After my solo Panama trip (which was rather rough - with me getting 2 diseases and missing the main target bird by a shave), it was a nice change to have hired a private guide to organize everything for us and do all the driving, and to sleep in actual hotels without risking exposure to parasitic diseases, etc. Ramata found us a great outfit called "walk with Jith" and superstar guide Thilina Karunanayaka for this laid back yet somewhat hardcore birding and cultural tour.
Sri Lanka birding and Wildlife Trip from Dec 26’2015 to Jan 09’2016
Gary Yang and Loretta Kao
From Taipei, Taiwan
Day 1: 12/26:因為原本規劃行程被取消,在最短時間內改變去了從沒想過會去的地方-斯里蘭卡.第一天行程輕鬆行主要拜訪佛牙寺，無奈我們一早從可倫坡機場附近酒店開來康堤就花了六小時（按正常約3小時），其實實際上距離只有116公里是因爲遇上連續假期共四天（斯里蘭卡是沒有任何高速公路）大家都出來玩了。中間我們停車在路邊看到樹上吊滿了水果蝙蝠fruit bat，遠遠望去會誤認為大片樹葉。後來到達康堤更發現原來這些蝙蝠是非常普遍在一般平原，甚至市區都易見。祂真的很大隻，飛起來展翅可達3英尺，除了停棲在樹上，也有不少掛在電線上。好不容易到達飯店，鳥導給我們兩小時休息時間，我們當然不會錯過任何可以拼鳥的機會，短短兩小時就已經入袋：長嘴吸蜜鳥，紫腰吸蜜鳥，白胸翡翠，白腰紋鳥，紅胸紋鳥，黑頭黃鸝，小PT,小鸕鶿、印度池鷺，黃頭鷺，小白鷺，白腹秧雞，珠頸斑鳩，小金背三趾啄木，金額葉鵯，白腹卷尾，烏鴉，家八哥，印度白頭鶇鶥，下午四點下午四點離開民宿看5；30的民族舞蹈，那些舞者演出出的力與美真是賞心悅目。之後的fire walk 就與我們的乩童有異曲同工之趣。今天的壓軸就是去參觀佛牙寺真是人山人海，裝佛牙的佛龕ㄧ天只開放兩小時，早上與傍晚的各6:30-7:30，而佛龕真正打開是7點整，我們鳥導太厲害了，我們擠到佛龕前看到打開真是太感動了。而那短短幾分鐘就已經讓信眾瘋狂了，但也看見相當多的人默默坐在地上虔誠膜拜。雖然塞車花了大半時間，但還真是豐收的ㄧ天。計：19種
Sri Lanka is recognized as an easy birding destination as the island is quite small and easy to navigate. Roads are fairly good and the birding sites are quite accessible. There are still quite large areas of forest and the current 33 endemics and many regional (southern India and Sri Lanka) make a trip here quite appealing. Sri Lanka also has quite a rich cultural history and many historical sites are well worth visiting. With that in mind my wife and I spent twelve days touring the country.
We had a very enjoyable time in Sri Lanka and our guide proved to be a superb guide for the birds, other wildlife and cultural sites. He made the holiday an excellent experience for us all and we appreciated the great efforts he made to find all the birds he possibly could for us. We only missed 3 targets and all of them were almost impossible to find, no Pied Thrushes - we were too early, Scaly Thrushes weren't calling and were impossible to find and Serendip Scops Owls did not co-operate despite great efforts by our guide and the local guides in Sinharaja. If we come back to Sri Lanka we will be delighted if our guide were our guide again.
We will write a trip report and once it is complete we will send you a copy for your website and we look forward to meeting you again in August at the Birdfar.
Thanks again for organising an excellent trip for us
This travel report is by Mark Taylor. He is the General Sales Manager (New vehicles) of the BMW group (Doncaster), Melbourne, Australia. This is a comprehensive 17 day trip report. Our sincere thanks to him for providing this report free of charged and we are amazed that you really did this 17 page report for us.
