Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Traveling on the road
from Sella Katharagama to Buththala we saw this wild elephant on the road. I
was with a group of elders from Avissawella doing a 'Vandanaa Gamana' - Pilgrims tour. This
elephant had a history of attacking a van in the past. The driver of the bus
was very cool and stopped the bus with the engine running. The elephant first
felt the 'puwak mal' - arecanut flower bunch - tied to the front of the bus. It subsequently came on the
drivers side of the bus. At this moment the driver gently moved the bus forward
and picked up speed and left the surprised animal far behind.
Click
on web link below to see the video taken by me.
Philip
G V
PS
I met a senior doctor who in the 1950s was District Medical Officer at Medagama, Sri Lanka. One night he was driving his Morris Minor, toward Medagama, after a visit to the DMO Buththala, a neighbouring station. A male elephant blocked the highway at ‘Anapallama’- an elephant corridor on the highway - and the herd was close by. He stopped the car and waited. The male tusker, leader, advanced, felt the hot bonnet of the car with it’s trunk, turned round and placed its rear in the hot area. It pushed the car down when it tried to sit on the hot area and rub its posterior. The elephant must have had 'pruritus ani'. The doctor meantime had quietly opened the door of the car, ran and hid under a culvert close by. After rubbing its rear to its satisfaction the elephant sauntered away with its herd. The doctor got back into his car and raced all the way to Buttala. He said that the car did not even have a dent on its body. Cars were made stronger in the 1950s.
email from Dr. Sarawanamuththu
dear Philip,
Interesting photos of an elephant sensing danger and preparing to defend itself.This new rd must be passing through yala sanctuary.I recall a pilgrimage to sella kataragama as a school boy from the other direction.you leave kathirgamam in the morning with many others walking through animal infested jungle and return the same evening.....safety in numbers I suppose.There was a small shrine at sella k and no place to stay overnight.The menik ganga was clear and fast flowing full of fish.Nobody harms them and so they will come up to you to be fed.If you get into the water they will nibble at you.
For a short time I worked at Badulla and some of us would go down to Buttala/Monaregala towns to spend the weekends with the RMO.He was a few yrs senior to us...Pathinathan?.Paramjothy worked in Buttala and then set up in pp there.Wonder if he is still there?.Bertie Sebastianpillai and subsequently Panchacharam were posted as the first mo pu to a place off Badulla...is it meegahakiulla.They both got out by going into anaesthesia.
Also the sunsets are lovely.We hear about the sunrise on Adams peak but never the setting sun.Perhaps people cant risk staying behind that late.
regards
sara
Interesting photos of an elephant sensing danger and preparing to defend itself.This new rd must be passing through yala sanctuary.I recall a pilgrimage to sella kataragama as a school boy from the other direction.you leave kathirgamam in the morning with many others walking through animal infested jungle and return the same evening.....safety in numbers I suppose.There was a small shrine at sella k and no place to stay overnight.The menik ganga was clear and fast flowing full of fish.Nobody harms them and so they will come up to you to be fed.If you get into the water they will nibble at you.
For a short time I worked at Badulla and some of us would go down to Buttala/Monaregala towns to spend the weekends with the RMO.He was a few yrs senior to us...Pathinathan?.Paramjothy worked in Buttala and then set up in pp there.Wonder if he is still there?.Bertie Sebastianpillai and subsequently Panchacharam were posted as the first mo pu to a place off Badulla...is it meegahakiulla.They both got out by going into anaesthesia.
Also the sunsets are lovely.We hear about the sunrise on Adams peak but never the setting sun.Perhaps people cant risk staying behind that late.
regards
sara
No comments:
Post a Comment