Kumana…..other than bird watching.

Year and Month	2020 July 12th and 13th
Number of Days	Two
Crew	15-Nipuna, Shanil, Pasan, Pasindu, Warren, Jeewan, Subodha, Neranjana, Chathuranga, Amal, Manju (4 WD), Daminda (4 WD), Dimuthu (4 WD) , Anil (wild life officer) and My self
Accommodation	Kirigal Bay Wildlife bungalow-Kumana NP
Transport	By jeeps
Activities	Wildlife, Sightseeing and Photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo->Moneragala-> Siyambalanduwa-> Pothuvil->Panama->Okanda->Kumana NP->Kuda Kebiliththa->Kebiliththa->Return along same route
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Kumana has different accommodation options: Two wild life bungalows (Thummulla and Kirigal Bay) and three campsites. All camp sites and bungalows are to be booked from head office of wild life department at Battaramulla. Kirigal Bay bungalow can officially accommodate six people at once. Actually it can facilitate more than that. We carried drinking water for whole our visit. They provide water by pumping from well or tank for bathing purposes. (It also can drink) There was electricity at bungalow provided by solar panels. But you need to carry power banks to charge your phones and cameras. They provide linen and pillow cases as well. Mobitel signal is at bungalow. But you have to go to the beach to seek dialog signals. Kitchen is well equipped with cutlery and kitchen items. Two cooks at Kirigal Bay bungalow were excellent in cooking. Road condition is good up to Panama and it is bit bumpy from Panama to Kumana entrance. This stretch can be managed by a low ground vehicle carefully. It is necessary to have a four wheel vehicle to drive along the tracks within the park. Wild Buffalos are a real challenge at forest. Therefore don’t walk alone even on seashore. Be careful in roaming around the bungalow. Wild boars are around. Really appreciate the knowledge and wild sense of our driver Manju. His experience was really helpful. Obey rules of National Parks. Don’t get down from jeep unless your trekker says OK. And never throw garbage out of jeep. Wild life is not the only thing you can enjoy at Kumana Park. In addition there are beaches, archaeological sites and camp sites etc. Kumana has less / no competition for wild life photography like Yala. You can watch a leopard for an hours and hours.
Author	Niroshan
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Kumana National Park is the most visited wild life park in my travel history. Though I am not that much in wild life photography I had to visit at Kumana NP for different purposes. My first visit to Kumana recorded in 2012 as a devotee of Pada Yathara. The latest visit was in this year as a part of pilgrimage to Kebiliththa via Kumana National Park. First two days of this journey were allocated for Kebiliththa and rest of the days we spent to explore the beauty of Kumana. This is sharing of memories of my third eye at Kumana National Park.

Kumana National Park (6 30 47” N, 81 41 16 “E)
Kumana park was formerly known as Yala East National Park and got it present name in September 2006. It spreads over 35,664 hectares. Southern boundary of the park is formed by Kumbukkan Oya and south-eastern coast that runs to Panama along the edge of Kumana National Park.
A 200 hectares mangrove swamp called “Kumana Villu” within the Park is subject to occasional inundation with sea water. There are lagoons and tanks support extensive bird life of the National Park.
Kumana National park is famous for bird watching since it’s establishment.

Kirigal Bay Wild Life Bungalow / කිරිගල් බේ බoගලාව (6.611094, 81.759703)

Kirigal Bay Wild life Bungalow was our home for the visit at Kumana National Park. Kumana has two wild life bungalows named as Kirigal Bay and Thunmulla (6.581616, 81.737679). Kirigal Bay is the newest out of these two. This bungalow is situated at Kirigal Bay facing to Indian Ocean. Kirigal Bay turtle conversation center is also situated next to the bungalow. It is about few hundred meters walking from the accommodation to the sea to enjoy the beauty of unspoiled sea shore.

Kirigal Bay beach and Wild life bungalow. Aerial view.

Kirigal Bay Wild Life Bungalow. Aerial View

One day early morning I waked up in view of capturing the sun rise over the sea. But it was bit delay as sun has already come up from the sea. As others were sleeping I decided to walk alone to explore the real beauty of Kirigal Bay.

The seashore is margined by the forest of Kumana National park in land side. I was the only human being in this morning at this beautiful beach. There were no fishermen, boats, huts, nets and garbage at the beach to obstruct the view. There were some sand dunes on the other side of the beach and I was walking there. On my way back to the Bungalow I came across a wild Buffalo who was playing at the beach. Luckily I didn’t get it’s attention till I passed the place. From my experience wild Buffalo is one of the difficult animal to get escape if encounters.

Kirigal Bay wildlife bungalow is facing to the beach.

Sun rise over Indian Ocean

Sun has already come up

Beautiful sun rise over Kirigal Bay.

Unspoiled sea shore.

Sand dunes were my target

Bluish sea….

Long way to go…..

.	I really like this lonely beach

.	Turtle conversation center is also situated closer to Kirigal bay Bungalow.

Active sea….

.	Forest margin

Bird’s foot steps

වරා

Connection with lagoon

Closer to sand dunes

It was about 2 km walk from the bungalow

Sand dunes

.	Wild Buffalo is roaming at the beach

Kiribath at Kirigal Bay

Some aerial photos of Kirigal Bay

Sea shore at Kirigal Bay

Blue Ocean and Kumana NP

Kirigal Bay. Sand dunes at the corner of the bay

Close up view of Kirigal Bay

Here you can see a part of Lagoon connects with the sea. A fishery boat is also at the picture.

Rest of Kirigal Bay

Towards Kumana National Park. Bagure Gala is also seen.

Bagure Lagoon

View of the bay from Land side

Okanda Bay is situated next to Kirigal Bay.

Kumana is famous for bird watching and earlier it was identified as Kumana bird sanctuary. But this time we were looking for wild animals rather than bird watching at Kumana. Here some snaps of wild animals capturing in my Kumana visit. We came across three Leopards at Girikula-Kumana (ගිරිකුල -කුමන)

This is the only Elephant we came across.

Wild life photography needs patience.

Green Bee eater

Crested Hawk Eagle

Common Kingfisher

Golden Fox

Sand dunes

.	Painted Stork

Rufous-winged Bushlark

Crested Hawk Eagle

Leopard in action

The love

Hard use…

Green Bee Eater

Gesture

.	Departing…

Bagure Lagoon (බාගුරේ කලපුව) is another land mark of Kumana National Park. The road to Kuda Kebiliththa lies on side of Bagure Lagoon and Bagure Gala (බාගුරේ ගල) is also situated closer. During Pada Yathra season devotees crosses Bagure Lagoon by foot pathway rather than following formal road.
We have visited the place where Bagure Lagoon connects with the sea. This place is good for landscape photography.

Bagure connects to the sea (6.582524, 81.747671)
The place is having amazing landscapes. Our drivers drove along jeep tracks and passed Sand dunes to reach the place. The lagoon has comparatively shallow water when it is closer to the sea. Some of us had a bath while others were roaming around. The sun set was over land side and we had a nice evening there.