Thursday 1 September

Hi all, it's Thursday and I should be on the beach here at Arugambay, but I've decided that I can't keep you  in the dark about our travels and the amazing evening we all had on Tuesday. Probably the highlight of the trip so far.

We left Trinco early Tuesday and went south down the coast road, passing J's old house en route. The first 30 km were very tricky, to say the least, as the entire stretch is under repair/reconstruction as there has been no investment here for about 40 years. This is due, of course, to the civil war, which ended just north of Trinco. The presence of large numbers of military bore witness to this particular history.
The roadworks were pretty chaotic, as well. No cones, just the odd brick in the road. The journey included two ferry crossings, where I got the distinct impression that it would have been safer to swim.

We left the coast road at Trikkandimadu and went inland to Manampitiyia, then south around the Maduruoya National Park to Girandurukotte and then to our camping site at Dambana. I hope you're keeping up, there'll be a short test later.

The final half-mile was through jungle paths which were not quite impassable, but very nearly. We began to wonder how big a mistake we'd made by going down it but we only went off-path and into the brush once. Good driving , N.

Then we experienced an extraordinary evening.

The area we camped in is the home of the Veddah People. These are an aboriginal tribe who have been in existence for 2,500 years, about 800 in number, who live in the National Park and are protected by the government. It is, apparently, a rare privilege to be allowed to camp with them.

We were each greeted with the traditional Veddah greeting of 'Hundalay, Hundalay, Hundalay' whilst having both hands held and our arms moved up and down, all by small gentlemen in loincloths. Very, very different from Cheltenham (or even West London, H says).

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking, except to say that H had one of the best evenings of his life and they actually let ME out to meet the locals as well.

Me on film

H trying to teach traditional London greeting to Veddah boy

H with new friends

Veddah chief

H still trying to teach traditional London greeting

Me with my new friends

We finished the evening with a barbecue and a ceremonial dance from the Veddah, an extraordinary and unique people.

As we slept in tents that night, I thought you'd like to see some of the frenetic activity around ours.

After this amazing day, we fell asleep under canvas.

Oliver