This was my second visit to Wilpattu, the first being equally unsuccessful due to bad weather. The past week too it had rained almost everyday, but luckily this time, the skies opened up from the first day of our safari. This raised our hopes up quite high, but now, almost at the end of the second day, we had only seen fresh pugmarks, but no real Leopards…an air of frustration was starting to build up… Just as we passed the Borupanwila Junction, our driver suddenly uttered two words that made our hearts skip a few beats… ”කොටියා, කොටියා” (“leopard, leopard”!)

Later near Yala Junction Shantha shouted “anna kotiya” and in the rush I applied braked on the gravel and came to a screeching halt and wen we looked on the right hand side a male leopard fully grown was seated in the shade just next to the road . When I opened the sun-roof and aimed my camera the fellow turned towards the jungle went a bit and turned back and most thrilling movement happend.

Sun was shining in the sky as a silver globe. We were on our way to another adventurous journey heading Namunukula. The small open canopy jeep was packed with 5 Lakdasun members. The itinerary of the day was to reach Passara via Beragala & Pilklinton point @ Punagala estate, since it was identified as a much scenic drive. Just as we passed Balangoda; our itinerary was challenged by ourselves. The main role of the same was played by Dinesh, who bucked on the distinctive weather condition prevailing and suggested to change the route.

Our first stop was at Kochchikade for our breakfast. After the breakfast we drove through Chillaw to Mundalama till we got to know that we missed Anavilundawa junction, and return to Anavilundawa and turn to right (from Colombo to puttalm you have to turn left) at Anavilndawa junction, Nalladaran kattuwa,that was just few meters before 90 km post. Any way we arrived to sanctuary at 9.00 A.M. That may be little late for bird watching any way we were lucky to watch lot of birds.

Afterwards we proceeded to Hunnasgiriya Town, from where we took the road to Loolwatta. The Deanston Conservation Centre is located about 8km away on this road.

The place is accessible by bus. To reach Hunnasgiriya either the Colombo to Kandy, Kandy to Mahiyangana bus combination or the Colombo to Mahiyangana bus should be taken. After getting down at Hunnasgiriya 616 Hunnasgiriya – Loolwatta bus must be taken. However this bus only operates. It leaves the Teldeniya depot at 12.30pm each day (Information can be obtained by calling the teldeniya depot).

As a travel location; Devon was the first in our journey. 97m height water fall was identified as one of the 20 most spectacular waterfalls in Sri Lanka. It was located at a distance of 7km from Talawakele. There were two main view points located at A7. One was closed to Mlesna tea castle. The other was the lower one which was special because the both Devon & St. Claire falls can be viewed at the same place.

As per the legend, Panduwasnuwara was formally known as “Upathissa Pura”. When the King Panduwasdew came to the throne & made his capital there, this was renamed as Panduwasnuwara. The king Panduwasdw was a nephew of the King Wijaya & been the second king in our Rajawaliya. And he was the grand father of the King Pandukabhaya, the first Sri Lankan King. When the King Pandukabhaya won the throne, he made Anuradhapura as his capital & forgot his birth place which was not given shelter for him even for a day from his childhood. As a result Panduwasnuwara, the capital for 51 years of the country was neglected for 100 years.

Our journey started from around 4.30 in the morning and we proceeded to Rathnapura where had the breakfast. After the breakfast we went to the Rathnapura Maha Saman Dewalaya. We spent a little time there and hit a road again. We went along A4 highway until we came to the Kalupahana junction and took a left turn towards the Bamabarakanda. After proceeding about 4.5 km we had the 1st sight of the Bambarakanda fall at a distance.

A 3 day visit to southwestern part of Sinharaja, called morningside due to its weather is always feels like morning
Harsha and myself (iro)(left Colombo around 6.00 am by a CTB bus to Ambilipitiya (through low level road – Try to use bus through low level since it is 10 Kms shorter than high level). We reached Rathnapura at about 8.20 am and met Kavinda (other member of the group). Then we had our breakfast and we bought some rice. kavinda already bought other stuff for cooking.

We reached Thalgasmankada Bungalow at around 2.30 p.m. We learnt that we were the first party to stay there after it was closed about two years back following an LTTE attack on the army camp which used to be there in front of the bungalow. Until lunch was ready, we walked around the bungalow and spent some time at the river which was almost overflowing.

If you take the back roads rather than the coastal road, the environment is quite different. We were rather surprised to find such a lot of lovely wawes. When we passed Lenabatuwa wawe (between Akkurassa and Kamburupitiya) it was too late for photos but it seems a very very lovely place. There is a little guest house just on the side of the wawe which looked like a potential base. There was a board for the Lenabatuwa Bio Diversity Park and someone told us that walking in the forest is quite interesting. It certainly looked lovely.

According to the “Birds of Sri Lanka” by Prof. Sarath Kotagama, Mannar is one of the main entry points for migrant birds to the main land of Sri Lanka. The area facilitates lot of water holes which are rich of food for these birds. So only few of those birds that are not satisfied with those facilities only come inland, so Mannar is rich with bird life on migrant season mainly from September to May. Few of my friends who had been to Mannar recently had seen lot of bird life there. So we decide that it’s time to pay a visit to Mannar.