Posts Tagged ‘Mannar’
Mannar: Feathers & Frogs on a 2019 Visit
Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)(non-breeding plumage) on the beach at Pesalai fishing beach (northern coast of Mannar) .
The island of Mannar and Wilpattu National Park continue to be must-visit destinations for birdwatchers in Sri Lanka. Last November our friend Pippa Mukherjee visited and we took her up to Wilpattu for an introductory visit. More recently, in February, we had a long poya weekend that allowed us an opportunity to revisit this far corner of Sri Lanka.
On the February trip we had four days to get up to Mannar and back. That’s not a long time given the distance (@ 320 km from Colombo) and all the nice things to explore on the way. On the journey driving from Colombo we overnighted at the Backwaters Lodge north of Puttalam before continuing on the next day up to Mannar. The Backwaters offers a convenient place to access Wilpattu’s south-western entrance and to do local birdwatching in excellent dry zone thorn forest. This was my second visit and I was interested in trying to see the Indian Chameleon (Chamaeleo zeylanicus)in the surrounding thorn forest. The owners Tarique Omar and Ajith Ratnayaka were both on site for this visit and I enjoyed speaking to them about the area and their story in setting up Backwaters. The family took a rest (it was hot and dry) while I went out to look for Chameleons with their guide Sanoos. It was the middle of the day with hot, bright conditions-perfect for these reptiles I thought. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, no Chameleons were to be found. The area where Chameleons are found hosts some excellent arid zone tropical thorn forest. I marveled at the unappreciated vegetation and was reminded that much of the south-eastern Indian plains also hosted similar systems. Unfortunately, it is also the site of a limestone pit mine and the proposed solid waste dump of Aruwakkalu.
Moonrise over the Nelum Wewa wetlands and tank near to the Wilpattu south-west entrance.
Jerdon’s Nightjar(Caprimulgus atripennis) at Backwaters.
Rather than drive around via Tantirimale, we went to Mannar driving through the western dirt track that runs through Wilpattu. It is shorter (in terms of km traveled) and there are opportunities to see and appreciate Wilpattu’s forests, wetlands and classic wildlife. The only hitch is the approach over a sometimes flooded causeway and the few kilometers of seriously beat-up road. There had been rains and we drove over the causeway with about 10 cm of water-not too dangerous but getting close, it seemed to me. On the road, we enjoyed an encounter with a bull elephant, Malabar pied hornbill flyovers and numerous mongoose encounters. We were happy to have our high-clearance 4×4 vehicle for the journey. The stretch from the northern Wilpattu entrance to the Mannar causeway passes through an exceedingly dry landscape. Some of this has been controversially cleared of the appreciated thorn forest and allocated to house former IDPs from the conflict and tsunami. The arid conditions make it an exceedingly difficult place to eke out a living it seems to me. Very few the newly constructed houses showed signs of life. It is only on the approach to Vankalai Sanctuary that the road runs through rich agricultural lands that benefit from tank (especially Giant’s Tank) irrigation. The area that once house the famous Pearl fisheries is fascinating. The beaches are desolate and seemingly pristine- all very eerie given that this stretch of coastline hosted the immensely productive pearl fishing communities for several hundred years before being overfished at the end of the 19th Century . The ruins of Fredrick North’s bungalow are the only reminders about a very different past. He was the Governor of Ceylon (1798-1805) soon after the British took over.
On this visit, we returned to the Palmyrah House, the island’s most comfortable accommodation that the kids and I had stayed at several years ago. It has since been refurbished and it was a treat to have the whole family enjoy its site and situation. What I appreciate most is the presence of a naturalist who assists with birds and natural history. This time it was Gayomini, a young woman who is working on completing her dissertation at Colombo University. Our stay was relatively short but we visited Talimanar, Vankalai and several other places on Mannar. The Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) were present in large numbers but at a great distance. Lenny and I went out before sunrise to try and get pictures and had reasonable success. Perhaps more importantly, we located pied avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) -apparently some of the first sightings of the season. Ajay and other would later go on to record large flocks (40+) of this rare visitor. The other highlight of the time in Mannar was looking for saw-scale vipers and frogs at night. There were large numbers of the Common Tree Frogs (Polypedates maculatus) and it was good fun photographing them with studio flashes. We returned to Colombo via Madhu and Tantirimale -our only regret was that the actual time in Mannar was unsatisfying short!
Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) at Mannar (December 2017).
Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)(non-breeding plumage) at Pesalai fishing beach (northern coast of Mannar) .
Common Tree Frogs (Polypedates maculatus) at Palmyrah House.
The Pearl Banks in the 19th Century. A two-part painting from Palmyrah House.
Landsat map of the north-west coast of Sri Lanka processed by the author. Double click on image for large 150 DPI version.
PAST MANNAR POSTS
Lockwood, Ian. “A Season of Birds-Mannar.” Ian Lockwood Blog. February 2017. Web.
“ . “Mannar: Far Corner of Sri Lanka.” Ian Lockwood Blog. November 2017. Web.
FURTHER READING & REFERENCES
De Silva, Anslem. Amphibians of Sri Lanka: A Photographic Guide to Common Frogs, Toad Caecilians. Published by author, 2009. Print.
De Silva, Anslem and Kanishka Ukuwela. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Reptiles of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publishing, 2017. Print.
Gnanam, Amrith. Discover Mannar Sri Lanka. Colombo: Palmyrah House, 2017. Print.
Kotagama, Sarath and Gamini Ratnavira. An Illustrated Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. Colombo: FOGSL, 2010. Print.
Warakagoda, Deepal et al. Birds of Sri Lanka. London: Christopher Helm, 2012. Print.
Mannar: Far Corner of Sri Lanka
Baobab on the north shore of Mannar.
Off the Grid (OTG), OSC’s outdoor and adventure club explores different corners of Sri Lanka seeking adventure, new destinations and fresh opportunities to learn from our host country. In October we took a three-day visit to the island of Mannar on Sri Lanka’s west coast. The low lying, bone-dry island is steeped in myth but distant from the well-worn tourist track of most visitors. Mannar is most often visited by birdwatchers looking for flamingos and wintering birds (see my post from March 2017). On this trip, OTG was looking for opportunities to build a relationship with a local NGO engaged in mangrove and coral reef conservation.
We originally had a large group signed up but, in the end, only three students joined the trip. Theo from DP2, Madeleine from DP1 and MYP3 student Lenny. Kamilla Sahideen, the other OTG faculty leader, joined us and we were driven by Anthony who is fluent in three languages and one of the best drivers that the school hires. The Recycling & Sustainability service group (represented by Lenny and myself) and Reefkeepers (represented by Madeleine) were particularly interested in how a small community was dealing with solid waste management and coral reef conservation.
Tantirimale Buddha.
Getting to Mannar was a significant part of the adventure and we had stops at Negombo, Tantirimale, Madhu, and Vankalai sanctuary on the way up. On the island we had an opportunity to visit the historic fort, the grave site of Adam & Eve, Talaimannar pier and the last point of land before Adams bridge. Each of these places is interesting in their own way-for me it was the living mythology of the location that stood out. In Mannar we stayed at the Four Tees guest house, a place well known to birders. They have reasonable rates and the owner Laurence is friendly, hospitable and surely one of the most knowledgeable hoteliers on the island. Our meals were simple (but scrumptious) and mostly taken at Mannar’s City Hotel and other road- side eating joints. Out visit coincided with the onset of the North East (Winter) monsoon and the showers that we experienced were beginning to fill up tanks and ponds that are dry for most of the year. In this arid, near desert part of the island, the relief for people and wildlife was palatable.
