Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Let's Discover a Lush, Tropical Savanna Forest in Sri Lanka

If you are a person who enjoys being in wilderness, observing the animals, looking at endless green, listening to the murmur of Mother Nature and feeling the cool breeze, I have good news for you. You are going to discover such a place, a unique eco system which will be a unique experience.

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You must be eager to know what this place is by now. Well, it is Nilgala forest national park of Sri Lanka that you are going to learn about. It is the most prominent Savanna forest in Sri Lanka. This, like other savannas, has typical herbs. These savannas catch wildfire every year. They have underbrush of grass and the trees that scatter here and there are all well adapted to be resistant to fire.

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Nilgala is located in the Eastern and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka. The forest spreads over 26000 hectares and administered by both forest and wildlife conservation departments of Sri Lankan government.

You can reach the park by either going from Colombo to Kandy and then to Bibila, on Bibila-Inginiyagala road, or using Bibila- Batticoloa road.

You would not find any tracks except those used for conservation purposes or any camping or lodging facilities in the part that belongs to department of wildlife conservation, but the section belonging to Galoya national park has tracks and camp sites.

The west side part of the park has three jeep-tracks, a boat track from the dam of Senanayaka Samudraya basin, giving you a panoramic view , a traveler's lodge with a capacity for ten people, and three camp sites.

There are solitary rocks and mountains here and there, pools of water, valleys, and slopes in the park, but the main feature is the Savanna. Short and tall grass with scattered solitary trees is the typical feature of that.

Nilgala, Danigala, Yakunnahela, Hamanawa, Kahatatuwa, and Mahakadakanda are the main rock formation in the forest premise. Nilgala is the grandest of them all, and it has such a rich community of herbal plants.

Senanayaka Samudraya, a man made water reservoir of 19250 acres is on one side of the park. There are many mountain ranges surrounding the park which adds to the beauty of it.

The river Galoya flows through the park.

With the prominent Savanna, mixed dry and evergreen forest feature can be seen there too. The annual average rain pour is about 1700mm, which comes from north eastern monsoon and the average temperature is about 20 centigrade.

The plant community of the forest consists of grasses such as Kudukumberiya, Kukurumana, Pengirimana, Mana, and Iluk, as local folks call, and various hard-wood trees.

There are a significant number of wild elephants in Nilgala. Among other mammals, there are sambour, deer, wild buffalo, wild boar, fox, fishing cat, porcupine, pangolin, toddy cat, mongoose, leopard and sloth bear.

Nilgala is also famous for birds. Almost every Sri Lankan dry zone bird can be found there. There are local, endemic and migrating birds. Wet land bird species are present too.

No enough studies have been done about the amphibians that live there. Every Sri Lankan dry zone reptile has been reported in Nilgala. Pythons, crocodiles and some deadly poisonous snakes are also among them.

Nilgala is also known for its butterflies and bees too.

Does this sound fascinating? Trust me; the actual beauty of this wilderness is far beyond my expression. If you visit Nilgala forest national park once, you would want to go there again

Let's Discover a Lush, Tropical Savanna Forest in Sri Lanka

Would you like to discover the exquisite wildlife of Sri Lanka further?

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