GOLUMALE (a half hour drive from the hotel)

'Golumale Rock Pools’ is an amazing site near the village of Walapane. The name given to the place is due to a large rock pool with a couple of holes in it through which all of the water from the river passes at one end and emerges again from the other side (see the video “Golumale” on auslinkhotel.com). The feature can only be seen when the water level is reasonably low. At other times,it is submerged in the river bed but even then, the location is worth a visit. The whole area around Golumale is a wonderland surrounded by glorious evergreen vegetation. On one side of the river there is a wildlife sanctuary. Tree-houses have been built along this human and wildlife interface to enable the locals to keep an eye on their crops by day and night. A fence along the river bank also helps control the elephants in the sanctuary and it is one of the safest places for visitors to view elephants in their natural habitat, particularly during the late evening. There are safe places to bath and swim, take a lunch (maybe a barbecue) or have a nap on a warm comfortably smooth surface of the rock. As the dusk approaches, it would be time to get into tree houses because the wild elephants equally like to be at the rock at night (as we all know this is not happening all the time but it happens a lot of times). For the more adventurous, you can even sleep in one of the tree-houses. Or perhaps you would rather get back to a comfortable hotel bed as night moves in. The villagers are more than happy to meet, greet and feed guests during a visit to this area.