In Vidataltivu
The focus of our trip was to spend time in a small village, Vidataltivu, located off of the Mannar-Jaffna road. Vidataltivu’s location in an area once trapped in the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE is still haunting. Many of its buildings, built with generous quantities of cement in an art deco style during the 1960s, lie abandoned and empty. There are signs of normalcy returning in the active fishing harbor but the town seems far short of full recovery. The Vidataltivu Ecotourism Society (VETS) is a small organization that was started to help protect the area’s mangroves, sea grass beds and coral reefs from unsustainable fishing practices. They are composed of a handful of young people who have worked with their neighbors to protect the area. UNDP has helped to support their efforts and worked with the community in fixing up the fishing harbor’s docks, providing VETS with a boat and sponsoring various capacity building exercise. Santhiapillai Augustine was out contact from UNDP who helped try to line up the permissions. Edison, one of their leaders now works with the DCW while working on a graduate degree in Ruhuna University and worked to help facilitate our visit.
Because this was formerly in territory controlled by the LTTE there is a strong SL Navy presence in Vidataltivu. Their base at the edge of the Vidataltivu harbor blends in with the surroundings and it is a non-threatening arrangement from the point of view of a visitor. The harbor is active with fishing boats who specialize in catching crabs just off shore. However, the Navy’s concerns about security have made it very difficult for tourists to take short rides into the water from the harbor. The jurisdiction of the coastal area has recently been transferred to the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). I had worked in the weeks before our trip to get the necessary permissions and we came with written permission to conduct a study tour from the DWC. We thought that our group might be allowed to visit both the mangrove and the coral reef. In the end, we were only able to see the mangrove and will have to wait to visit the reef on a future visit.
Our trip was much too short but it did allow for us to get a sense of Mannar, Vidataltivu and the surrounding area. In general, I think all of us were impressed with the serene beauty of the low lying island, the palmyra trees, lagoons and infinite horizons. People were friendly and gracious in our interactions. We were, however, dismayed to observe large quantities of plastic waste on the roadsides, lagoons and beaches: it is clear that issues of non-biodegradable solid domestic waste pose a serious challenge for the citizens of Mannar. Some of this waste may be coming over the sea but most of the waste that we saw (broken buckets, plastic bags, shoes, wrappers and water bottles) that was on roadsides and near to Mannar’s human settlements. It is of course a problem felt at a national and global scale and Mannar is not alone in this challenge. On the positive side, I was happy that Laurence the proprietor of Four Tees welcomed us and then politely reminded us not to bring any plastic whatsoever into his premise.
As we were heading back to Colombo we stopped by the Mannar salterns and were treated to a sighting of the Greater flamingos-about 60 of them who are apparently resident all year long. OTG looks forward to returning to Mannar to build on the relationships that were started on this visit.
Greater flamingos taking flight near Mannar town. These are apparently a resident group of about 60 individuals.
Google My Maps showing trip route and significant points.
REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Gnanam, Amrith. Discover Mannar Sri Lanka. Colombo: Palmyrah House, 2017. Print.
A Season of Birds in Sri Lanka- Mannar
Flight of Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) at Vankalai Sanctuary near Mannar.
Greater flamingos and visitors. The larger numbers- in the thousands-were behind me in the glare of sunlight.
For a relatively small island Sri Lanka has a number of different landscapes, each of them hosting diverse assemblages of life and rich cultural traditions. The island of Mannar on the north west coast is a place that is quite different from the wet forest of the Central Highlands and southern ranges that feature prominently in this blog. The land is low, barely a few meters above sea level, the climate is exceedingly dry and the area is sparsely populated (with humans). Other then the rich layers of Mannar’s history, now mostly lost in sand and surf, or the quirky feral donkeys that wander the streets, it is the non-human migrants that draw visitors up to this isolated corner of Sri Lanka.
I first heard stories of Mannar from my father who used to cross with his family to Rameshwaram from the pier at Talimannar. Prior to flight availability in the 1950s (initially in war-surplus DC-3s) and later the protracted conflict in Sri Lanka (1983-2009), the ferry service offered one of the easiest ways to get between Sri Lanka and India. It is a short journey across to Rameshwaram (there were unverified stories of people swimming over to watch a film and return the same day!). These were the sort of romantic stories, as well as those of shipwrecks, pirates and pearl divers that I grew up with. In 1984 my father Merrick, brother Brian, school friend Kevin and I had tried to explore the coral-fringed islands near Rameshwaram, but by then the political situation had deteriorated and we made little progress in exploring beyond the famous temple town.
