Day 18 – 22nd February – Lazy Thursday – Mirissa

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Reception had told us yesterday that breakfast started at 8.30 so it would have been rude to harass them earlier…so we hatched a plan to have a lie-in…….All holiday we’ve been listening out for the sound of Beethoven played out of a loud speaker on the front of a tuk-tuk selling bread…… Yes! honestly! …. We became aware of it while watching Xander Armstrong’s 3 part series on Sri Lanka…. We did hear it once and Suminda stopped the car for John to get a photo but we were coming back late from somewhere and didn’t really appreciate it……..well! The lack of appreciation occurred again today …….we are quite certain that in 1810 when Beethoven was composing “Fur Elise” that he would not of expected it to be blasting out of a bakers delivery tuk-tuk in Sri Lanka in 2024……but there we were rudely awakened by “Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor” directly below our bedroom window at 5.30 am !!!! So much for a lie in.
We eventually went down the 4 flights of stairs for breakfast at about 9.30am. Another lovely breakfast…fresh mixed fruit drink ( we heard the blender) a lovely plate of fruit, toast and jam and we opted out of an egg but had the sausage and bacon ..when it arrived we both said at the same time “ no rude comments” !!

After breakfast we returned to our room, sorted the dirty washing, donned our swim attire and once again descended the escaliers. With the washing deposited with reception ( returned later at a cost of £20) we took up residency on a pair of Sun loungers under a large green parasol and spent the day watching Sri Lankan sea activities…small boats fishing, tour boats toing and froing, young men rod fishing, one even caught a fish and a very old man taking more time smoking and loading bait on his line than fishing. He would totter out to rod fish for a few minutes and scurry back when the waves almost knocked him flying and repeated this several times before wandering off.

We interspersed our “watching the world go by” with several dips in the pool and a light sandwich for lunch. Eventually the early wake up call got the better of us and we decided to return to our air conditioned room for a siesta.


We stayed in the hotel for supper, choosing to have grilled King Prawns, rice and salad. Followed by banana fritters and ice cream for me and John had fruit salad and ice cream. An early night was required as we have a 6.00 am start tomorrow….. what a nice sun drenched day we had .

African Sunsets

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All sunset photographs are available as limited edition signed prints. Only 50 of each will be printed and a certificate of authenticity with the number of the print and the photographers signature is on the back of each print.
If you would like to purchase one please email us the name of the print and we will contact you with further details. email: 2jsworldofadventure@gmail.com

All prints are sold in either a white or a black frame with a white mount board …they are £19.95 plus £5 post and package …sorry this is only in the UK ….Overseas prices on request.

Last Rays of the Sun over the Chobe River, Botswana

Sunset Reflection on the Chobe River, Botswana
Goodnight, at Kruger National Park South Africa
Sunset Cruise on the Chobe River, Botswana
End of Day Kruger National Park, South Africa
Watery Sun on the Banks of the Chobe River, Botswana
See You Tomorrow Chobe River, Botswana

Day 17 – 21st February – Marissa

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Today we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed after a super supper and a great nights sleep…there’s nothing like listening to the waves breaking on to the beach. We had a slow start to the morning and went for a late breakfast. We were greeted like very welcome customers, smiles and pleasantries were exchanged. Our breakfast started with fresh lime juice….that made our cheeks tingle… followed by fresh fruit salad topped with granola/ muesli and buffalo curd on top, all in what we would describe as a sundae glass. This was followed by breads of all sorts even a twist with chocolate inside and a cheesy topped roll etc, jams and marmalades. A cooked breakfast was then produced, we opted for poached eggs with sausages, bacon, tomato, mushrooms and baked beans…it was all scrumptious. All this while watching surfers chase the waves and occasionally catch and ride one. The manager checked we had slept well and that our breakfast was to our satisfaction, he was a really nice kind man and genuinely wanted to make certain we were happy.

After breakfast we returned to our room and once again packed our bags ready to move to Sea World Botique Hotel. Suminda had told us our room would be ready after 12.00 as that was the checking out time. We took one more look at the fantastic view and headed for reception.

Having paid the drinks bill we bade the staff and manager a fond farewell. It was hard to believe we had only been there for a night, the friendliness of the staff was second to none….a big shout out for Beach & Bliss Mirissa…a very high recommendation if you are planning a trip around Sri Lanka.

