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.
Showing posts with label Birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birds. Show all posts
Monday, January 14, 2008
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
A trip to Weheragolla bungalow, Udawalawe National Park
Taking Monday the 27th of August off from work would make the 25th to 28th of August a long weekend. Therefore it was decided that a couple of friends would do a trip to the Udawalawe National Park and stay inside the park at the Weheragolla bungalow.
We had a prior engagement on Saturday the 25th therefore we were unable to join the rest of the crowd that day. We were only able to go on Sunday. Having been up till late saturday evening we only got up around 5.30 a.m. on Sunday. Hurriedly packed the vehicle and we were on our way to Udawalawe leaving home at 6.30 a.m.
Since we were staying inside the park we needed a tracker to get to the bungalow. We had told our friends to therefore come to the park entrance by 11.00 a.m. anticipating that we would leave Colombo much later than 6.30 a.m. We arrived at the park entrance however by 9.45 a.m. and decided we would wait there till 11.00 a.m. till our friends came to pick us up. They came around 11.30 a.m. and we were very glad to see them as we were anxious to get to the bungalow and have a good rest.
We reached the bungalow finally after about an hours drive. Unpacked and decided to have a river bath which flows just past the bungalow. We then had a late lunch and rested awhile. We fell asleep and woke up around 5.30 p.m. only to discover that we had not been woken up in order to go on the evening round. We were a bit annoyed at that but our good friends thought that we needed to sleep since we had broken rest the previous night. The other crowd came back after their evening round. They did not have that much of luck, probably just a few elephants. My husband then decided it would be a great idea to have another river bath. We sat around and chatted about this, that and the other. We had dinner and then decided to sit out and enjoy the night sounds. We heard alarm calls of deer and sambhur which could only mean one thing and that was that leopard was around. We were hoping that it would make an appearance but we were not fortunate enought. We also heard the call of the forest eagle owl but that was quite some distance from the bungalow. Elephant too decided to trumphet. Non of these animals were unfortunately visible to us. We then decided it was time to call it a day and went to sleep.
We had a prior engagement on Saturday the 25th therefore we were unable to join the rest of the crowd that day. We were only able to go on Sunday. Having been up till late saturday evening we only got up around 5.30 a.m. on Sunday. Hurriedly packed the vehicle and we were on our way to Udawalawe leaving home at 6.30 a.m.
Since we were staying inside the park we needed a tracker to get to the bungalow. We had told our friends to therefore come to the park entrance by 11.00 a.m. anticipating that we would leave Colombo much later than 6.30 a.m. We arrived at the park entrance however by 9.45 a.m. and decided we would wait there till 11.00 a.m. till our friends came to pick us up. They came around 11.30 a.m. and we were very glad to see them as we were anxious to get to the bungalow and have a good rest.
We reached the bungalow finally after about an hours drive. Unpacked and decided to have a river bath which flows just past the bungalow. We then had a late lunch and rested awhile. We fell asleep and woke up around 5.30 p.m. only to discover that we had not been woken up in order to go on the evening round. We were a bit annoyed at that but our good friends thought that we needed to sleep since we had broken rest the previous night. The other crowd came back after their evening round. They did not have that much of luck, probably just a few elephants. My husband then decided it would be a great idea to have another river bath. We sat around and chatted about this, that and the other. We had dinner and then decided to sit out and enjoy the night sounds. We heard alarm calls of deer and sambhur which could only mean one thing and that was that leopard was around. We were hoping that it would make an appearance but we were not fortunate enought. We also heard the call of the forest eagle owl but that was quite some distance from the bungalow. Elephant too decided to trumphet. Non of these animals were unfortunately visible to us. We then decided it was time to call it a day and went to sleep.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
A one night stop at Udawalawe and a three night stay at Yala
26th August - We left Colombo at around 4.30 a.m. Stopped at Ratnapura to stretch our legs and to have breakfast of sandwiches and coffee. Drove towards Udawalawe. Stopped at the Sankhapala Temple for some photography. Left there and headed towards Udawalawe. Stopped to buy fish for our lunch and proceeded towards the bungalow - The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society bungalow which is located outside the park. We reached the bungalow around 9.30 a.m. Another crowd was supposed to join us, they joined us around 11.15 a.m. We had lunch around 12.30 p.m. Retired for a small nap. Got up, had a wash, had tea and decided to go on a game round around 3.35 p.m. We reached the park entrance only to find that there were no trackers for us to go into the park.
