3rd March - Gal Oya National Park, Sri Lanka

Today we were going into the Gal Oya National Park.  Located in Sri Lanka’s lesser-visited eastern region. The park was established in 1954, the park protects the catchment of the Senanayake Samudraya reservoir — the largest in Sri Lanka.

It is the only national park in the country where boat safaris are possible, offering the extraordinary chance to see elephants swimming between islands. This is a strikingly diverse landscape, with forested hills, savannahs, turtleback rock formations and low grasslands, providing a serene, varied environment that remains blissfully undeveloped by mass tourism.

Overnight it  became quite cold and with only a sheet on the bed I awoke in the night feeling very chilly.  But in the morning it was beautiful looking out across the paddyfields as we walked to breakfast.

There was plenty of activity around the restaurant.  A male Purple-rumped Sunbird feeding on the flowers of a banana plant.

Sri Lankan Swallows on some overhead wires.

A very vocal Indian Robin.

The bare granite escarpments of Monkey Mountain an important cultural site for the indigenous Veddah tribe.

It was a short drive into the national park, we were going on a boat safari around the Senanayake Samudraya reservoir.  The reservoir was opened in 1949 and was created by damming the Gal Oya river.  It is the largest reservoir in Sri Lanka.  Reservoirs are referred to as "Tanks" in Sri Lanka.  Interestingly Sri Lanka has no natural lakes all the inland water has been created by man, they do have many rivers.

We drove along the main dam of the reservoir to join the boat safari.  As we waited to board there were stunning views across the lake.  The water is dotted with many islands and rocks.

With very little breeze the water was like the proverbial mill pond, very welcome as we were in a very small boat with out any roof, we were given a life jacket though.

Cruising past a collection of rocks there were Whiskered Terns roosting.

On one of the islands we came a cross a pair of Great Thick Knees.  

They are larger than the Indian Thick Knee seen at Udawalawa and have a much more prominent eye and bill with definite black markings around the ear coverts and supercilium.

Away in the distance a large boulder in the water and there was something perched on the top.

As we approached the rock a White-bellied Sea Eagle was flying towards us.

The White-bellied Sea Eagle is the largest bird of prey in Sri Lanka and as you can see they do not just restrict themselves to the coast.

As we approached closer to the rock it was clear another was sitting on the rock and we were able to get very close without disturbing it.

A portrait.

But it was the elephants you felt the guides wanted to show us and soon we could see several on one of the larger islands.  Here a bull elephant.

As we got closer to the island it became clear there was a large group of elephants including two youngsters.  As the elephants became aware of us the the mothers of the youngsters were quick to move them away from us.

But as the engines were cut they seemed to accept us and we could watch them closely, not the best light though.

They had been feeding on the grass, but started to move towards the water.

Where a mud shower was the order of the day.

Pretty soon all the herd came to the water to shower in the mud and to drink the water.

The elephants here have the security of the many islands and will swim between the islands, using the trunk as a snorkel. Seeing them do so is rare, taking the opportunity to so so at dusk or night.

We waited to see if they would enter the water and even try to swim, but they didn't, after drinking they moved away once again and returned to feeding on the grass.

We moved on, taking in the scenery of the reservoir.  Dead trees poking out of the water, not unlike the dead trees of Souvalei in Namibia.

And another White-bellied Sea Eagle at the top of one of the dead trunks.

We were to be treated to some coffee and cake, so found a small island where we could get out of the boat and paddle.  From here though we could see the bull elephant we had seen first.  Accompanied by four Cattle Egret it moved into the water.

When we left the island we made our way towards the bull, he had now moved into deeper water and was almost submerged, the trunk being held under water, until it was time to breathe, then blowing bubbles he would raise the trunk.

As we turned away from the elephant a Blue-tailed Bee-eater flew from the perches of the dead branches.

By the way we were searching the shorelines of the lake I think the guides were trying to find us crocodiles, but they didn't find anything.  We did come across this nicely posed Grey Heron.

So it was back to the camp and another afternoon of leisure.  I decided to spend it this time by the pool.

Another wonderful sunset as we walked to the restaurant for another lovely dinner, the food here has really been very good.

A distant view of the Monkey Mountain.

We move on again tomorrow, further east to coast.

1st March - Udawalawa National Park, Sri Lanka - Afternoon Drive

We were told that the morning drive would be all about the birds as the elephants seem to be more active in the afternoon and early evening drives.  We set off around 14.30 and entered the park at the same site.  As e passed through the main gate there was an Indian Roller on one of the dead trees by the office buildings.

A couple of hundred metres into the park and the jeeps started to back up, the reason being our first elephant of the afternoon.  This was a small male and was feeding on the grass by kicking the grass and then with its trunk rolling the grass, shaking the soil of, then rolling it into a ball and finally eating it.

