Despite weekends supposedly fit for relaxation purposes, the team had agreed to a 3.30am start! This was to allow for a windy and bumpy trip to the south of the island for three purposes. Firstly, we were able to witness the feeding of baby elephants at an elephant orphanage in one of Sri Lanka’s national parks. Half-open eyes were quickly widened with the sound of these incredible animals in the distance, leading to a frenzy of paparazzi style photographing! The disappointment of being some distance from the elephants was quashed when we were fortunate enough to drive past some on the edge of the exiting road. The memory of being just metres away from Sri Lanka’s sacred animal is surely one that will stay with me forever.The second part of the day involved the team taking part in more informal English language seminars, this time with children from a Saturday school which was fed from surrounding community schoolchildren. One of the most promising features to come out of this was the desire of the children to speak English, indeed for many it was their favorite subject! Along with this, the team were impressed with the ambitions and aspirations of these students- many wanting to become teachers, doctors and lawyers.

After lunch with the founder of a local children’s orphanage near the school, the team set off towards our final stop, the famous hot springs. Once again the team were treated to an unfamiliar experience! Our expectation of a pool of water surrounded by rainforests and cliffs was far from reality when we were directed to some man-made pools next to a busy road! After closer inspection, the pools were feeding off a very hot spring at the centre, resulting in pools of differing temperature. By pouring buckets of this water over ourselves we followed Sri Lankan suit- it was incredibly refreshing! With wet seats aplenty we drove back North to the university where our beds were greeting us with open arms.