Whilst we were waiting our turn to get a tracker (waiting for a vehicle to come out of the park with a tracker) we met a friend of ours who had been to Yala and Bundala that morning who said they saw absolutely nothing in Yala, which of course was very disheartening cos our next stop was Yala.
Finally a bus came out of the park only to be informed that we could go in but would have to go in 5 other vehicles which was a no go for us especially when you want to do photography. We therefore opted out and went back to the bungalow. We thought we would have a splendid sunset, but that too was a big disappointment as the sun went behind a big cloud. We then had our customary drink, had dinner and went to sleep.
27th August - Woke up around 6.00 a.m. The other crowd with us being disappointed the previous day being unable to go to the park decided that they were not going to miss out this morning. They had actually been quite lucky as they had seen 3 herds of elephant, each herd comprising about 20 - 30 elephants. They had been informed that elephants had not been spotted in a couple of days maybe one or two but not so many!!!! We stayed behind in order to try and photograph any birds that came our way but wasn't that lucky. We all had breakfast and left the bungalow about 9.00 a.m.
We met Peter, the former bungalow keeper of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Yala, chatted with him. Then we proceeded to Tissamaharama to the shopping for our Yala stay. Once that was all completed we proceeded towards the park entrance, reached there around 12 noon. We got our tracker and proceeded towards our bungalow, this time we were staying inside the park and we stayed at a bungalow called "Warahana". We reached the bungalow around 1.00 p.m. We unpacked and went for a river bath. Had lunch and rested a while.
Got up had our tea and went on the game round starting at 4.00 p.m. We saw elephant, had two sightings of bear, one at "Modawala" this sighting was actually a very good sighting as we saw the bear drinking water at this particular waterhole. The other sighting was as Butawa, actually we did not see this bear until the last moment and he was as startled as we were. We went back to the bungalow at 6.35 p.m. Had our usual drink, had dinner and called it a day.
28th August - Woke up, had tea and left the bungalow at about 5.45 a.m. Saw a bear at "Koma wewa". Saw a female leopard cub at a water hole called the "Suduwelimulla water hole" and later saw the brother of the female leopard cub at the "Suduwelimulla boruluwala". He then walked away into the jungle. We then headed toward the bungalow, had breakfast, had a river bath. While we were having our river bath a herd of about 10 deer decided to come and drink just in front of us. We lay flat so they were unable to see us, they were very cautious though knowing that something was amiss. We almost did not breath thinking we would scare them away. One by one they drank water and left. Now that was a very nice experience!!!!! Had a small siesta just before lunch. Had lunch and went on the park round starting at 3.30 p.m. Saw the "weli katta" female leopard at the meda para water hole. Came back to the bungalow. Had a shower, had our drinks, had dinner. A while later we decided to flash the torch into the jungle to see what night animals we could see. To our surprise we saw two sets of eyes reflecting back at us. We identified them as Golden palm cat. We let them go about there business and we went to sleep.
29th August - Woke up, had our tea and left the bungalow around 5.35 a.m. We drove and drove around for a very long time but no luck, suddenly the tracker shouted "kotiya" which means leopard, and true enough a little female leopard cub was seated on the side of the road presumably waiting to cross the road. It changed direction and went into the jungle and we were not able to see it again. This little female cub is the same "Suduwelimulla" cub we had seen earlier. Went on a couple of more rounds and then we headed back to the bungalow at about 9.30 a.m. Had breakfast of roti.
