April 21 Bundala and Yala

After breakfast leave for Yala Village, Yala for two nights. En route visit Bundala National Park in safari jeeps. Bundala is a fascinating wetland home for 150 species of winter migrant and resident birds. The park is accessed in safari jeeps. The highlight would be large flocks of Greater Flamingos, which could number up to a few hundred. Bundala is a ‘Ramsar’ wetland of Sri Lanka. Among the larger water birds you could also see Lesser Adjutant, Painted Stork, Asian Openbill, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-headed Ibis and Woolly-necked Stork. Waders that can be seen at Bundala include Pacific Golden, Lesser Sand and Greater Sand, Little Ringed, Kentish and Little Ringed Plovers, Little Stint, Marsh, Common, Wood and Green Sandpipers. You could also see the two odd-looking Eurasian Thick-knee and Great Thick-knee in addition to Eurasian Curlew, Black tailed Godwit, Common Snipe, Red-necked Phalarope, Pintail Snipe and Ruddy Turnstone.

Over this day and the next there were a couple of references to the tsunami of 2004. These have been gathered together in a special page.

As a result of the soggy bit of 20 April and the forecast for the following day Hettie suggested that we slightly change the plan for Bundala and have an early start, visit the Park and then go on to Yala in the afternoon. We agreed quickly and were up and about at 5am.

This meant we left in the dark which made Hettie's headlights and alertness the things which avoided a very large tree which had fallen across the road. He also avoided all the dogs which were gathering in the middle of the road for a convivial sniff round. They seemed to be in larger numbers than usual and also much more alert.

In past blogs I have commented on aspects of technology which have passed some countries by. In the case of Sri Lanka it seems to be the dip switch, particularly on trucks. Tuk-tuks were around early with intersting lighting effects on occasion. Most of them are imported knocked down from India and assembled in Empipitlya while the Piaggio Ape models are imported fully assembled, but from India rather than Italy.

The area around Bundala is the least prosperous in the country and as a result the Government has been doing development projects. These include:

• an International airport (fair enough as there are nice beaches and Parks to attract punters);
• an International port (fair enough as there is a lot of passing shipping); and
• an International Convention Centre (never justified anywhere for any purpose).

There were also a lot of signs around covered with marketing spin and BS about “Empowering Youth” and similar meaningless phrases.

We met our driver and transferred to his jeep for the tour of Bundala NP - a RAMSAR Wetland of International importance site - getting into the Park just after daybreak. This was a brilliant idea as the light was crystal clear and there were lots and lots of birds around, as well as some other animals. Getting the others out of the way first:

• Grey Langurs – not Langers, Alfie hasn't aged than much;
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

   Black-necked Hares;
• Spotted deer; and
• Mugger Crocodiles.

The latter were in large numbers and some were large in size. A particularly active specimen had gone to sleep in the road, woke as we arrived on an elevated track through the salt fields and dived into the pan alongside.  Here is a shot of it before it climbed on to the road.

Rob got a better image of the beast

 The waterbirds were evident before we got to the Park itself - where no-one seemed to be on duty – but we wandered in and were soon seeing many birds. Grey-headed Fish-eagle was an initial highlight and then several grassland species were seen closely followed by a large colony of terns, with a few waders. Quite a few of the images are in the 'Birds' page but some tasters follow.

Purple Sunbird

 Reflected Pheasant-tailed jacana

 Greater Thick-knee

We dodged around on tracks that were partly submerged - thanks Rob

and came out on to some salt pans. These had a lot of water in them – rotten rain – which had reduced the number and variety of waders and water birds (for example we saw no gulls). After seeing a large crocodile inspecting a pipe between two lagoons (see mage above) we came across small flocks of Red-necked Phalarope ( which I hadn't seen since Ottawa 1991) and Small Pratincole (a lifer). At the end of this we had to return as we didn't have permission to use the private roads in the salt works.

I think we totalled up to 65 species in the park: a really good haul. The clear light certainly helped.

