Elephants at Kaudalla National Park

Our first sighting - Absolutely Awesome

 Startled by an urgent exclamation from Sherly, our jeep driver, and a sudden lurch backwards, I jumped off the seat on which I had been standing, at the same time registering that there was an annoyed elephant moving with speed, and noisily, towards us. 

 In slow time I watched, praying that the jeep would not get stuck as it slipped sideways and backwards. Showing great driving skill and calmness for a barefoot, about 5 ft tall, maybe almost 60kg, injured arm driver, Sherly had us out of danger as the elephant, satisfied that he had made his point, turned and lumbered off with the rest of the 70 ish herd. At that point I realised that I had missed a great photo opportunity - not so Melanie who got some great shots as reward for her nerve and concentration. Why the defending male had chosen to make his point with our vehicle I don't know as there were several other jeeps that were much closer to these intriguing animals. I had been glad that Sherly was paying them more respect by hanging back.

It was late afternoon on a wet, wet day that we had first seen the beautiful sight of wild elephants grazing on the edges of a very swollen Kaudalla Tank. What a thrill it was to spot them in the distance beside the water! Not just one or two which would have satisfied us but a much larger group, babies, juveniles, young males, aunties and elephant mums ! It was another great day on our Sri Lankan holiday !

What would we do without mobile phones? Sherly got several messages from other guides in the area that the elephants were on the move along their usual paths around the National Park so he drove us, stopping and getting out to check if we could get through the water, to where they cross and go into the bush as this  would give us the best chance of seeing them closer. Other jeeps came too and it was at this point that our elephant advanced.

It wasn't long before we decided that we had enough photos to relive this amazing sight so we spent most of the time simply watching and appreciating these intellingent and personable animals in their natural environment. Although I felt that I was an intruder in their home - obviously one elephant had shown this to be so, I guiltily thought that if I got the chance, I would probably intrude again.

Kaudalla National Park which is on the banks of the Kaudalla Tank, is Sri Lanka's newest National Park and is an elephant corridor between the Somawathie Chaitya and Minneriya National Parks. It is 6 km off the Habarana to Trincomalee Road. We had come there from Giritale - about a 45 minute drive away. [ The Giritale Hotel, on the bank of the Wewa, was a pleasant place to stay.]

There are about 250 elephants in this area and they move between these three National Parks. We saw several different kinds of birds and apparently leopards and sloth bears are also seen here - probably in the drier periods of September to October.

There is an interesting story about this tank which was built by the sister of King Mahasena - the one who had the Minneriya Tank built.  Apparently the king's sister married a man who was out of favour with the king and as a result she and her husband were banished from his sight. They went to live near Kaudalla in a farming village and eventually had a son. 

King Mahasena was building an irrigation system and needed an extra long dam to hold the water in his new construction, Minneriya Tank. He therefore consulted the gods and learned that, for the dam to be strong enough, he had to make a human sacrifice. He decided that this would be his sister's son and told his Chief Minister to see that the deed was done. The Chief Minister had a goat slaughtered instead but told King Mahasena that his wishes had been carried out.

The dam, which was the largest constructed at that time, was completed and on the day that he was to ceremoniously open the sluice gates for the first time, the King regretted sacrificing his nephew. He was then told that the boy was actually alive so he sent for his sister to have her admire his engineering feat. Instead of being impressed, she took him to Kaudalla where she and the villagers had built the Kaudalla Tank - the scene for our beautiful elephant encounter.

[ See ! Women can do anything !]

For anyone thinking of going to Kaudalla the charge for the jeep and driver was Rs 5,000/-. Foreign adults Rs  1125/- Local adults Rs40/- Service charge Rs900/- Taxes Rs 540/-. If the Department of Wildlife insists on you having a guide as well, then we were advised that we would need to pay him at least Rs500/-.  Our tour guide, Lucky, told us that he has been there many times and there was only one time that he thought he had to leave without seeing elephants. However, as he, Sherly and visitors were leaving an elephant appeared !