The other vehicle was leaving today, so we had to go and drop them off at the park entrance. Both times that is to and from the bungalow, we did not see anything special. Decided not to have a river bath today as I had been bitten really bad by sand flies and was scratching, instead I rested. Had lunch and tried to sleep a while but that did not happen. Got out of bed around 3.15 p.m., had tea and went on the evening round. Waited at the "Suduwelimulla" water hole and our efforts were rewarded. The male and female cub came out and drank water. The female chased a mongoose but was not successful. We left them and decided to go to Koma wewa as the commotion and the behaviour of the rest of the visitors was totally rude to say the least. Went to the koma wewa bund and met a vehicle full of people. They informed us a leopard had been sighted. We therefore decided to wait a while and sure enough a huge leopard, must have been a male, as we could not see clearly, was observed drinking water. Started the vehicle and the leopard ran across the bund like a scarred cat, he sat for a while on the edge of the bund, in the meantime we decided we would try to get a glimpse of him from the other side but he had done the vanishing trick by the time we came round.
Went back to the bungalow, had our shower, our usual drink and had dinner. That night too we had quite a few pleasant surprises - the golden palm cat, a pair of Indian Palm cat and later on in the night a pair of porcupine who scampered along when they were aware that we were watching them.
30th August - Woke up at 5.00 a.m. Today was our departure day. Went on our morning round. No big animals this time. Photographed some pied kingfisher hovering trying to catch their breakfast. That was a very pleasant experience watching these guys. Came back to the bungalow around 9.00 a.m. Packed, took a short break while waiting for our brunch. Had brunch and left the bungalow around 10.45 a.m. We stopped at Silverray, Pelmadulla for a snack. We reached Colombo around 6.00 p.m and I ended up having a very bad sore throat which later turned out to be an infection and all the complications that come with it, body ache, fever etc.
All in all it was a very pleasant trip as we had quite a bit of luck especially bear as bear is considered even rarer than leopard. So I think we were rather fortunate and I am rather content.
Our next trip will be to Udawalawe on the 7th of September, where we will be staying inside the park at a bungalow called Thimbirimunkada.
Whilst we were waiting our turn to get a tracker (waiting for a vehicle to come out of the park with a tracker) we met a friend of ours who had been to Yala and Bundala that morning who said they saw absolutely nothing in Yala, which of course was very disheartening cos our next stop was Yala.
Finally a bus came out of the park only to be informed that we could go in but would have to go in 5 other vehicles which was a no go for us especially when you want to do photography. We therefore opted out and went back to the bungalow. We thought we would have a splendid sunset, but that too was a big disappointment as the sun went behind a big cloud. We then had our customary drink, had dinner and went to sleep.
27th August - Woke up around 6.00 a.m. The other crowd with us being disappointed the previous day being unable to go to the park decided that they were not going to miss out this morning. They had actually been quite lucky as they had seen 3 herds of elephant, each herd comprising about 20 - 30 elephants. They had been informed that elephants had not been spotted in a couple of days maybe one or two but not so many!!!! We stayed behind in order to try and photograph any birds that came our way but wasn't that lucky. We all had breakfast and left the bungalow about 9.00 a.m.
We met Peter, the former bungalow keeper of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Yala, chatted with him. Then we proceeded to Tissamaharama to the shopping for our Yala stay. Once that was all completed we proceeded towards the park entrance, reached there around 12 noon. We got our tracker and proceeded towards our bungalow, this time we were staying inside the park and we stayed at a bungalow called "Warahana". We reached the bungalow around 1.00 p.m. We unpacked and went for a river bath. Had lunch and rested a while.
Got up had our tea and went on the game round starting at 4.00 p.m. We saw elephant, had two sightings of bear, one at "Modawala" this sighting was actually a very good sighting as we saw the bear drinking water at this particular waterhole. The other sighting was as Butawa, actually we did not see this bear until the last moment and he was as startled as we were. We went back to the bungalow at 6.35 p.m. Had our usual drink, had dinner and called it a day.
28th August - Woke up, had tea and left the bungalow at about 5.45 a.m. Saw a bear at "Koma wewa". Saw a female leopard cub at a water hole called the "Suduwelimulla water hole" and later saw the brother of the female leopard cub at the "Suduwelimulla boruluwala". He then walked away into the jungle. We then headed toward the bungalow, had breakfast, had a river bath. While we were having our river bath a herd of about 10 deer decided to come and drink just in front of us. We lay flat so they were unable to see us, they were very cautious though knowing that something was amiss. We almost did not breath thinking we would scare them away. One by one they drank water and left. Now that was a very nice experience!!!!! Had a small siesta just before lunch. Had lunch and went on the park round starting at 3.30 p.m. Saw the "weli katta" female leopard at the meda para water hole. Came back to the bungalow. Had a shower, had our drinks, had dinner. A while later we decided to flash the torch into the jungle to see what night animals we could see. To our surprise we saw two sets of eyes reflecting back at us. We identified them as Golden palm cat. We let them go about there business and we went to sleep.
