Saturday, Feb 15th, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

My lately very dry feet, and lots of mountain stairs yesterday, have left a heel cut that stopped today''s adventure before noon.  We did get in a visit to the Millennium Elephant Foundation project, however.

MEF serves an important function of sustaining the lives of Sri Lankan elephants used in captivity early in their lives who are abandoned by their owners or become ill.  Funded by tourists and volunteer workers, it has managed to chart a fine line between exploitation and education.

I felt very much akin to their common foot ailments today, and almost joined one of them in the river.  There are 5,000 wild Sri Lankan elephants now, and 130 in captivity.  The nine here came from logging operations, following in their 2,000 year history hauling the stones for Sri Lankan Buddhist temples.

After resting this afternoon, we'll be going to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic here in town which has a special evening ceremony.  At this moment, there are several macaque monkeys sitting on the railing outside our bedroom, wondering if we're going to leave our doors unlocked when we leave tonight.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on: Saturday, Feb 15th, Kandy, Sri Lanka.