We started our journey at about 6.00 A.M on 15 th April from Colombo. Our crew consists of 07.  (4 adults of between 45-55 and 3 children between 14-20.)

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.

Anawilundawa Sactuary	Anavilundawa
Anawilundawa	Chineese pond heron ?
Purple swamphen (Podu dam kithala)	Purple swamphen (Podu dam kithala)
Purple Heron (Karawal koka)	Flock of Black headed Ibis

Pheasant tailed Jacana ( Sawul penda Diyasana)

Cotton Teal (Mal Seruwa)	Nests of Black headed Ibis and Asian Open bills
Real national flower -Nil mahanel

We proceed our journey again from Anavilundawa to Puttalam and we had our lunch at puttalam rest house.

Wind power station at Puttalam

Puttalam Lagoon

After a tasty hot lunch from Puttalam rest house we proceed our journey directly to Parkview bungalow at Wilpattu, that was just about 200 meters away from the park entrance. The caretaker Mr. Bandara welcomed us and we gave our all dry rations to him with menu for the dinner, and next day breakfast and lunch. After having a nice cup of tea we decided to visit Rajanganaya reservoir in the evening. From the bungalow we returned through Wilpattu entrance, Wilpattu junction turn right and proceed to Kala-oya junction and turn left and went to Rajanganaya. The road is not so bad we can manage our vehicles for this trip.To go to Rajangane you have to pass small wewa called Angamuwa Wewa. The distance From Kala-oya junction to Rajangane is about17 k.m.

Flood gates of Rajanganaya Reservoir

Rajanganaya Reservoir

Rajanganaya Reservoir

Sunset from adjacent hill at Rajanganaya

View from the top of the adjacent hill at Rajanganaya reservoir and bund

Bund of the reservoir seen from the adjacent hill

We returned to the bungalow from Rajanganaya at about 7.30 p.m . After a cool bath from bungalow we were ready for our dinner at 8.30 p.m .But just we sat for the dinner that unpleasant incident happened.

Next day morning Amila, the safari jeep driver came at 6.00 a.m and we packed and loaded our goods to our vehicles and hand over the room keys to wife of the owner. We parked our vehicles left side of the bungalow to keep parking space to people who reserved bungalow for next day and went the safari with Amila.

Common sandpiper	Yellow Wattled Lapwing and Golden Jackal
Chestnut headed Bee Eater	Need salt?
Oriental Darter (Ahikawa)	Male Spotted Deer
Woolly Necked Stork (Paadili Manawa)	Dancing star, Black winged Stilt (Kalupiya Ipilpawa)
Am I beautiful?	Red wattled Lapwing

Darling get Down and Hurry up They will see us.

Brahmini kite at top of the tree	Thani Aliya
Chestnut headed Bee- eater	Singing green bee- eater
Friends - Pintail snipe (Ulpenda kaswatuwa) and Black winged stilt	Our National bird may be most shy bird
Kudremalai (Kudremale) Beach	Tambapanni -Copper colour soil at kudremalai beach
Kalpitiya sand islands from Kudiramalai (Kudiramale) beach	Crested Serpent Eagle
Tallest bird in Sri-Lanka ? Lesser Adjutant	Sambar Deer
Kok mota flowers	Kok mote wild life Bungalow
White rumped shama singing at opposite Kokmote bungalow	Deer couple waiting to welcome us
Is this the development ? New highway in the middle of Wilpattu national park. Sad, that is the way they think about wild life!	Siyambala fruits (Tamarindus Indica)
Modaragam Aru -Only place inside Wilpattu park you can have a cool bath

Even after a 12 hour safari, this time also we were unlucky to see a leopard. After the safari we return to bungalow premises at about 6.30 p.m with heavy rain and directly proceed our return journey through same route and arrived to Colombo at 11.30 p.m.

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.

This was the first time I m going to Mannar, so before going I did some research on how to plan it. There is a nice trip report by jetwing CEO on his Mannar trip in 2006. According to that it has taken about 10 hrs for them to get to the Giant Tank. Keeping that in mind we plan to leave Colombo by 10 PM on Friday to get to Giant Tank by 7 AM. As always been so punctual we left Colombo one hour behind the schedule. But going in night and Thushara’s exceptional driving abilities has taken us to Madhawachchiya around 3.30 AM. We took Colombo –> Dambulla –> A9 to Madhawachchiya and A14 to Mannar instead of the Colombo –> Puttalum -> Anuradhapura –> Madhawachchiya to Mannar route. We were at Giant Tank reserve close to Murukkan by 5.30 and waited till the sun come out.

