As the title suggests the mountain definitely did not have any monkeys in the whole forest route from the beginning to the end. The only thing that was to be found on the mountain was steep slopes and zillions of ants that climbed up on us every time we took a two-second break.

My first hike after a long break because of being in India and getting covid was super exhilarating but at the same time a bit nerve-racking since it had been a while that I was out in nature (LO2 and LO5). To take it easy we made the decision to only start off by going to the halfway point where we still got the amazing views of the Gal Oya nature reserve. It was a challenge but it was really important to start off at some point.

After 3 days of rain that morning after reaching Gal Oya, we were glad to see the sunlight. Everyone was relieved as one thing that always comes with rains in Sri Lanka are leeches and leech bites. The morning of the hike remained the same each of us had our own bags with water bottles but more importantly the siddhalepa spray that would protect us from any unwanted leeches on us even though we were quite optimistic to not find any (LO3). Joining me was my mum and her friends and another traveller who was visiting Sri Lanka for the 3rd time (LO4).

As we took a break from our city lives and were in the middle of nature we really thought it was important to be a part of the whole experience. We did that by staying in an eco-lodge far away from any dwelling or village you could possibly find and no phone network which I am not sure to call the worst part of the best part. In the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure how excited I would be with no phone and more importantly no music. However, by the end of the trip, I realized how the phone was so unnecessary. Instead of the phone playing our music we decided to sing ourselves the few Bollywood songs we did know at that time. (LO1)

Other than that Gal Oya had a variety of other activities in nature like the wildlife safaris and nature walks within the property that enabled us to explore the biodiversity of Sri Lanka.