Today the cricket teams had an early start of 5am to set off to see the Sigiriya rock at sunrise. Which it certainly did not disappoint. We climbed around 1000 steps to reach the top and came across lots of monkeys and stray dogs along the way! Many sighs of relief as we reached the top…yet unaware of the descent to still occur. The view was incredible. The stairs were definitely worth it! On the way down we saw some amazing paintings and inscriptions on the walls as old as 3000 years old. Once at the bottom, we travelled back to the hotel for a much needed breakfast, filled with hash browns and pancakes.

Afterwards, everyone chilled around the pool and played games. Still tired from travelling beforehand. An intense game of catch took place…students v teachers. Then we regrouped for lunch and started getting ready for the safari. Splitting off into small groups, we each had our own jeep and went off in the hunt to find the famous elephants.

Cheers of joy were heard and we entered the grounds of the park and waited patiently to see the animals. Then, we saw elephants, jackals, eagles and some even saw chameleons. It was eye opening to witness. Families of elephants strolling past our jeeps and despite some sunburn everyone had a great time.

We returned back to the hotel exhausted and ready for downtime. With a quick pitstop for some snacks along the way of course.

Dinner was a mixture of a selection of curries alongside rice and butter naan bread. The group were well recuperated for the first games of the tour taking place tomorrow. Hopefully we can start off a winning streak.