harithacharika - Travelling Nature in Sri Lanka: Udawalawa National Park

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).