit a sea turtle nursery. We have to go 4 hours and get picked up at the hotel at 3.30 am.

First the fishing port of Mirissa. It is super busy when we arrive. The fishermen sell their catch.
Small Tunas
Many Tunas
Our Boat is ready
We leave the busy port
Some miles off the coast we are not alone. there are many others interested in whale watching.
And the whales show up.
Tired on the way back
We see the 150 Million Dollar Yacht Amevi of the Indian steel tycoon Mittal
We take the Tuk Tuk back to the car
Now sea turtles. There are some nurseries taking care of the animals
Nice animals
We are allowed to touch
Just hatched. They want to get into the sea
They are tiny yet. But they can become quite big and can have more than a ton of weight and a shell longer than 4 feet in length.
4 Elephants in Udawalawa

There are wild elephants in Sri Lanka. We go to a reserve to watch then. Again a 4 hours drive in the very morning.

On our way we watch the traffic. Busses are the fastest here
Motorbikes are the slowest here and get even overtaken by Tuk Tuks. All wear helmets and there is a license plate in the front.
Arrival
We can start our safari
Soon we see the first elephant ...
... and get quite close
The next one is much bigger and we keep a distance
There are other animals to watch
Water buffalo
Stork
A little bird
More Elephants
A herd with baby elephants
A Chameleon
Scenic View
Water Buffalo and Elephant
Turtle
An eagle
5 The Hotel

Club Hotel Dolphin is a very conveniant and comfortable Hotel at the Western coast North of Colombo. The rooms are generous, the food is very good and versatile and it has the local touch to it.

A cooled room just for the sweets
Show cooking
Five choices of Curry
Of course I did some flights. This is a view from the beach
Aerial views
The pictures for this panorama were taken in the very morning when no other guests were around
Boats on the water
The beach
6 New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve there was a dinner outside at the pool and a band played all the time.

Preparations
View from above to the party
7 The flight back

This time I fly over the day and can see something. I get picked up at 6 a.m. though the flight is at 10.50 a.m.

We turn into the runway
Leaving Sri Lanka
We reach India North of Thootukhudi
Idamalayar reservoir
We leave India at the mouth of river Bhararathappuzha
We reach Oman
Wadi Bani Khalid
Muscat and its big airport
The Street of Hormuz is entry to the Persian Gulf
Doha within fog again
Bahrain