AFTERNOON SAFARI, Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka, 2019.12.13

Day 9 (4 of 4).

Udawalawe National Park is often considered to be the best place for elephant sighting outside of Africa.  Advertised for 100% guaranteed elephant sighting, Udawalawe should not disappoint anyone who come for the biggest mammals on land.  For other animals, especially large mammals like leopards or sloth bears, super good luck and an experienced guide/driver are probably needed for any chance of success.  The park is also a fine venue for bird sightings, with both permanent and migratory species.

We didn’t have a whole lot of wild safari experience other than the Brazilian Pantanal.  Unlike Pantanal in Brazil where we could choose between boat, 4×4 vehicle, or even a morning safari hike, Udawalawe National Park could only be visited by 4×4 vehicles.  All 4×4 vehicles enter the park from one entrance, and most tours would start either at 6am or 2pm, and last for 4 hours.  Unlike the famous Yala National Park in Southern Sri Lanka where all visitors flock to chase after the elusive leopards and as soon as one leopard is spotted all vehicles would rush to the same spot, 4×4 drivers at Udawalawe tend to disperse into different areas of the park.  The first safari tour we had at Udawalawe was a afternoon drive.

Sri Lankan elephant is usually one of the first large animals to be spotted in the park.

Sri Lankan elephant is the largest of the three subspecies of Asian elephants.

Native to the island, Sri Lankan elephant has a widespread distribution in the country.

With a population of 2500 to 4000c Sri Lankan elephants have been listed endangered on IUCN’s Red List since 1986.

Oriental garden lizards are commonly found throughout much of Asia.

The oriental garden lizard can change its colours.  During mating season, a male lizard changes its head and shoulders to orange or crimson, and its throat to black.

Much larger than oriental garden lizard, the Bengal monitor lizards can grow up to 175cm long.

Known by their rich colours and predominant diet of flying insects like bees and wraps, the green bee-eaters are common in the park.

Reside in India, Sri Lanka, and much of Southeast Asia, the changeable hawk eagle is also known as crest hawk due to its feature on the head.  They are medium size birds of prey, and are usually solitary except in breeding periods.

The number of Indian peafowls or peacocks (male) we have seen in Udawalawe was probably ten times more than the total number of times that we had ever seen these birds in the past.  Peacocks dancing, eating, running, and even flying, males, females, or juveniles, you name it, we have seen it.

The steady supply of water of the reservoir is probably the main reason why wild animals gather in Udawalawe National Park.

Even with their distinctive curved horns, no one knows for sure whether these wild water buffalos are truly wild, or if they are descendants of domestic buffaloes.  With about 3,400 across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, wild water buffalo has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1986.

Painted storks can be found in wetlands throughout tropical Asia.

Native to the island, the endangered Sri Lankan leopard has a population of 750-900.  Spotting one of the park’s 10-12 leopards was like winning the jackpot, given the reserve has 30,821 hectares of land (more than 5 times the area of Manhattan Island).

Usually live in herds, the Sri Lankan axis deer or Ceylon spotted deer once roam freely across the dry zone of the island.  Now their conservation status is considered as vulnerable.

Towards the end of our tour, a curious Sri Lankan elephants followed us and get pretty close to our vehicle.

Before leaving the park, we had a unique encounter with two Sri Lankan elephants who greeted each other with their trunks and made a whole lot of sounds.

The greeting gesture of the two Sri Lankan elephants seemed friendly, as if a person was hugged by another person.

After the passionate change of the two elephants, one of the two elephants seemed to be interested in our vehicle and stayed much longer.

Near the main park exit, we spotted a curious mongoose climbing out from a drainage channel.  It stayed just for a split second and dashed out of our sight.