Well here I am on the way to Sri Lanka. A big hello to all my friends and blog readers from around the world. My destination is Wakaal, a tiny village situated just north of Nogombo on the west coast of the island formerly know as Ceylon, famous for tea, friendly people and cricket. I hope to have a massive 10 days photographing the local birds and wildlife. I will be "blogging" daily to share my adventures with you. I am targeting Kingfishers, this is a great part of the world for this species where 3 species in particular are very common. There are potentially 3 other species that are possible and I hope to get some top class images of as many as I can. There are numerous other bird species that I have an interest in and I will also hope to add to my galleries of Gulls, Terns and Herons. Sri Lanka has several endemic species, that is to say species unique to that country but as well as that there are species which will be new to me that I am certain to see. This may also be a good country to add to my galleries of mammals with Palm Squirrel, Mongoose and Monkey being on my hit list. I haven't mentioned the reptiles yet, these include the very common Water Monitor Lizard and a host of snake species including the highly venomous and dangerous Cobra. I laugh in the face of venomous snakes having had close encounters with the highly dangerous King Snake in Australia and the Water Moccasin in the USA. Caution is the order of the day. It is all very exciting and, although I am not particularly happy about being on my own, it will be worth for the almost guaranteed success. My arranged accommodation is cheap and cheerful but having spent 35 years in the Royal Marines when a bed and a locker was considered a luxury, I am more than used to roughing it if necessary. Clean and safe is probably my only requirement. I am already an hour in to my journey now and having a reasonably comfortable journey on the train to Paddington to catch my connection to Gatwick. It's Tuesday Lunchtime and I am due to arrive at my accommodation tomorrow, in fact, in around 22 hours time, quite a journey although the actual time in the air is just around 11 hours. My first stop and connection is Dubai and then a further stop somewhere in Sri Lanka before flying on to Bandaranayake Airport. Travelling is all part of the adventure but it can be a little stressful particularly when you are travelling on your own. I do like my own company but there has been times when I have travelled alone before to "find myself" and didn't particularly enjoy the person I found. My first point of tension was when I struggled to find my reserved train seat and then found someone else sitting in it. They were less than pleasant but having made a promise to myself to "chill", relax and enjoy every aspect of the trip I moved away and went to find somewhere else to sit. I contemplated 1st class but when I discovered the upgrade was £154, well you know what, I stayed put in 2nd! I hope to be able to blog as I go along, even on the journey so keep checking back to enjoy this adventure with me. There will be photographs and reports of every aspect of my trip, accommodation, food and interaction with the 'locals" so plenty to enjoy for everyone. For now, I am signing off and hope to Blog again later in the day, perhaps in Dubai. Charlie
PS (The first success of the trip...... making may Vodafone "dongle" work well enough to post this Blog entry).
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