Maggie and I left Ella, and were on our way home. We spent about five hours driving back to Kandy, stopping at Nuwara Eliya on the way, and spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up with Chandra.
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| Garden at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya |
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| Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya |
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| Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya |
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| Nuwara Eliya |
e had a full day to spend in Kandy. First, we headed to the Mahaweli River, where we had arranged to go out for a river cruise. The company we went with is called 'Mahaweli River's Edge', and I highly recommend this tour for birdwatchers as well as for general interest. The boat driver was knowledgeable about the wildlife, and was great at getting us into position for some photos. Check them out here:
We saw quite a few birds, including two new species for me: Black Bittern and Stork-billed Kingfisher.
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| Mahaweli River, Kandy |
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| Little Cormorant |
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| Indian Cormorants |
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| One very blurry Black Bitten (had shutter speed set way too low...) but proof that I saw one! |
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| Striated Heron |
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| Great Egret |
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| Great Egret |
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| White-throated Kingfisher |
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| Stork-billed Kingfisher |
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| Crested Hawk-Eagle |
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Crested Hawk-Eagle
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We came across a huge colony of Cattle Egrets! A sea of white birds coated the river banks on both sides, and when something spooked them, they all took flight at once - an amazing sight!
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| Cattle Egrets |
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| Cattle Egrets |
Next, we headed to Uduwattakele Forest Reserve, a historic forest area at the edge of the city of Kandy.
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| Maggie in Uduwattakele Forest Reserve |
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| We saw a lot of incredibly tall trees, and impressive vines |
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| We had a good view of Kandy from the lookout |
We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but I did get another lifer bird in Uduwattakele - Tickell's Blue Flycatcher! Other birds we saw included Dark-fronted Babbler, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Southern Hill Myna, and Asian Paradise-Flycatcher. We also saw some Toque Macaques and squirrels.
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher |
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher |
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| Dark-fronted Babbler |
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| Kandy Lake |
Traveller's tip for visiting the Temple of the Tooth, and probably many other temples in Sri Lanka or elsewhere - wear socks! You will be required to remove your shoes to enter the temple, and the place to leave shoes is quite far from the temple entrance. Once in the temple grounds, there is a lot to see outside as well, and moving between buildings with different displays. The ground was quite hot, and everyone without socks was suffering. The inside of the temple was beautiful, but make sure you don't photograph the shrine of the Buddha's tooth.
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| Temple of the Tooth, Kandy |
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| Mural inside the temple |
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| Light fittings inside the temple |
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| Display inside the temple |
After spending some time at the temple, we went across the road to the iconic Queen's Hotel for a drink.
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| Queen's Hotel, Kandy |
We spent the evening and the following morning doing some more bird watching at Chandra's before saying our goodbyes and heading back to Negombo.
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| Common Tailorbird |
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| Brown-headed Barbet |
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| Oriental White-eye |
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| Spotted Dove |
Back in Negombo, we checked into the Ice Bear Hotel. Maggie had stayed there previously, and thought it would be nice for us to spend our last night in Sri Lanka on the beach.
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| Lush grounds at the Ice Bear |
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| Ice Bear Hotel |
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| Sunset over the Indian Ocean viewed from the beach directly out from our hotel |
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| Maggie and I on our last night in Sri Lanka, Negombo |
In the morning, it was time for us to pack our bags for the last time and head to the airport. We did a bit of last minute souvenir shopping, and before long we were in Singapore. We checked out the beautiful airport garden displays, and eventually it was time to board the final flight back to Adelaide.