29th August - Woke up, had our tea and left the bungalow around 5.35 a.m. We drove and drove around for a very long time but no luck, suddenly the tracker shouted "kotiya" which means leopard, and true enough a little female leopard cub was seated on the side of the road presumably waiting to cross the road. It changed direction and went into the jungle and we were not able to see it again. This little female cub is the same "Suduwelimulla" cub we had seen earlier. Went on a couple of more rounds and then we headed back to the bungalow at about 9.30 a.m. Had breakfast of roti.
The other vehicle was leaving today, so we had to go and drop them off at the park entrance. Both times that is to and from the bungalow, we did not see anything special. Decided not to have a river bath today as I had been bitten really bad by sand flies and was scratching, instead I rested. Had lunch and tried to sleep a while but that did not happen. Got out of bed around 3.15 p.m., had tea and went on the evening round. Waited at the "Suduwelimulla" water hole and our efforts were rewarded. The male and female cub came out and drank water. The female chased a mongoose but was not successful. We left them and decided to go to Koma wewa as the commotion and the behaviour of the rest of the visitors was totally rude to say the least. Went to the koma wewa bund and met a vehicle full of people. They informed us a leopard had been sighted. We therefore decided to wait a while and sure enough a huge leopard, must have been a male, as we could not see clearly, was observed drinking water. Started the vehicle and the leopard ran across the bund like a scarred cat, he sat for a while on the edge of the bund, in the meantime we decided we would try to get a glimpse of him from the other side but he had done the vanishing trick by the time we came round.
Went back to the bungalow, had our shower, our usual drink and had dinner. That night too we had quite a few pleasant surprises - the golden palm cat, a pair of Indian Palm cat and later on in the night a pair of porcupine who scampered along when they were aware that we were watching them.
30th August - Woke up at 5.00 a.m. Today was our departure day. Went on our morning round. No big animals this time. Photographed some pied kingfisher hovering trying to catch their breakfast. That was a very pleasant experience watching these guys. Came back to the bungalow around 9.00 a.m. Packed, took a short break while waiting for our brunch. Had brunch and left the bungalow around 10.45 a.m. We stopped at Silverray, Pelmadulla for a snack. We reached Colombo around 6.00 p.m and I ended up having a very bad sore throat which later turned out to be an infection and all the complications that come with it, body ache, fever etc.
All in all it was a very pleasant trip as we had quite a bit of luck especially bear as bear is considered even rarer than leopard. So I think we were rather fortunate and I am rather content.
Our next trip will be to Udawalawe on the 7th of September, where we will be staying inside the park at a bungalow called Thimbirimunkada.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Nilgala 10th to 14th May
10th May - Left home for Udawalawe at around 5.15 p.m. Waited at the Thalawatugoda junction for a friend and had to wait a while. Met him at 5.45 p.m., then set off to pick up another friend of ours, picked him up from his house and proceeded and it was a traffic ridden drive all the way upto Avissawella where the traffic eased somewhat as many diverted off upcountry. Proceeded to SilverRay situated at Pelmadulla for dinner, then proceeded to Udawalawe. A barn owl decided to fly in front of us. Went to the Wildlife and Nature Proctection Society bungalow at Udawalawe around 11.00 p.m. We had covered a distance of about 148 km. Everyone seemed to be sleeping, woke them up, there were 3 others. Finally after talking shop went to sleep around 12.30 p.m. We did not get to see our bungalow keeper that night as he was fast asleep.