We headed off with Suminda and as our new hotel room wasn’t ready we went in hot pursuit of a Sri Lankan t-shirt for John. The necessary item was quickly purchased …just another to add to the hundreds he already has…either we’ll have to stop travelling or we’ll have to buy another wardrobe!!!!
We arrived at Sea World Botique and our room was ready….but what a disappointment it was to learn it was on the 2nd floor….4 flights of stairs up….we had been promised by dialaflight and Jetwing Travel, only last week, that we would have a 1st floor room….not only this but the room was not sea facing in fact it overlooked the very close busy noisy road outside with all its beeping and honking from mopeds, lorrys, cars, buses, tuk-tuks etc…. I hadn’t requested Sea facing because I had incorrectly presumed they would all be and I certainly hadn’t expected a main road literally on the doorstep. The room was what in the UK we would be call bijou, a very small double or as my father would say ‘A Kylie Minogue room’…everything there, in the right place but in tiny compact proportions….So….no sound of the waves for us….such a huge disappointment but tired of arguments and tired of wasting our holiday time waiting for responses and actions to put things right which should never have gone wrong…I struggled up the 4 flights we put on our swimwear and descended the pesky stairs to enjoy a cooling dip whilst looking out at an azure blue sea with white foaming waves rolling in…followed by several hours and another dip on the sun lounger whilst still soaking up the view……The climb back up stairs to our room didn’t seem as bad after a sun soaked snooze and an overload of the wonderful view.

We got ready for supper and went downstairs. The food in the restaurant is supposed to be very good according to the reviews…..alas foiled again….the cook is off sick, so they’re not serving any food……….this is really turning out to be an episode from ‘Fawlty Towers’ !!! ….We will not be defeated !!! …so we hailed a tuk-tuk and went about a kilometre along the main road into town to a beach restaurant called ‘Salt’ although the sign looked more like ‘Solt’ …we were shown to a table just up from the waters edge on the sand…such a lovely spot…the whole beach was littered with different restaurants and tables and lights. Having been given our seats we were then taken to a table covered in fish. Our waiter suggested a large fish which he said was endemic to Sri Lanka…it looked like a white Mullet, obviously locally caught. We had it filleted and grilled and served with a few potato wedges and salad…it was divine…a really great experience.

It was quite an expensive meal by Sri Lankan standards with the fish costing about £20 and the other bits £10 but it was certainly worth it. We had asked our tuk-tuk driver to come back and pick us up …it’s amazing what a 25 pence tip will do….and he dutifully did and unlike other tuk-tuks, we’ve experienced he carefully returned us to the hotel, gaining him another 25 pence tip !!! An earliest night was required due to a very busy day of sunbathing and swimming tomorrow.

Day 16 – 20th February 2024- Yala to Mirissa

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We said farewell to Tringa Villas Yala and we were not sorry to move on. The owner was conspicuous by his absent and we only saw him the first evening, when he was concerned we might give him a poor write up. The rest of the time the place seemed to be managed by the cook who tried to do everything and was obviously so busy that raising a smile was hard work. It’s a pity the owner, who had a lot of charm didn’t spend more time growing the business particularly if he wants customers to give his setting glowing reports. We were disappointed with our choice of accommodation, the food it served and the complete lack of cleaning over our 4 night stay. What’s more they charged us for daily water… even in the cheapest of places we were given 2 bottles a day…… and they charged our driver for his food which was no more than very basic…. They also didn’t take credit card payments, luckily we had enough cash on us to pay….. Would we stay there again… No .

So we headed to the fast toll road and whizzed along to Mirissa. We were quite excited about our 4 night stay at The Sea World Botique ( their spelling!). It was more expensive than a lot of our accommodation so we had high hopes of a wonderful relaxing couple of days……

Alas …. The Sea World Botique didn’t have us booked in until 21st February for 3 nights and they were fully booked….you can imagine I was not amused…we had specifically booked this boutique hotel because it was small, more personal and more upmarket. Suminda our trusty guide and driver had several discussions with Jetwing travel and the lady in charge of our booking. She apologised and admitted it was her mistake but this didn’t really sooth my annoyance. She gave us one option for the night, which she said was a better hotel ( it was nice but at first sight it didn’t seem as nice as our original booking). This was Beach & Bliss hotel. When we got there they only had a second floor room which meant doing about 50 steps…I said “ no way”  I’d have to go down to the pool, beach, restaurant etc and back up again to change, rest etc…so several hundred steps which I just can’t manage. They were very kind and said they would serve our meals in our room. But I didn’t want to be a prisoner in the room because of a booking mistake. I asked Suminda to request that his Jetwing lady to give us other options…this went on for a considerable length of time with no other options being offered apart from we could have half board at Beach & Bliss….considering it was a cheaper hotel ( according to booking.com) this didn’t really cut it with us. The manager at Beach and Bliss was very kind and  altered all his bookings around to give us a 1st floor room, which we had no choice but to accept. It took a while for me to stop feeling cross because not only  didn’t we get to stay in the hotel we had selected and thought we had booked but we were going to have to give up a half day to change hotel again.
Having said all that Beach & Bliss is a lovely hotel, the food is superb, the manager and waiters very caring and attentive and they have been extremely kind. The pool, deck area overlooking the sea and the restaurant looking at surfers is sublime….it could well be nicer than the hotel we’ve booked…we don’t know because we haven’t seen our room there or eaten there…..we can definitely recommend Beach & Bliss.  Lovely room overlooking the sea with balcony, good air-con etc.. We had a well needed swim in the pool a relax on the sun-lounger then retired to our room to make use of the speedy WiFi.

