Thanks for the compliments.

Love the photos, Femi - especially the insects!

Nice pictures and thanks for sharing them Femi.

For my first full day in Habarana we set off for Sigiriya. Temps aren't too bad, and we stop at another one of Nimal's 'Secret Places' to look for birds. We discuss whether we're looking at an owl or a tree stump. We wander back a few minutes later and the 'stump' is gone. Nimal is upset. Why did he listen to me anyway? He's the expert afterall!

I had posted on Fodors a while back on my Sigiriya dilemma. Seems like almost every country I visit plays a version of Make the Tourist Pay to Climb 1,000 Steps. You guys talked me into paying my money and taking my chances. The climb up is not horrendous, but by the time we get to the top I am soaked as it's probably about 85F and there's no shade. Reddot returns one of Nimal's many calls, and he chats on the phone while sauntering up steps 683-900. I'd wondered how he stayed so trim. Crellston does a pretty good job of describing the climb in his report so I won't go into too much detail here.

I'm rather out of sorts when we get to the top and Nimal lures me from one vantage point to the next with promises of bird sightings. I flat out refused to walk along one crumbling ledge, but I was amazed to see how quickly I got across it when he claimed to see a wotsit just around the corner.

Sigiriya was fairly interesting, and I'm glad I did it, but I won't be doing it again. My efforts were rewarded with sightings of a Shaheen falcon though. We actually spent more time poking around the base of Sigiriya, looking at the different dragonflies and other wildlife than we spent at the top.

I had no idea what a treat was in store for me that afternoon!

Ayanthi from Reddot had suggested a visit to Polonnaruwa Temple Troop, the longest running primate research project in the world. This was something no other agent had suggested, nor had I heard of it from anywhere else. I told her that I was not at all interested in the ruins, and I would only visit the site to see monkeys.

It took quite a while to find, and it had started to drizzle, but we eventually arrived at the given address. The staff didn't seem to be too enthusiastic. Not an auspicious start. We were asked to watch a video, quite a good production, of a show I'd seen a few years ago on monkeys. I even think it may have been my first introduction to Toque Macaques. I can't remember the name of it.

I told the staff that I'd seen the video before, probably more than once, and was surprised to see how much I remembered of it. They decided to cut it short and move on to the next bit of my program, and I can't even remember now what that was. They spoke about the different types of primates in the vicinity and I said I wanted to see the Loris. We wander about the garden, in the rain, looking for them with no luck. Things are not looking good.

Finally it's time to move on to Polonnaruwa. One of the staff, Sunil, says he'll travel to the site on his motorcycle and meet up with us there. We arrive in Polonnaruwa first, and I reinforce my rules with Nimal; No ruins. Just wildlife.

Well, there's wildlife galore to be found at Polonnaruwa! There is an area that's teeming with the biggest flock of parakeets I ever saw (or heard). While we're waiting for Sunil to arrive, I check off a few more species in my bird book. Sunil calls and tells us where to find him, as he's located a troop of monkeys. We have a hard time making it there because there's so much to see on the way. We arrive at the designated spot and Nimal dissappears to 'park the car'. I suspect he has a (barely concealed) disdain for monkeys (and crows- but that's a different story).

Sunil and I stroll over to a troop of Tocque Macaques and little by little he comes alive. We start with the basics and he patiently and clearly explains the answers to my increasingly complex questions. I can only explain that I felt I was in the prescence of a genius. There was no question he couldn't answer and it all made sense!

I couldn't bear to leave but eventually the troop decided it was time and they wandered away. Or so I thought. Sunil (who seemed to recognize every individual monkey) could hear a much larger rival troop closing in and so could the macaques we were observing.

Sunil got back on his motorcycle and we trailed him in the car. He would point out wildlife left, right and above us. By the time we got done looking at what he had indicated (such as woolly necked storks and purple faced leaf monkeys), we would have to scramble to find and catch up with him.

He decided on a troop of langurs and narrated the drama being played out before us. I saw an apparently careless mother who was dangling her baby without any signs of the caution I had come to expect. Sunil explained that a subordinate langur's baby had been kidnapped by a higher ranking adolescent. Although mom was probably beside herself with anxiety she didn't dare upset the higher ranking female. Baby was desperate to get back to mom and squealed piteously, but the teenager ignored his cries for help. After a few heartstopping near misses the teenager grew bored, tossed the baby aside and moved on with the dissappearing troop. Mom and baby were reunited, and I don't know who was more relieved, me or them. And that was just one story!

In the end I only agreed to leave because it was dark and I could hardly see. Sunil had risen several notches in Nimal's book because he could ID every bird we saw with calm explanations. With darkness setting upon us Sunil and Nimal insisted I couldn't leave the site without stopping at the Gal Viharaya. I'm glad they did.

My primary reason for wanting to return to Sri Lanka right now is to spend more time with Sunil!
http://www.primates.lk/

Wow! What an experience! Polonnaruwa was a favorite place for each of us - for entirely different reasons!

Great pictures!

Kathie I told Nimal I would willing visit more ruins if they were like Polonnaruwa. He said there was no other like it :(

We spent the next morning walking through the grounds of the Cinnamon Lodge and there were quite a number of bird species to be found which I would never have seen alone because Nirmal was much more persistent about getting closer. I was more worried about coming across snakes.

That afternoon we headed for Minneriya National Park. It was a nice drive but again it was a mostly unproductive trip. What little we did see was pointed out by the driver rather than the guide who was very pleasant, but just didn't seem to be familiar with the park.

I've found that most jeep drivers spend the safari tearing from one corner of the park to the next, but I'm not sure how this strategy is supposed to work.

