Flood Plain National Park

Flood Plain National Park

A majestic river, beautiful swamps, wild elephants and big crocodiles, these are only few attractions of the scenic flood plain national park in Sri Lanka.

Location – Polonnaruwa District close to Manampitiya, North Central Province.


Getting there;
Colombo->Kurunegala->Dambulla->Habarana->Minneriya->Polonnaruwa->Mananpitiya (233km)

By Train;
Trincomalee Train - Should get down from Mananpitiya or Gallalla stations as the park is situated between these two.

Facilities:
There are no facilities yet within the park since this has been considered a threatened area due to terrorist activities in the past. But it is easy to find accommodations and other facilities in the surrounding towns like Polonnaruwa.

Flood Plain National Park (FPN) is the 9th national park in Sri Lanka, declared on 7th august 1984. This covers an area of 17,350 hectares and it connects to the “Somawathiya” national park from the north, and “Wasgomuwa” national park from the south.
FPN has one of the most important ecological systems in the country known as “Mahaweli swamps” within its borders. These hold the overflowing water of river “Mahaweli” specially during monsoon season giving the park its name.
FPN is based centering the river “Mahaweli” the longest river in Sri Lanka. In this area the average width of the river is about 200-300 meters and there are also several small islands made out of river sand. Dense riverbank forests can be seen in these islands and alone the riverbanks. During the monsoon, the whole park becomes a massive lake and later on a big swamp with the lowering water level.
“Thunmodara” the place where “Amban ganga” a small river meets Mahaweli is a very attractive place in the park.

Close by “Dimbulagala” rock temple is also a famous tourist attraction.

Biodiversity of the park:

Large mammals – Elephant, Sri Lankan axis deer, Samba deer, leopard, Sloth Bear, wild buffalo,

Small mammals - Chevrotain, wild boar, Porcupine, Mongoose , Civet, Golden Jackal, wild Hare, Indian Pangolin

Reptiles – Crocodile, Pythons, Cobras, Vipers

Birds - Brahminy Kite, Little Cormorant , Indian Cormorant, Purple Heron, Grey Heron, White-breasted Waterhen, Red-wattled Lapwing, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Purple Swamphen


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Galvesland

This small yet beautiful national park is situated close to Nuwara Eliya town center, within the city limits. Park is ideal for birds watching and to enjoy the amazing mountainous forests while spending your vacation in this famous tourist destination known as Little England.

Location: Nuwara Eliya city, Nuwara Eliya District, Central Province

Getting there:
Alone Nuwara Eliya – Udupussellawa road, about 1km from town center is the Galvesland road adjoining Nuwara Eliya economic center

Facilities:
Since this is a very small park, no camp sites or lodging facilities inside the park. It’s open during day time for holiday spenders at Nuwara Eliya where there are ample facilities for tourists.

A well designed forest trail covers whole the park which allows a walking tourist to experience the biodiversity and climate conditions of the forest.While enjoying various bird songs, the thick vegetation of the forest and the high forest canopy presents truly nice scenery. Alone this trail which stretches about a kilometer, there are patches of open grass lands and a fern forest section too.

Galwaysland may be small in size, but it’s rich in biodiversity. Its isolated nature in the middle of busy Nuwara Eliya has prevented it from inhabiting by large mammals. But there are small mammals like wild boar, Chevrotain, Grizzled Giant Squirrel, Rusty-spotted Cat, Purple-faced Langur and hares.

Reptile species found here includes, Black-cheek Lizard, Rhino-horn Lizard and rare Pygmy Lizard which are endemic to Sri Lanka.

Birds and butterflies make Galwaysland a true paradise. Butterfly species includes Lemon Emigrant, Common Bluebottle, Great Eggfly, Common Birdwing, Red Pierrot, Common Rose and Common Leopard in great numbers.

There are 35 species of birds in this park where 7 of them are endemic. Among them Sri Lanka Yellow-eared Bulbul can be seen in pairs or as small groups. Sri Lanka Whistling Thrush and Sri Lanka Dull Blue Flycatcher are also among endemic birds found here.

Sri Lanka White-eye is also a common resident of the park, always flying around gathering nectar from various wild flowers. Small Minivet, Black-hooded Oriole, and Emerald Dove are common breeding residents.
Winter visitors like Forest Wagtail and Brown Shrike can also be found in the park.

