Arrived in Paradise

Well 6 hours on the road has seen me arrive at the HECS Project

Saneth (Different one from yesterday’s Saneth) collected me at around 10.30am in the Sri Lankan Conservation Society troop carrier and we drove along passing towns up until we reached Dambulla when the country opened up a bit more and we got to enjoy a more natural landscape.   

On the way Saneth stopped at a roadside vender and bought us both a young coconut to drink and scoop from and he showed me the beetle nut leaf the vender was also selling and explained all the bits that would be wrapped up in it for chewing and the stall vender happily grinned and demonstrated the resulting red teeth and gums.

Notice the huge buddha on the hill

We also stopped for some Sri Lankan fare for lunch before we got to Dambulla.  Although we had a long drive to get here Saneth was happy to keep an eye open for birds and so the rice paddies along the route produced good numbers of Indian Pond Herons, Asian Open Bills, Black-headed Ibis’, Red-wattled Lapwings and Cinammon Bitterns  along with Little Egrets and Cattle Egrets.  As we left the towns behind we were getting Black-backed Robins (endemic race), Spotted Doves (endemic  race), blue-tailed Bee-eater (winter visitor), Indian Rollers, Stork-billed Kingfisher and Common Kingfisher. 

The last 10 kms were along rough 4WD tracks and adjacent to a water course which was fenced off with electric wire fencing and Saneth explained this was one of the strategies to deter the elephants from rampaging through this area and destroying local habitations. The landscape which opened up to me on our arrival though was just magnificent and far exceeded any expectations. The place is teeming with birds but the highlight was late afternoon seeing score upon score of Alexandrine Parakeets flying low over the project communal house and then seeing a male peacock and some females strutting his stuff atop a hillock just beyond the house. We look down on a lake and the activity of birds flying over and coming into trees to roost for the night was a sight to behold. 

My Bedroom

The Lounge area