Woke up super early, but was worth it to get to Udawalawe National Park for a morning safari in the nice cool air and all the wildlife before it got super hot. Another awesome day and safari and falling in love with the wildlife in Sri Lanka.
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc142/gallery
Morning Start
Woke up for our 5am start to the safari and headed to Udawalawe National Park. As we got closer, we noticed a big elephant with giant tusks just walking by the side of the road. Then as we got closer to the park, another elephant appeared (with some sort of collar around its neck).
While we waited for the entrance passes and stuff, a pup came up to say hi.
Udawalawe National Park
Elephants
So many elephants!! Super cute all over the park.
One of the elephants ended up heading to the watering hole to get a nice long drink.
Lots of elephant crossings early in the morning, they definitely seemed more active in the cool morning breeze.
We also ran into a couple elephants cooling themselves off with some mud, and at one point they even turned toward us and almost looked like they were about to spray us.
Bee-Eaters
Took our time today and captured a lot of bee-eaters which was a lot of fun, they’re so colorful and beautiful.
These two in particular felt like they were sitting there posing for us in the sun.
Incredible. The namesake.
As I was filming one, I noticed a small speck in my viewfinder, and then looked up and found that this bee-eater had CAUGHT A BEE AND WAS EATING IT. Incredible.
Seriously, they’re so pretty, especially with the background of the trees behind them.
Kingfisher
Found another kingfisher and watched it for awhile, they are so magnificent. Super fast when they dive, but caught a couple moments of it grooming itself as well.
Parakeets
Some fun parakeets in the wild as well, which were blended into the foliage until it started moving ever so slightly. Watched it eat its breakfast for awhile, they always look like they’re smiling at you.
Hornbills
Our guide spotted some hornbills, and we watched them for a bit. Really fun to see the two of them also interacting and playing (or mating?). Then caught them flying around a bit. They’re such interesting creatures.
Falcon
Also spotted some sort of falcon (I think).
Other Birds
Not to be outdone, tons of other birds as well all over, including some that were hitchhiking on some water buffalo.
Lizards
Found a couple different lizards / monitors as we went along. Our driver was super good at spotting them (I don’t even know how you see them as you drive). He was really good and really informative all day long.
Water Buffalo!!!
So many water buffalo, this time in the water, and they’re SO cute. Mine is fat.
Crocodiles
As we were watching the water buffalo, we noticed a crocodile in the water, then all of a sudden it started moving toward the herd and we all held our breathe and waited, but alas, it couldn’t find one that it wanted (or was just repositioning and going for a swim).
Toque Macaques
Lots of macaques in the trees with some babies as well. We made a quick stop on the way out as we saw them swinging.
Nature
Nate may have freaked out a bit.
Rest Stop
We stopped at a random stream and our guide told us we could get out for a quick break. We ended up chilling for a bit next to the river. Really neat, we saw some elephant footprints in the river bank. Afterwards, we got back in and headed out of the park. Really nice, successful morning safari and the best part was we beat the heat (it was starting to get a little warm towards the end).
Lunch
Stopped by a random hotel / lodge and ate our boxed lunches from the overnight hotel. Not terrible, but a box lunch…never as good as hot food.
Back to Ship
We then made our way back to the ship with a couple hour long car ride. I mostly slept to catch up on some rest since we had the early morning wake up call.
Made it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare, and went upstairs to get a quick bite to eat. As I was leaving, I noticed on deck 12 that they had added all the new first time in port plaques to the wall, and that a lot of the asia ports were listed as first time for the Serenade AND specifically on this World Cruise (the rest of the first time in port plaques are down on deck 4). Some of the gifts are really cool and intricate!
Went back afterwards to my stateroom, took a nice long shower and then passed out to catch up even more on sleep. Will have another long couple days starting tomorrow for our Taj Mahal trip.
Dinner
Wasn’t TOO hungry, so just grabbed a french onion and a caesar with a strawberry shortcake to top it off. Great day, but pretty tired.
Spent the rest of the evening trying to put another dent into some pictures, but took another 2500 photos today.
Vibe Check
5 parts joy
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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