Some Highlights of the Bundala National Park in July

Asian Elephants - Elephas maximus

Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow, Ella – A Place to Experience Your Holiday with a Difference

Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow is a tranquil location blessed with true Sri Lankan hospitality to indulge your holiday situated in Ella, the calm & sleepiest town in Sri Lanka with a height of 1041 Meters above the sea level. The unique concept of No Liquor, No smoking lets you to enjoy your holiday with a difference. Ella gap (stunning views), Horton plains (world’s end) the paradise for the nature lovers, Demodara nine arched bridge, Demodara loop the amazing creation of the Sri Lankan Railway tracks, Picturesque Rawana falls, Kenellan tea estate, Uvahalpewatte tea estate are within the close proximity to the Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow.



This simple retreat boasts of two triple rooms and a double room surrounded by lush vegetation including some indigenous plants and some of the fruit plants like rose apple, avocado, Mango, guava etc. All the rooms are carefully designed with basic amenities that requires for a peaceful holiday with the comfort of the natural breeze blowing through the windows. Get up to the rhythm of the early morning bird songs and if you are in a mood you can rise up for a nature walk through the misty bushes by counting number of bird species. Some of my recorded bird species are Sri Lanka Dull Blue Fly catcher, Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl, Sri Lanka Yellow fronted barbet’s,Sri Lanka Grey Horn bill, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, Hill myna, velvet fronted nuthatch, Shikra, Crested Serpent eagle, Dark fronted babblers, tawny bellied babblers, Emerald dove, Scarlet minivet, Pale billed flowerpecker, Grey tit etc.



Apart from bird species this property provides excellent opportunities to observe some of the animals like Giant squirrel, Fishing cat, Black napped hare, Mongoose and some of the butterfly species like Tawny coster, Blue Morman, Glassy Tiger, Common Jezebel, Common Sailor etc.



Arrays of Sri Lankan dishes followed by number of desserts are served prepared in a homely kitchen under the direct supervision of the property owners with extremely good hygienic conditions.




Undoubtedly the Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow ensures an unparalleled holiday experience with its naturally blessed calm & peaceful environment.

Address: Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow
Bandarawela Road
Ella

Telephone: 0094(0)575615011,0094(0)776239802

Website: www.sunnyside.go2lk.com

Reservation: sunnyside@go2lk.com

Rawana Falls - රාවණා ඇල්ල

Rawana falls is situated on Ella-Wellawaya road in the Uva province. The height of the waterfall is 1001 ft.

Demodara Railway Station - ෙදෙමා්දර ඳුමිරිය ස්ථානය

Demodara railway station is a wonderful design of architecture situated in the Badulla district of the Uva province in Sri Lanka in a distance of 172 miles (276.8 Kilometers) from Colombo with a height of 2990 ft. (911.61 Meters) from the sea level.


The lineman checks the track




The length of the Demodara tunnel which runs beneath the railway station is 1049 ft (320 meters). Construction of the tracks in this nature is known as “looping to loop” as per the idea of late Mr.D.J.Wimalasurendra who was the greatest Sri Lankan engineer to achieve the level difference by maintaining 1:44 which is maximum allowable gradient in Sri Lankan Railways.

A train arrives Demodara station



The first train arrived at Demodara was in the year of 1921.

Nine arched Bridge at Demodara

Warana Cave Temple - ඓතිහාසික වාරණ රඡමහා විහාරය

In 18th century King Walagamba built this temple enriches with ancient architecture. This ancient temple Situated in Warana, Aththanagalla in Gampaha district.

Elephants at Pinnawala

Who am i ?????

Honestly not an expert of identifying these pests... If somebody can identify this it’s greatly appreciated.

Hotel Elephant Corridor, Sigiriya - A Paradaise for Nature Lovers Blessed with Breath taking Nature settings

Elephant Corridor, the luxury boutique hotel carefully designed with utmost respect to the nature within the territory of the world famous Sigiriya Rock Fortress which is regarded as the 8th wonder of the world provides an unparalleled holiday experience with its unique theme concept, luxury of relaxation in absolute privacy. With its all-suite concept of accommodation, Deluxe, Super Deluxe, Romantic Suite, Royal Suite and the super luxury President Suite are tasteful designs especially for the couples who seek a romantic place considering the privacy is most important for the honeymoon. Being more personalized, Elephant Corridor introduces no fixed meal times and meals are served in preferred style of the guest, en-suite, at special restaurants or even outdoors under the trees.



Picturesque swimming pool inspired with its own nature settings in a very tranquil location provides an invigorating swim to soothe your body from the mid day heat. Well equipped gymnasium, Ayurvedic Health Spa, Jungle bar ensures luxury boutique experience while leaves your worldly cares behind.



