Farewell Nilaveli!

So the final day is upon us, we are now in bound to the United Kingdom with Sri Lanka behind us. There has been a bump on the road as our airline altered the time of our connecting flight so we have had to spend the day in Doha until our flight at midnight. Luckily the airline compensated us with a day’s stay at the Oryx Rotana hotel. Although we are behind schedule, the team have greatly appreciated a bit of luxury in our lives. A good meal, hot shower and room with a view has really turned the day around.

In retrospect our time in Sri Lanka has gone by in a blink of an eye. It seems like yesterday we were testing our methods and now here we are returning home with the job wrapped up. However we could not have done it all on our own and I would like to take a moment to thank everyone that has supported us since we arrived. Firstly I would like to thank Debbie for flying out to evaluate our work and give us plenty of advice on how to refine our methods. Her expertise and guidance were crucial in getting us where we are and for that we are incredibly grateful. I would also like to thank Jahaberdeen from Ocean Star’s Trust for getting us in touch with local schools. Without him we would not have had the opportunity to spread our message to local children about nature and environmental awareness. We had the best time teaching the kids and it was an honour to be so warmly welcomed by the teachers and pupils alike. Lastly a big thank you to the staff at Poseidon dive school for accommodating us over the last six weeks. It has been a pleasure to get to know every one of them as they showed us around the beautiful reefs of northern Sri Lanka. Their positivity was infectious and I look forward to diving with them again in future. Especially if they keep up having puppies there to welcome you to the dive school every morning!

One of the things I will miss most about the trip is the hospitality and friendliness of the people that call Nilaveli home. We were greeted with smiles everywhere we went and people would stop you to say hello with no ulterior motive in mind but to wish you a good day. I could not have appreciated this more than when we moved on to the hustle and bustle of Kandi and Negombo. After five weeks in rural Sri Lanka the noise and hassle of big towns had grown to be a bit abrasive and I already miss the somnolent nature of Nilaveli life.