We decided to eat off the half board menu and for our evening meal we had – spring roll followed by pumpkin soup and assorted breads followed by pineapple sorbet. I chose grilled tuna steak for my main course and John elected to have pork chops. For dessert I had “grape sausage’ with ice cream which was pancakes with a lovely sauce and John had fruit salad and ice cream. The meal was sublime… the best we’ve had in Sri Lanka by a long way.

We went to bed to the sound of the sea… although the day had a big hiccup, we ended up in a lovely place.

Day 15 – 19th February 2024- Udawalawe National Park Full day Safari.

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We hadn’t realised that Udawalawa was about an hour and three quarters away from our hotel, otherwise we would have changed hotels…..We awoke with stiff tired bodies, collected our takeaway breakfasts from the cook, who now greeted us with a smile ( proof that when you beam at someone constantly, they have to smile back…it had been a struggle but we got there!!!). Suminda drove us in the air-conditioned car and we enjoyed the, now usual, rural scenes along the way…….dogs lying asleep in the road, cows causing a road block, bicycles wobbling along, mopeds swerving all over the place, buses driving up your tail and peeping loudly as they push you off the road, school children in their white uniforms walking to the days lessons, teachers in saris greeting them at the gates of schools, roadside vendors selling an array of fruit/veg/buffalo curds. etc and so the daily life of Sri Lanka passes by our windows.
Just before the National park we saw a big tusker behind the electric fence. He was evidently re-known for standing there opposite a sweetcorn vender because people buy the corn and throw it over the fence to him. The Government warns against this as it makes the elephants dependant on this food and when they don’t get it they can turn aggressive, like the fruit searching bull elephant in Yala.

On arriving at Udawalawe we met up with our jeep and its driver – a nice, smartly dressed young man who spoke little or no English. We bought some snack lunch items, samosa, plain roti and stuffed roti from a small cafe by the gate for a light lunch. I also bought a nice cap with the Park on it…a gift for my dad…which was put to use straight away by his younger daughter!! So only slightly second hand!!. With the preparation for the day completed we set off into the park. We heaved a sigh of relief, the roads were much better condition than in Yala, they were well maintained and our driver was a considerate driver who took a great deal of care when going over bumps and potholes.
Udawaiawe National Park is known for its herds of elephants and bird life. It certainly did not disappoint.

We spent a very enjoyable day, driving on over grown but good condition roads, stopping by a river for breakfast and a lake for lunch, seeing a whole array of wonderful wildlife.

A baby elephant of less than a month old was exploring life while keeping its mum close by, another youngster drank greedily then chucked loads of water around to cool off. The elephants were not alarmed by vehicles, who showed respect and quietly gave them space. These giants were quite happy wandering across the dirt roads, in pursuit of tasty leaves and grasses. On one occasion an elephant brushed between a jeep and a bush, giving both a gentle nudge to make way for its bulk.

On our way out of the park we saw our first terrapin, of this trip, gracefully slide into the water. We left the park very happy, at about 4pm so Suminda didn’t have to drive the rather long journey back to Tringa Villas in the dark and also to give ourselves a shorter day. We had enjoyed seeing a wide variety of wildlife whilst in the capable hands of a careful driver.

That evening Suminda dropped us at the end of the road at The Aqua House Seafood Restaurant. It was only a 100 yards from Tringa Villas but as the road had a crocodile in it on our first night and evidently often has elephants wandering about, we all decided not to risk the walk. Aqua House is also a hotel and would probably be our choice if we were recommending to anyone…it had super high speed Wi-Fi, nice smiling waiters, quick service, cheaper food and rooms, a lovely clean swimming pool and an extensive menu. Having said that it didn’t have any prawns they were ..”finished”… so we made do with grilled fish and chips..no dry rice for us..what a treat… the fish was tuna and it all tasted great. It was also a lot cheaper than we had been paying at Tringa Villas. The only downside is that like Tringa Villas they don’t take credit card it all has to be cash. Suminda returned to collect us and we were soon asleep dreaming of our last Sri Lankan Safari, with our tummies full of nice tasty food.