We hired a car and driver to take us to Uda Walawe National Park, as it is located in a more remote part of Sri Lanka. We spent the night in an Eco Resort with rustic cabins without air-conditioning so we took a lot of cool showers. The next morning we took a jeep safari, starting before sunrise so that we would be in the park when it's coolest and the animals are most active.
Sri Lanka has realized the value of their wilderness, and has effective policies to protect the animals and to charge tourists appropriately for the opportunity to experience a safari. At the entrance to the park we picked up a nature guide named Dinuisha. He had eagle eyes and was very knowledgeable about the birds and animals in Uda Walawe.
This is a Serpent Eagle. It almost seemed like he was posing for our picture.
These Indian Pied Hornbills were high up in the tree.
There were a number of water holes that we cruised by. At this one we got great views of this Painted Stork.
The reason we made the journey to Uda Walawe is because they have elephants there year round. And we were not disappointed. We saw single elephant males like this one.
This was a family of elephants, with a mother and two juveniles. When we first drove up, the mother got in front of her kids and wouldn't move until she felt comfortable that we were not a threat.
We got the treat of seeing them go into the water to drink. Elephants need between 80-220 liters of water per day for drinking, and more for bathing. A mature elephant can hold 4 liters of water in their trunk.
The elephant trunk is amazing. Wikipedia states there are 60,000 muscles in an elephant's trunk, and no bones. Elephants use their trunks for breathing, watering, feeding, touching, dusting, sound production and communication, washing, pinching, grasping, defense and offense. The trunk can lift 660 pounds. Here the mother is using her trunk to pull up grass, then she steps on the roots to break them off. Elephants need to eat continuously, up to 330 pounds of vegetation per day.
We also saw this group of 7 elephants, comprised of adult females, adolescent males and a baby. They were eating under the shade of trees.
The baby is a tusker, a male with tusks, which is rare in Sri Lankan Asian elephants. His mother is to the left in the photo. Elephant pregnancy is 20 months long. The baby is fully mature at 19 months, but spends another month growing in the womb, so that is is tall enough to feed when it is born. At birth an elephant weighs 220 lbs, and it will nurse for 3 years.
We were also fortunate to see elephant mating, which is unusual on a safari. We think this was likely a young male "practicing" as the female he mounted was a lactating mother who likely wouldn't get pregnant. And fully mature males are not allowed to be part of a herd with females.
Sri Lanka has realized the value of their wilderness, and has effective policies to protect the animals and to charge tourists appropriately for the opportunity to experience a safari. At the entrance to the park we picked up a nature guide named Dinuisha. He had eagle eyes and was very knowledgeable about the birds and animals in Uda Walawe.
This is a Serpent Eagle. It almost seemed like he was posing for our picture.
These Indian Pied Hornbills were high up in the tree.
There were a number of water holes that we cruised by. At this one we got great views of this Painted Stork.
The reason we made the journey to Uda Walawe is because they have elephants there year round. And we were not disappointed. We saw single elephant males like this one.
This was a family of elephants, with a mother and two juveniles. When we first drove up, the mother got in front of her kids and wouldn't move until she felt comfortable that we were not a threat.
We got the treat of seeing them go into the water to drink. Elephants need between 80-220 liters of water per day for drinking, and more for bathing. A mature elephant can hold 4 liters of water in their trunk.
The elephant trunk is amazing. Wikipedia states there are 60,000 muscles in an elephant's trunk, and no bones. Elephants use their trunks for breathing, watering, feeding, touching, dusting, sound production and communication, washing, pinching, grasping, defense and offense. The trunk can lift 660 pounds. Here the mother is using her trunk to pull up grass, then she steps on the roots to break them off. Elephants need to eat continuously, up to 330 pounds of vegetation per day.
We also saw this group of 7 elephants, comprised of adult females, adolescent males and a baby. They were eating under the shade of trees.
The baby is a tusker, a male with tusks, which is rare in Sri Lankan Asian elephants. His mother is to the left in the photo. Elephant pregnancy is 20 months long. The baby is fully mature at 19 months, but spends another month growing in the womb, so that is is tall enough to feed when it is born. At birth an elephant weighs 220 lbs, and it will nurse for 3 years.
We were also fortunate to see elephant mating, which is unusual on a safari. We think this was likely a young male "practicing" as the female he mounted was a lactating mother who likely wouldn't get pregnant. And fully mature males are not allowed to be part of a herd with females.
