Photos to follow later.
We were up and away by 06:00 with our group of nine distributed five and four in the two ‘jeeps’ that were actually old Toyotas.
Prior to reaching the park entrance we drove past a roadside area comprising twenty or so large evaporation ponds of area about one hectare each. Beside some of these ponds were long and high covered piles of salt. Saltwater from the nearby Indian Ocean is pumped into the ponds and solar energy does the rest!
Having gone through the formalities for entering the park and collecting our guides (we had Samee in our jeep) we headed towards one of grassland areas and were fortunate enough to encounter three golden jackals that came towards us seemingly unperturbed by our presence. The group comprised a male with the bushy tail, a female and a pup. The jackals crossed the road in front of us and then disappeared into the bushes.
Golden jackal, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Hare, Ruhunu Yala National Park
In the early morning light we saw a hare in the undergrowth. These are a native rodent and are identified by their normal rabbit colour plus a black neck collar.
Doves and pigeons are common sightings but the beautiful orange breasted green pigeon is a much rarer finding so we were fortunate in this regard to see a pair.
Rose-ringed parakeet, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Oriental magpie robin, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Brahminy kite, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Red-vented bulbul, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Many of the morning’s sightings were merely repeats of yesterday’s although some ‘new’ bird sightings were made. These included rose-ringed parakeets, white rumped shamas, Malabar pied hornbills, crested hawk eagles and the less common white-throated kingfisher.
Common kingfisher, Ruhunu Yala National Park
White-throated kingfisher, Ruhunu Yala National Park
We had a breakfast break under a shady tree with a large monitor lizard as nearby company.
An interesting fact is that some of the larger trees such as the satinwood lose their leaves during summer to conserve moisture. We were assured that these large seemingly ‘dead’ trees will be in full foliage by October/November.
Satinwood (deciduous) trees, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Lunch was, by necessity in the shade of large (non-deciduous) trees as the temperature was climbing into the mid 30s. From 12:00 to 14:00 we had two hours relaxing and eating lunch in the shade. Whilst resting, a large bull elephant walked into our picnic area and then retreated as did a bull water-buffalo. Both these visitors are potentially dangerous and unpredictable and thus our guides gave appropriate warnings to avoid approaching them.
Corinne, Janet, Sinclair & Tony in jeep, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Picnic lunch, Ruhunu Yala National Park
The wildlife activity in the heat of the day wanes until dusk approaches and the temperature drops.
We had a quiet two hours watching elephants feeding and then encountered a family of black-faced langurs (monkeys) resting in the branches of a roadside tree. The adults seemed peaceful but the youngsters were entertaining themselves (and us) with games such as climbing, running, leaping and tumbling. It was an acrobatic performance of high standard.
Elephant, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Elephant, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Oriental magpie robin, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Blythe's pippit, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Black-faced langurs, Ruhunu Yala National Park
As there’d yet to be sightings of bears or leopards this day, we were thinking that the safari was going to come to a somewhat disappointing end. Then out of the blue came a message from one of the other guides that a bear had been located.
Without us being shaken to pieces we drove as quickly as the road would allow to the designated site where the sloth bear had been seen. Two other jeeps were already at the site but we had a parking space allowing us to see the bear high up on a rocky platform about 50 m from the road. He appeared to be asleep. There are only eight known sloth bears in the whole 141 square kilometre national park so we were definitely very fortunate on this occasion.
Sloth bear, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Sloth bear, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Sloth bears are native to India and Sri Lanka only. The male bears lead a solitary existence except during the breeding season. They are highly territorial making their location easier than many other animals such as leopards that may move large distances over time.
This adult male sloth bear was about 80 kg and had a pointed nose and black fur. His position on the rock platform was such that he had his rear end sitting in water and his head lying on his front legs. His massive claws were menacing and can be used for digging into termites’ nests or shredding the flesh of any potential predator.
He lay still for about ten minutes and then got up to scratch his back using a protruding rock edge to good effect.
Sloth bear, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Sloth bear, Ruhunu Yala National Park
He then waddled down the rock towards us and bypassed the cars on his way to a palu tree just up the road. This tree provides a favoured meal and there were hundreds of tiny fruits on the road which he ‘hoovered’ up in prompt fashion.
Sloth bear, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Sloth bear, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Having watched this awesome creature for nearly an hour we were compelled to move on. Our guide informed us that the sloth bear would probably spend the night perched high up in this palu tree or otherwise in a Ceylon ironwood tree.
In the wet season the termites’ nests become soft and more easily pulled apart giving the sloth bears access to another of their favoured repasts.
On our way back to camp we managed to get photos of a jungle fowl and another very large python. We thanked Samee for a great day and let him know how grateful we were to have access to his wildlife knowledge.
Jungle fowl, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Crocodile, Ruhunu Yala National Park
Python, Ruhunu Yala National Park
The twelve hour safari finished on a high note with the rare sloth bear sighting and back at camp we had a celebratory glass of Australian wine with our dinner (first wine for nearly two weeks!)
Tomorrow is a rest day with no commitments at all so sleeping in till 07:00 or even after will be a luxury.
[As a footnote it should be mentioned that for today’s safari there were estimated to be about eight or ten jeeps in the park for the whole day. We were told that at the height of the tourist season pre the bombings, there were over 400 jeeps per day but some were forced to wait up to two hours before admission.]