While we were in Sri Lanka I had a major mission, I wanted to see elephants!  After the guilty conscious I experienced with the camel riding in Dubai, I had made a pledge that I was going to be a more responsible traveler and do my homework in advance.  After reading much about the treatment of elephants around the world, I knew I didn’t not want to visit any animals that were in captivity.  Even if the facilities were claiming to be an elephant hospital or orphanage, I just didn’t want to take the chance on it being a cover up for a circus type situation.  I realized I needed to see elephants in the wild.  I wanted to go to a national park, and had my eyes set on Yala National Park.

When Mitch and I are in the planning stages of a trip, I am almost always the one coming up with ideas and things I want to do. Mitch is the “logistics guy” and enjoys figuring out the transportation, where we will stay, and other types of details.  This trip was no different.  I decided I wanted to see elephants at Yala National Park, and Mitch made it happen!

At first Mitch had his eyes set on “glamping” in the national park in semi-permanent tent structures.  However, the $900 per night price tag was enough to point us in another direction.  The end result: Beddegama Eco Park!  Mitch found this awesome little gem about 10 minutes outside the park for about $90 per night, where we slept in………a tree house!   It was so awesome we decided to make a video tour of it.

Our stay in the tree house was awesome. The location was the perfect jumping off point for our safari in Yala National Park.  We left with many memories that we will be taking with us like: listening to the peacocks scream at us while they sat in the near-by trees, surviving the thunderstorm that shook our entire bungalow the first night, taking an ice cold shower that came out of the side of a tree, and plenty of other little gems that are tucked away for us to take with us.

Moral of the story: let your husband plan all trip accommodations, because it will be awesome!