11th May - Woke up around 6.00 a.m. to the sounds of the bungalow keepers radio and kitchen sounds in general. The night was pretty cool as there was a pretty good blowing into the bungalow but when we woke up in the morning it seemed to be pretty humid. Had a shower, had tea and breakfast and left. Travelling along the Tanamalwila road we made a turn off to go to a water body known as Ranmuthuwewa. Spent quite a bit of time here photographing the birds. There was a treeful of Baya weaver birds with their nests. Left Ranmuthuwewa around 9.25 a.m. and headed towards KudaOya Task Camp and reached there around 10.00 a.m. where we had a cup of tea and heard and saw a Jungle Owlet. Left around 12.00 noon and headed towards Bibile. We reached Bibile around 1.50 p.m. Udawalawe to Bibile is about 114 km. We stayed at a place called Hotel Kinikini. Not a bad place!! When we reached there, there was a wedding taking place. We had lunch and left the hotel around 3.15 p.m. for Nilgala for more bird watching.
Bibile to Nilgala which is on the Bibile Ampara road is about 25 km. We saw plenty of birds here. Then we left Nilgala and proceeded further on the Ampara road to look for owls and night jars, we heard the night jar, the jungle owlet and brown hawk owl but could not see any of these birds. We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Had our shower and our customery dring and had dinner and went to sleep. We called Hotel Kinkini the Hilton of Bibile. We had a/c rooms but the fuse seemed to be going all the time. All in all it was not so hot so it wasn't that bad.
12th May - Woke up to the alarm at 5.00 a.m. Had our tea and got ready. Left the hotel at about 6.10 a.m. Proceeded toward Nilgala. Stopped along the way to see the yellow legged green pigeon, saw it but photographing it was a bit difficult as it was pretty far. We were there for about 3 hours watching all kinds of birds and trying to photograph them. Left there about 8.50 a.m. towards Nilgala. Since it was the Wesak weekend there were lots of Dansala's and there was a kola kande dansala just near the turn off to Nilgala and so we stopped and had kola kande here and that was considered breakfast. We then proceeded towards the Nilgala beat with plenty of stops along the way looking for birds. Finally went to the beat and we had lunch here, lunch consisting of bread and seeni sambol and plantain. It rained and didn't it rain hard. Once it ceased we headed back. We couldn't proceed any further at one particular point as the water was so high and the flow so rapid. The villagers said it would recede ina bout 2 hours or so, so therefore in the meantime we decided to go after the painted partridge, we did see a glimpse of the bird. We came back to check the water level and seemed crossable so one vehicle at a time we all managed to cross, there were 3 vehicles. Decided to go to the same point as last evening to look for night jars and owls. No luck. Went back to the hotel at 7.25 p.m. Showered and met up for our customary evening drink. One of the guys in our crowd had been at Yala Safari when the Tsunami struck so we had him relate his story. We then had dinner and went to sleep.
13th May - We were woken up by the person who brought our tea. It was about 5.15 a.m. Went back to sleep though and got up only when my alarm went off that was at 5.30 a.m. Got ready had our tea and had to wait a while till the others got ready. One of our guys were leaving us today owing to prior commitment. We finally left the hotel at 6.30 a.m. We went to the shop and bought cream crakers and cheese but had not decided whether we were going to have it for breakfast or lunch. Once again proceeded towards Nilgala. Somewhere around the 6th km post the vehicle in front of us stopped and the guys got down and made a sign with his hands. I ofcourse thought he was talking about oranges, because I had wanted to buy oranges and incidently Bibile is the best place to buy oranges, but to our surprise it was the jungle bush quail they had spotted on the side of the road. We were very lucky as they gave us a splendid display and a fine photo opportunity as the early morning sunlight was falling directly on them. We saw one male and 4 females, they crossed the road from one side to the other and then back again. We finally departed from there rather satisfied at having got this wonderful opportunity.
