Sinharaja Rainforest excursion

I called Kate who wanted me to accompany her to explore Sinharaja Rainforest in one morning of March 2025.

We agreed to meet up at Kalawana on the 9th March and it was around 1pm when I reached Kalawana. After a few minutes Kate arrived and we traveled together to the small but nicely arranged hotel in Kudawa. The name of the hotel was River's Edge Resort, just by the side of the river, was a treasure to both of us as there were quite a few bird calls we heard.

Late in n the evening we walked along the gravel road that ran by the hotel towards a tea plantation and a few houses in the village. We managed to see some birds and a few frogs. A small crab we found was a bonus. There were a few streams that made good habitats for amphibians and other creatures alike. 

We returned to River's Edge in time for dinner and the care taker Lal has done a good job. As we ordered Sri Lanka Rice and curry, I washed my hands to eat with my fingers. Kate, seeing this, asked me to teach her to eat using her fingers. I asked her to wash her hands and taught her how to eat properly with fingers and she was a fast learner and in the rest of the tour she never used any cutlery.....

After dinner I managed to call an old friend of mine, a tracker in Sinharaja, Rathnasiri. We used to call him Rathne and he came to the resort to meet me and we discussed the time that we should start the trail next morning. 

The next morning we had early breakfast and got our packed lunch as well, we started to walk up to the rainforest at about 6.45 in the morning. Tickets were obtained and we started the walk around 7 but it started raining as we started we stopped to see an occasional bird and a few creatures and we reached the research centre in about half an hour later. It was a good spot for birding and we managed to see a feeding flock and on the way back to the forest Rathne managed to show us a Sri Lanka Frogmouth.

We continued looking for birds mainly and saw many species that I will list down at the end of this journal. 

Although it was raining or drizzling throughout the day we did not want to abandon the walk. In spite of hundreds of leeches crawling up as we were wearing our leech socks, many were able to come up to the neck and even inside the shirt. It was only after we returned to the resort I found how many leech bites I've had on my neck and torso. 

There was a Green Pit Viper at the end of the trail and it was just waiting close to a water hole for its prey to arrive. 

We turned back on the trail and climbed uphill again to see the giant Nawada tree. 

After returning to the checkpoint of the rainforest, the sun came up and for a short period a few bird flocks passed us and it was the highlight of the trail. There was a small tea shop and we had black tea with Kithul jaggery, and some Helapa too. It made three of us refreshed again and we walked towards the marsh nearby looking for more birds and returned at the research centre as well. There were many birds looking for the last bit of food before dark, in feeding flocks we enjoyed with smile on our faces.

We reached the resort around 6 in the evening and ordered the dinner. Lal had kept his share of the evening Kithul Toddy for me and I offered Kate to taste a little of the National beverage, which she enjoyed a lot.

We had Lal's wonderfully cooked dinner, and the left of the Toddy as well. The dinner was too heavy and we decided to have a small stroll up the path to see if we could spot some animals and returned back around 9 p.m. in time for bed as we planned to travel to Kandy next morning.

The breakfast of Lal was not at all less delicious than other meals he prepared and I ate more than I usually do and I guess, Kate too.

We said goodbye to Lal thanking him for the lovely stay and we waited for the bus watching the passing by birds. From the beginning of the excursion Kate wanted to see the greater coucal but could not. However, we heard it's call and I saw one gliding down and crossed the bridge, I tried to show it to Kate but she did not see.... We both went up to the bridge and looked for the coucal but it had vanished in the shrubs by the riverside.

The bus came and we got in to it looking back at the great Sinharaja Rainforest and I knew that I will be able to see Sinharaja next time sooner than Kate as she will be returning home in about 10 days.

Birds we saw:

1. Crested Serpant Eagle.
2. Oriental White eye
3. Black bulbul
4. Ashy headed laughing thrush
5. Asian brown flycatcher
6. Sri Lanka Blue Magpie
7. Tickell's blue flycatcher
8. Grey Hornbill
9. Red vented bulbul
10. White bellied drongo
11. Sri Lanka drongo
12. Sri Lanka Frogmouth
13. Pale billed flowerpecker
14. Thick billed flowerpecker
15. Sri Lanka Jungle fowl
16. Malabar Trogon
17. Common tailorbird
18. Yellow billed babbler
19. Yellow fronted barbet
20. Black hooded oriole
21. Grey tit
22. Orange minivet 
23. Black capped bulbul
24. Sri Lanka Myna
25. Alexandrine parakeet
26. Emerald dove
27. Bar-winged flycatcher shrike
28. Sri Lanka scimitar babler
29. Asian paradise flycatcher 
30. Little commorant 
31. Orange billed babbler
32. Jerdon's Leafbird
33. Velvet fronted blue nuthatch
34. Spot winged thrush
35. Purple trumped sunbird
36. Sally breastfed munia
37. Golden fronted leafbird
38. Sri Lanka hanging parrot
39. Sri Lanka Wood pigeon
40. Red faced Malkoha
41. Yellow wagtail
42. Oriental magpie robin
43. Spotted dove
44. Greater coucal
45. Common Myna
46. Crimson backed woodpecker
47. Yellow browned bulbul
48. Brown capped babbler
49. 
    