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| Changi Airport, Singapore |
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| Me and my Travel Buddy Maggie <3 |
TRIP SUMMARY:
Needless to say, I had an absolutely fantastic time. I had the best travel companions, the best guides, and saw some amazing wildlife including so many leopards I lost count (it was about 12!), and 142 bird species, of which 121 were lifers! My complete bird species list is below:
1
|
Lesser Whistling-Duck
|
2
|
Garganey
|
3
|
Indian Peafowl
|
4
|
Sri Lanka Junglefowl
|
5
|
Little Grebe
|
6
|
Rock Dove
|
7
|
Spotted Dove
|
8
|
Asian Emerald Dove
|
9
|
Orange-breasted Pigeon
|
10
|
Green Imperial-Pigeon
|
11
|
Green-billed Coucal
|
12
|
Greater Coucal
|
13
|
Sirkeer Malkoha
|
14
|
Blue-faced Malkoha
|
15
|
Asian Koel
|
16
|
Sri Lanka Frogmouth
|
17
|
Crested Treeswift
|
18
|
Western Swamphen
|
19
|
White-breasted Waterhen
|
20
|
Great Thick-knee
|
21
|
Eurasian Black-winged Stilt
|
22
|
Pacific Golden-Plover
|
23
|
Yellow-wattled Lapwing
|
24
|
Red-wattled Lapwing
|
25
|
Lesser Sand-Plover
|
26
|
Kentish Plover
|
27
|
Little Ringed Plover
|
28
|
Pheasant-tailed Jacana
|
29
|
Black-tailed Godwit
|
30
|
Little Stint
|
31
|
Pin-tailed Snipe
|
32
|
Common Sandpiper
|
33
|
Marsh Sandpiper
|
34
|
Wood Sandpiper
|
35
|
Little Tern
|
36
|
Whiskered Tern
|
37
|
Common Tern
|
38
|
Asian Openbill
|
39
|
Woolly-necked Stork
|
40
|
Lesser Adjutant
|
41
|
Painted Stork
|
42
|
Oriental Darter
|
43
|
Little Cormorant
|
44
|
Great Cormorant
|
45
|
Indian Cormorant
|
46
|
Spot-billed Pelican
|
47
|
Black Bittern
|
48
|
Grey Heron
|
49
|
Purple Heron
|
50
|
Great Egret
|
51
|
Little Egret
|
52
|
Western Reef Egret
|
53
|
Cattle Egret
|
54
|
Indian Pond-Heron
|
55
|
Striated Heron
|
56
|
Black-crowned Night-Heron
|
57
|
Black-headed Ibis
|
58
|
Eurasian Spoonbill
|
59
|
Crested Serpent-Eagle
|
60
|
Crested Hawk-Eagle
|
61
|
Black Eagle
|
62
|
Besra
|
63
|
Brahminy Kite
|
64
|
White-bellied Sea-Eagle
|
65
|
Grey-headed Fish-Eagle
|
66
|
Serendib Scops-Owl
|
67
|
Malabar Trogon
|
68
|
Eurasian Hoopoe
|
69
|
Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill
|
70
|
Malabar Pied-Hornbill
|
71
|
Common Kingfisher
|
72
|
Stork-billed Kingfisher
|
73
|
White-throated Kingfisher
|
74
|
Pied Kingfisher
|
75
|
Green Bee-eater
|
76
|
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
|
77
|
Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
|
78
|
Crimson-fronted Barbet
|
79
|
Brown-headed Barbet
|
80
|
Yellow-fronted Barbet
|
81
|
Crimson-backed Flameback
|
82
|
Black-rumped Flameback
|
83
|
Lesser Yellownape
|
84
|
Eurasian Kestrel
|
85
|
Rose-ringed Parakeet
|
86
|
Plum-headed Parakeet
|
87
|
Layard's Parakeet
|
88
|
Sri Lanka Hanging-Parrot
|
89
|
Sri Lanka Woodshrike
|
90
|
Common Iora
|
91
|
Small Minivet
|
92
|
Orange Minivet
|
93
|
Brown Shrike
|
94
|
Black-hooded Oriole
|
95
|
White-bellied Drongo
|
96
|
White-browed Fantail
|
97
|
Black-naped Monarch
|
98
|
Indian Paradise-Flycatcher
|
99
|
Sri Lanka Blue-Magpie
|
100
|
House Crow
|
101
|
Large-billed Crow
|
102
|
Oriental Skylark
|
103
|
Barn Swallow
|
104
|
Sri Lanka Swallow
|
105
|
Cinereous Tit
|
106
|
Red-vented Bulbul
|
107
|
White-browed Bulbul
|
108
|
Yellow-browed Bulbul
|
109
|
Square-tailed Bulbul
|
110
|
Common Tailorbird
|
111
|
Grey-breasted Prinia
|
112
|
Jungle Prinia
|
113
|
Ashy Prinia
|
114
|
Plain Prinia
|
115
|
Zitting Cisticola
|
116
|
Oriental White-eye
|
117
|
Dark-fronted Babbler
|
118
|
Orange-billed Babbler
|
119
|
Yellow-billed Babbler
|
120
|
Ashy-headed Laughingthrush
|
121
|
Asian Brown Flycatcher
|
122
|
Brown-breasted Flycatcher
|
123
|
Indian Robin
|
124
|
Oriental Magpie-Robin
|
125
|
White-rumped Shama
|
126
|
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
|
127
|
Spot-winged Thrush
|
128
|
Southern Hill Myna
|
129
|
Common Myna
|
130
|
Golden-fronted Leafbird
|
131
|
Pale-billed Flowerpecker
|
132
|
Purple-rumped Sunbird
|
133
|
Purple Sunbird
|
134
|
Long-billed Sunbird
|
135
|
Grey Wagtail
|
136
|
Western Yellow Wagtail
|
137
|
Paddyfield Pipit
|
138
|
House Sparrow
|
139
|
Streaked Weaver
|
140
|
White-rumped Munia
|
141
|
Scaly-breasted Munia
|
142
|
Tricolored Munia
|
The End <3
Wow what a great job you have achieved and an incredible narration of an epic adventure. Really enjoyed viewing your photos and re experiencing the stories and fun times had. Thankyou Alysse for sharing our time together.
ReplyDeleteWow what a great job you have achieved and an incredible narration of an epic adventure. Really enjoyed viewing your photos and re experiencing the stories and fun times had. Thankyou Alysse for sharing our time together.
ReplyDelete