by Janudha Illangasekera – Grade 5D
I woke up early, today was the day of the fifth-grade annual school trip! When I got to school it was 6:30 a.m., the teachers marked the register and students of grade 5 set off to the bus. Two classes had to go in one bus, and everyone ran around the bus to find a good seat, once all the kids settled down the bus started moving. What the fifth graders didn’t know was that this was the beginning of an extravagant, beautiful expedition.
The members of the trip headed to Pinnawala, where we would visit four exciting and adventurous places. The first stop was “Ape Gama”. The village wasn’t connected with the outside world, every piece of furniture in the mud huts was of old style. We first visited the village doctor who showed us all the ancient medicines and told us how he cures people without any modern medical equipment. Then we visited the village chief, who showed us old instruments used to make food. He even showed us an old torture device which was used to punish villagers who committed crimes in the olden days. Then was the most exciting of the events, when a villager took a real-life python and wrapped it around his neck like it was rubber! Then he took out a flute, and when he started playing it the python started dancing! On our way back we spotted the “Wee Bissa” which was a traditional structure in the olden days used to store grains. While walking back to the bus one of the students asked a teacher what our next stop was, and she said that it was the elephant orphanage!
When we got to the orphanage the students stuttered with excitement as we walked down the path to see the elephants bathing! Some laughed, some screamed when we saw more than forty elephants bathing in a crystal-clear river. The elephants wandered around waving their tremendously big feet. After a while one elephant stepped on land, soon followed by more until it became an elephant parade! Everyone cleared away to let these majestic animals pass.
While returning to the bus the teacher announced that our next stop would be the Pinnawala Zoo! The Pinnawala Zoo was the first open zoo in the country and the students were very excited to see it, so we scrambled onto the bus towards the zoo. It only took a few minutes to reach the zoo. When we got there, most of the students ran around and a hand full of them marveled at the rabbits, ducks and turtles loitering in the area. After a while, the teachers led us deeper into the zoo where we were about to see majestic creatures we had never seen before. Our class teacher led us up some stairs and onto a balcony. At first, nobody could see anything but then someone spotted something on a rock, everyone advanced to get a closer look to see a real-life leopard! The students stared in amazement and shock as the leopard started prowling around. Soon after we were wandering down the path. The students thought we were going to see another animal, but the teachers led us to an open building. Here we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of rice and chicken. After lunch, the young explorers set off to discover another gorgeous animal. We were walking when someone shouted, “Look a Bengal tiger!” Everyone turned their heads to see a tremendously sized Bengal tiger! The tiger was quite a distance away, but you could see it loitering in its cage slowly. Afterwards, we got back onto the bus.
The teacher announced that our final stop would be the elephant dung paper factory! When we entered the factory the first thing we saw were dozens of shelves, full of huge sheets of paper which we were yet to know were made of elephant dung! One of the workers took us to a different room which was where he showed us how they make elephant dung paper. He said that the first thing they do is put the dung in a big water tank that warms it and burns all the germs in it. He mentioned that they mix it with other scraps of paper and then put it into a machine which flattens it into the paper shape and left to dry. After it dries up the texture of the paper is very rough, so they iron the paper to make it soft! The worker then took us to the gift shop, some of the students who had money bought some elephant dung products like notebooks and files. Finally, we headed home. On the bus ride back to school the participants of the trip chattered about what they had seen on the expedition. Most of them slept while a few of them were dancing to music. When my parents picked me up at 6: 30 p.m., I told them all the exciting events that occurred during the trip and how the fifth-grade annual educational expedition came to an end.