Marshes of Giant Tank Reserve just before sunrise

Rising Sun for the Northwest of Sri Lanka

There was lot of bird activities going around us. We wait there for about hour and saw about 15 bird species. It was a very nice place to observe Common Kingfisher. There were few ponds with lot of tiny fish. And Kingfishers were coming to these ponds almost every 5 minutes.

Waiting for a Kingfisher by Harsha Matarage

Common Kingfisher

I managed to shoot few other birds as well.

White-throated Munia	Indian Swiftlet (Please correct me if I m wrong)
Paddyfield Pipit	We were at Murunkan

We left the place to get to Giant Tank hoping that it will have lot of birds. But the Giant Tank was a giant, there was no chance in photographing there and even there were not many birds either. So we decided to keep going. Just before getting to Mannar Causeway we came across few interesting birds.

Eurasian Curlew

Grey Francolin

Both side of the Mannar Causeway is rich of birds. We saw few bird species there but most of them were quite far to be photographed. From the far end we saw the famous bridge for the singing fish, “Thalladi Bridge”.

Mannar causeway	Pacific golden plover
Thalladi Railway Bridge

Passing the causeway we reach the Mannar town. It was crowded as always. Getting the direction from a Navy soldier we headed toward Talaimannar. There was lot of birds on the way from Mannar town to Talaimannar. The lagoon in front of the STF training camp was full of gulls, plovers and godwits. The only problem was how to get close to them as it was all open area. We saw our first Baobab tree there (there are other Baobab trees before that, we saw them after this one.) and choose to get down for shooting some birds and getting the breakfast.

Black-tailed godwit

Gulls (Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull and Brown-headed Gull)

Gulls going crazy!

First Baobab tree	A Mash Sandpiper
Black-tailed godwit	Flying Black-tailed godwits
System Error…!!!	Thushara and the Jeep
Baobab Flowering…

Breakfast under the Baobab by Harsha Matarage

Then we headed toward the “Four Tee Rest Inn”, as per the owner Mr. Laurance it was 7.5Kms from the Mannar town to the Talaimannar side. There is a telecom tower on to your right just before turn to the Four Tee. You have to take the left turn from the four way junction just passing the telecom tower (there is a sign board).

“Four tee rest inn” as Namal has described on his thread, is a nice place. The owner has welcomed us with a worm smile. Only thing is his English is also like his Sinhala (I wish I know Tamil). With a map he gave an introduction to the area and where we should look for Birds. Interesting thing was he said he has seen a flock of 25 Flamingos and 3 Black-necked Storks. Been so tired after a long night travel we went to our rooms to get a rest.

It was about 3 when we walk up, and hurried up to get the lunch and get back to street. We have decided to go to the marsh area close to Kalladi Bridge. Just after getting in to the Mannar road we saw our first wild horses in Sri Lanka.

A Young wild horse

Mannar horses

Though they are wild, latter we saw some of them had tattooed letters on their body. Guess they are not wild anymore!

On the way we were always searching for birds close to our Baobab tree.

Garganey	Indian Roller
Indian Roller	Garganey landing..
A Tawny Coaster (Acraea terpsicore)

While getting to the Thalladi Bridge area we came across the old railway station in Mannar. Our guys were keen to go and explore it. We met a Sinhala guy from Ambalangoda who is working on the Mannar railway repairing project. According to the guy it will be fixed soon and we can enjoy a train ride from Colombo to Mannar in no more than few months

Old railway station by Harsha Matarage

Road beyond the railway station was lead us to a fishing village. The road was not in a good condition and the surrounding was not the best for birding either. We turn around from the village and return to our favorite area in Mannar, our Baobab tree!

Pink and green earth on the way back

Jacobin Cuckoo

It was too late for Bird Photography, but it was awesome for some sunset and silhouette photography.

Sunset over “Baobab Lagoon”	Silhouette of Harsha Matarage
It’s me and Thushara…!

It’s was time to return to Four Tee Rest Inn and have a good night sleep.

