15th & 16th March - departure time
15th March
We departed this morning from the Rockview motel, for the long drive NE to Negambo, just north of Colombo and near the airport. After an interesting cross country route avoiding some busy towns and enabling us to see a bit more of the country, we arrived at our hotel, the Tamarind Tree Hotel, in time for some lunch. It was very hot here so we decided to eat in the air-conditioned indoor area.
The hotel is very pleasant, again like a couple of the others we stayed at, comprising a series of bungalows set in large landscaped grounds.
I then checked us in online – too complicated to explain here but it took over an hour! Some of us then gathered in Clive & Dave’s bungalow for a cuppa, after which we had a walk around the extensive grounds of the hotel and saw a few common species, and a Shikra sitting in a tree, by which time dusk was falling.
Jith arrived to see us again and we all had dinner alfresco, with Fruit Bats flying overhead. Jith kindly bought us a couple of bottles of wine, and also courtesy of WalkWithJith we were all given lovely brightly coloured elephant prints on a linen type material, as a parting gift. A nice touch. Ours will be framed and hung somewhere prominent in our house, as a reminder of a fantastic trip.
16th March
We departed early with Jith and Nandana accompanying us, and got to the airport within about 15 mins in good time for the 05:40 a.m. flight. Farewells and thanks were said to Jith for arranging the excellent well-balanced itinerary, to Nandana for his expert guiding and his efforts in making the trip interesting from a cultural point of view, and of course to Limal for his expert driving, and Penando for looking after us so well.
All-in-all a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable trip, so many thanks WalkWithJith.com! Overall nearly everyone saw every bird, the exception of the odd one or two. From my own personal notes I didn’t see 6 species, only 2 of which would have been lifers. And to top it all, we broke Nandana’s record for a trip list, with 239 species and all 33 endemics!
I should mention of course the other animals seen: those I noted down were Leopard [3 at Yala], Sambar- and Spotted Deer, Asian Elephant, Wild Pig, Black-naped Hare, Golden Jackal, Grey Mongoose, Marsh Mugger Crocodile, Palm Squirrel, Giant Squirrel, the endemic Layard’s Palm Squirrel, Grey Langur, Macaque, Purple-faced Leaf-monkey, Greater Indian [Short-nosed] Fruit-bat, Land Monitor, the endemic Sri Lanka Keelback Water Snake [at Sinharaja], various butterflies including the beautiful black & white Sri Lanka Wood Nymph, Geckos, Kangaroo Lizard, Green Garden Lizard, and of course the occasional Leech!.
John Wilson, March 2014.
We departed this morning from the Rockview motel, for the long drive NE to Negambo, just north of Colombo and near the airport. After an interesting cross country route avoiding some busy towns and enabling us to see a bit more of the country, we arrived at our hotel, the Tamarind Tree Hotel, in time for some lunch. It was very hot here so we decided to eat in the air-conditioned indoor area.
The hotel is very pleasant, again like a couple of the others we stayed at, comprising a series of bungalows set in large landscaped grounds.
I then checked us in online – too complicated to explain here but it took over an hour! Some of us then gathered in Clive & Dave’s bungalow for a cuppa, after which we had a walk around the extensive grounds of the hotel and saw a few common species, and a Shikra sitting in a tree, by which time dusk was falling.
Jith arrived to see us again and we all had dinner alfresco, with Fruit Bats flying overhead. Jith kindly bought us a couple of bottles of wine, and also courtesy of WalkWithJith we were all given lovely brightly coloured elephant prints on a linen type material, as a parting gift. A nice touch. Ours will be framed and hung somewhere prominent in our house, as a reminder of a fantastic trip.
16th March
We departed early with Jith and Nandana accompanying us, and got to the airport within about 15 mins in good time for the 05:40 a.m. flight. Farewells and thanks were said to Jith for arranging the excellent well-balanced itinerary, to Nandana for his expert guiding and his efforts in making the trip interesting from a cultural point of view, and of course to Limal for his expert driving, and Penando for looking after us so well.
All-in-all a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable trip, so many thanks WalkWithJith.com! Overall nearly everyone saw every bird, the exception of the odd one or two. From my own personal notes I didn’t see 6 species, only 2 of which would have been lifers. And to top it all, we broke Nandana’s record for a trip list, with 239 species and all 33 endemics!
I should mention of course the other animals seen: those I noted down were Leopard [3 at Yala], Sambar- and Spotted Deer, Asian Elephant, Wild Pig, Black-naped Hare, Golden Jackal, Grey Mongoose, Marsh Mugger Crocodile, Palm Squirrel, Giant Squirrel, the endemic Layard’s Palm Squirrel, Grey Langur, Macaque, Purple-faced Leaf-monkey, Greater Indian [Short-nosed] Fruit-bat, Land Monitor, the endemic Sri Lanka Keelback Water Snake [at Sinharaja], various butterflies including the beautiful black & white Sri Lanka Wood Nymph, Geckos, Kangaroo Lizard, Green Garden Lizard, and of course the occasional Leech!.
John Wilson, March 2014.