\HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN
\NEGOMBO
\TISSAMAHARAMA
\ELLA
\KANDY
\COLOMBO
\\LINKS
\CONTACTS


And now, a brief intermission between
ELEPHANT pages as we visit the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens! These lovely gardens are located six km southwest of Kandy, and span almost 150 acres. We went on a weekend afternoon, and many locals were there, strolling about and enjoying the beautiful landscape. Young lovers hid beneath umbrellas on secluded benches, snuggling and chatting quietly.

The Brits turned this place into botanical gardens back in 1824, its previous incarnation having been as a garden for the nobility of Kandy. (Those nobility! Pleasure palaces, harem islands, special gardens... they did okay!) We enoyed a leisurely visit, taking in the plants, the Orchid House, and some of the 10,000-odd trees. We also watched the fruit bats, which roost in some of the trees and can shower you with guano if you're not watching where you go! We saw one couple open up their umbrella as protection from the raining bat poo.

We visited the Gardens on Sri Lanka's Independence Day, which is February 4th. In Kandy, they had an elaborate parade to celebrate 58 years of independence from Britain. We missed the parade itself, but caught some of the preparations.

 

MORE KANDY PHOTOS ON [PAGE 1] [PAGE 2] [PAGE 3] [PAGE 4] [PAGE 6] [PAGE 7] [THE TRAIN RIDE FROM ELLA]

Parade participants preparing to promenade proudly.

I think "Singer"might have been a proud sponsor, although more likely they are a proud sponsor of the cricket games that go on here.

That is the Sri Lanka flag flying in the foreground, with its lion emblem.

Well, I HAD to take this guy's photo. He had a Canadian flag on his shirt!

Two Muslim boys take in the show.

And now, I bring you an exquisite orchid from the Orchid House at the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens.

I forget what was growing here, but I think it was the wrong season for it to be blooming.

The beautiful gardens.

A pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon. There are a few"palm avenues" at the Gardens. One is called "Cabbage Palm avenue" and another is called Palmyra Palm Avenue", and no, I don't recall which this is, nor am I up on my palm tree specimens!

See previous statement. :)

Gordon and the ginormous bamboo.
Cook's Pine Avenue. I read somewhere on the web that the trees are curved due to termites nibbling the roots, but I can't say for certain that that is true! A very large fruit bat. There are more in the trees, but it was overcast at the time and I was having difficulty photographing them. It would probably help if I read the instruction book for our Nikon and learned to use all the settings properly!
A rather incongruous site! We thought it belonged to some sort of cow, but if any skeletonologists out there can enlighten us, feel free. The Giant Java Willow tree, which covers an area of over 2,000 square metres. A lot of the branches are propped up with poles. This tree is over 100 years old.
Orchids in the Orchid House. One of the workers in the Orchid House saw my interest in the flowers and led me around to all the highly-scented ones (of which there weren't many), inviting me to sniff. Some of them had the most amazing scents! I figured he was doing this in hopes of getting a small tip from me, but no, he walked away when we were done. He was just kindly sharing his secrets. So many orchids have no smell; the ones that do are incredible.
MORE KANDY PHOTOS ON [PAGE 1] [PAGE 2] [PAGE 3] [PAGE 4] [PAGE 6] [PAGE 7] [THE TRAIN RIDE FROM ELLA]
All photos and text copyright Natalie Rowe 2008 - Stealing brings bad karma. Don't make me set my lawyer-husband upon you!