At the fish market at Uda Walawe. The catch is from the tank and the fish is fresh and tasty.
The main road of the park now devoid of all ‘Manna’ (Elephant grass) and teak plantation
The peacocks are just coming into season, growing their new plumage
Mother and calf. With abundant food and water, family units spread out and very often one sees solitary mother and calf, although the herd may be close by
3 backs, all in row in a row. Elephants swat their tails to chase away insects
Back to ‘home base’ after 2 years. The ‘refurbished’ Thimbiriyamankada bungalow now ready for occupation after two years of closure
Brand new bed sheets with the wildlife logo
The scenery from the bungalow is as fantastic before
A young female who was translocated into the park sometime ago whose forefoot was injured in a land mine (‘Battas’ or small Jonny mines which are pressure activated explosive devices). Only the base of the foot is damaged and she has integrated with a herd well and manages to move around, although one can see deformed front uninjured foot which is now taking most of the weight.
A good specimen of a wild buffalo. Many of the buffalos are inbreed with domesticized animals
Two painted storks fishing in unison
A rare close up of a Nightjar. Usually these birds are not seen during the day but apparently it is roosting on some eggs.
A fine specimen of a young specimen of a serpent eagle As they grow older the feathers turned brown
As always the park has an abundance of crocodiles at almost every nook and corner
This herd was a very timid herd and was very wary of coming out into the open to drink water. We deduced that this could be a transient visiting herd who were not that used to people and jeeps.
The rather rare colourful common kingfisher …it is not that common as it’s name implies
Two Brahaminy kites struggling to hold on as the wind blows across the reserviour.
The rains come down and, as before with the strong wind, half of the upstairs of the bungalow gets wet
After the rain many elephant footprints were seen on both sides of the bungalow with the rain water filling in the footprints. So obviously there had been elephant activity very close to the bungalow, while we slept.
On a drive in the park a startled elephant looks closely at us
After the rain, tracking elephants is a ‘piece of cake’. Since they leave big clear footprints in the muddy surface
A mother helps a very small baby elephant (less than a month old) to cross the road in front of us. Usually she would not have crossed like, this exposing the baby. but I guess we were very quiet and gave her the confidence that there will be no harm
Another juvenile serpent eagle with his head turned almost 1800 backwards .Eagles have an excellent vision and can swivel their heads right across both ways, giving them a 3600 view
Thimbiriyamankada Bungalow
Good tasty simple food
Torrential rains on the way back
Flooded Kurunegala play ground
Impassable roads ..had to detour thru by- roads and three feet of water to get back to Colombo….thank goodness for the SUV four wheel drive