Tamanawila and Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Today we got up early to take a safari trip into the adjoining Yala National Park.
We had a rich morning of sightings, a leopard mother and her cubs (though heavily camouflaged in the brush), plenty of peacocks and crocodiles, wild pigs, deer, and various species of birds. We also visited a site along the ocean that had been devastated by the tsunami of several years ago. Some forty tourists staying at a seaside park lodge there perished in the disaster. Only the foundation of the building remained.

In the afternoon we bicycled to the Kataragama Buddhist sanctuary, a pilgrimage site for worshipers suffering from health problems. We walked around the vast grounds and observed the food sacrifices that the faithful offered the Buddha in hopes of restorative health.