Visit to Udawalawe National Reserve

This splendid reserve is some 3 hours drive north west from Galle. Charlene, on her last day after a month's volunteering at the MindGarden Centre and I were picked up by Pasindu and friend who were to drive us there.
After stopping for snacks and tea we arrived in time to watch the baby orphaned elephants feeding time. Shortly after, the 4 of us boarded a safari jeep and were off for a three hour drive around the magnificent reserve. The main target were the elephants that inhabit this large area whilst I was, not surprisingly, keen to observe and photograph some of the bird species present. I was not disappointed, seeing 2 new species for me in Sri Lanka and managing to get some pleasing shots into the bargain. However, the highlight was surely Charlene's excitement at seeing wild elephants close up as they wandered in front of the jeep or just stood by the side of the track. Excellent trip and well worth the 6 hours in the car. If I was to do this trip again, may book into one of the local hotels and stay the night, but is is feasible to visit in one day from Galle.
These photos are in no order, just ones that seem to have come out quite pleasingly. These first 4 are of the orphaned elephants being given milk and then feeding.

En route to the Reserve the jeep drives over a dam that has created a man made lake around which were several bird species including cattle and little egrets and red wattled lapwings, all common species for Sri Lanka.

Rising water levels submerging trees.

Upon arrival into the reserve, I asked the driver to stop for bird photos. This he did, frequently pointing out birds that we would not of otherwise seen. A few species here that we saw upon arrival on the sandy tracks.

Paddyfield pipit

Green bee eater: such photogenic birds. More later

Common kingfisher: female

A lucky capture!

Crested hawk eagle

Let's get the elephants out of the way!

Back to some bird species.

Another superb green bee eater

Great white egret being watched by a water buffalo

Grey heron

Blue tailed bee eater

Yet another green bee eater

Red wattled lapwing

Spot billed pelican floats past a water buffalo

Wooly necked stork, a new bird for me

Black shouldered kite, the 2nd new Sri Lankan bird for me

Painted stork

Painted stork

White throated kingfisher

Another black shouldered kite

Posing peacock

Time for a few mammals and other bits and bobs:

Laid back frog species

Water buffalo. Larger the horns, the older they are

Distant water buffalo

Grumpy macaque momkey

Same creature

swarms of butterflies feeding on minerals from the sand

More water buffalo

Penultimately, a shot of the typical terrain

To finish, my 2 favourite shots from this superb trip.

The Painted stork gives a great perspective to the whole landscape.

Just got lucky with this pose.

Sri Lanka Nov 2018

I flew out to SL on 19th Nov, arriving the following midday and was picked up to take me south to Galle where I was to be based for a week at the MindGarden Learning Centre in Gintota, some 6km north of Galle. These photos just represent a snippet of the week, most of my stay will be documented on https://volunteersatmindgarden.blogspot.com
On the Wednesday, (my first full day) myself and volunteer Charlene visited Udawalawe National Reserve for wild animals and superb birds. Again, this trip merits a post of its own. These photos are therefore just a few that I took with my camera whilst wandering around when not leading sessions at the Centre.
These first four were taken in the grounds of the superb Jetwing Lighthouse hotel, Galle, one of the best spots to observe a good sunset.

Red wattled lapwing

Cattle egret

On the Friday of my stay, I rose early as staff from the Lighthouse and students from MindGarden begin a local beach clean at 6.30am. This concludes with tea at the hotel and time on the beach. The girls just wanted selfies, the boys collected sea shells.

After my last teaching session the students through a surprise party for me. Food, music and dancing. Once they had left I had a tidy up and set off to get the bus to Hikkaduwa. When I got to the bus stop, some of the students were still waiting for their bus.

On my last morning, I rose early and had a wander on the local beach. Here, no beach cleaning program and this is, unfortunately, what most Sri Lankan beaches could look like if such programs didn't exist. The beach was covered in drift wood, much of it cut with chain saws and just thrown into the local river or sea to wash up on some beach. Also here, thousands of plastic bottles and hundreds of flip flops. Sri Lanka is the 5th largest polluter of the seas and time and money needs to be spent on education to make locals realise that without clean beaches a major source of income, i.e. tourism, will just dry up. However, a lead needs to be taken as individual clean ups only scratch the surface. The government needs to put into place a far better rubbish collection system. Presently all house hold waste is put into plastic bags and just left outside. Local dogs, rats and monkeys then check the bags for food waste, leaving the contents strewn along lanes and major roads. In Galle the main rubbish tip is on the banks of the River Mahamodara and plenty just falls into the river, to later wash up on the local beaches. There is much for the whole island to address in this matter. The beach clean at Galle takes place every Friday morning and the amount of large sacks full of plastic waste that are collected weekly is staggering.

How many flipflops can you count in this 3 metre square area?

Finally, I took a walk into Mahamodara village to see friends, Raja, Nilantha, Chaminda and Wasantha along with other locals. Snapped these as I wandered past the new sports ground

Paddyfield pipit

White bellied drong

Adult and juvenile Brahminy Kite, high overhead