Apart from all these luxury, the untamed forest of the Elephant Corridor with some indigenous plants and shrubs spreads over 200 acres the Elephant Corridor is a paradise for nature lovers. Irrespective of you are a soft birder or a keen birder or a wildlife enthusiast who like to observe some mammals including elephants or perhaps you like to watch butterflies and dragonflies, this park provide excellent opportunities. As a keen bird watcher this is the only property which belongs to a hotel I have recorded most number of bird species.



During my two hours birding session I was able to observe Orange breasted green pigeon, Pompadour Green Pigeon, Spotted dove, Brahmin kite, Tawny bellied babblers, Little Green bee eater, Stork billed Kingfisher, White throated kingfisher, Common Iora, Malabar pied hornbill, Red rumped swallow, Scarlet minivets, Jungle prinia, White browed fantail, White browed bulbul, Red vented bulbul, Little cormorant, Lesser whistling duck, Asian paradise flycatcher, Coppersmith barbet, brown headed barbet, Common myna, Red wattled lapwing, barred button quail, Paddy field pipit, Black hooded oriole, Rose ringed parakeet, Indian peafowl, Indian robin, Oriental magpie robin, Long billed sunbird, Purple rumped sunbird, Indian pond heron, Cattle egret, Intermediate egret, Little egret, Common tailorbird, White rumped shama etc.



Common sailor, Banded peacock, Tamil yeoman, Common jezebel, Crimson rose, Glassy tiger, Blue glassy tiger, Common tiger, Common Indian crow, Common evening brown, Peacock pansy, Lemon emigrant are some of the butterfly species identified. Sri Lanka toque monkey, Grey langur, Grey Mongoose, Ruddy mongoose, Black naped hare, Otter, Palm cat, Ring tailed civet, Asian elephant, Wild boar, Giant squirrel, Palm squirrel are some of mammals can be spotted in this nature park

Conclusively the Elephant Corridor is a paradise for anyone who likes his or her stay to be memorable considering the privacy is most important blessed with breath taking nature settings.

Web site: www.elephantcorridor.com

Telephone: 0094-(0)66-2231950/5

Fax: 0094-(0)66-2231952

Celebrating Avurudu with Whales

Being a naturalist I have a firm believe that new opportunities will boost your knowledge and experience in this field. Having an opportunity to play the role of a naturalist for the Sri Lanka’s latest aquatic adventure tours organized by the Walkers Tours in collaboration with Ceylon fishery harbours corporation, was privileged to gain this new experience of observing the giant whales and the dolphins roaming in our tropical waters. Surely, this allowed me to read a lot about whales, their migration patterns, and surface characteristics on how to identify them and lot more.



On 11th of April another tour of whales watching with 12 guests came under my purview, which we started sailing around 07.20, am from Mirissa harhour with gloomy weather conditions. Continued roaming around Matara in search of whales till 09.30, am but no sign of a whale other than the few bottlenose dolphins we observed. Everybody seemed disappointed but I had a strong feeling that we will be successful before we end the journey. In fact Mr. Phil Sheldrake, a Project Manager from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds of United Kingdom with his two daughters seemed to be very anxious of seeing a whale. Suddenly our sailor, Thuduwage saw a blow of a blue whale and we were able observe our first blue whale with a distance of about 100 meters before it raised the fluke and take a deep dive. Quenching the thirst of seeing whales eight blue whales came in our presence allowing us to observe all the surface characteristics including few exhales, dorsal fin before raised their flukes and take a deep dive. Everybody of the boat was thrilled with this lifetime aquatic adventure experience they cumulated before we end our journey around 11.15 am to the Mirissa harbour.




The same journey but with different set of clients on 12th April almost on the same time but with better sunny weather conditions. Almost the repeated story of the previous day, roamed till 10.00 am in search of whales up to Dondra point but no sign of a whale other than a herd of bottlenose dolphins and some spinner dolphins. Repeating the previous day’s story a blue whale came in our presence but with quite a distance without leaving much space for us to observe. Without satisfying the observation of the first whale we were looking forward to see another one or two whales before we start proceeding to the destination again a blue whale came in our presence to observe all the surface characteristics with a safe distance before it raise the fluke and take the deep dive as usual. Before we end up the journey around 11.45 we spotted another blue whale and a humpback whale. To mention, the return journey to the harbour was not smooth as previous day due to the rough sea conditions. Everybody were compelled to have a nice bath with sea water because of the sea spray blowing through the boat due to heavy waves kissing in front of the boat.