The long weekend in October was eagerly awaited as a trip to Mannar was planned with family friends. Unfortunately, at the last moment they couldn’t make it, but we decided to keep to our plans though the kids were a little disheartened. We left home (Nawala) at 5 in the morning and took our first break at the dried out Thabbowa Tank around 8am. We expected some bird activity but guess we were too late for that.