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    at 4 thirty. My Driver/ Guide was aiming to break the record Yala to Udawalawa National Park and I was sitting in the back shitting my pans.
My Guide had a friend with him and we stopped at a  temple or something religious. The friend went out of the car and he  did a ritual in front of the temple.
I don't know what he did, but I hope  it will give us good luck during the safari.
We bought the ticket at the ticket office and then we drove to the gate. We stopped to have a look at an Indian Roller on one of the electric wires. The first Indian Roller since I arrived to Sri Lanka. A very beautiful bird. We were soon seeing 2 elephants and I think this park is famous for its elephants. We drove on a road, no a path that made the dirt tracks in Yala look like super highways. We were soon running in to a bunch of Tricoloured munia, a beautiful bird that I see for the first time. But we can see that it looks like the Scaly-breasted Munia that we have seen in Thailand. We also spotted a Jacobin cuckoo 1 meter away, but as the Jacobin cuckoo was sitting in a bush it was impossible to take pictures. A beautiful Black-hooded Oriole was sitting in the top of a tree, too far away for any good pictures. Well, there will hopefully be more chances.
 Indian Roller
 Indian Roller
  Reporting at the gate
 2 Elephants
 Tricoloured munia
 Tricoloured munia
 Jacobin cuckoo
 Black-hooded Oriole
 Elephant
 Elephant
 Elephant
 Richard's pipit
 Sri Lanka Swallow
 Sri Lanka Swallow
 Eurasian Spoonbill
 Large-billed Crow
 Large-billed Crow
 Large-billed Crow
 Large-billed Crow
It is hot
 Elephant
 Elephant
 Elephant
 Elephants enjoying themselves in a waterhole
 Eurasian Hoopoe
Udawalawa National Park is really a beautiful park. And if you ever come to Yala, take the time to get out of Block 1. Try Block 3 and Udawalawa National Park as well. Most people coming here only take ONE tour in Block 1 and if they don't see any leopards they are disappointed when they go home. Now I have spent 2 full days here and I have still not seen any leopards. But I'm very happy with all the beautiful things I have seen, Paradise Flycatcher attacking a Hornbill, fantastic! And we really experienced a rich bird life here in Udawalawa National Park. We spotted two Eurasian Spoonbills but when we went to have a look they took off. But my Guide/ Driver told me that we would see them when we went to Bundala National Park on the 22nd of May. So there will be more chances.  We stop to stretch our legs
 A monkey come up to beg for food
 A monkey come up to beg for food
 A monkey come up to beg for food
 The monkey is thirsty
We had a great break under a huge tree. We had the chance to stretch our legs and we got a new friend, a monkey that came up for food. The orange was nothing for the monkey, but drinking water was OK. We spent 15 minutes under the tree before we took off to some kind of wetland. We came down to the wetland, or if it was a beach. There was a big lake and something that looked like a creek. The first bird we spotted was two Pied Kingfisher. There were several different Egrets, and the Little Egret and the Cattle Egret are easy enough to identify. But it is a little different with the Great and the intermediate Egret. Right there and then I decided to make an “How to identify Egrets and Herons” web page. And I will hopefully learn something in the progress.
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Great Egret
 Grey Heron
 Grey Heron
 Grey Heron
 Green Imperial Pigeon
 Green Imperial Pigeon
 Green Imperial Pigeon
 It is a beautiful area
 It is a beautiful area
 It is a beautiful area
It was a fantastic bird life down at the beach front. We drove along the river/ creek looking at all the herons and egrets. And even though it sounds bad with all the dead trees they are very beautiful out there in the lake. We saw more of the Ashy-crowned sparrow larks looking for food in the sand. And then I saw something very strange, looked like House Sparrows and they were like bathing in the sand, scrubbing them self. I have seen it before, back in Thailand and then it was sparrows as well. So I’m pretty sure it was the House Sparrow I was also lucky to see the beautiful Green Imperial Pigeon, so now I have almost seen all the different pigeons here in Yala National Bank.  Birds, I'm almost sure it is House Sparrows bathing in the sand
 Birds, I'm almost sure it is House Sparrows bathing in the sand
 Birds, I'm almost sure it is House Sparrows bathing in the sand
 Birds, I'm almost sure it is House Sparrows bathing in the sand
 Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark
 Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark
 Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark
 Oriental Darter or Indian darter
 Woolly-necked Stork
 Common Kingfisher
 Changeable Hawk-eagle or Crested hawk-eagle
 We continue our drive through the beautiful landscape
 We continue our drive through the beautiful landscape
  Sri Lankan Grey Hornbill
We arrive to a river and we stop for our lunch break. I don't even have time to start my lunch before my Guide calls me. He have spotted a Sri Lankan Grey Hornbill. But the bird is too far away for any good pictures, deep in the dark forest. But I have seen the Sri Lankan Grey Hornbill, yet another endemic bird and now I have seen 4 endemic birds since I arrived to Sri Lanka. I finish my lunch and we hear a Stork-billed Kingfisher call from the river. We go to investigate and of course, by the time we're down at the water the Kingfisher is gone. Never mind, it was a beautiful area and we killed some time along the river. If all the lunch places was like this I would not mind having the lunch break in the forest. Time turned quickly and it was soon time to leave. It was getting late and I told my Guide that we would call it a day and go back to my hotel. And we passed under an White-bellied Drongo sitting on eggs in the nest on the way back to the gate. First we thought it was a Drongo but when the bird flew away we saw the white belly. A new bird for me! So it had been a very nice day in the beautiful Udawalawa National Park.  White-bellied Drongo
 Spot-billed pelican or Grey pelican
 We see me hotel from the road
It is easy to see my hotel, Laya Safari when approaching Yala on the road. A very good hotel and if I ever come back I will stay here again. And now they have learned to make my fruit salad so I have a big bowl of fruit salad every afternoon when I come back from the safari. We will start in Yala, Block 1 tomorrow morning. Will we see any leopards? Click HERE to find out. 
    
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
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