We proceeded towards Nilgala and once again stopped around the 17th km post to look for more birds, we also had our cheese and crackers here. This place was not that productive photographywise. Packed up and proceeded. At the Nilgala turn of is a small kade, we asked them if they could make a simple rice and curry for us, they obliged so lunch was taken care of. This time we did not go towards the Nilgala beat but continued along the Ampara road where we looked for owls and nightjars the previous two evenings. Hung around here for a while and went back to the kade to have our lunch as we were quite famished by now. One of the guys spotted a black eagle quite close but no photo opportunity. Reached the kade but to find that lunch was not ready as yet, so we had to wait a while. In the meantime we had a chat with the kade mudalali who said he owned a paddy field which had plenty of birdlife, so we decided that after lunch this is where we will be heading toward. We finally had lunch and went to this place. It was a breathtaking place and as we went in there we heard the call of the painted partridge. It is a very difficult bird to see. We had no luck here photographywise even though we saw the bird. It began to rain and it rained hard once again. We then decided to head back toward the hotel and we reached the hotel fairly early this evening at 5.45 p.m. owing to the rain. We showered and had our ususal drink, had dinner and went to sleep.
14th May - Got up to the sound of the alarm at 5.15 a.m. No signs of our tea. The owner had overslept. He made his appearance just as we were about to leave and he was very apologetic. We left the hotel at 6.00 a.m. Went to the 6th km post hoping to see the quails once again but were disappointed. We heard them call but they did not make an appearance for us. After spending quite a while for them to make an appearance we left and proceeded towards our kade. Since we had not had our morning tea we had our tea at the kade and we also had bread and seeni sambol for breakfast. We then left to go to our new found site to try our luck once again but we were not so lucky with regards to the partridge but we did see the male and female blue button quail and the bare button quail.
We left this place early as today we had to drive back to Colombo. We decided to have lunch at the hotel instead of having it along the way. We left the hotel around 1.10 p.m., we stopped at SilverRay once again for some snacks and tea. Here we said our goodbyes to the other guys in the other vehicle. We dropped the guy who had come with us and we finally reached home at 9.00 p.m.
I took so long to write about this trip as I was desperate to get a map of Sri Lanka Note: When viewing the map place the cursor on the map then at the bottom on the right hand corner you get a box with four arrows. Click on this and this will enable you to enlarge the map to a viewable size. I finally did manage to get one, it is not such a detailed map but I think it gives a rough idea the route to Nilgala.
11th May - Woke up around 6.00 a.m. to the sounds of the bungalow keepers radio and kitchen sounds in general. The night was pretty cool as there was a pretty good blowing into the bungalow but when we woke up in the morning it seemed to be pretty humid. Had a shower, had tea and breakfast and left. Travelling along the Tanamalwila road we made a turn off to go to a water body known as Ranmuthuwewa. Spent quite a bit of time here photographing the birds. There was a treeful of Baya weaver birds with their nests. Left Ranmuthuwewa around 9.25 a.m. and headed towards KudaOya Task Camp and reached there around 10.00 a.m. where we had a cup of tea and heard and saw a Jungle Owlet. Left around 12.00 noon and headed towards Bibile. We reached Bibile around 1.50 p.m. Udawalawe to Bibile is about 114 km. We stayed at a place called Hotel Kinikini. Not a bad place!! When we reached there, there was a wedding taking place. We had lunch and left the hotel around 3.15 p.m. for Nilgala for more bird watching.
Bibile to Nilgala which is on the Bibile Ampara road is about 25 km. We saw plenty of birds here. Then we left Nilgala and proceeded further on the Ampara road to look for owls and night jars, we heard the night jar, the jungle owlet and brown hawk owl but could not see any of these birds. We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Had our shower and our customery dring and had dinner and went to sleep. We called Hotel Kinkini the Hilton of Bibile. We had a/c rooms but the fuse seemed to be going all the time. All in all it was not so hot so it wasn't that bad.