In the second day morning, we got up around 5.30, it was bit late for Birders to get up and look for birds. It must have been the long day yesterday kept us sleeping this long. As I have promised to my friends at Lakdasun, I managed to get some photos of the Four Tee Rest Inn. Here are few of them.

Four Tee Rest Inn!	Four Tee Rest Inn!
Four Tee Rest Inn!	Four Tee Rest Inn!
Four Tee Rest Inn!

It was time to explore a new area. This time we chose to explore Vankalai. According to the owner of the guesthouse this area is also great for birding. And it is true; we felt the deference as soon as we turn to the Vankalai road. There were plenty of birds all over the place.

Grey Heron	Painted Storks
Lagoons on the road to Vankalai	Vankalai bird life
“Kok” Fashion?	A Juvenile White-bellied Sea-Eagle
Eurasian Spoonbills	Flying Flamingos? Sadly they are not! Long bill had fool me

Morning session was not so bad. We got back to Mannar town and had our breakfast there, plenty of string hoppers, pittu and wade. My friends wanted to go to Talaimannar thought I was not that interested. We headed toward Talaimannar not forgetting to stop by the “Baobab” Lagoon.

Red-collared dove (I couldn’t find the red collar )
Lasantha with a rocket launcher	Hunters on the field..

Heading toward Talaimannar we came across these people fishing using nets. Not a sight to miss!

Fisherman

Not to miss the moment!

As I thought, Talaimannar was only so much hot. We had a chat with navy soldiers there and got to know there aren’t any birds there. We were at the place where old railway from Colombo to Mannar ends in the sea (pier). There is a light house as well. Navy guys said that they can see a tower in India in a clear day. It was only 18kms from there to India.

Our guys were looking for another pier knows as the “Old Pier”. Mistakenly we turn to Uramali road. Road conditions were unacceptable. So we decided to turn around. It was the road leads to the edge of the island and toward the famous Adam’s Bridge. Then we turn to the Nadukuda road looking for the “Old Pier”. There is a Navy camp at the end of the road and a fishing village. Navy officer in charge there was very helpful and took us around the beach area. From him we got to know that they are planning to start a boat service from Nadukuda around sandy islands of Adam’s Bridge as a tourist attraction. With the idea of returning to get this new experience in later day we return to Mannar. While crossing the causeway we came across this lovely bird.

Crab Plover

Search for birds was not finished yet, we turn to the Jaffna road from Thalladi to go to Vidattaltiya. The area behind the Thalladi camp was rich of birds. We couldn’t make it to Vidattaltiya, which has large lagoon cause of the delay we had close to Thalladi. Newly concreted Jaffna road was in great condition. We saw few lovely birds on this road.

Eurasian Spoonbill and a Black-winged Stilt

A spotted billed pelican

The road leads to Thirukeeshwaram Kovil, one of the famous Kovils in the area. We turn around the Kovil and got back to the Mannar – Madhawachchiya rd. There were plenty of wild donkeys on the road.

Mannar full of Donkeys

As soon as we turn to the main road we came across a Pied Kingfisher. Not a sight to miss. Thanks to one of my friends I love to shoot all those kingfishers in Sri Lanka and here is one of them.

Pied Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Here are more birds on the way back.

Got Ya !

Finally we got back to the Giant Tank. Though it was not so interesting site, and we still haven’t seen flamingos we stop by to have a look around. Harsha went to see if there is anything interesting and return in empty hand. Suddenly I saw something emerging from the background. It was time for landscape shooting with rainbow in the background !

Rainbow behind bank of the Giant Tank

Lovely view of the Giant Tank

Meanwhile Thushara had found a place full of Butterflies on the other side of the road. Here we are shooting some macros.

Macro shooting

Macro shooting

It was just pass 6PM. We haven’t had anything after breakfast and it was time to break fasting. We came across this great place for food in front of the Giant Tank which is managed by Army camp there. We had some great food for a lowest possible cost. A place to keep in mind!

After a two magnificent two days at Mannar, it was time for us to get back to home.

We visited the Muthurajawela Visitor Center at about 8.30 AM. It is a small setup managed by the Muthurajawela & Negombo Lagoon Development Foundation. Presently its main attractions are limited to a guided boat tour.

