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Sitting at the computer in Heathrow Airport, waiting for the flight home. We've had an interesting trip. Lots of photos to share, but no way of posting them from here. Among them, an amazing golden temple in India, said to be 3 or 4 times the size of the famous one at Amritsar, several of Indian elephants, both domesticated and wild, blue whales close up, and some bird encounters. The last of these was in Yalle National park in Sri Lanka where we watched a medley of birds fishing vigorously in a small pool that had been cut off as flood waters receded. Painted storks, two species of egret and a solitary gey heron were pulling up fish at a furious rate. And the winner was.. a greater egret that caught a fish about as long as its bill and had a hard time swallowing it.
We drove through thousands of acres of tea estates and it struck me that they, just like golf courses, are really an environmental wasteland. Not quite a monoculture, but awfully close to it, they stand in stark contrast to the remnant tropical forests that border them. At least they employ a lot of people.