We went into a different part of the park from that we visited in the morning, our driver seemingly now searching for elephants.  We came across another large lake and in the distance could see good numbers of elephants on the other side of the lake.  As we drove around there was still plenty of birds.  Here a nice collection of Black winged Stilt, Grey Heron Indian darter, Spoonbill and Open-billed Stork

A pair of Open-billed Stork, any idea why the name?

Black-headed Ibis feeding in the deeper water.

There were two lone male Elephants feeding on the far side of the lake.  The bull elephants live solitary lives away from the matriarch female and her young and other females.  Five legs?

My challenge was to get a close up of the head, particularly the eye, for such a large animal the elephants have very small eyes and consequently poor eye sight, but there hearing and smell plus the low bass rumble noises that they can feel through their feet fully make up for it.

Water is essential and Elephants have to drink at least 70mto 90 litres of water a day, so proximity to water holes is essential, water is sucked up with the trunk and swallowed as so.

I mentioned earlier about the method of eating grass.  Here you can see the grass ball being manipulated by the trunk.

We moved away from the bull and came across a female with a very young baby and a juvenile, probably another daughter.

The youngster was copying its mother as it tried to ball the grass, but wasn't very successful, they remain on the mother's milk for up to four years'

All three together.

As the elephants fed they came closer so I was able to get some close ups which I was able to convert to black and white as I feel this gives them more atmosphere and structure.

There was a larger group of Elephants on the far side so we were trying to get around, one jeep got stuck trying to get across a ditch.

We came across the male again, along with some views of the lake itself.

We managed to get around to the far side eventually and the larger group was present, but it was as if the jeeps were blocking the elephants from getting to the water and one or two were getting stressed.  We stayed back and just watched the group interact.

A view in black and white.

There were two youngsters, this was the smaller of the two and I liked the way the afternoon sun was catching the hairs on its back.

We decided to move on and leave the elephants, the number of jeeps was slowly increasing and it didn't seem fair to hang around.  We stopped for some more waders on the shore.  This was a surprise, a Common Snipe with a Redshank.

And this was a Thick Knee, similar and related to our Stone Curlew, there are two species in Sri Lanka, the Great Thick Knee and the Indian Thick Knee, which is what these two are.

We came across a pair of Common Kingfisher perched on an old log, the female with the pinkish red lower mandible, it makes for a lovely composition.

Having had the elephant encounter it was a case of find a spot and sit and wait.  On one of these sessions we had a Spot-billed Pelican fly over.

I ha only just remarked there hadn't been an monkeys when we found a small group of Toque Macaques.  They are so called because the whorl of fur on their head is said to resemble a Toque cap.

Moving on our driver suddenly stopped and pointed to a White-bellied Sea Eagle in a tree alongside the track.  It took some dexterity on my part and the recling of the seat to allow me to get the photograph.

It turned out there were two in the tree, the other bird ripping a fish apart and eating it surrounded by flies.

We came across yet another lake and this time we were able to get out and walk to the shore, there was a lovely dead tree in the middle of the water.

A closer look at the tree and you may well see birds perched on the dead branches.

It was in fact covered with Black-crowned Night Herons.  Known to be crepuscular, that is the feed and dusk and dawn, the birds were roosting with eyes half open.

Another dead tree was a suitable perch for a Brahminy Kite.

Later one seen flying in.

Those Night Herons not in the dead tree were in amongst the grass and crocodile below the tree.

Once again there were plenty of winter plumaged Whiskered Terns quartering back and forth over the water.

Other birds around the edge of the lake were a Spot-billed Pelican

A Great Egret on what seems to be a favourite dead tree perch.

Two Spoonbill.

A Little Ringed Plover with  very distinctive yellow eye ring.

A pair of Black-winged Stilts flew in and then flew out again.

There were at least four Common Kingfisher on the lake, one decided to come close, right in front of us on some dead branches.  Note the pale tail feathers spot.

Then closer to a single branch.

The weekend was a long holiday due to the full moon and there were a lot of people now at the lake, many having no idea what they were looking at.  We left and as we drove along the track a pair of Malabar Pied Hornbill flew overhead and perched in a tree alongside the track in perfect light.

Both male birds with the large bill extension on the top.

As we headed for the park entrance we came a cross a Ruddy Mongoose, these can be quite ferocious predators capable of taking snakes and Land and Water Monitor lizards.

At another stop and wait we were able to watch two Asian Flycatchers dunking in a pond to bathe.  Unfortunately there wasn't any sign of the superb male.

As we exited the park there was a herd of Spotted Deer grazing on the edge of the woodland, they move out of the scrub as nigh falls, this being safe land with a better chance of becoming a Leopard's evening meal.

The end of our time in Udawalawa, tomorrow we move on heading east across the dry zone of the island and a chance to do some glamping.