After checking out of the Cinnamon Lodge we headed for Wilpattu, bumping along on more 'bad roads'. Now that the war is over the park has only recently been opened to the public. I wasn't expecting much as it was already late in the day when we arrived and our visits to other parks besides Yala had been rather unsuccessful.

In spite of the factors working against us (time of day/poor driver techniques/mediocre guide), our visit to Wilpattu was excellent. When we stopped or slowed down, which was rarely, there was an amazing amount to be seen. I insisted on stopping the few times that we did to prove that we were missing so much by zooming up and down, but the guide and driver didn't seem to get it. Some roads were almost- or should have been- unpassable. We got stuck on one of the ruts, but eventually the guys managed to rock the jeep loose.

This was the only park in which I saw roadkill.

We almost ran over a civet (thanks for the ID Mohammed) and even then the driver wasn't willing to stop. When I insisted we do so, he started making annoying noises to lure it out. Nimal explained civet characteristics and behaviour to the driver and guide. I met a tourist who was in the park later that evening and she said they had seen a leopard.

I would love to revisit Wilpattu with a more knowledgeable crew.

After Wilpattu we continued on the journey to Kalpitiya and the Alankuda Beach Resort, the plan being for me to go whale watching the next morning. Unfortunately, due to a mix up in my schedule (no fault of Reddot) I was unable to go. Had I known this I would have preferred to stay at the Cinnamon lodge as Alankuda was waaaaaay too rustic for me. Worth it for supposedly the best whale watching Sri Lanka has to offer, but otherwise not.

I finally got a chance to look at your photos (I'm home now) and they are just wonderful! Your descriptions and photos mean Yala will be on our itinerary for our next trip to Sri Lanka. Thanks so much for sharing!

(BTW, we're just back from Kauai where we saw SO many whales. We always see whales there, but this year there seemed to be more than usual, and more of them showing off than usual. Cheryl got some great whale photos!)

This report is excellent. Perhaps with more wildlife-focused tourists the guiding will improve--hope so. I was just yesterday telling the only friend I have been able to hoodwink into going on safari with me (twice!), "You know, it's very possible to take a wildlife trip Sri Lanka. Quite rewarding sightings apparently. I've been reading..."

Thanks, Femi!

I'm seriously contemplating returning within the next couple of years. I wrote to Ayanthi after I returned and asked how I could improve my safaris and she offered me a real specialist guide. <b>Now</b> she tells me??? But, who knows, if she offered it before I may have balked at the cost (not sure what it would cost), but in hindsight I think it would have been well worth it.

Forgot to add; Welcome back Kathie! Would love to see your Cheryl's pics, so please let us know here if you decideto post a report.

...meant to say 'Cheryl's pics'...typing too fast.

Femi,

Kathie and Chery's pictures are here: http://www.marlandc.com/

Gorgeous pictures, Femi

Cheryl hasn't posted her whale photos yet. She hopes to work on them this week. I expect she will post them on her photos site (the address Pook gave). I will let you know.

Great to hear your reports and your trip to Wilpattu etc and that you will return. Wilpattu is by far the favourite park for many serious wildlife and nature lovers in Sri Lanka, there is just something very beautiful about it. Unfortunately the ravages of war and indiscriminate poaching have left it a bit dried up of sighting but we hope this will pick up in about a year as it did in the past. Leapord sighting are becoming more frequent now and other wildlife is also improving. The road is a temporary issue, infcat the road rom Colombo to Wilpattu is very good nd the stretch from Wilpattu to Anuradhapuira is currentkly under repairs and should be good soon. Wilpattu is a big park and it takes a good hour from the entrance to get to the area where animals are sighted. Ideally one needs to stay inside the park as else one will spend a lot of time going in and out. Alankuda has occasional whale sightings, its mostly superb dolphin sightings from about Jan- March. For whales including almost daily blue whale sightings Mirissa is the place to go in Jan and April.

Mohammed you are correct in that reports from most guests at Alankuda were that they had seen only dolphins. So I guess jeep drivers are racing to get to the center of the park? I could recognize that at Yala, but at other parks seems like we spent the whole drive speeding. True we were speeding faster at some times than others.

Thanks for the link Pook, I had completely forgotten about Cheryl's site.

Leely, thought I'd responded to your post earlier. Glad to supply you with any reinforcement you may need for your next episode of hoodwinking ;)

After an early check out we headed for the Pinnawela elephant orphange. It was touristy and crowded, but very enjoyable especially watching the elephants at 'playtime' down in the river. I finally got to see the big elephant herd I had travelled so far for although these weren't quite the circumstances I'd imagined. I could have spent all day watching them, but I had a plane to catch, so after the elephants were escorted back up from the river into their pen (another interesting sight), we were on the road again. I made it to the airport with time to spare for the souvenir shopping that I had not been able to do while on tour.

Spent another night at the Chancery Pavillion in Bangalore, and had the day to kill while waiting for my 2AM flight. After many months of attempted contact with an animal sanctuary called People For Animals, Bangalore I had a lucky break and a former worker sent a phone number. It was a worthwhile visit and they work very hard at rehabilitating wildlife with the goal of eventually returning the animals to the wild if at all possible. The workers and volunteers show great devotion and patience and they seem to be doing a wonderful job. The visit was another trip highlight for me. Visiting the biggest/oldest fig tree in Bangalore was just ok, but it seemed to be a popular spot with the locals.

It was finally time to return to the airport and continue the journey home. This was where I spent the longest stop with immigration as the officer insisted that I should have been given paperwork upon my entering the country that needed to be turned in now. After much head scratching and consultation, he doubtfully allowed me to proceed to the security screening area.

The flights home on Air France were uneventful, which was good.

Overall my trip to Sri Lanka was very enjoyable and exceeded my expectations, particularly when it came to wildlife, setting a high standard for any future trips to the region.