12th May - Woke up to the alarm at 5.00 a.m. Had our tea and got ready. Left the hotel at about 6.10 a.m. Proceeded toward Nilgala. Stopped along the way to see the yellow legged green pigeon, saw it but photographing it was a bit difficult as it was pretty far. We were there for about 3 hours watching all kinds of birds and trying to photograph them. Left there about 8.50 a.m. towards Nilgala. Since it was the Wesak weekend there were lots of Dansala's and there was a kola kande dansala just near the turn off to Nilgala and so we stopped and had kola kande here and that was considered breakfast. We then proceeded towards the Nilgala beat with plenty of stops along the way looking for birds. Finally went to the beat and we had lunch here, lunch consisting of bread and seeni sambol and plantain. It rained and didn't it rain hard. Once it ceased we headed back. We couldn't proceed any further at one particular point as the water was so high and the flow so rapid. The villagers said it would recede ina bout 2 hours or so, so therefore in the meantime we decided to go after the painted partridge, we did see a glimpse of the bird. We came back to check the water level and seemed crossable so one vehicle at a time we all managed to cross, there were 3 vehicles. Decided to go to the same point as last evening to look for night jars and owls. No luck. Went back to the hotel at 7.25 p.m. Showered and met up for our customary evening drink. One of the guys in our crowd had been at Yala Safari when the Tsunami struck so we had him relate his story. We then had dinner and went to sleep.
13th May - We were woken up by the person who brought our tea. It was about 5.15 a.m. Went back to sleep though and got up only when my alarm went off that was at 5.30 a.m. Got ready had our tea and had to wait a while till the others got ready. One of our guys were leaving us today owing to prior commitment. We finally left the hotel at 6.30 a.m. We went to the shop and bought cream crakers and cheese but had not decided whether we were going to have it for breakfast or lunch. Once again proceeded towards Nilgala. Somewhere around the 6th km post the vehicle in front of us stopped and the guys got down and made a sign with his hands. I ofcourse thought he was talking about oranges, because I had wanted to buy oranges and incidently Bibile is the best place to buy oranges, but to our surprise it was the jungle bush quail they had spotted on the side of the road. We were very lucky as they gave us a splendid display and a fine photo opportunity as the early morning sunlight was falling directly on them. We saw one male and 4 females, they crossed the road from one side to the other and then back again. We finally departed from there rather satisfied at having got this wonderful opportunity.
We proceeded towards Nilgala and once again stopped around the 17th km post to look for more birds, we also had our cheese and crackers here. This place was not that productive photographywise. Packed up and proceeded. At the Nilgala turn of is a small kade, we asked them if they could make a simple rice and curry for us, they obliged so lunch was taken care of. This time we did not go towards the Nilgala beat but continued along the Ampara road where we looked for owls and nightjars the previous two evenings. Hung around here for a while and went back to the kade to have our lunch as we were quite famished by now. One of the guys spotted a black eagle quite close but no photo opportunity. Reached the kade but to find that lunch was not ready as yet, so we had to wait a while. In the meantime we had a chat with the kade mudalali who said he owned a paddy field which had plenty of birdlife, so we decided that after lunch this is where we will be heading toward. We finally had lunch and went to this place. It was a breathtaking place and as we went in there we heard the call of the painted partridge. It is a very difficult bird to see. We had no luck here photographywise even though we saw the bird. It began to rain and it rained hard once again. We then decided to head back toward the hotel and we reached the hotel fairly early this evening at 5.45 p.m. owing to the rain. We showered and had our ususal drink, had dinner and went to sleep.
14th May - Got up to the sound of the alarm at 5.15 a.m. No signs of our tea. The owner had overslept. He made his appearance just as we were about to leave and he was very apologetic. We left the hotel at 6.00 a.m. Went to the 6th km post hoping to see the quails once again but were disappointed. We heard them call but they did not make an appearance for us. After spending quite a while for them to make an appearance we left and proceeded towards our kade. Since we had not had our morning tea we had our tea at the kade and we also had bread and seeni sambol for breakfast. We then left to go to our new found site to try our luck once again but we were not so lucky with regards to the partridge but we did see the male and female blue button quail and the bare button quail.
We left this place early as today we had to drive back to Colombo. We decided to have lunch at the hotel instead of having it along the way. We left the hotel around 1.10 p.m., we stopped at SilverRay once again for some snacks and tea. Here we said our goodbyes to the other guys in the other vehicle. We dropped the guy who had come with us and we finally reached home at 9.00 p.m.
I took so long to write about this trip as I was desperate to get a map of Sri Lanka Note: When viewing the map place the cursor on the map then at the bottom on the right hand corner you get a box with four arrows. Click on this and this will enable you to enlarge the map to a viewable size. I finally did manage to get one, it is not such a detailed map but I think it gives a rough idea the route to Nilgala.
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