Kithulgala and Sinharaja
THE RAIN IS HEAVY SO WE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A SIMPLE SHELTER, WHILE CICADAS YELL. A LEECH IS REMOVED FROM MY LEECH SOCK...
After lunch we take in more endemics – Spot-winged Thrush and Chestnut-backed Owlet, with washing hanging nearby.
Ferry is too big a word for the boat that crosses the river to Kithulgala, then we are in rainforest with houses, gardens and school children, birding around gardens! We follow a path into dense forest. A Black Bulbul pants on its nest in 90% humidity. A path-side web hosts a Giant Wood Spider – 15cm toe-to-toe. We emerge at a wonderful river, with a big Blue Mormon (a butterfly) and a Spine-tufted Skimmer (a dragonfly) for company and head back into forest on a busy path.
The bird on a stick nest a metre or so away is another Spot-winged Thrush – amazing. Giant Millipedes catch my eye and a leech samples the blood of one of my guides, high on the thigh. The afternoon is disappearing, but the endemics aren’t. Three Orange-billed Babblers – the bill is almost pink – at a stream, two Sri Lanka Swallows and the ‘coo-coo’ of a Greenbilled Coucal, an endangered cuckoo.
Five noisy Layard’s Parakeets (endemic) hang out on a tree snag, and a male Greater Sri Lanka Flameback, an endemic woodpecker, preens. It’s time to leave. We cross the river on a long, cable suspension bridge – not everyone’s cup of Ceylon tea.
The next day sees us in Sinharaja. We follow a flip-flop-clad guide up a vague path that drifts off the more beaten track. My heart pumps and sweat oozes. He takes us to the bird – a small, lance-shaped, cinnamon-coloured owl, with cat-like eyes and black spots and bars. It is very cryptic and just 6m away, a Serendib Scops Owl, endangered, endemic and only added to the scientific record in 2004. With a population of 150-700 this is probably the actual rarest bird I’ve seen!
It wouldn’t have happened without the local guide, who is up at 4am to track it down. He gets a decent tip. Ecotourism benefits the local community, giving wildlife a tangible value.
The owl wasn’t in the pay-to-enter World Heritage Site, but our afternoon is. It is rainforest and it really rained! I bought leech socks at the entrance. The field guide cover bird came fairly soon: (endemic) Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, an adult feeding young. I am taken off-piste, through mud into forest, to meet two Sri Lanka Frogmouths, grey male and rufous female!
The rain is heavy, so we take advantage of a simple shelter, while cicadas yell. A leech is removed from my leech sock. The rain eases and the birding continues with half a dozen or so Sri Lanka Drongos, a Red-faced Malkoha, Legge’s Flowerpecker, two Sri Lanka Hill Mynahs high in a dead tree, and more blue magpies; all endemic. I was sodden, but hadn’t fed a single leech!
Yala National Park
Yala’s birds are good, but it’s the mammals people come for. We see Mugger Crocodile and Wild Boar soon after entering the park. There are assorted shorebirds, Wild Buffalo, Grey Langur (a dapper, grey-faced monkey) and a monitor. The Bee-eaters so far have been Green Bee-eaters, so Chestnut-headed is a nice addition; and then more Grey Langurs, looking out for a Leopard perhaps…
We park on a sandy track, hoping.
A Coppersmith Barbet helps fill the wait, gorgeous, with a red chest spot. I see the Leopard first. She strolls around the bend then sits, completely at ease. She ambles toward us, we move closer and she drifts into the bush. Yes!
We drive further to Gonagala Wewe and the view is good – water, rocks and trees beyond, umbrella-leaved lilies, Water Buffalo, Spotted Deer, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Open-billed Stork and a Sambur Deer. My guide points out a Whitebreasted Kingfisher and I focus beyond it to see Asian Elephants in the background. It hadn’t been a bad afternoon...
● A big and sincere thank you to
Chamintha and Rajindra Jayasinghe at Ayu in the Wild ( ayuinthewild.com) and
Emma Humphreys at Emma Humphreys Communications Ltd for making a special trip possible. Thank you to the Grand Hotel Nuwera Eliya ( thegrandhotelnuwaraeliya. com), Palmstone Retreat Kitulgala
( palmstoneretreat.com), Dune Camp Yala ( backofbeyond.lk/locations/yala-dunecamp.html) and Weir House Kandy
( weir-house.com) for providing impressive accommodation. And of course, thank you
Upul and Dhanushka for guiding me, and
Edirisinghe for skilful driving.