Glimpse of Runakanda – Pic Journey 11…

Birding is a favorite pastime among people who love watching the behavior of these wonderful creatures of the Mother Nature. However compared to other areas such as hiking, wildlife, etc. this is mainly done by relatively lesser number of people.

Gayan’s has become addicted to birds since recently thus we too have no choice but to follow him at times looking up at trees bending our necks at unusual angles almost dislocating the spinal cord near the neck. It’s a great miracle that these bird lovers manage to walk without tripping themselves as they don’t tend to look at the path or where they step on. If you have seen those pigeon lovers in the urban areas, you would know what I’m talking about. The only difference is that these bird lovers don’t whistle like those pigeon folks do.

Ok, back to Runakanda. This is a part of Sinharaja actually but is now being proposed as a separate Forest Reserve. I hope this will get legalized soon as we’re fast losing our forest areas. Even Runakanda like many wet zone rain forests have been ravaged by the Walla Patta Hunters. According to villagers many outsider had come in gangs and stayed inside the forest living in makeshift shelters or caves chopping down Walla Patta trees and making loads of money. The FD and Police are in high alert even though the damage has already been done thus the reason why you shouldn’t venture into these areas on your own.

We heard that the FD is now distributing Walla Patta plants for commercial planting where they help with the chemicals to produce that specific bit of residue after 5 years. At the age of 8, the tree is good to cut down and harvest. Hopefully these will put a stop to the destruction of our virgin forests.

We were greeted by Chanaka’s father-in-law and he was a very friendly and hospitable gentleman. He’s a retired Grama Sewaka in the same are so has a fair knowledge of the surroundings. Chanaka was away so he’d arranged Chathura who’s originally from the village inside the forest but they’ve moved to the village on this side of the river due to lack of facilities. However his father and grandparents have objected vehemently to the idea and are living inside the forest to date. Maguru Ganga is the border between the forest and the village and she acts like a protective shield for the forest from the evilness. Unfortunately even she’s not been able to defeat the wicked acts inflicted on the forest by those greedy people.

We hadn’t prepared for this journey properly due to the lack of details so this turned out to be a reconnaissance mission which we conducted to get a feel for the place. We’ll be going again for sure armed with the information we obtained and better prepared. So here are the pictures I managed to take in our short stay and hope you’ll enjoy.

Turn off to the Conservation Centre from the main road

Korawakka

Beautiful

Runakanda is over there

Elabatu if I’m not mistaken

There’s the info

Conservation Centre and this can accommodate up to 12 people

Another angle

Dewy	This fella had been injured and found by the wildlife department. After doing an operation, he’d been brought here for recuperation

Munching on a piece of break, one of his favorites

Fiery tale full of spikes

Grey Hornbill

Sunbathing

Enjoying a free meal

Looks nice but I don’t know the name

Drying his feathers

Close up

Plenty of diversity among trees

Well this is common enough

Probably not this one though

Floating around

He was a huge fella

Here’s Maguru Ganga

Crystal clear

Pelen, a fruit similar to Mora which is a delicacy among birds

Here’s a deep black hole where you shouldn’t attempt to bathe

Weaving on the way

Here’s the footpath used by the travelers as well as those who go to the villages

Golly, what’s this?

String Hopper like mushroom

Hanging for dear life

A stream that feeds Maguru Ganga which we had to cross

Just love the look of these pebbles underneath the water

Very slippery

Halt! No rail gates inside the jungle so keep an eye out for these along the path

100-foot tall trees

The tree cover

See the different shades of colors

This was a scary thing. I wonder if you can spot the trap here. This was laid along a game trail probably targeting porcupines, small deer, etc. Clear sign of hunters at large and also why you shouldn’t venture into the forest all alone

Grandfather of Chathura in his home turf

They’re drying these to make coconut oil

Searching for the nectar

Juicy

Look at that color

Another

Many different ones but very hard to capture on our lens

Tough cookie this one

From the other side

Spider man?

Wasn’t ripe enough

Kasun couldn’t wait no longer and made this then and there

Orchid type

Up close

Another strand of flowers

Chathura’s father in their own house but living all by himself now. Just realized that I didn’t take a pic of Chathura

My favorite

Back at the river and ready for a bath

It was heavenly to lie down in this cool shallow water

After a bath and meal, we were on the way back

It was isolated

Here’s another kind

Some more

This is a female. How do I know that? Well look at the left of the pic

Many of them

Goodbye Maguru Ganga… Will come for you again

Too far away for me

Ok, the name I know for this fellow is “Jambu Kottoruwa”

Just like in a vase

Look at that reddish patch in the middle

This fellow is a common one

Well probably this one too

He was taking a nap

Very cute

Munching on a roti

Glistening in the sun

Surprise visitor

Closer look

Very fidgety to take a good shot

Look at those green feathers

Oh hi there!

Standing on its hind legs

Just a cutie pie

Take off your tail from the rice

Another kind

Kept looking for something to eat

Closer look

This is a different one, can you see the contrast?

Not fully bloomed yet

Know this? It’s called Donka, a delicious fruit somewhat similar to Mangos teen

Runakanda, time to go

Well folks, I hope you got some valuable details about Runakanda in this short story. It really is a bio-diversity hotspot which needs to be protected before it’s too late. Do visit this place by all means but adhere to the laws of the nature and do your utmost to protect it.

This is Sri signing off and would hopefully meet you again with another fairy tale.