Elephant Safari

While in Sigiriya, we visited Minneriya National Park, which "hosts" a large gathering of wild elephants each August because of the water sources within the park. Click here for photos. 

In and around Minneriya, elephants roam freely. It's not unusual to see them along the roadsides; or to see small platforms - similar to deer blinds - where farmers keep watch over their fields at night in an effort to keep the elephants away. Noise and/or small fires are usually enough to deter them, though some farmers resort to more extreme measures.  One afternoon, we stopped to watch some locals who were trying to keep an injured elephant occupied while they awaited the arrival of a veterinarian. It had a bullet logged in its trunk. In the photos linked above, you can see the bump of the bullet. 

As for our safari, we got to see a couple of dozen elephants gathered, including the two below who spent much of the afternoon wrestling each other.