There was then a short drive to Yala, including a stop to look at the Pagoda on a site 2300 years old (the pagoda is more recent) on which the tooth relic was stored during part of its life. The wall around the site was decorated with elephant designs.
We stopped in this village to fill up with diesel and I took the opportunity to snap some of the locals filling up the fuel containers for their tractors etc.  We were quite intrigued as to how they rode the motor bikes wearing sarongs.

It was not uncommon the see someone topping up the fuel in a tuk-tuk from a 1.5l soda bottle.  One of the benefits of no power must be good economy!
We also met up with another bike race, but in more rural surroundings and with a clear leader so not so thrilling as the previous example. It was amusing to see the leader get a bucket of water heaved over him! (The lines in this image ae the heating elements in the rear window of the van.)

The road to the Yala Resort was ungood, taking about 45 minutes to cover about 12 kms. The Resort is excellent being only about 12 years old. Somehow it was not damaged by the tsunami although almost on the beach. I went for a short run around the resort (4 laps at 500m per lap) followed by a swim and a medicinal beer. There were not a huge number of flowers about - I suspect that happens during and after the monsoon - but these yellow blossoms were quite common.

 Note that we were not allowed to go beyond the boundary due to the risk of dangerous animals such as leopards and elephants (and possibly crocodiles which were quite visible in the lagoon next to the pool). A herd of wild boar -about 20 of all sizes – ran past our chalet just before we went to dinner.  The next evening Hettie's brother, also a Jetwing guide, saw a leopard from the Hotel.
 However we were allowed to go onto the beach.  This guy was fishing well out to sea with a very heavy swell running.  I would not have been out there in that boat in those conditions

This shot shows the length of the beach: the fishing boats enter at the far end.

Proving that the waves were quite strong ....

We couldn't resist this shot of a brain-like rock with shadows.

To justify the early start a large thunderstorm started just as dusk fell.

Dinner was buffet style and quite good, once we found the Sri Lankan curry section. A mild annoyance was the wine wallah almost demanding that we had wine rather than the beer which we ordered. We ignored him.

Bird of the Day: Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

Other vertebrate of the Day: Mugger crocodile

Pattern of the day: Elephant design at pagoda

Bad taste of the day: An embarrassment of choice in the attire of our fellow guests.

Read on  

April 26: Back to the High country

Morning birding at Kelani Valley Forest Reserve. which is a lowland tropical rainforest rich in endemic fauna and flora. The Kelani Valley Forest Reserve is ideal for any missed lowland endemics such as Sri Lanka Myna, Green-billed Coucal, Spot-winged Thrush, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, Sri Lanka Spurfowl, Brown-capped Babbler and Red-faced Malkoha. Afternoon, leave for Chaaya Citadel, Kandy for two nights. 

We revised our schedule a bit so that we revisited the place near the nick again.  Before departing on that we got excellent views of a flock of Sri Lankan Grey Hornbills around the Guest House.  On getting to the police station area we again failed to find the Owlet. 

So back to the Guest House to try for the Serendib Scops Owl in the rain forest fragment on the opposite side of the river.  This involved a ride in a dugout Canoe,

 in which Hettie – like most Sri Lankans that we saw – stood up while I at least squatted down to get better balance and Rob took photos.  We then did a very brisk walk, pausing only to look at another Green Forest lizard

and some Mimosa flowers (plus play a little with their sensitive leaves)

then on up through a picturesque village

and into the rain forest.

 After a very pleasant walk we came to a stream which was flowing a lot more strongly than usually encountered, due to the recent rains.  Frances and Carol decided to wait while Hettie Rob and myself got our feet wet.  After a few more metres we came to a paddy field and observed some hawk eagles but nothing else.  Hettie looked under a little farmers shelter into the forest (after checking the shelter for snakes) but no owl,  so along the edge of the field and back into the rainforest on a track.  After about 2 minutes Hettie decided that we should return but he would dive into the forest on a very narrow track to do one more playback.  We were to wait in the shelter.

