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| Sunday, 11 January 2004 |
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Wilpattu revisited by E. Weerapperuma Wilpattu National Park now welcomes visitors both local and foreign to enjoy the beauty and the beasts in the serenity of the jungle.
I had the opportunity of visiting Wilpattu recently and if my memory serves me right it was the first time I had gone there. In Sri Lanka there are 16 declared areas declared as parks and out of these Yala, Wilpattu, Kumana, Boondala fall within the coastal belt. Wilpattu situated 175 miles from Colombo or 18 miles from Anuradhapura remains one of Asia's priceless wilderness reserves and is one of the oldest and most important protected Parks in the country. It is a mixture of wet intermediate type of forest and scrub jungle covering about 3,36,000 acres of land stretching across two provinces of the North-Central Province and North-Western Province. The three districts, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Mannar come within the said two provinces. I, with my journalist colleagues Ariyarathne Ganegoda, Prasad Poornimal Jayamanne with his newly- bought video camera, and zoom lens and S. T. Bandula Senarathne with his tape recorder, reached the entrance to the Park in the early hours of a Sunday morning. Just opposite the main gate one finds the pillar erected in memory of Adlin Vitharana. The gruesome killing of Mrs.Vitharana was one of the horrendous episodes of the 1950s. We had to stay for hours as our vehicle was not driveable to drive into the forest. Wilpattu, the land of `vilas' situated in the dry zone was the biggest natural park and Sri Lanka's first class wildlife show case, two decades ago, now back in the track promising to be what it was,long before the ethnic conflict that resulted the devastation and the final abandoning of the park. Hopes have risen again with the reopening of the Park by Environment Minister Rukman Senanayake and thus the message is sent to the tourists both local and foreign to "come you are safe here". At present the visitors can stroll freely on a limited area of the vast land and steps have been taken to add facilities to make it attractive to them. If you wish to spend the whole day you are charged Rs. 3000; for a half a day Rs. 1750 and if it is little bit more than half a day, you have to a pay about Rs. 2000 for the vehicle. The office issues tickets for adults Rs. 20 and for children Rs. 5 and for foreigners US$ 20 per day.
On the day we visited there were a lot of visitors and about 13 jeeps were inside the grove. We went to the interior of the forest having met the manager Wasantha Pushpananda. The office of the Manager is seven kilometers from the main road we were told that we could drive up to 100 to 120 km inside within the jungle. The four-wheeler drive Willy's jeep that carried us to the thicket was a rickety old one rattling all the way. At times we had to support it to move but did not mind the bad condition of the vehicle for the driver and our guide was U. B. Jayatilleke with a record of 25 years experience in jungle trekking. He was also the man who escaped the LTTE attack on May 24,1986 where 26 were brutally killed by terrorists. The LTTE attack and the massacre of its employees at Hunuwilagama, resulted in the closure of the Park in May 1985. It was reopened on October 20, 1985 but the second attack led by the JVP on February 1, 1988, resulted in the permanent closure of the Park in 1989. From a game sanctuary in 1909 it was redesigned as a National Park on February 24,1938 and was famed for its leopards and 30 fresh water lakes called "vila" in Sinhala and "villu" in Tamil. Vila defined as a natural depression generally circular with gently sloping banks - natural pool. The villas are " Nelumvila (Birds); Kanjuranvila; Kumbukvila (Birds watch paradise); Borupanvila (Crocodiles); Lunuvila; Kalivila; Kurupandivila; Thimbirivila; Kokkarivila; Thanthirivila; Mahapatessavila; Kuda Patessavila; Kokmotte; Maradanmaduwa, Manikkapola Uttu and Grey Langur (Ochappu Kallu-leaning stone). According to Mr. Pushpananda, Wilpattu was known for the largest concentration of leopards and the sand rimmed lakes surrounded by grass and high forest were the best place to watch animals and birds, before the outbreak of war. The civil disturbances during the past two decades had necessitated the closure of the Park and that has caused immeasurable loss to its identity. Today, this national treasure Wilpattu is in a very sorry situation trying to regain its lost glory with assistance from quarters interested in seeing it come alive. The officials manning the Park say that from January this year upto the end of September, steps had been taken to clear about 120 kilometres of the route inside the Park using manpower, and 400 km remains to be cleared. "We do not use any machinery in clearing the jungle as it tends to disturb the calm and quietness of the Park and the lives of the animals. We use human hands instead for clearance and thus it keeps intact the wilderness safe and sound. Once the clearing is over the general public will have access to all corners of the Park", he said. Wilpattu, a tourist attraction for many years had two historical spots at the heart of the jungle. They are (1) Kuveni's Palace, and (2) Pomparippuwa - megalithic burial jars. The "Mahavamsa" called the place where it claimed that King Vijaya landed as "Thambapanni" for the coloured sand appearing to be of bright copper "Thamba". We also could see the ruins of the picturesque "Kalavilu bungalow" which was in great demand by the tourists. We had our lunch close to the bungalow where the guide said that the Duke of Edinburgh had stayed overnight on one of his visits. We also saw the ruins of the building constructed along the lines of the architecture of Nigeria. These buildings are built using world class timber and if the Environment and the Tourism Ministries join hands these could be reconstructed to promote tourism. |
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