Warmtoast,
What a batch of beautiful photographs ! Was never in Ceylon myself (I have no truck with Sri-Lanka), but there Mountbatten lived in some state, with a contingent of Wrens to do his bidding. From our hot and dusty Burma bashas we looked enviously at this set-up, and put our thoughts intto little mocking ditties, of which I can recall only two:
"You can be an ACSEA hero,
And never see a Zero"
and
"Why would you need an Enemy
When you've got a Wrennery ?"
Sour grapes of course.
Saw a few snakes in India (mostly in a snake-charmers basket in some bazaar). But the sight of your green horror turned me quite pale ! (must have a good scout round the bathroom [their favourite spot] before I disrobe tonight). You should've got a Mongoose as a pet ("Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" would sort them out for you). But what a marvellous handbag Hermes could make out of that one.
Elephant-wise, my only "contact" with them was in Assam, and our problem was not too many, but one too few. Our (working) elephant went AWOL, and never came back. As a trained elephant costs as much as a new pick-up truck (I am indebted to a colleague on "Pilot's Brevet" for the information - where else would you look for a "Glass's Guide" of elephant prices ?) - and Government of India property to boot, they tried to put the blame on us, and wanted the RAF to pay for it. (I should mention that there was an air raid at the time, and Jumbo had got a bit of hot shrapnel up his bum).
Your D/F hut is in a lovely spot, but how would it stand up to a big tusker who decided to give it a gentle push ? (just a thought !)
Have heard of "Adam's Peak" (and there's an "Adam's Bridge", too). Was the Garden of Eden supposed to have been - in Ceylon ? "Adam's Peak" - was that where they kept the Buddha's tooth ?
So many questions !
Danny.