Of course, the history goes far, far back to mythological times when Hanuman’s monkey army helped build a sea bridge (Ram Situ) from Rameshwaram across to Lanka to battle Ravana and rescue Sita. Those shoals in the Palk Straits, Adam’s Bridge, are still there as the maps below illustrate. There have occasionally been disputes about their origins and satellite imagery has been used to prove supporting and counter claims. At the moment the ferry is history and the sand banks and tiny islands of Adam’s Bridge are quiet. It is difficult to get out to Adam’s Bridge because of the international boundary and contemporary fishing controversies between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. Mannar island, however, is a destination that has few restrictions. There is a crumbling Dutch-era fort, scattered Baobab trees, long quiet beaches and little else to see unless you are into birds…
Birds are what took my kids and me up to Mannar on our first visit in 2016. The shallow mud flats and saline lakes between the mainland and Mannar attract large numbers of wintering birds. In fact, Mannar and in particular Vankalai sanctuary, must be one of the best places in Sri Lanka to observe waders, water fowl and -if you are lucky- some of the thousands of flamingos that fly in to spend several months in the area. In 2016 the kids and I had a wonderful introductory trip along with the Duncan family. We got a sense of the area’s geography and enjoyed seeing many different birds. I’m still a bit of novice when it comes to identifying water birds and I was happy to have Will Duncan’s expert guidance identifying the myriad birds that we were seeing. In early 2016 there were no flamingos that made it south of the Jaffna lagoons. But by the end of year they had arrived in the thousands, prompting the necessity of a visit.
I returned with Lenny to photograph the flamingos that had returned en masse this year. I had been alerted by Sadeepa Gunawardana, a very talented Colombo-based wildlife photographer, of the opportunities to see the flamingos in Mannar. A poya three day weekend earlier this month provided the window that we needed to do the six hour drive up. In Vankalai we spent time with the Department of Wildlife Conservation guide Irfan to get a sense of the location and where best to go for early morning photography. Several other groups of Sri Lankan birders and photographers were also staying at Four Tees. The owner, Laurence is an outstanding and knowledgeable local resource who was clued into all the places to see birds. The food (Sri Lankan prawn curries etc.) was delicious and clearly this was the place to be to swap stories and share advice. Lenny and I had two days of good birding and photography. We started early (4:45 am), waded through lagoon sand and mud and waited in a hide for the light to illuminate the masses of pink and white. It was an amazing experience though I learned that it is quite tricky to get close to flamingos without them being disturbed. All in all it was a fulfilling trip and my next task is to plan a field study around some of the ecological and human interaction issues in Mannar.
GIS-generated map of the Mannar area. Double (or triple) click for larger A3 version.
Land and surface cover study of Mannar island based on a Landsat image from January 2016. Double click on image for larger A3 version.
Crimson sun at Vankalai Bird Sanctuary (January 2016)
FURTHER READING & REFERENCES
Birdlife International Asia. Web.
Birds Guide for Vankalai. Vankalai Bird Society. ND. Pamphlet.
de Livera, Lankika. “Haven for birds in war-ravaged Mannar: Vankalai declared a sanctuary.” The Sunday Times. 24 January 2009. Web.
Hettiarachchi, Kumudini. “ A cry from the wilds of Mannar.” The Sunday Times. 26 June 2016. Web.
Kotagama , Sarath and Gamini Ratnavira. An Illustrated Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. Colombo: FOGSL, 2010. Print.
Pethiyagoda, Rohan. “An Electric End to Vankalai Sanctuary?” Daily Mirror. 6 June 2016. Web.
Vankalai to be a Sanctuary. The Sunday Island. 21 January 2009. Web.
Warakagoda, Deepal et al. Birds of Sri Lanka. London: Christopher Helm, 2012. Print.
West Coast Explorations: Wilpattu
Forest reflection with full tank at Wilpattu.
