Salt Mines and Our Return to Fieldwork

Settling into Sri Lankan rhythm.

The Land: beaches, sunsets and coconuts. Between adventures into the field, we refresh with sweet offerings of Unawatuna.

The people: a family we befriended 8 years ago while filming their farm’s elephant damage, have three beautiful girls that have sprouted forth. Pictures for all! They loved watching our long ago completed video blog - featuring them!

The wildlife salt mines: an elusive location that I was determined to locate, was found. We hired a local tracker to lead us deep into the hillside forest reserve. Many kilometers later…it was found. The location has been documented and shared with other conservationists to better protect the corridor connecting it to the lowlands.

Chased by a raging bull in musth (a testosterone high) - we swiftly backed away. He had been fighting another bull only moments before. That battle broke off as he spotted our approach from maybe 70 meters away.

We’d been traveling this rural dirt road up to a new dam construction site. The next day we returned to the area to complete our goals, finding out that this bull has been terrorizing All, including trampling. .

Udawalawe Park is suffering for invasive plants, broken corridors, bad water (from domestic cattle that lay within the ponds while defecating), and a basic lack of forage. Bull elephants line the park boundary accepting hand outs of bananas and more.

There’s more, but this is my personal page, not a wildlife advocacy page

Being immersed in Sri Lankan culture, nature and my passion for elephants is the sweetest thing!

Longtime colleague Madawa is likewise thriving in our return to activism