Honeymoon Week 1: Sri Lanka - Habarana Part 1

The next morning we had an early start from Mount Lavinia. Kuoni had thought of everything on the tour and all we had to do every morning we were leaving was put our suitcases outside our room and they were taken to the coach. After our first experience of a Sri Lankan breakfast {basically everything normal then loads of curry} we all piled onto the coach and started the journey. Our first stop on route to Habarana was the elephant orphanage at Pinnawela.

We started by going down to the river to watch the elephants having their bath. It was amazing to see all of the elephants so close up. We had specifically wanted to visit the orphanage after visiting one in Thailand in 2006 which we loved. While this one wasn't as established, it was still a wonderful place to visit and I loved seeing all the elephants up close again.

After their bath, the elephants were lead up the main road back to the orphanage. You just had to move out of their way as they knew exactly where they were going. A buffet lunch was included on this day of our tour so we ate overlooking the river and got to know our fellow tour companions a bit better. After a walk around the rest of the orphanage, where we saw the younger elephants being fed, saw an elephant who had lost a leg due to a landmine and a massive blind elephant, it was back on the coach for the rest of the journey.

I could totally bore you with the hundreds of photos of elephants I took but I'm sure that these will be plenty!

We had a driver and a tour guide for the whole tour, as well as a steward / porter who made sure everyone was always on the bus before we left {I have to add that Graham and I were always last on the coach, no surprise there!} The guide gave us loads of information about Sri Lanka on our journeys which was really interesting and made the journeys go much quicker. We passed the rock fortress at Sigirya and the cave temples at Dambulla, both of which we would be visiting in the next couple of days. While Sri Lanka isn't very big, the roads aren't very good so it did take a long time to get anywhere. However it was lovely to be able to see so many parts of the country from the coach. Soon we arrived in Habarana and at our hotel for the next 2 nights, the Cinnamon Lodge.

All of the rooms here were chalets located around forested paths and a small lake in a layout based on an ancient monastery. Each had its own entrance on either the ground or first floor, but we were given a lovely single storey chalet with no one above us. We were definitely always looked after really well because we were on our honeymoon and Kuoni had made sure that the tour guide knew in advance!

Dinner was included for each night of the tour and every hotel we stayed at served buffets. Thankfully when we were staying for more than one night, they did serve different dishes every evening and as well as the main buffet station they also had different cooking stations where you get whatever freshly cooked dishes they had on offer that day. The food at the cinnamon lodge was lovely and we were stuffed every night. We always ate in the open air restaurant beside the swimming pool, they even had a chilled room for all of the desserts! Since we were part of a tour, there was always a couple of long tables set up for everyone then each guests could choose what time to eat themselves. This meant you were still able to chat with others over dinner but also do it at your own pace. After dinner the first evening, we headed to the bar for a few cocktails, since it felt like our first proper night on honeymoon!

The next day we stayed in Habarana...