Total distance of the boat tour was around 14 Km and it took 2 hrs. We started from Hamilton canal and the canal was full of water monitors. We were fortunate to see a young crocodile. We reached to Negombo lagoon within 20 minutes. Then we entered to Dandugam oya through boarder of the Muthurajawela marsh. There we saw lot of fishing boats (canoes) with fishing nets.

Hamilton Canal – It is as straight as the Base line road

Under the bridge – Elen-edoda / Pamunugama bridge

Negombo Lagoon

Sailing along Dandugam oya was a different experience. This stretch is around 3 km with virgin land strip. We saw few monkeys (Toque Macaque), lot of Brahminy kites fishing on the river. There were some few dead fish (batta?) only spotted in this stretch.

Dandugam oya

Boat stopped for 15 minutes under the Mangrove canopy with a full view of Negombo lagoon. We saw 3 planes take off and getting ready for landing from a distance. This location is close to the Katunayaka Air Port.

After having a break the boat returned to the MVC through Negombo lagoon and Hamilton canal.

Canopy of Mangroves – Where boat parked for 15 minutes in the middle of the tour

Flora & fauna of Muthurajawela

Muthurajawela harbours over 194 species of Flora distributed over seven major vegetation types which includes marsh, lactic flora, shrub land, reed, swamp, grasslands, stream bank and mangrove forest. A total of 194 species of vegetation belonging to 66 families have been recorded which include one endemic species (Phoenix zelanica). Among the different types of vegetation, the shrub land consists of 115 species with the mangrove forest and stream bank consisting of just 23 species each. Due to the high level of human activity within the sanctuary, the flora composition at Muthurajawela seems to be changing rapidly.

The vertebrate fauna includes 40 species of fish, 14 species of reptiles, 102 species of birds and 22 species of mammals. Among the total vertebrate species documented 17 are endemic while 26 are nationally endangered. Among the invertebrates documented 48 species are butterflies and 22 species are dragonflies.

Birds we saw,
Cormorants (10-15)
Indian Pond Heron (3)
Cattle Egret (1)
Egrets (5-10)
Purple Heron (4)
Lesser Whistling Duct (about 10)
Brahminy Kite (15-20)
White-breasted Waterhen (5)
Purple Swamphen (3)
Red-wattled Lapwing (1)
Terns (10-15)

Other animals we saw,
Water Monitors (more than 20)
Toque Macaque (5-10)
Crocodile (young one)
Various kinds of butterflies
Various kinds of dragonflies
Various kinds of fishes

Boat operator and the guide gave their maximum support to show, to take pictures and to identify the birds and other animals.

Purple Heron	Cormorant take off
Indian Pond Heron	Purple Swamphen
Little Cormorant	Red-wattled Lapwing
Water Monitor	Toque Macaque

This was an enjoyable, family, nature half day trip!

Wirawila Bird sanctuary

At last it was a trip to the dry zone. We left Maharagama on Friday at around 5p.m.and had dinner at Rathnapura, when we reached our rest place at Wirawila it was 11.30 p.m. Saturday early morning after enjoying the scenic Wirawila lake behind our rest place we left to Bundala!

Bundala National Park is an internationally important wintering ground for migratory water birds in Sri Lanka. Bundala harbors 197 species of Birds, the highlight being the Greater Flamingo(WHICH IS NOT SEEN RECENTLY), which migrate in large flocks. Bundala was designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1969 and redesignated to a national park on 4 January 1993. In 1991 Bundala became the first wetland to be declared as a Ramsar site in Sri Lanka. In 2005 the national park was designated as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO, the fourth biosphere reserve in Sri Lanka.The national park is situated 245 km southeast of Colombo.

1.6km to Bundala

From the entrance it was all about wild life, majority of our group members were bird lovers (addicts) and I was the rookie. Here are some photos taken at Bundala.

Little Green Bee Eater	Rosy Starling
Indian darter	Painted Stroke
Asian Openbill	Red-wattled Lapwing
Barn Swallow	Black winged Stilt
Take off .......	Whiskered tern

Egret	Hawk Eagle
Crocodile	Grey Langur
Bubalus bubalis - Wild Water Buffalo	Grey Langur in thirst!
Coelognathus Helena or Trinket snake - Kata Kaluwa	Try and name them
Black headed ibis	Spotted Deer
Brown Speckled Whipsnake	The crew

Pelicans

shooting the eagle!

The Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

The Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

After some bird watching at the salt lagoons we came to the Bundala beach which was simply fantastic & we had our prepared lunch here. But unfortunately we ran short of water so had to exit the park bit early.

Bundala beach and Lagoon

Bundala beach was simply fantastic

We came back to the ticket counter and went through the specimens at the museum & had a rest at the observation centre near the ticket counter. I personally think that if they develop this place it would be a great tourist attraction! The view was marvelous from this point. After having a rest we decided to travel along the Kirinda road in search of a rare bird(not documented recently) and guess what we were so lucky to have a glimpse of that bird(Name cannot be stated). We also walked around few lakes in search of Water Birds and returned back to our rest place at Wirawila.

Resting @ the observation centre	View of Embilikala Kalapuwa from observation centre
Museum at the ticket centre	Life at Bundala
More beautiful scenary	Moments

Next day it was all about scenery so we got up early and walked about 1 km towards Wellawaya side and we came across the Wirawila Lake and the scenery was magnificent, the Kataragama Mountains were seen clearly and yes those brought about a special meaning for the Landscape mode photographs. After doing some early morning bird watching at Wirawila bird sanctuary we left to Tissa wewa and found a nice place to have a bath.

We returned back to our rest place for lunch and left Wirawila with some wonderful memories.

Life @ Wirawila

Wirawila Wewa

Choose the odd one!

Early morning reflection

Macro

Cattle Egrets attending a presidential meeting

Salmon Arab

Tissamaharama Stupa

Tissa Wewa

Joy in water

The Crew

Part of Bundala that we visited

Wirawila Bird sanctuary

We started the journey from Colombo around 8AM and the crew was four. We used a Suzuki Swift as our transportation.

The drive to Balapitiya was quite effortless and the Galle road was in pretty good shape. Although it is good be sure to stay in the speed limit. Because occasionally you find traffic cops waiting for you to speed!

On our way stopped to get blessings from “Kaluthra Temple”

Interior of Kaluthara Temple

We arrived at Balapitiya around 11AM and got quotations from many places and lowest quotation we got from “ Jayantha Boat Service” . It was Rs2000 for the full boat ride and their contact numbers are 091-2257638 / 077-9823999 and ask for Mr:Jayantha De Silva

The Crew Just Before the Boat Safari

Few of the 64 islands in Madu Ganga

Islands cover 915Ha altogether and there are 64 islands of various sizes. The average depth is 3 meters.

We couldn’t believe our eyes it was so beautiful and a rewarding experience. The largest island is known as “Ma Doowa” which is the largest inhabited island within the country and about 300 families live there. The smallest is called “Satha Paha Doowa”. According to folklore this islet had been purchased for five cents but some say the name has derived due to its shape.

Satha Paha Doowa – The smallest Island in Madu Ganga

Bridge connecting “Ma Duwa” to Balapitiya

We stopped near the Bridge connecting “Ma Duwa” to Balapitiya and it is wide enough to travel in a 3 wheeler. But it is a great creation and it is the longest bridge I have seen in Sri Lanka.

Madu Ganga has high ecological, biological and aesthetic significance, being home to 303 species of plants belonging to 95 families and to 248 species of vertebrate animals. It might be one of the last remaining tracts of pristine mangrove forests in Sri Lanka.

Entering Mangrove Forest

Nature as its best - inside mangrove forest

It is a different world there inside mangrove forest

We also visited the The Kothduwa temple, or Koth Duwa Raja Maha Viharaya located on Kothduwa Island on the Maduganga River. It is a unique experience and monks use boats for transportation. As we heard The Buddhist Amarapura Nikaya sect had its first upasampada (higher ordination ceremony) on a fleet of boats anchored upon it in 1803.

Koth Duwa Temple

Steps In to the Water

Wow… an Incredible Place…. Isn’t it?

On Our journey we were able to see some traditional fisherman and traditional Fishing Kraals (ja-kotu) set up to trap lagoon prawns.

“ Ambu Daru Raka Ganna Apata Malu Laba Denna Deviyane Apa Rakaganna”

Also we were fortunate to witness a demonstration of peeling cinnamon and producing cinnamon oil. You will be able to buy cinnamon related products but it is damn expensive. Ask the boatman if you like to see a demonstration and he will take you to the island.

