Planning a trip to Kumana Np for a long time. Finally was able to arrange everything and make it happen. Crew was only myself n two more friends since all others were busy and couldn’t make it.

We booked the campsite early and arranged everything for 3 nights. Drive up to kumana was soo long and tiring. We left Gampaha around 11.30 in the night. Stopped several times and reached Arugambay around 8.30 am. Spent around 2 hours in the beach and went to Panama to meet our jeep guy, Sena. He is the only Sinhala guy operating in the area. He has gone through a lot due to probs from the fellow Muslim jeep operators. Who doesn’t do a proper job as I heard from so many people. I’m not trying to be a racist here.

Just writing down what I heard from the locals so that it will help you guys. Regarding Sena, he is a great guy. Not a person who go after money like others. A true gentleman!! Main priority was to satisfy the customer. Highly recommend to contact him and arrange if u guys are planning a tour to Kumana. His Mob number is 0775390111.

We went to the park around 1p.m after having lunch. Tracker was Wasantha. Awesome, nice guy. We were lucky to have him to guide us throughout the tour with Sena.

The 1st thing we saw as soon as entering the park was a peacock dance. Knew we are going to be lucky again… Since it was a great start 🙂

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Brahmany Kite

Cooling down…

Changeable Hawk-Eagle

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Then we were truly stunned by what we saw. It was around 30-40 crocks having a sun bath. Was an amazing sighting that we will never forget. Couldn’t capture all of them in one pic.

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.	Painted Stork

.	The Pheasant-tailed Jacana

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Blue tailed bee eater

Was a nice sighting

1st jumbo we met.

Then we came across with another stunning sighting. It was a Changeable Hawk who has attacked a peacock and tasting it.

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We came to the campsite around 4p.m. it really was a great afternoon session. We arranged the tent and cooking items, collected wood for the camp fire and etc.

Our tent on the river bank.

Full moon was really helpful…

Woke up early in the morning and went for a round.. Will let the pictures to speak from now on… 

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.	I’m shy yar!!!

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Common K.F

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Green Bee Eater

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Walking crock

Painted Stork

Wish it was a leopard 

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Feeding the babies..

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Out of balance due to heavy winds…

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Frogs!!!

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They call it as sand bathing.. 😉

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And then we were lucky to see a leopard in Kumana. Which I never expected. It was so fast n couldn’t take a proper pic. This pic was taken by my friend Kasun. Kumana leopards are afraid of vehicles as per the guide. They are still not used to it…

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We went to the campsite, had a good river bath, prepared food and had dinner around 8pm.. We were chatting for some time and went to sleep since we were so tired. Woke up around 4.30am to prepare food. A leopard was shouting very close to us… I even gave up the idea of going to toilet till the sun comes out 😀

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We packed our items after lunch and planned to go out from the jungle in the evening even though we have booked the site for 21st night as well. Driving all the way home isn’t an easy task. So thought of going back home in the night time like before. So that no cops, burning sun or much vehicles on the road..

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It was around 6pm and already dark. We saw a sloth bear very close to the entrance gate. We were so lucky since it wasn’t in a hurry to hide…. We all were over the moon!!!

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We came out from the Np around 6.30 pm. Thanked our helpful guide, Wasantha and start moving to Panama where we left our car. Packed everything back to the car and said bye bye to Mr. Sena and started to head back home around 8p.m. had to stop and wait around Lahugala since an elephant was on the road.. Stopped at few places as usual to freshen up and reached home by 3.am…

Thanks for reading the report