The west coast of Sri Lanka looms large in myth, ecology and geography. Ecologically-speaking, the west coast is defined by its dry and semi-arid climatic zone. The coastal area supports several important fisheries and a string of human communities live off these resources from Negombo to Puttalam and Mannar. Offshore there are surviving coral reefs that can be reached from the Kalpitiya peninsula. Inland from the Gulf of Mannar is Wilpattu National Park, located in the north-west portion of the island. Adam’s Bridge, the string of shallow sandbanks that separates Sri Lanka from India, is linked to the epic Ramayana. These shoals and islands are said to be the remnants of a bridge that Hanuman’s army built for Rama in their pursuit of defeating Ravana and rescuing Sita from captivity in Lanka. The area is equally important in the Mahavamsa, the great chronicle of the Sinhalese. It records the founder of the Sinhalese Prince Vijaya landing on the copper-colored shores of Tambapanni (today known as Kudramalai) (Mahavimsa).
Signature wildlife and habitat from Wilpattu National Park: From top Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus), cliffs over the Gulf of Mannar at Kudramalai, elephant in core area, and cycad in Wilpattu’s interior.
Charismatics actors on the Wilpattu stage: Sri Lankan leopards photographed on the same day in July 2016.
The name “Wilpattu” is connected with the large bodies of water that dot the densely forested landscape of this part of Sri Lanka. Wilu or villu is translated in Tamil as a natural pond. For anyone familiar with the dry plains of Tamil Nadu there are striking parallels in the climate, soil and ecology. Except, in Wilpattu the natural vegetation is intact and the protected area is a living examples of what the plains south of Chennai must have once looked like before they were cleared in ancient days for croplands and other hallmarks of civilization.
Since hostilities came to an end in 2009 my family and I have been slowly exploring the west coast of Sri Lanka. During the last three years we have had a chance to visit Kalpitiya, Wilpattu National Park and Mannar Island. Wilpattu has become a special destination for a number of reasons. I grew up with stories of my father’s childhood visits there in the 1940s and 1950s. My grandmother Dorothy recalls family trips with sloth bear and chital encounters in her chronicle Glimpses: The Lockwoods 1928-1980. Wilpattu was Sri Lanka’s first national park (established in 1938) and being roughly half way between Jaffna and Colombo it was a favorite place to visit on road trips. When we first moved to Sri Lanka Wilpattu was closed because of fighting and the very real danger of landmines. In the years since we have been getting to know the area better. We have usually stayed outside of the park and then hired local jeeps for the day. There are a series of DWC bungalows that I am looking forward to staying at when the opportunity arises. I still feel like we are just scratching the surface and I’m looking forward to further explorations and longer periods in Wilpattu’s magical forests.
Forest raptors of Wilpattu: Crested Hawk-Eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus) in first two images and Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela) all photographed on the forest road into Wiplattu’s core area.
Afternoon light panorama at the heart of Wilpattu.
REFERENCES
Gunatilleke, Nimal et al. Sri Lanka’s Forests-Nature at Your Service. Colombo: Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, 2014. Print.
“Sri Lanka’s Wilpattu Ramsar Wetland Cluster.” Ramsar. 28 January 2013. Web.
“Trips Filed under Wilpattu.” Lankdasun. web.
Wikramanayake, Eric D. and Savithri Gunatilleke. “Southern Asia: Island of Sri Lanka off the coast of India. WWF Ecoregions. ND. Web.
Wijesinghe, Mahil. “Wilpattu…… in the times of Kuveni.” Sunday Observer. 23 May 2015. Web.
Wijeyeratne, Gehan de Silva. Sri Lankan Wildlife. Bucks, England: Bradt Travel Guides, 2007. Print.
“Wilpattu certified as a wetland of world importance.” Sunday Times. 10 February 2013. Web.
Piecing together 1:50,000 topo sheets of the west coast & Wilpattu and a Sri Lanka Landsat mosaic procured from the Sri Lanka Survey Department.
GIS-generated maps depicting forest cover, rivers, water bodies and protected areas in Sri Lanka. I utilized a variety of publicly available data in their creation (acknowledged in bottom right annotations). This is Draft #1 and I’ll make updates in the future. Double click for full sized 150 DPI A3 versions.