Udawalawe National Park

 I visited the Udawalawe National Park with a family and we managed to do two safaris, one in the evening of the 28th March and the other in the morning, the next day.

Saw quite a few birds and elephants and we saw the paw prints of leopard in three places. One close to the Jith Vila and other on the way to Seenuggala.

The Master Campers Udawalawe provided us the food and accommodation with great enthusiasm that we enjoyed a lot. The night at the camp was wonderful with insects and frogs providing us the music of nature. 

The tents were quite comfortable and we had food more than we could eat so that we personally I formed the camp manager that the food was excellent but it's more than we could eat. 

We said goodbye to the Master Campers and proceeded to the deep south where our next destination was.

Thank you Master Campers for your excellent service. We will definitely recommend you to our friends who will be visiting Sri Lanka soon and write more about you soon on Google as well. 

 

Master Campers - Bundala

I visited Bundala last month after consulting Master Campers Sri Lanka who organize travel plans and excursions for nature, culture, agro, historic and pre-historic sites.

The stay at Bundala was personally organized by Uditha who is an enthusiastic on all my requirement for the stay and before.

The bungalow is placed very close to Bundala National Park and many other interesting sites. As soon as I stepped in, I felt ease of mind and felt that the excursions I discussed with Uditha will be great.

In the evening I had a small stroll down the footpath towards a well canopied area and reached an anicut that was built to turn water to the nearby paddy-field.

I managed to see some wildlife but unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera; instead I took a few images using my phone, which I enclosed here.

The next morning I had a visit to Hambantota city to buy a few necessities and the caretaker of the bungalow Nandasena took me to see an old dilapidated Gallows Tree by the ocean.

More of my writings will be posted soon and I conclude this session thanking Master Campers along with Uditha and Chandrasena who have been extremely helpful.

 

Nayana Wickramasinghe - Environmentalist

 Making handicraft using thrown away materials is a great way to conserve nature. The wooden plank in the above burn-art was from an old seed potato box. The art was burnt using a tool and wooden pegs are also from the same plank for the use of holding key tags.

 Wildlife in cities

The abandoned and hardly noticed wildlife in Sri Lankan urban areas are neglected by all. Not speaking of the so-called environmentalists who thrive by the name of taxonomy must open their eyes for the species that are survived in unbelievable urban environments.

For an example, some fish in gutters and gullies by the roadsides are amazingly strong to be survived in such harsh environments.

My belief is that we need a subject in schools to teach and make aware the students of the values of protecting nature and carrying out small projects so that at least the future generations would realize the fact and the importance of such acts.

Nayana Wickramasinghe

Environmentlalist

10.01.2025

Birding in my garden

We decided to build our house a little away from the turmoil of city-life. The place we found in 1985, on

west slope of Hantana was the perfect place for our hideaway. We moved to this place in 1988, two years after I left school and even after 26 years, ours is the only place where the wildlife gathers. This is because ours is the only plot of land that has a lot of shade, many trees to feed on and no barriers for them to enter. A few Barking Deer, Wild Boar, Fishing Cat [not to mention a Leopard that took two of my dogs, one in 2000 and the other in 2001.] lizards, snakes whom I found refuge to release when people around the area caught them and brought to me, and many birds.

On the 16th February 2014, I was just out early in the morning with a cup of tea in my hand I heard a few bird calls, some tailor birds and a Scimitar Babbler. I called my younger daughter who is full of enthusiasm towards birds and refers to Prof. Sarath Kotagama's Bird-guide,

she came running with my pair of binoculars.

Within about 15 minutes, we were in a middle of hovering, chirping, feeding and fighting Feeding-Flock of oriental birds. We listed the birds down and here's the list. I thought of taking a few photos too and here are some of the photos for your pleasure.

1.      Spotted Dove

2.      Common Tailorbird

3.      Black Bulbul

4.      Black-rumped Flameback

5.      Yellow-fronted Barbet

6.      Small minivet (Little Minivet)

7.      Flame minivet (Orange Minivet)

8.      Pale-billed Flower pecker

9.      Indian Pitta

10.   Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

11.   Oriental White-eye

12.   Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

13.   Yellow-billed Babbler

14.   Yellow-eyed Babbler

15.   Sri Lanka Scimitar Babbler

16.   Oriental Magpie Robin

17.   Brown-headed Barbet

18.   White-throated Kingfisher

19.   Common Myna

20.   White-bellied Drongo

21.   Black-headed Munia

22.   Scaly-breasted Munia

23.   Purple Sunbird

24.   White-browed Fantail

Nayana Wickramasinghe - WildWorldWatch

DOES SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TAXONOMIC STUDIES HELP CONSERVATION OF NATURE?

I have been actively participating in a couple of Non Governmental Organization [NGO] in Protecting Environment since about 1986. Since then I've come across of many environmentalists and scholars of Nature Studies. Out of these people, I've got to know that only a handful of people DID something to protect nature, but non of the taxonomists have done anything good for environment except getting their post graduate degrees to join a mission abroad or to find better job opportunities using their study records.

After all these years I've come to a conclusion that it is not the scholar that helps nature, but it is the common citizen who is aware of environmental destruction who helps protect nature.

This is open for you ideas and lets make a change today to help protect nature.

Nayana Wickramasinghe
WildWorldWatch
2014