Going on Safari

I've just been on a safari in Sri Lanka.  It was very exciting.  I saw twenty-nine elephants!

Male elephants live by themselves but female and baby elephants live together in groups.  I saw males, females and babies.  

Things are quite tough for the elephants at the moment because there hasn't been any rain for months and months.  Lots of the plants have died and there isn't much food for the elephants to eat.  Next month the rainy season will start again, lots of plants will start growing, and there will be much more food for the elephants.

Here's a picture of me with a male elephant.

I saw the elephants in a place called the Uda Walawa nature reserve.  All the animals in the reserve are wild so it's very different from going to a zoo.  We drove around in a jeep and tried to spot as many animals as we could.

The animals in the reserve have to look after themselves.  Humans don't feed them like they do in a zoo, but no one is allowed to chop down the trees or damage the environment in the reserve.  This helps to make sure that the elephants have a good place to live.

Here's one of the tracks that we drove along in our jeep.

I saw lots of other animals as well as elephants.  There were loads and loads of monkeys!

I also saw lots of birds.  Look at this peacock!

I've decided that stuffed travellers quite like going on safaris.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went on another safari the next day, at a place called the Bundala Reserve, where there were lots of different types of birds.  Soon I'll be an expert on the wildlife of Sri Lanka!