The Art of peeling Cinnamon	I am the King of the World…
Taking a Boat Trip..	Madu Ganga Meets the Ocean

Thank you very much for reading my Trip Report. I hope it will help planning your journey.

The event was organized as the 4th event of Adventure Sri Lanka flickr travel and photography group. As planed, we left Colombo around 3 in the morning. Fortunately the unexpected raining stopped in the morning and the weather conditions became much better with clear sky. We were travelling in a van with 11 members of the Adventure Sri Lanka group and were soon joined by two other members in a car and a cab on the way to Negambo. All together we had 15 and were later joined by another two.

We managed to get to Anawilundawa junction by 5.30 a.m. and had morning tea with some short eats there. Our morning session was scheduled at Nawadankulama, so we left Anawilundawa to get to Nawadankulama as soon as possible. There was a one member (Dhammika Heenpella) who had been there before. He was guiding us to Nawadankulama. We were at Nawadankulama by 5.45 and managed to capture the sunrise. It was at the first lake on Nawadankulama rd.

Sunrise over one of the lakes at Nawadankulama	The team busy capturing the Sunrise
Busy photographer keen to capture the moments

After spending about 20 minutes at the place, we started our journey towards the lake Nawadankulama. On the way we stopped at several places to capture some beautiful landscapes and birds/butterflies.

Pide Cuckoo on the way to Nawadankulama

Asian Openbill

We got to Nawadankulama by around 6.45 AM. When we got there, the other two vehicles were already there and they had already started shooting. They were all over the place taking their own routes to get close to wildlife. The place was full of birds, with few migrant species. Lots of butterflies were around. I broke from the crew and went on my own path searching for wildlife. Here are some of the shots I managed to capture with my newly married bride – Canon 50D + 100-400mm lens.

Blyth's Pipit at Nawadankulama	Male Plain Tiger at Nawadankulama
Is this a Prinia?	Black Headed Munia in flight
Indian Darter - Nawadankulama	A Pair of Black Winged Stilts in flight - Nawadankulama

After walking about 2 hours around the lake I felt a little hungry and a bit tired by holding the heavy gears. Walk has given me some good captures for a first time DSLR user. So I started heading back to where we started. On the way back I met some of my fellow members and all of them have collected some beautiful captures. Some had superb butterfly shots while others had managed to capture some difficult to capture bird species like common kingfisher.

It was really difficult to stop these nature lovers for the breakfast. It seemed like they have forgotten the hunger and had got lost in the beauty of the nature. It took about half an hour to make everyone gather for breakfast. We brought bread with dhal and sinisambala for breakfast. Everyone got around and had a good meal.

Adventure Srilanka Group at Nawadankulama

Adventure Srilanka Group at Nawadankulama

After breakfast we were discussing about the success of the morning session and everyone seemed so happy. After spending about another half an hour there, we started to head back to Anawilundawa. Plan was to take lunch from Anawilundawa junction and head to the Anawilundawa bird sanctuary. We had enough time so we stopped by several locations to capture the nature’s beauties.

Nawadankulama

Two of my friends trying to capture a bird. (Saranga and Prabath)

More scenary - Nawadankulama

Finally we got to Anawilundawa junction around 11.30 AM and ordered lunch from one of the hotels there. We asked them to prepare lunch and head to the sanctuary. Anawilundawa is one of the Ramsar wetlands in Sri Lanka. It was only about 500m to the sea side from Colombo – Puttalam main road situated in quite calm atmosphere with a lake complex of 7 reservoirs namely Anawilundawa, Pinkattiya, Wellawela, Maradansole, Irrakkawala/ Ihala Wewa, Suruwila and Maiyawa (Reference Neth Sanchare)

Anawilundawa Signboard with map

We spent about 2 hours walking around the place and shooting some interesting shots. Since it was mid-day there was not many birds around. We were expecting some more birds in the evening.

Purple Coot walking on water - Anawilundawa	Brahminy Kite - Anawilundawa
Peaseant Tailed Jacana - Anawilundawa	Anawilundawa Marsh

Unfortunately after lunch it started to rain. We did wait for about an hour expecting the rain to fade away but no luck this time. So at about 4 PM we decided to head back to Colombo and managed to get there by around 7pm. Even though the evening session was not as we expected, it was a memorable trip to Anawilundawa and Nawadankulama. I m looking forward to get back there again.