Galwaysland is famous as a breeding ground for Kestrels. These birds make their nests on forest canopy and their loud calls echoes all over the park.

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Gal-oya National Park

Beautiful Gal-oya national park is based around the Galoya reservoir in the eastern Sri Lanka. Together with scenic land trails, fabulous water trail along the reservoir brings a unique experience with several welcome surprises.

Location : Ampara & Monaragala districts – Eastern Province

Getting there:

* Colombo -> Kandy -> Bibila -> Inginiyagala
* Colombo -> Ratnapura - >Balangoda -> Wellavaya - > Monaragala - > Siyambalaanduwa - >17 handiya Ampara road (Wadinagala) - >Inginiyagala
* Colombo - > Ratnapura - >Pelmadulla->Thanamalwila->Wellawaya-> Monaragala - > Siyambalaanduwa - >17 handiya Ampara road (Wadinagala) - >Inginiyagala

Close by towns: Ampara, Inginiyagala, Bibila

Accommodation

Facilities: Galoya Park has a single tourist bungalow by the beautiful “Ekgal oya” river, which is near the 36th kilometer post in Ampara-Siyambalanduwa road.
Park has 4 camp sides also. They are “Kossapola”, ”Kaballabokka”, “Diggalamulla” and “Nilgala”


Park Management office is situated at Inginiyagala. The permissions to enter the park is also should be obtained from here.
There are two jeep trails to the park. But the most interesting trail would be the water trail. The safari boats start their journey from the jetty near the wild life information center situated on the main dam of the reservoir. Boats go up to the place where Galoya (river) meets the reservoir, which is about 18 miles away and takes one and half hours to reach.
The whole park and the reservoir are surrounded by a mountain range and famous hills like “Westminster abbey” and “Wadinagala” also makes the scenery picture perfect. Reservoir has several solitary islands like “Birds Island”. The rocky area where the Galoya meets the reservoir is called “Makara” (dragon mouth) which is famous among tourists.
Galoya Park is home to about 250 wild elephants. It is not rare to see elephants alone jeep trails and also during the boat ride. Alone the banks of the reservoir and in the islands, there are about 100-150 elephants in groups or in solitary. And if you are really lucky a surprise awaits you..! Rare site of swimming groups of elephants that cross the reservoir to the islands is truly amazing.

Other wild life of the park includes herbivores like Sri Lankan axis deer, Samba deer, Chevrotain, wild boar, wild buffalo, and carnivors like leopard and Sloth Bear. There are many small mammals also like Toque Macaque, langur, Giant Squirrel, Porcupine, Mongoose and Civet to name a few.

Next to the elephants, the other main attraction of the park would be birds. Galoya is truly a birds’ paradise. While the reservoir inhabits many aquatic birds, surrounding sav

Image via Wikipedia

anna is also full of forest birds. Birds among the savanna include Sri Lanka Jungle fowl, Spur fowl, Brown-capped Babbler, Grey Hornbill and Red-faced Malkoha which are endemic to Sri Lanka.
In and around the reservoir it’s common to see aquatic birds like Little Cormorant, Malayan Night Heron, Lesser Whistling-duck, several Kingfisher species and the endangered Spot-billed Pelican.

Reptile diversity of the park is also high. Crocodile leads the pack with its size which includes Star Tortoise, monitors, Agamid Lizards, Snake-eye lizards, and wild geckos. There are several snake species including Python, Cobra, and Viper in the savanna.
Main fish species found in the reservoir are mottled eel, Wallago, Magura, Thilapiya and carp. More studies are underway to identify the biodiversity of the area.

Forest and vegetation
Generally the forest is a dry evergreen forest since it’s situated in the dry zone. But because of the Galoya reservoir there are several deviations visible from the common regional forests. There are areas of grass lands, savanna and riverbanks forests and of cause dry evergreen forests mainly covering the surrounding mountains

Close by important places:

* “Buddhangala” – a famous Buddhist temple built in ancient times. Some 15km from Inginiyagala town
* “Deegawapiya” – another ancient Buddhist temple about 10km from “Buddhangala”

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