The day started bright and early at 5am for those who wanted to go to Yala national park for a morning safari. The safari lasted for more than six hours and gave us the opportunity to see the wildlife up close. We were able to see animals like elephants, lizards, bears and deer, but no leopard this time. Today we were lucky with the weather as it was sunny almost the whole trip, and only started raining when we got back to the hotel.
Yala national park is the most popular park for safari in Sri Lanka, and was an animal sanctuary until 1938 when it was made into a national park. (https://www.yalasrilanka.lk/about-yala.html). The park is also the worlds biggest concentration of animals like elephants, leopard, bears and crocodiles. (https://www.yalasrilanka.lk/about-yala.html).
There was another option for those who didn't want to join the safari, who got the chance to join for a trip on the lake near our hotel. The goal for this trip was to catch some fish with fishing nets, but to no luck, as the fishing nets were forgotten. The lake, which is surrounded by mountains, has both crocodiles and leaches.
As this day was our only relaxing day, most of those who went on the safari used the rest of the day in the hotel area. At 6pm we were lucky enough to meet with former mayor of Hambantota, Gamini Sri Ananda, for a group discussion. He was the mayor of the town for two periods, the first starting in 2010, and the second under the financial crisis which went over the period 2020-2022. Under the discussion we were able to ask questions regarding our upcoming field work and report. We asked questions both regarding the Hambantota Development Project and migration to Middle Eastern Countries. The former mayor told us about the government and their involvement in the Development Project, and their lack of consideration for the locals. This discussion was a great ending to our relaxing day.
Group 6 - Gina, Azin, Kagnew, Siri