Wasgamuwa

Wasgamuwa is one of the National Parks in Sri Lanka which is in the dry zone. It is known for Leopards, Bears and specially for Elephants. On our trip our first visit was Riverstone, a hike to a windy mountains in Knuckles which is closer to Wasgamuwa.

We arrived at Riverstone around 10.30 am Sunday, 3rd June 2012 and the hike took about a hour and a half. There were many kinds of Butterflies alone the way to the top of Riverstone where a telecommunication tower is located. Since it was lunch time when we finished our hike we decided to eat and all that was available there was Roti and Wade, was quite a good meal when you are really hungry :P

Our next stop was Pitawala Pathana, a plain located closer to Riverstone. It was a smaller hike compared to Riverstone and at the end of the hike you find a Mini Worlds End. You can see the beauty of the mountains when you are in the plain, its a good location for landscape photos.

After the two hikes we arrived at Wasgamuwa around 4.30 pm and we went on the first round to see some wildlife. Saw many elephants before the sunset and we returned to the Kadurupitiya Bungalow inside the Wasgamuwa National Park. At night we observed some deers around the bungalow premises. Since it was a full moon it wasn't hard for us to see whats happening around the bungalow.

Elephants on the run

On Monday, 4th June 2012 was the main safari, we had booked a safari jeep and it arrived before 6.00 am as planned. We packed both breakfast and lunch since we were on a full day safari. In the morning we saw many wild elephants and specially Eagles, many different types of them. The safari turned to a real adventure when we crossed a river stream that is also the boundary of two districts Matale and Polonnaruwa. The roads have not been used much and we had to clear the roads many times in order for the jeep to move forward. It was more than a 5 hour adventure when we crossed the boundaries of the two districts and the environment was much different from one side to another.

Eagles

An Eagle in flight

Blue Mormon Butterfly

By 4.00 pm we finished the safari and headed back to Colombo and it was the longest drive back home – a 10 hour drive because of the traffic created by Poson Poya activities.