Untamed Udawalawe

July 31, 2019srilankasafariblog

Untamed Udawalawe

History and Geography

Lying like a tear drop in the Indian Ocean, the island of Sri Lanka defies convention – this tiny island is packed with an enormous population of wildlife! Udawalawe National Park is the sixth largest National Park on the island. The Park is situated just south of the Central Highlands, on the boundary of Sri Lanka’s wet and dry zones, with the Udawalawe Reservoir nestled in the centre. Established in 1972, the Park was created with the objective of protecting the catchment area of the Udawalawe reservoir, which provides water for agriculture and hydro-power generation. This is spread over an area of 30,821 hectares, closely resembling an African game park!

Blacksheep of Diving Birds

July 19, 2019July 19, 2019srilankasafariblog

Blacksheep of Diving Birds

Indian Darter aka the snakebird (Anhinga melanogaster)is a common sight you see in and around the villu’s in the Yala National Park.

It stands out from its “friends”; the Commorns for not having the oil glands to give a wax effect to his wings.

This beautiful bird landed on the branch with open wings to sun dry their wings after a dive into the waters. [ As he doesn’t have the luxury of having an oily wax coat ] They are always observing disturbances in the water with their long flexible neck which works like a spear darting into the waters in a blink of an eye at the sight of a fish.

This beautiful picture of an Indian Darter was captured by Chris Ang, an award winning photographer from new york on a Safari to the national park with Mahoora tented safari camps Yala in February 2019.

THE SRI LANKAN FISHING CAT

July 16, 2019srilankasafariblog

THE SRI LANKAN FISHING CAT

It is common knowledge that cats don’t like water and prefer to stay away from it all costs. Larger animals of the species such as the Tiger and the Jaguar defeat this notion by adapting to the surrounding wetlands of their habitat. In Sri Lanka however we are home to the Sri Lankan Fishing Cat a very unique creature that has adopted to not only live in wetlands, but thrive in it. Read more →

The Photogenic Sri Lankan Sloth Bear

July 12, 2019July 12, 2019srilankasafariblog

In a real “messy hair don’t care” angle, the Sri Lankan sloth bear looks like it just got out of bed after a night out in the jungle; it ambles around Sri Lanka’s dry zone wooded areas in a shaggy coat, in search of food. They usually keep to themselves, often found grunting and snorting nosily, with its nose to the ground, while walking in search of food. The sloth bears’ main diet consists of termites and ants, however, being omnivores, they feed on almost anything from plants and animals, to fruit and insects.

Giants of Asia

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019srilankasafariblog

The subspecies of Asian elephants are classified under 3 main categories; the endemic species to Sri Lanka is called Elephas maximus maximus, the subspecies of elephants across the Indian sub-peninsula and indo-china territory is called Elephas maximus indicus, and the third group across a specific area of Sumatra Island is called Elephas maximus sumatranus. There is no remarkable difference between the subspecies of the Asian elephant and African elephant.

Collared Scops Owl

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019srilankasafariblog

Ottus letia

A creature of the night, the Collared Scops owl is the largest among all the Scops owls. However, it is a rather small bird that is just over 25 cm that belongs to the larger categorization of typical owls.