|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 20 October 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Kavudulla National Park: Free to roam
Call it the land of trumpets. No other name would suit the Kavudulla National Park (KNP) better. for the jumbo is literally the head of this jungle household. Declared open by Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Rukman Senanayake just last April, this newest National Park of Sri Lanka, in the semi-arid Polonnaruwa locale, can also be mapped out as a biological repository, displaying a uniquely refreshing bio-diversity Kavudulla can call its own. Enter the park and gaze from the embankment of the picturesque Kavudulla Wewa, surrounded by elephants leisurely lapping up its clear waters. A herd of deer rake the distant jungle, heedless of the approaching intruder. All this in a backdrop of the multi-hued greens of species-rich and endemic-rich ecosystem of Kavudulla. This is the fifteenth National Park declared a protected area by the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance of the Department of Wild Life Conservation (DWLC) which is entrusted with the primary responsibility of protecting wildlife resources of the country.
KNP is the latest addition to the DWLC-managed nature reserve network which comprise strict nature reserves, national parks and sanctuaries. The parks and reserves, totalling 78, are spread over an area of 894,598.6 hectares which is 13.6 per cent of the country's total land area. KNP covers an extent of 6,900 hectares, mostly jungle, with the massive 104,000 acre-capacity Kavudulla Wewa nestling in its folds. This wewa is believed to have been constructed by a royal princess during the reign of King Mahasen over six centuries ago. The logic behind bringing the historical Kavudulla Wewa and the surrounding jungle under a nature reserve lies in DWLC's objective of protecting the land's catchment -rich in wildlife biodiversity- and its elephant population making Kavudualla its habitat. KNP is to be upgraded to a model park as its managerial experiences and gains reaped could well be a shining example for Sri Lanka's other nature reserves. Many gains are foreseen - facilitating easy access of information within parks, developing ecotourism and then mobilising its profits for the improvement of wildlife conservation activities and the quality of people living in the buffer zones. Kavudulla features a dry-zone lowland of dry and mixed vegetation with an annual rain fall of 1,150 mm received mainly through the North-East monsoons. As in other dry lowlands, if you are lucky, Kavudulla can give you a clear glimpse of leopards, bears, sambhur, spotted deer and a range of reptiles and birds. But Kavudulla is more the home of elephants and here you can see elephants in large herds, the size of which you could never see anywhere else in the country. Water birds alighting on Kavudulla Wewa and Gal Oya Wewa at the Park entrance is another reason why the Park boasts of rich bird diversity. What better spell to entice the nature loving tourist than the glistening Kavudulla waters on his East and the misty blue mountain range on his West? He could also trap two birds in one go, as Minneriya-Giritale National Park (MNP), the fourteenth national park declared on August 12, 1997, too is in close vicinity. MNP, with an extent of 8,889.4 hectares, shares KNP's aim of elephant preservation as well as that of the Minneriya Wewa catchment. Visitors to Kavudulla can use two routes: The Colombo-Habarana route with a right turn from the Trincomalee Road junction, towards Gal Oya Railway Station; or the Polonnaruwa-Habarana Road, through Rotuwewa along the Minneriya-Gal Oya Road with the turn off at the 45th km post. As a short cut to ensure KNP's security and efficient administration, DWLC has also begun the development of the road network in the park interior. Scientific data on its natural resources are collated to form long-duration managerial plans which has at core, the removal of whatever factors which prevent the sustained existence of the park's ecosystems and its living beings. "It's our duty to preserve this heritage as a legacy for our future generations," says Director of Wild Life, Dayananda Kariyawasam who seeks public assistance to preserve the heritage park. Park officials request those touring Kavudulla not to harm its rich bio-diversity or its delicate ecological balance. The easiest way to imbibe this rule is to remember that the jungle belongs to the jungle-beings, and not to you. Despite KNP being tagged a bona fide nature reserve, it is still home to about hundred fishermen and onion farmers and a cattle farm. Sand-mining thrives in Kavudulla Wewa, hand-tractors providing the impetus for selling sand at a varying price range. "Such illegal activity will be prohibited in future," assures Kavudulla Park Warden, B.F. Upali Padmasiri, citing the difficulties of making park residents aware of the park demarcations once the area was declared a national park. "After discussions with those making a livelihood out of the park land, we will take steps to provide them alternative land," he assures. As the Warden elaborates, many strategies are in effect to curtail a flooding of national and foreign tourists to KNP which gently boasts of a richer bio-diversity and unique eco characteristics when compared to MNP. Allow yourself to be charmed by the fascinations of the land of trumpets, but be sure to "leave nothing but foot prints" and "take away nothing but photographs!" Reported by Nihal P. Abeysinghe (Translated by Jayanthi Liyanage) Exit Kandula V. Enter Kandula VI. : Bibila gets a hero's farewell When "the call of duty" beckoned him to abandon the leafy havens of Pinnawela, to head the proud ranks of Sri Lanka Light Infantry Regiment, "Bibila" was but a tiny tot.
Today, having served his country nine fruitful years of diligent duty, Bibila goes back home. Not as "Bibila", but as "Kandula V", the name by which the whole country knows him and admires him for the elephantine charm and colour he has graced his regiment as its most treasured mascot. On Friday, Sri Lanka Light Infantry Regiment gave a loving and hero's farewell to their colourfully caparisoned comrade, Kandula V, at the Regimental Centre at Panagoda. By his side, the three-year-old "Arjuna" eyed in trepidation his hero the elephants back at home had always trumpeted in awe. But, at the same time, Arjuna was thrilled to note that he was the chosen one from all of them, to take up the duties relinquished by Kandula V, and become the newest of the Kandulas - "Kandula VI". And the Regiment lavished this fledgling jumbo with a fitting welcome. The first Mascot of the first Battalion of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry was a deer with beautiful antlers, captured during exercise "TYRO" and brought to Panagoda in 1954. At his untimely death, Director of Zoological Gardens handed over the Battalion's first mascot baby elephant. That was on January 2, 1961 and "Kandula I" reigned until July 27, 1967. He retired, making way for "Kandula II" (April 4, 1976). The third mascot, served his "kandulaship" from August 4, 1976 to March 1, 1984, and the fourth, from March 4, 1984 to August 11, 1993 and returned to the Zoological Gardens.
Bibila was the fifth to join this line of illustrious Kandulas, fresh from the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela with the rapport of Dehiwela Zoological Gardens. From July 23, 1993, Kandula V's reign as its sprightly mascot is studded with quite a few memorable pearls. When the Guard of Honour was presented to John Paul Pope on January 5, 1995, Kandula V was at his regiment's fore-front. He was also there, when cricketers from India and Pakistan were ecstatically received by the locals on February 13, 1996. He made a regal picture parading at the 49th Independence Parade in 1997 and warmed the heart of the British Prince Charles when the Guard of Honour was awarded to him at the 50th Independence Parade. That Arjuna, the new mascot, coming from Pinnawela through the Zoological Gardens like his predecessor, is already having a roaring go at his element, is obvious from his posture of salute. JAYANTHI |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
