Nuwara Eliya - Golf Club, 10th - 12th Jan, 2008

Palitha was supposed to pick us up at 5.00 a.m. on Thursday the 10th, but when he did make his appearance it was around 5.30 a.m. He deliberately got late because coming early would mean getting stopped at the many check points along the way and the unwanted questions that would be asked as a result of his equipment. We packed the vehicle and then left to Homagama to pick up Lester. We then proceeded to Kitulgala - the rest house - where we were going to have breakfast and if possible some birding. Birding was out of the question as it was raining, breakfast on the other hand was something else - string hoppers, and we stuffed ourselves as if we had never seen food in our lives. Everyone complained later on that they were very uncomfortable as they had eaten too much. We proceeded directly to Nuwara Eliya from Kitulgala. Chinthaka who was also on his way to Nuwara Eliya on business and who had left much earlier than us informed us that it was raining very heavily in Hatton. We reached the Golf Club around 12.30 p.m. The weather was bright and sunny!!!

We unpacked and then decided to do some birding at "Victoria Park". Before birding we decided to have something to eat. Everyone decided that short eats and tea were adequate. We were joined by Chinthaka and Janaka. Janaka is the local doctor who is interested in wildlife as well. Janaka left our company as he was on duty, Chinthaka joined us at the Park. The park was however very disappointing as there were not many birds to be seen. All we saw for that afternoon was the Indian Pitta, the Pied Ground Thrush, the Yellow Eared Bulbul, forest wagtail, grey wagtail, the Kashmir Red-breasted Flycatcher and some of the other common birds.

Chinthaka had to leave for Colombo that afternoon - he left our company around 4.00 p.m. Gayan, another guy who works at the Alpine hotel in Nuwara Eliya saw us in the park from the road and called Palitha and asked if he could join us. He turned up a few minutes later. We stayed at the park till about 6.15 p.m. We had tea and Christmas cake at the Club.

Dinner was Pork chops, fries and veggies followed by Caramel for afters. The pork chops and the caramel was disappointing. Retired to bed.

11th January, 2008 - We had contemplated the previous day whether to go to Horton Plains or hang around at Victoria Park and try to photograph the Kashmir Red-breasted Flycatcher It was decided to go to the Park and try our luck there. Luck was not on our side - I woke up around 5.45 a.m. and realised it was raining - not the ideal thing for birding. Stayed in bed till around 6.30 a.m. and eventually got up and got ready. We had breakfast at the Club - a breakfast of Pineapple juice for the 3 of us and Papaya juice for Palitha followed by toast, bacon, eggs, marmalade and tea.

We headed back to our rooms wondering what to do. A little while later, to our amazement Lester discovered that there were a pair of Kashmir Red-breasted Flycatchers just outside our room. Namal and Palitha tried photographing the bird, but the weather was a dampener. We just hung around until lunch. Janaka joined us for lunch at the Club. Lunch was rice and curry, which was really tasty. We then decided to take a stroll in town to buy some trousers and shirts. Having bought what we wanted we went back to Janaka's place and hung around there. Lester informed us that Deepal had wanted us to join him for dinner at Gallway Lodge. We left Janaka's place and went back to the Club. Got ready and picked up Janaka and went to meet Deepal. Met Deepal who had two guests with him. Dinner was buffet. Had our dinner, dropped Janaka and went back to the Club.

12th January, 2008 - The next day the weather was as bad as the previous day. We went to "Remarko" and had breakfast and then set off to the park and stayed put in the vehicle and came back to the Club. All of a sudden the weather cleared - blue skies. We all trouped into the vehicle and went to the park. The good weather was just a teaser and short lived. We decided to call it a day and head back to Colombo. Came back to the club, packed and headed back to Colombo. We stopped on the way to have some short eats and came back home around 5.30 p.m.