Memories of Wilpattu

As I had never been to this beautiful and largest national park I was dreaming of this trip for a long period. It became a reality when few of my friends who were working with me decided to do this trip with our family members.

We decided to do this trip in two days and planned to stay the first day night in a small hotel near Wilpattu junction and to start the safari following day early morning. So on first day we started our journey from Gampaha at around 2 p.m. and reached Puttalam at about 5 p.m. where we stopped near the lagoon for a break.

Nice sceneries at Puttalam lagoon.

Famous Wind mills at Puttalam

Norochcholei power plant seen from Puttalam.

Then we started our journey again along Puttalam-Anuradhapura road and again stopped at Thabbowa tank to see the beautiful sceneries of sun set near Thabbowa.

Beautiful Thabbowa tank

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Looks like they are having a class.

Our crowd enjoying the sceneries at Thabbowa

.	The beauty of Mother Nature.

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Then we again headed towards our accommodation on that night, Leopard den hotel which is situated near Wilpattu junction on Puttalam Anuradhapura road. It was a guest house with good clean rooms with air conditioning and clean attached bathrooms. Their food was really good and rates were also reasonable. They have a very good safari jeep also, which we hired for our safari on following day.

Leopard at leopard den

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Following day morning they prepared our breakfast and lunch and packed them and most importantly handed them over in time so that we were able to start our safari early in the morning at around 5.30 a.m.

Getting ready for a full day of safari in the early morning

When we travelled to entrance of the Wilpattu national park by the safari jeep the cold wind was unbearable for us and it was like travelling in an open vehicle in N’Eliya. Fortunately my kid was wearing a jersey and all the others had to suffer the cold morning winds.
We entered the park at about six in the morning and got a guide and straight away started the safari.

At the entrance of Wilpattu National Park

Nice sceneries on the start

Like a painted art work

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Bathing sun in the early morning

Then we had our breakfast at a place where there was a summer hut and where visitors are allowed to get down from their vehicles.

We had our breakfast here.

My little hero. He is also a real nature lover

After having a delicious breakfast we started our safari again.

.	They were really playful

.	Black winged stilt looking for a prey.

Nice reflexion

Red-wattled Lapwing

Showing his colours

Great Stone Plover

The Crested Serpent Eagle

The Crested Serpent Eagle

Beauty of Mother Nature

Purple heron

Enjoying a tasty meal alone

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We had a nice cool bath at Modaragamaru near Kokmote wild life bungalow before having a tasty lunch on river bank.

Kokmote wild life bungalow

Modaragam aru – the northern border of Wilpattu N.P.

Really love the shady banks and the river

It was a real fun time

Having a nice cool dip

This is the nice rocky surface near Modaragamaru where we had our lunch and relaxed a bit before starting exploring in the afternoon.

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We planned to visit Kudiramalai point also but had to abandon the idea as the area was flooded and not accessible for vehicles. So after the lunch we started safari again hoping to see the big one – the leopard.

A group of Indian Pond Herons

Flooded villus

Little green bee eater

A group of black winged stilts

Crested serpent eagle

Blue tailed bee eater

.	Wild boars

Found him at last lying peacefully on the bank of a tank

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We were really tired after a twelve hour safari but were really happy as it was a memorable day and we returned back to Gampaha via same route at around 11 o’clock in the night.

Thanks for reading.