Jaffna -2018 February

Photos taken during an official visit to Jaffna in February 2018

Donation of Milk-powder packets to Udawalawa Ath-athuru Sewana - 16th February, 2018

Kiri Dane (Donation of Milk) - 16^th of February 2018

The Udawalawa “Ath Athuru Sewana” (Elephant Transit Home) has been established by the Department of Wild Life Conservation of Sri Lanka in 1995, for the welfare and conservation of orphaned baby Elephants.

This Elephant Transit Home (ETH) take cares of orphaned elephant calves-until they are independent and able enough to be released back to the wild.

The ETH is a lively place, where the elephant calves are fed once in every three hours (7 times a day) on all 365 days of the years. The calves are fed human baby milk formulae, and are allowed to roam about in a limited area close to the waters, in-between their feeding sessions.

Currently there are 52 claves of varying sizes and ages at the ETU. Some are yet infants while some are collared with G.P.S. belts and are ready to be re-introduced to the wild shortly. 25 to 30 “Lactogen´ milk powder packets and 3 to 5 NAN (infant formula) milk powder packets are said to be needed for each of these feeding session.

In celebration of four of our birthdays in the month of February, we donated milk powder packets needed for the ETH’s one feeding session, on the 16^th of February 2018.

We are thankful to Mr. Wasantha and his staff at the ETH, including Ramesh for been kind enough in showing us around the ETH, and especially the exclusive opportunity of seen the back-stage animal holding areas, where other injured and orphaned animal were been treated.

A Fishing Cat been treated at the backyard of the ETH

A Barking Deer been treated at the backyard of the ETH

Udawalawa National Park - February 2018

UDAWALAWE TRIP – 16^th to 18^th February 2018

After donating milk powder packets to the “Ath Athuru Sewana” (Elephant Transit Home) at Udawalawa, and watching the milk feeding session at 3.00 p.m. on the 16^th of February 2018, we hurried to the Udawalwe National Park’s entrance, as we were supposed to enter the park before 4.00 p.m.

From the entrance we drove straight to the ‘Gonawiddagala Bungalow’ which we had booked for our first night at the park. That evening we observed the beauty around the bungalow, and saw an elephant gracing at close proximity to the bungalow. In the night we were woken several times by the howling of Jackals very close to the verandah we slept.

The next morning we went out on our first proper safari ride, from about 6.00 a.m. to 9.00 a.m. We roamed through the park areas closer to the entrance that morning, including the old ‘Muwan-pelessa’ village area. Returning back to the Gonawiddagala bungalow, we had our breakfast, and packed our stuff. Our check-out time was 11.00 a.m. but we left the bungalow around 10.30.

We had planned to spend our second night at the ‘Thimbiriya-mankada Bungalow’. On our way to Thimbiriya-mankada, we got to know that the Thimbiriya-mankada bungalow keeper had gone on leave at an emergency that morning. Our tracker had been advised by the park management to pick the Seenuggala bungalow keeper, and take him to Thimbiriya-mankada.

As this process needed some time, we decided to have a river-bath till the matter was sorted. We travelled up to Weheramankada, and had a soothing bath at the Walawe river behind the Weheramankada Beat office.

By the time the jeep came back and took us to the Thimbiriya-mankada bungalow, lunch was almost ready. After lunch we spent a couple of hours relaxing, and admiring the beautiful panoramic view around the sleeping-deck of the bungalow. We also did a re-cap about some of the birds and other animals seen so far, going through our field guide books.

Between 5.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. we went to a small isolated water-body very close to the bungalow. Apart from the ‘Thumpath-raena’ (three-member) herd of Elephants, Wild Buffalo and wild pig we saw a number of bird species too. The Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and the Button-quail ware the most memorable.

That night we had fewer disturbances from Jackals and the other wildlife. On the second morning we travelled up to the ‘Mau-ara’ area. Mau-ara is a separate catchment area towards to the Eastern side of the Udawalawa reservoir. The main access road to Mau-ara is close-by to the park entrance, but we took a short-cut across Seenuggala.

Returning back to the bungalow, we had our breakfast and packed our bags to return back home. We got back to the park entrance around 12.30 p.m. on Sunday the 18^th, where we said our Good buys to Udawalawa, after completing a wonderful trip.

Special Thanks to:

Premarathna              (0719 691 245 / 0777 251 303) - Our tracker

Nipuna                        (0714 618 115) – our jeep driver

Mr. Lucky                   (07776 713 912) – Jeep owner

           

Mr. Anil Vithanage, Mr. Saranga Disanayake & Mr. Thushara Wanniarachchi  for the information provided in planning the trip.

All bungalow keepers and staffs of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).

Gonawiddagala Bungalow

Thimbiriyamankada Bungalow

Thimbiriyamankada @ dusk

sunset @ Gonawiddagala

Tree @ Mau-ara

misty dawn @ Thimbiriyamankada

River bath @ Veheramankada

Birds @ Udawalawa - February 2018

Some of the Bird species seen at the Udawalawa National Park between the 16th & 18th February 2018. (approximately 70-75 bird species were recorded altogether during this trip).

Common Hooper

White-belied Sea Eagle nest

Changeable Hawk Eagle 

Orange-breasted Green Pigeon

Spotted Dove

Barn Swallow

Copper-smith Barbet

Grey-bellied Cuckoo (juv)

Pied Cuckoo

Brown Flycatcher

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Sri Lankan Jungefowl