As he disappeared Rob said “Should we have asked him to leave the car keys?”.  We heard a bit of playback and shortly after Hettie emerged moving reasonably swiftly but not looking overjoyed so we guessed the owl was AWOL.  His first words were “I have been bitten by a snake.”.  The immediate question from us was “Is it poisonous?” to which the unwished-for positive answer, was given.

Hettie was firm that despite Australian practise he would walk back – probably good as he is a big lad and we couldn't carry him - so set off using his mobile phone.  (NOTE to TELSTRA and OPTUS:  the mobile phone got coverage in a bloody jungle some distance from a village, let alone a Provincial capital: why can't you do the same?)  The idea seemed to be to take some analgesics; wash the wound; apply some leaves; and get to hospital asap.  As he was allergic to aspirin it was good that Frances had some paracetamol.  By the time we got across the river his brother had contacted the Guest House and he was met by 8 concerned staff and taken off to hospital. 

The manager assured us that the species was not very venomous and that if your time was managed well “you'll be in Heaven.”  I said something to the effect that Heaven was not where we wanted him to be, and after a pause the manager understood my joke and roared with laughter.  The next step was Hettie calling the manager to say that he would be in the hospital for 4 hours but Jetwing were sending another chauffeur as he might not be able to drive.

We basically hung out in the Guest House.  This was aided by having a beer (surprisingly they still had some) and taking a few images.  Some of them are in the Birds page and here are a few others.

The red stems on some palms were attractive.

 A red stain on my shirt was less so: here is the culprit (one of two)

 A view from further back

This White-throated Kingfisher gave a beetle a thorough hammering on the railings before finally swallowing it.  (By this stage we were feeling a tad hammered ourselves.)

After a few hours Hettie rang again to say he was being kept in for 12 hours, the new driver would be with us in 20 minutes and another guide would join us in the morning.  He hoped to join up before we left the country.

So the new driver Bundulu arrived, we loaded up the kit and took off.  Giving due credit, the staff of the Guest House had been very considerate, both to Hettie and ourselves - although we were hours late checking out they made no fuss and produced a cellphone whenever Hettie rang.

Bundulu was not a slow driver like Hettie (he wasn't paid to look for birds we passed etc, but to get clients from Point A to somewhere else, such as Point B) but didn't do daft things.  As we left Kitulgala I noticed a sign on the road pointing to the site where the Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed, but in the circumstances didn't request a stop!

We dodged some potential points of congestion such as a rainy village market

and our first Sri Lankan accident scene where a ute and a bus appeared to have had a misunderstanding.  As there where a few cops on the scene, and we crossed a few ambulances headed to the scene, it may have been nasty.

Gampola Railway Station was straight out of the Raj and/or Bollywood! We got to Kandy in 90 minutes rather than 150 and checked into the Citadel.  Very, very plush and an excellent view across the river.

The place was well endowed with tour groups, some of whom were very noisy.  When we went down for tea there was music from the bar echoing up and competing with the foul musak in the restaurant.  The food however was good.

Bird of the day:  Grey Hornbill

Other vertebrate of the day:  Palm squirrel (the most obvious candidate was seen by none of us)

Pattern of the day:  Elephant designs

Bad taste of the day:  Quebecois tourists  who let their brats sit on the counter of the food service area.

Big Positive  of the day:  Behaviour of the Guest House staff and Jetwing office folk to get us out of the doo-doo!

Addendum from the future: I was at a COG Meeting in mid-June and chatted with another member who visited Sri Lanka a couple of years ago.  They used the Bird and Wildlife mob and it seemed a very intense trip.  They got all the endemics, including the Serendib Scops Owl  This was at Kithulgala and in the jungle, so only 2 people were allowed in to look at once.  Thus I suspect it was the infamous area behind the small hut. One couple went to look from a different angle and were startled - at least - to find a cobra dangling off a branch about a foot from their faces!

Read on