Trip Report – Northwest Sri Lanka – 2015 Dec 5

This brief report details the mammal and reptile species seen on the northwest part of a Sri Lanka trip done with Chi Phan, and travelling by rental car with a driver.

NW Sri Lanka Itinerary:

29 Nov – arrived Colombo; stayed with friends.

30 Nov – visited Victoria Park’s Indian Flying-fox colony.

1 Dec AM – visited Pilikuttuwa Raja Maha Viharaya Caves and Temple.

1 Dec PM – drove to Big Game Camp Wilpattu for 3 nights stay.

2 Dec AM –  Wilpattu NP full day trip.

2 Dec – night walk at Big Game Camp Wilpattu.

3 Dec AM – visited Anuradhapura (ancient city and temples).

3 Dec PM – night walk at Big Game Camp Wilpattu.

4 Dec PM – drove to Kalpitiya; stayed at Dolphin Beach Resort.

5 Dec AM – dolphin-watching speedboat trip from Dolphin Beach Resort.

5 Dec PM – afternoon drive to Gangewadiye area on edge of Wilpattu NP.

6 Dec AM – drove Kalpitiya – Sigiriya (not described in this report).

Colombo (30 Nov)

We stayed with friends in Colombo and visited Victoria Park to photograph the roosting flying foxes.

• Pteropus giganteus – Indian Flying Fox
• Funambulus palmarum – Indian Palm Squirrel

Pilikuttuwa Caves and Temple (1 Dec)

From Colombo we drove 30 Km NE of Colombo on the Kandy road to Pilikuttuwa Raja Maha Viharaya Caves and Temple. The GPS cords for the caves (taken from a journal paper) put us in the middle of a flat grassy area (due to different coordinate systems). We then did the loop walk through secondary forest on a small hill; including getting lost after missing a turn on the hill top and trying to work our way out of the thickets before returning to the hill top and seeing where we missed some stairs going down.

Bats in the caves:

• Megaderma spasma – Lesser False Vampire Bat
• Taphozous melanopogon – Black-bearded Tomb Bat

Big Game Camp Wilpattu (1-4 Dec)

Tue 1 Dec: From Pilikuttuwa Caves we drove north on the coastal road for 4 hours and via Puttalam and inland to Big Game Camp Wilpattu (BGC) at Pahala Maaragahawewa village on the southeast side of Wilpattu NP. BGC comprised tented rooms set in thickets connected by walkways to the dining area on the edge of a small grassy wetland and woodland. It was a nice setting but the tents were dark and the toilet-shower area at the back of the tent was cramped. The meals, manager and staff were very good. More importantly there were some paths in thickets on their ground with good wildlife and the tented dining area overlooked a small wetland. Overall it is well worth staying here.

Dinner was fixed at 7.30 pm then at 9 pm I joined the night-walk with 2 other guests on the property, led by 2 of the resort’s guides. This was excellent as we had Grey Slender Loris and a few snakes.I walked the paths alone the next two nights.

Mammal List: Big Game Camp Wilpattu only: (1-3 Dec 2015)

• Lepus nigricollis – Black-napped Hare
• Vandeleuria oleracea – Asiatic Long-tailed Climbing Mouse – at the tent.
• Suncus murinus  – Asian House Shrew – at the tent.
• Loris lydekkerianus – Grey Slender Loris – seen on night walks and near tent.
• Moschiola meminna – White-spotted Mouse-deer – near the entrance road, midday and at night.

Reptile List: Big Game Camp Wilpattu only: (1-3 Dec 2015)

• Hemidactylus brookii – Brooke’s house gecko
• Calotes calotes – Green Forest Lizard
• Ahaetulla nasuta – Green Vine Snake
• Ahaetulla pulverulenta – Brown Vine Snake

Birds included a Slaty-legged Crake in the thickets near the tents.

Wilpattu NP (2 and 4 Dec)

Wed 2 Dec: At 6 am we left from BGC on a full-day jeep drive in Wilpattu NP using a pre-arranged driver who charged Rup 8500 / full day and 4500 / half-day. He was good and recommended but BGC did drives at the same price but including lunch and with their naturalist which was probably a better option; and the guests doing that rental get a guided night-walk on the property (which they kindly let me join). I am not sure whether the BCG jeep trip would be shared with other guests or exclusive. An interesting sighting in the park was watching a Ruddy Mongoose pull a Painted-lipped Lizard from under bark on a tree and then swallow it whole.

Fri 4 Dec: At 5.45 am Chi and I left on a half-day jeep drive still hoping for Sloth Bear and we had a brief partial view of one late morning.

Sat 5 Dec: From Dolphin Beach at 1 pm we drove to the Gangewadiye village (population about 50-100) on the coast and just outside the southwest corner of Wilpattu NP. Some locals said there were no elephant around as it was too wet but at sunset on the way back we stopped at a wetland and saw about 14 elephant walk out along the far side of the wetland before disappearing again.

Mammal List: Wilpattu NP only

• Lepus nigricollis – Black-napped Hare
• Ratufa macroura – Sri Lankan Giant Squirrel
• Funambulus palmarum – Indian Palm Squirrel
• Herpestes smithii – Ruddy Mongoose
• Herpestes fuscus – Indian Brown Mongoose
• Herpestes edwardsi – Indian Grey Mongoose
• Sus scrofa – Wild Boar
• Semnopithecus priam – Tufted Grey Langur
• Axis axis – Chital
• Muntiacus vaginalis – Northern Red Muntjac
• Rusa unicolor – Sambar Deer
• Melursus ursinus – Sloth Bear.
• Elephas maximus – Asian Elephant

Reptile List: Wilpattu NP only

• Melanochelys trijuga – Indian Black Turtle – a few seen, including on the road.
• Hemidactylus leschenaultia – Bark Gecko – in rest huts at the toilet block on the game drive.
• Varanus bengalensis – Bengal Monitor
• Crocodylus palustris – Mugger Crocodile
• Calotes ceylonensis – Painted-lipped Lizard – caught and consumed by Ruddy Mongoose.
• Ptyas mucosa – Indian Rat Snake.

Anuradhapura (3 Dec)

After breakfast we drove across to Anuradhapura for a non-wildlife, morning visit to Anuradhapura, an ancient city with temple complexes. Entry was 3500 rup each.

Semnopithecus priam – Tufted Grey Langur

Calotes versicolor – Oriental Garden Lizard

Kalpitiya (4-6 Dec)

Fri 4 Dec: From Big Game Camp we drove 1.5 hours to Kalpitiya via Puttalam; staying at Dolphin Beach Resort (Makara group) for two nights; located on the beach with ‘luxury’ tent-topped, spacious rooms (canvass tents with brick and concrete walls) where we met our friends from Colombo, Rob and Wanpen.

The next morning Rob, Chi and I went on a dolphin/whale-watching trip. We left at around 7.30 am on the resort’s speed boat (4-6 pax) and went offshore from 5 to 10 km. We had hundreds of spinner dolphins, but no whales.

• Stenella longirostris – Spinner Dolphin

Driving back to Dolphin Lodge after dusk on 5 Dec we had an Indian Star Tortoise on the road-edge.