Popham popping up in Dambulla

Sam Popham was a  British Royal Navy officer born in 1923. Educated in Eaton and Cambridge, he visits Sri Lanka whilst on naval duty. Popham returns and becomes a planter and falls in love with the island of Sri Lanka.  He buys some land and creates a dry zone arboretum. He becomes known as , “the tree man. “ 

Two decades ago not so far away from the arboretum I was  sitting  in a cart pulled by an ox going from the main road to a new hotel called  Culture Club. I was a guest speaker at a big company event. After my rousing passionate speech I realized fifty percent  of the audience didn’t have any English, but my passion shone  through .

Over  two decades later I’m at the same  location again with Jezzabel and it is now the  luxury Amaya Lake hotel  in Dambulla. It is at-least our sixth time to the town  but this time  with five close Sri Lankans friends . Collectively we are  known as the “African Group “ as we regularly go to the continent. We have all done the sites of Dambulla and this is to be a chilled limited activity visit . I have a cunning plan  and take them to Pohhams Arboretum, it’s only five kilometers away. Satnav is down and I’m making it up, after  twenty minutes we finally arrive. We are all amazed at the work that is going on at the  thirty four acre site. It’s not just the range of trees and plants  but the birds , butterflies , spiders and mammals . All are well documented. Its founder , Popham died in 2022 at ninety years of age , in the UK, leaving an amazing legacy.

In 2002 we arrived at Culture Club and Jezzabel wants to sleep in a luxury  mud hut

We have the afternoon free and  the hotel manager  tells us we should try  the Eco Game park close by. 

In 2002 we arrived at the hotel Culture Club and Jezzabel wants to sleep in a   luxury  mud hut. It’s well fitted out inside. Sadly she is bitten by a centipede in the middle of the night and in agony.  I’m glad to say  the hut no longer exists.

We get the chance to revisit Eco Game Park close to Dambulla . No queues,  no issue with my residence visa ,1200 rupees to get in for two,  excellent driver who entertains us for two and a half hours spotting elephants galore, some standing next to the jeep. No clusters of jeeps however.The landscape is lush, long grass so limits some of the animals we see in other parks. Lots of birds. Good  banter from the driver. So we leave Dambulla having had some great camaraderie  and many new experiences .