Business cum Pleasure – Pic Journey 4…

04 February, the National Day of Sri Lanka and an island-wide holiday for us all. While the entire nation prepared for the 66th Independence Ceremony, Sheham and I left for Wilpattu during the wee hours of February 04. This all happened in a hurry when Sheham said that he’d be heading to Palpatha, an Eco-Lodge near Saliyawewa Army Camp, for an official visit and asked if I was willing to join him. Jumping at the opportunity and the idea of doing a quick recce of Wilpattu (I’d never been there before) made it a very tempting offer.

I jumped with both feet and decided to leave during wee hours of the National Day. We left earlier that anticipated coz Sheham was suffering from insomnia and reached Puttalam around 3.45am. Turning towards the Anuradhapura road we continued passing Elephant roaming areas of Thabbowa and Karuwalagaswewa hoping for a glimpse of a jumbo. But to our disappointment, none of them bothered to come out for a glance.

Tour Highlights:

• Quick glance through Wilpattu
• Bird Watching at Palpatha
• Sunset @ Mundalama Lagoon

We reached Palpatha around 4.30am and decided to take a nap till the caretaker got up. Finally at 5.00am having left the equipment needed for the work there, we headed towards Wilpattu Junction where Bobby, our driver, waited. We left the car and got into his brother’s Bolero 4-wheel drive jeep (most commonly available kind of jeep at Wilpattu) coz both his modern Mitsubishi L200 jeeps were on hire. It was freezing cold in Wilpattu and I’d never imagined it could get that cold there. It was like Nuwara Eliya and the temperature must’ve been around 20 degrees or even less. Sheham and I were shivering in the open jeep but the luxuriously done cushion sheets provided a comfy sitting position. The whole area was covered in a moderate layer of mist too.

Having reached the entrance at 5.45am, we waited anxiously with many others who’d come from different parts of the country to visit this gigantic wildlife-rich beauty. However, the officials didn’t see it that way and didn’t appear till 6.20am to issue tickets (20 precious minutes wasted). As usual the ticket prices didn’t cease to amaze us. They even charged us Rs. 300/- for a tracker even though none was available.

Bobby had seen two young leopards the day before so we were very excited for a leopard sighting coz I’d not seen one properly. We passed many other animals especially a wild boar family of two parents and 20+ tiny ones running in a straight line one after the other. It was such a superb sight unfortunately couldn’t take a pic as we were so engrossed in watching them. We reached where Bobby had seen the leopards and there was a rotting flesh smell which nearly made me throw up. It had been the hunt the leopards had done before but there was no sign of them. We waited fruitlessly and decided to roam around with no success. On the way back out of the park, we got a similar smell but not a sign of a leopard.

Just at the gate we saw a flock of Hornbills feasting on some fruits noisily. There might’ve been about 2 dozen of them and it was a very welcome sight. So my first-ever Wilpattu Safari, which lasted a bit under 4hrs, ended without much of a drama.

Look at all the places and how far they are

First visit

Bobby opening the gate

The misty lake

The path ahead

I can’t remember the name, is this a Grey Heron?

One of my favourites

On the hunt

Having a chat?

Very observant and alert

Fearsome thug

See the contrast in color

I don’t understand why this is called “Barking Deer”

Crossing the road but no yellow stripes

Sandy paths can be difficult to maneuoure

Closer to the stinking flesh

The one and only toilets are located here.

Where we had breakfast

A big one

Oh dear!

Very busy to notice us

Here they are

Mighty hungry

Gorgeous

We went to Bobby’s house back for our car and he treated us with fresh guava, pomegranate and tea. He has a very cute son who kept showing us around their house. Sheham is helping them with Solar Electricity coz the mains line is too far and very expensive to obtain. So it’s yet another helping hand from Sheham.

Guess what? This is Kurakkan

Being dried in the sun

Bobby’s son had trouble posing

Very serious look

Never seen her before

Bitter friend

Such an artistic flower

Know the name?

Beautiful colors

Ready to harvest

Drying in the sun

Reminds me of Nasrudin’s Story

Juicy

We reached Palpatha around 12.30pm and while overseeing the ongoing work, set to have a delicious lunch. The manager, Anura, at Palpatha was a very hospitable gentleman. We decided to relax in the evening and I saw plenty of birds near one of their chalets called “Kohomba”. All the chalets are named after trees growing around them such as “Siyambala”, “Kumbuk” and “Andara”. This is a very good place for bird watching and I saw many different kinds of them in the vicinity but my knowledge on birds is as good as my Greek.

I was surprised to see the enthusiasm of people both local and foreigners to live in typical village life styles. It proves how effective and peaceful our ancestors’ lives were. You wouldn’t believe the money they pay for a simple village meal and to sleep on a mud house with a thatched roof. The world is in fact, going backwards.

Thanks to the chef Bandu, I learnt 5 names of the birds I saw:

1. Golden Fronted Leafbird

2. Clamorous Reed Warbler

3. Ceylon Paradise Flycatcher – Sivuru Hora in laymen’s terms

4. Indian Paradise Flycatcher – Sudu Redi Hora

5. Black Headed Oriole – Kaha Kurulla

Around 5.00pm we left for Colombo but wanted to stop somewhere to witness the sunset. I’m a big fan of the rising and setting Sun. Fortunately we reached Mundalama Lagoon just as Sun was gliding down and took some amazing pics. The place along the lagoon looked so beautiful and ideal for camping.

Well, it turned out to be a very good Pic Journey in the end thanks to all those birds. It looks like the number of Pic Journeys are getting more and more and I’m glad about the response so far from the readers. It’s certainly a different approach by me and seems to be working.

Check out the 2 Videos of the Golden Fronted Leafbirds below:

Video 1

Video 2

Thanks a lot folks for reading and hope you enjoyed it.

Take care

Entrance

Waiting patiently

Lilly pond

Beautiful

Tiny waterway flows nearby and joins the Kala Oya, which is the southern border of Wilpattu

Goes through the shady ravine

Mmmm, the taste is super

Thatched roof

“Tamarind” Tent

Like camping

Bird watching paths

Before switching to Solar, they’d used these kerosene lamps making it not so eco by emitting a lot of CO and CO2

A makeshift wooden bridge is the path to the Chalet

Village house looking

Look at those beds and frames especially… They are solid Burutha with Thekka panels along the sides

Old lanterns

They seem to grow their own food

Coconut leaves are being used

Reminds me of the childhood house

Black headed oriole, rather Kaha Kurulla to me

Indian Paradise flycatcher

Ceylon Paradise flycatcher faraway

Up close

Familiar birds too

Clamorous reed warbler

Silhouette of a bird

Birds are in abundance around here

Here’s the star of the day

Golden fronted leafbird

These 3 kept going in and out of the hollow

Shaking the feathers; guess the hollow is full of water

Gorgeous creature

Another Kaha Kurulla

They are coming in numbers

Flower of a corn

Strawberry colored blonde

Unknown one to me

Tiny pond

Getting ready to sleep

Through the trees

Either side

Wow

The lagoon to the left

And to the right

Faraway boat right under the sun

Gone…

Endless railway line towards Chilaw

Enjoy the Panos to accompany this episode. I only managed 3 of them this time and will bring more next time.

P.S. I’m a stranger when it comes to birds’ names. So correct me if I’ve got those names wrong and try to name the ones without a name too please.

Pano 1

Pano 2

Pano 3