A Tragic Park (Wilpattu, May 2010: Part 1)

Wilpattu. The name has always evoked bittersweet excitement for me. All my life it has been my Shangri La for wildlife. I grew up with the tales of family trips of generations and the almost mystical leopard sightings, shining gold and black on the white sands of the Villu�s. Wilpattu is the country�s largest park and arguably the most untouched, its bungalows (when in operation many years ago) were rated the best in the land, all in addition to its reputation for being the top site for leopard sightings in Lanka. As if this wasn�t enough value for money, the park also plays host to sites that are writ large in Sri Lanka�s storied past, including Kudrimalai point where Prince Vijaya is said to have landed and a palace that was supposed to have belonged to Kuveni, the tribal princess.

Wilpattu Jungles

Despite its many wonders, in 29 years I had never been to Wilpattu save for when I was a mere toddler. It didn�t take too much enticement when S called asking if I wanted to accompany them on quick weekend jaunt to Wilpattu. Leaving from Colombo on the midnight run via the A3, we reached our base, the Governor�s Camp bungalow in Wilpattu as a grey morning dawned. Quite a charming bungalow offering good value for money minutes from the park, the lodge can accommodate eight people in four double rooms for the price of Rs.10,000 a night. You can bring your own food or pay extra for food, we opted for the latter and the fare was quite good. The options for accommodation appeared a bit thin at the time with other bases ranging from hotels in Anuradhapura and Kalpitiya. I personally would not advise staying at places that are this far away, simply because it means you need more time to get to the park entrance. And you want to get to the park at the first hint of daylight to get the best wildlife sightings.

The road to the entrance

Things seemed quiet around the park entrance where we rendezvoused with our jeep driver, Sunil for our whole day safari, which set us back a grand total of Rs.7,000. A half day safari would set you back Rs. 4,000 but given the size of the park, unless you are really short of time you want to go for the full days safari. The lines of Safari jeeps you see in Yala were absent and it looked like, despite the park having been open for over two and a half months, it was still not heavily visited. In fact we were to see a grand total of three other jeeps, all venerable old Willis jeeps, during our time in the park over the weekend.

Entrance to Wilpattu

Packing into our jeep we drove to the park office at Hunuvilagama to get the formalities of our visit, purchasing tickets and having a �tracker� (i.e. guide) assigned. Wandering around the office, the neglected state of the jewel in the crown of Sri Lanka�s dry zone parks was apparent. The infrastructure was dilapidated and the exhibits looked forlorn and dusty. Noting a roster of park wardens in the corner I went over for a closer look. I felt an eerie chill as I noted that the list stopped at Wasantha Pushpananda, the warden of the park who was killed by the LTTE in 2007. The board seemed oddly matter of fact, Park Warden, 2003. There was no indication of the violent end this dedicated man had come to in an ambush at Kokkare Villu.

Wardens of Wilpattu

Shaking these morbid thoughts off, we loaded our Chamara, our tracker, a most pleasant and enthusiastic guide and headed off into the park. The drive into the park led through Wilpattu�s signature monsoon forest, venerable Pallu and Weera trees clustered up on either side of the road while sunlight filtered through the canopy which met overhead. Our first sighting of the day was a relatively common Serpent Eagle which decided to fly along the road in front of our jeep. Sunil cut the engine and we coasted along in silence with the eagle escorting us and the sounds of the jungle around us, cicadas shimmering and the musical chiok, chaw-choik calls of the Jungle Fowl.

Chamara, our tracker

Breaking into an open plain we came to the dilapidated buildings at Maradanmaduwa. As we ate a hasty breakfast, Chamara told us about the fateful day on May 15, 1985 when the LTTE massacred a 120 people in Anuradhapura and made their escape through the park, killing a further 19 people in the park. Apparently one of the staff at the park was a survivor of this event and got off relatively lightly with gunshot wounds to the leg. We were later to have another reminder of the park�s grim past as we saw the remains of the jeep that had been ripped apart in May 2006 killing amongst six others, the renowned author Nihal De Silva. Hopefully as the park continues to gain popularity and returns to its former majesty, Wilpattu�s sheen of past violence will wear off. 

Maradanmaduwa buildings

Continued here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Memorable Ocean Experiences of 2011: No. 01 � Swimming with a Flatworm

Image
It�s 2012 and I�m looking back on a 100 dives in 2011 and 200 since I started diving way back in 2009. Since this was my first full year of diving with somewhat reasonable dive skills and a camera, I figured I would put down some of the most memorable dives/events that I have had the privilege of experiencing during the season. Of course a lot has happened so expect a multi-part post with the events in no particular order of significance. I will start of with a characteristically geeky event, my brief if surprising swim with Thysanozoon nigropapillosum which rather less jawbreakingly is known as a Polyclad flatworm. Usually you see these vivid black and yellow flatworms innocuously sitting on the rocks on shallow reefs such as Palagalla so I have come to associate them with brown, murky water and silty dive sites. I did see one launch itself for a brief swim, undulating gracefully through the water so I knew that they were quite mobile as well. Thysanozoon nigropapillosum sitting pret
Read more

Hemkund Sahib Revisited

Image
The Journey begins at Govindghat which is a 9-10 hour bus ride from Rishikesh. There are many ways to do it, by  taxi (expensive), shared taxi, small bus; and  one can break the journey or do it at one go.  I  spent the night at Srinagar and so had a shorter journey to Govindghat the next day., here I spent the night so that I could start my walk early next morning. I have been to this region before and both times have combined a pilgrimage to  Hemkund Sahib with hikes to the Valley of Flowers.  My blog to the Valley of Flowers this year is placed  here .  For a blog of my previous hikes please see  Valley of Flowers and Hemkund -a Trek to Paradise  ;  the photographs I took are at  Valley of Flowers   , and at  The Flora Around Hemkund .   From Govindghat to Ghangariya is a journey that is now made easier by riding in a  shared taxi for 4.8 km until Pulna and walking 10 km from there to Ghangariya, which is to be my home for the next four nights. The walk is along an easy, well paved
Read more

The 1st Morning (Yala for 31st - Part 2)

Image
The first morning was a tough one to wake up to, my ears still ringing with the whines of the dive bombing mosquitoes and feeling a bit weak from losing a couple of pints of blood to the beasts. Shaking the grogginess off, Nalin and I headed back into the park, picking up Dhammika and Nana along the way for good measure. There were a lot less tourists this morning than on the penultimate day of 2009 and it looked like it was going to be a quieter morning in the park as we started on our search for wildlife, with a perky mongoose starting the day's tally. Ruddy Mongoose There is often a fine line between luck and instinct when it comes to trackers successfully spotting leopard and our first sighting of the day might have bordered on the former. While it was Nana who suggested the Gonnagala para as an initial route, it was Dhammika, fortuitously looking left and behind him, who made the spot. And what a spot it was, a massive male leopard stalking through the lush green undergrowt
Read more