In Sri Lanka there were a few National Parks to choose from. Yala offered the chance to see Sri Lanka's leopards but was further away and more popular which can mean crowded. Udawalawa was closer and we did not feel crowded at all. We saw many animals: elephants, wild water buffalo, wild pigs, sambar deer and a large monitor lizard. The Birds were also plentiful. I saw 45 different species of which 18 were new to my list. Instead of showing all my new birds with a lifelist number, I am choosing to just show the best pictures. Anyone that is interested can send me an email and I will share my eBird checklist with you. We rode around the park for three hours and at the end we were feeling every bump in the road. The drive back was in the dark which is less interesting. On the highway we passed several red busses that were being used by local schools for the equivalent of a senior trip. As we passed the bus we could see that the lights were on and everyone was up on their feet dancing...fun!
Hitting a peacock with you scooter must be like hitting a deer with your car
Stick insect for snacks
I am not showing all 18 new birds of my birdlist, just the bast pictures
Wild pigs!
More snacks for the birds
This white throated kingfisher is so fancy
Spot Billed Pelican
Painted Stork
We saw elephants even before we got into the park
Climbing in
A very official guard
Wild water buffalo
Asian Wooly Necked Stork
Asian Green Bee Eater
Snack time for the elephant
Looking for a toothpick
It looks like a chunk of wood is stuck in the trunk
The elephant's tail
A cute Asian Robin
Peacocks in the wild
Blue Tailed Bee Eater
A tiny bird in in this weaver nest
Lots of Safari Wagons lined up for something
It is a family of elephants crossing the ;lake
Two adults and two young ones
Look closely in front of the first large elephant and you can see a tiny trunk sticking out of the water
The tiny trunk was this little one.
A cutie!
A large monitor lizard
An changeable hawk eagle
Chestnut Bee Eater
A couple of types of monkeys are found here, this is a macac
This is a purple faced leaf eater
The adults have a very purple face
Long legs on the yellow wattled lapwing
Imperial Green Pigeon
Indian Paradise Flycatcher
A big eagle nest
The roads are rough
White Belly Sea Eagle
Lonely bird
Our safari mobile
Happy hour for the Rose Ringed Parakeets
Orange Breasted Green Pigeon
Happy hour for this young elephant
Time to get a drink from Mom
A changeable hawk eagle with kill
Yummy
A wild pig
A mongoose mom and kid
Sambar deer
Our driver, Jayani, was great
A big bull wishing us well
Ready to head back to Weligama
This is why tuktuk rides are not recomended
Weeeee!
Up on the large dam
As the daylight is fading
Looking up at the party bus!
