Thursday, March 3, 2011

Miracle in Wasgamuwa:

Screwed Dude and Tattooed!

These were the words which crossed my mind as I realized I was well and truly stuck in a mud patch in one of the less traveled tracks of the Wasgamuwa National park.

Originally the fact that this park has so few visitors was an added attraction - according to a tracker we spoke to 10 vehicles is considered a lot - but now it seems that this would be the cause of an extremely long wait for help. It was late afternoon and the light was fading fast and a
night inside a vehicle in elephant territory whilst help arrived was not something I was looking forward to. Fortunately the mobile phone signals were working in the area we were stranded in. And that was reassuring otherwise the tracker would have to walk leaving the occupants in the
vehicle completely at the mercy of the elements.

I took a deep breath and was wondering what we should be doing when we heard the rumbling of engines. And as if in the finale or an epic cinema production we saw two Land Cruiser cabs drive into where we were. All that was missing was a director with his mega phone shouting lights music action!
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when we realized that the guys in the cab were off road junkies and the cabs had everything which was needed to help us to get out of the situation we were in. Also they were extremely nice and friendly and quite willing to help. First they tried to tow us out with a rope but that did not work then they winched us out in a couple of minutes.
So finally we were free to go home have a shower and discuss the amazing miracle of these guys appearing as if on cue over a drink. Instead of being stuck in the dark swatting mosquitoes wondering if there were any elephants lurking in the darkness.

No comments: