It had been almost six years since I last visited Wilpattu. My last visit was in 2006, few weeks before the tragic incident of the landmine explosion which killed six visitors who where on safari. The park was pretty much out of bound since then until the end of the war in 2009. Even after it was re-opened I wasn’t able to plan a trip due to various constraints. This is when a firend at work invited me to join him in a three day trip to wilpattu. I couldn’t have been happier!

We were able to get a booking at Aligama Village. It was not a place recommended by anyone and it so happened that it came up on my Google search and we just liked the details on their web site. The main attraction was that it could accommodate only a small number of people – 2 cottages and 3 rooms – and we wanted “a quiet place that was green – away from all mankind”, so to speak! They responded very quickly to my email and booking was done in no time.

Kokmote campsite is located 2 miles away from the Kokmote bungalow at very close proximity to the Modaragam Aru River(branch of Malwathu Oya) , the tents were put up. Due to lack of rains, there was not much water in the river. However, we did not have any problem with washing, bathing and collecting water for toilet purposes. There was a toilet at the campsite.

Early morning on the 30th December we started heading south on the E01. It was my first time on E01 and I couldn’t have asked for anything better! Cutting across paddy fields, rubber plots and forest patches, E01 was virtually emerging from a sea of mist. Even though the scenary was heavenly, capturing it on camera at 100kmph was not easy. The dirty windshield did not help the cause either.

We left Colombo early morning at 5.00AM and arrived at the bungalow at 9.00 (note that Gihan and Sisira drive very fast. As well as the Tanamalwila road is very good now) The place was very nice and very much to our liking. Its build on a very minimalistic style and we really liked the set up alot.

Hiyare Forest reserve is located just 18 km (about half an hour’s drive) Galle town. The 55 acre reservoir was built in 1911 to supply water to the Galle city and was only decommissioned in 2002. In 2003 the reservoir and 600 acres of the surrounding low country tropical rainforest was turned over to the Municipal Council of Galle.

We started journey from Gampaha at 3.30 a. m. Very less traffic on the way and we could reach Riverston at 6.45. We were the first to be there for the day. We left Reversturn around 9.30 am and this is on our way to Pitawala pathana. Manigala behind the scene. This is around 5 Km away from the Hittipola Road. The road was very bad condition and difficult manage with the car. We had to stop the car and walk last 2 km.

Leaving park office we drove along the Yala main road to paranaganthota (a.k.a Parana Thotupola) where we crossed Menik River and entered Block 2. Our camp site was “Nuga Sevana”, one of the newer camp sites established on the bank of the river. It was only a couple hundred meters away from Paranaganthota (පරන ගං තොට).

My very first visit to Yala was in July 2010. “Armed” with my new Canon 100-400 we headed there with the hope of capturing a good shot or two of the elusive Sri Lankan Leopard. But much, much to our dismay, even after two rounds, we failed to catch even a glimpse of a Leopard! Dusty, tired and so disappointed, we headed back to Colombo.

We( 5 of us) started at 2.15 am on the 4th of November from Colombo and reached Yala office at 5.45 am. We were joined by 5 others who had come the previous day from Kandy and had stayed in Thissa.The group consisted of 3 families and 2 others who opted to leave the families behind. Buthuwa was booked for the 1st day and Ondaatje for the 2 nd night.Our tracker as usual was Shalika( t/p: 0776808666 )and we went in at 6.10 as the office opens at 6 these days.

I was away from Sinharaja for too long……. It had been more than a year since the previous visit. Its a place which you can’t stay away from for long so I had to some how squeeze a two day trip in July. It was going to be Thihela’s first visit to Sinharaja as well. We left Moratuwa around 8.00 in the morning. With no stops, we straigt away drove to the Blue magpie lodge. We reached there just passed noon.

We started our journey at about 9 pm from Colombo with five members and headed directly to kurunegala to accompany with the other two. We spend the night at kurunegala and headed towards puttalm early morning, from this point onwards our crew was 7 in Hilux Vigo cab and a motor car. Road condition is excellent we only spend 45 minutes to travel 87 Kms. At puttalam we had our breakfast and drive towards Willpattu on A12 Puttalam Anuradhapura road.