Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka,
Yesterday In the morning I recorded more around the place in Tangalle countryside,
then I moved from Tangalle to Tissa, still with the same driver who is coming from Mirissa just for that. I have to say riding a Tuktuk for hours is a little tiring.
But the most frustrating Yesterday was that it was difficult to find accommodation here.
We went to 5 different hotels before finding one open and suitable, I found it on Airbnb.
The thing is that Tissa is a city that is mainly for Safaris in the parks nearby, but since they closed all parks because of the pandemics, there are no safaris and there is no one coming there. So all the hotels I tried to contact were closed. Moreover, the police are telling hotels to not take reservations, which does not make my life easy.
I am ok with the place I stay, the guy is very nice and they can make food on demand, which is very practical since most restaurants are closed.
In the evening, I was able to go to the bat place here, it was very good and accessible although near the road too. This time I decided to record with mkh8090 in ORTF so I can compare it with the shotgun. With the boom pole, I can still go near the bats. I will listen and edit later.
Today I am not sure what is happening, it is a little stressful with the Covid situation here. Many airline companies are announcing a ban on planes from Sri Lanka. I was thinking I could fly away before the situation got worse, but now I am probably stuck here, which means I have more times so I don’t need to be in a rush to do all I want to do here; however they might announce lockdowns in the country or travel restrictions. Should I go Ella in the mountains (my initial plan), should I refugee on the East coast at Arugam Bay where many other visitors are right now, or should I go back directly to Colombo to try to catch a flight at the last minute, or maybe I can go South again as I have missed some places. On top of that, my driver told me he found a plan to go record wild elephant at a nearby place which is not inside a park (they are closed for now), however, the plan is not confirmed, and it would be tonight; so this adds another layer of uncertainty, all of this last-minute changes and announcements made me stress a little, and I feel I am getting sick too … (runny nose..) hopefully it is not covid.
We will see how it goes… I have to make a decision today.
