Hungry Ants

I never knew how many different types of ant there were until I came here. They range from almost invisible ones that nip your skin, to giant monsters that - as Scottish volunteer Anne writes - can wag a dead gecko's tail.




On top, a red ant is doing everyone who visits our garden a favour by killing a mosquito and taking it back to the nest for food.




Below, an ant in Perideniya Botanical Gardens has more refined tastes and has acquired a large piece of coconut for its dinner.







These ants have made a nest among the leaves, which has fallen open revealing their eggs. Just don't bump into it...

Can you ever own a dog?

Round here people have a very different attitude to domestic animals. Back home the idea that you own your dog is very clear, and ownership means you can control their movements and behaviour as you see fit, and even make them fetch your slippers. In Sri Lanka, however, dogs own themselves, and are free to roam around wherever they want and do any doggy thing that pops into their head.

This means there is a huge number of hounds here, most of whom live off left over lunch packets. Some seem to enjoy their free life, but to be honest you wouldn't want to get too close to most of them.

Here's a dog in the Galle Fort struggling with a typically bad case of mange, fleas or something else extremely itchy.















Cats are independent wherever they are, and this one was pottering round a metalworks in Tangalla, slinking between a welder and a furnace.

Big Tuna

Being an island, Sri Lanka has a lot of good seafood. Tangalla has a big fishing port and Chandi often heads down there first thing to get some fresh fish for our dinner. Usually it ends up curried, but it can also be fried or dried for use later. Curried fish is not to everyone's liking, but if you can be bothered picking out the bones it usually tastes pretty good!


Chandi and Juki (the dog) admire a king sized tuna.





















It is so fresh it still has sand on.

Happy Sri Lankan New Year!

Sri Lanka is a lucky country in that it celebrates New Year twice a year! Once on January the 1st and again at the Tamil and Sinhala New Year in April. This is a big celebration for people here, and is reminiscent of Christmas back home, with lots of visiting relatives, buying presents and for many people, sitting around watching TV.


Before we finished work for the holiday, all the staff gathered round to swap some presents and also to each give our thoughts on the year past. As I was about to get half way through my time here in Sri Lanka I felt it was a good opportunity to thank the staff for their hospitality towards me, and also encourage them to continue helping me with my project! It has now reached the stage where we have spent a considerable amount of effort looking at the organisation's different strengths and weaknesses, and also agreed some changes to their mision. Now we have to just get on and do all the improvement work people suggested!


To kick things off I have made a large colour map of the working area that we can print and stick on the wall. Hopefully this will allow the staff and visitors to get a better overview of where we are working. Sri Lanka's Hambantota District is very large and has many remote villages only reachable by dirt road. Many of the staff know the area very well but are not used to using maps for either work planning or for navigation.


I have been trying to keep my work here simple, which is essential in order to be properly translated and understood. It is also a good discipline to strip away some of the jargon and over-complication that people often use in the workplace back home. The downside is that it is hard to develop ideas creatively with others when you have to keep looking up words in the dictionary! However, when you do manage to get some ideas together it is really satisfying.

At new year the staff clubbed together to get the Director some new plates and cups.















Traditional new year presents include clothes and housewares such as cooking pots. Local potters were happy to supply these and filled the streets of Tangalla with their clay cooking pots.






































































The new year food is also special, and our family prepared an array of sweet cakes, biscuits, cookies and bananas.


























Fireworks are also traditional, and here Chandi is lighting some particularly spectacular "indoor" catherine wheels.

Tea Plantations, Horton Plain and World's End

Sri Lanka is famous for its tea, exports of which still contribute massively to the island's economy. While we were up in the hills we took the chance to see the tea-making process. The plantations stretch across the mountains, which are ideal for the altitude and sunshine-loving tea plant. The youngest leaves are picked and brought to the tea factories, where the tea making process hasn't changed for decades.

This image shows the first stage, the drying of the leaves. There are many further stages including crushing, fermentation and grading. The whole process from picking to packing should take only one day.














We were given a free cuppa at the Labokellie factory.
















An early start took us up towards Horton Plain, near which we saw a group of Bear Monkeys feeding.























Mum was cheerful despite the early hour!























On Horton Plain itself we saw several groups of Sambar Deer, though we didn't manage to spot any of the National Park's reclusive leopards.























The blue-tailed bee-eater made another appearance.





















And here is the view from World's End. This precipice forms the end of Horton Plain, dropping over 1000m to the lowland plains below.

Beautiful Kandy

So we met up with my parents, who had already been to the ancient cities in the North and centre of Sri Lanka, and were beginning to get a taste for the place.

Our redezvous was the capital of the last kingdom of the old Sri Lanka, Kandy. This town is a special place for many Sri Lankan people, and its rich history and beautiful setting certainly impressed us.


The Temple of the Tooth holds a sacred relic of the Buddha, and is an important pilgrimage site for Sri Lankan Buddhists.
















Norny liked being in the hill country, where the cooler air means you can enjoy the sunshine.





















We took the chance to visit an English language bookshop, and Dad stocked up on wildlife literature.

















Near Kandy is the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, which has some excellent examples of Sri Lanka's native plants, like these palms. It is also a popular spot for young couples to meet, away from the parents.





















These toque macaques were whiling away an afternoon in the shade.






















There are also many fruit bats in the Botanical Gardens, roosting during the day before heading out to feed at night. Their wingspan looked to be around 1 metre.

















Later we saw a display of traditional Sri Lankan dancing. This girl is demonstrating the peacock dance.






















These men are showing the traditional Kandyan dance and drumming style. We also saw fire eating and fire walking!






















Finally, we visited the tooth relic inside the famous temple. This has been a symbol of Buddhist Sri Lanka since ancient times, and in the nineteenth century was apparently used by the ruling British to end a drought.

Hill Country Train Ride

Last week my parents were visiting, which gave Norny and I the excuse to head for the hills. We got the bus up to Ella, from where we could get the train through to Kandy where we would meet my mum and dad. Although the distances are not huge, the inhospitable terrain meant a total of 8 hours on the train.

Sri Lanka's train carriages are not luxurious but you do get various features denied to British passengers. These include open windows, musical entertainment from pilgrims, giant baskets of Vadi (lentil balls) for sale, and standing room on the outside of the train.


Views over the paddy terraces.












Norny enjoying the fresh air in 2nd Class.
















The carriages were a fair age but seemed to be holding together okay.















The stations had an old fashioned feel to them, some of them have telephones that must have been left by the British.
















When all the seats and standing room are taken, there is always room outside.