Wildlife Calendar

The Sloth bear is generally a nocturnal mammal with occaisional day time sightings possible in well visited national parks such as yala. In late May, the Palu tree begins to bear fruit. The Palu (iron wood) is a beautiful tall tree with a bark textured with reticulations. The Bears take temporary absence of leave from thier role as a semi- specialist in termites. With berries a plenty, they go on a feeding spree with some reportedly showing signs of inerbation from gorging themselves on the palu fruit.

The grass is down and leopard sightings are up. Leopards are seen regularly throughout the year. But the die-back of the ground cover with the onset of the dry season provides better viewing opportunities
for finding them and photographing them. Yala National Park, offers the best chance in Asia for seeing Leopard. This is due to a number of factors. The leopards have an average density of one per square kilometer, the terrain is fairly open with grasslands and it does not face threat from larger terrestrial predators. Wilpattu National Park in North-west Sri Lanka is another top location for Leopard especially during this dry period.”

‘The Gathering’ (Ranked among the world’s top wildlife spectacles) peaks heading towards September and elephants, sometimes numbering over an awe inspiring three hundred, converge onto the receding shores of Minneriya Tank. Nowhere else in the world will one find such a high concentration of wild Asian Elephants within a few square kilometers. ‘The Gathering’ is a wonderful opportunity for wildlife enthusiasts and casual travellers to observe the social dynamics of elephants. Asian Elephant are seen throughout the year at almost all dry-zone national parks including Uda Walawe, Yala and Wasgamuwa.

Around February the North East monsoon begins to subside. By mid February the mud puddles on the jeep tracks in the north central province are already swarming with newly emerged butterflies which can feed on the luxuriant folliage which has been fed by the monsoon rains. Clouds of ‘whites’ and ‘yellows’ gather. Clear days and freezing nights are experienced in the highlands. A good time of year to visit Horton Plains National Park for spectacular views from world’s end and to see montane endemics such as the Black- lipped Lizard and Rhino Horned Lizard. Dragonflies however can be seen right throught the year.

The North central plains are cooler and it is a good time to observe hanuman langurs, the endemic Toque Monkeys and the endemic Purple Faced Leaf Monkeys around the archeological sites of polunaruwa and sigiriya.