 Safari parks for well-being of wildlife
by Nilma Dole
Plenty of tourists and domestic
travellers throng to the closest National Park in a bid to see animals
in nature. Those venturing towards Kataragama, always stop at Yala to
see leopards or elephants and the like, those travelling up towards
Puttalam aim to catch a glimpse of Wilpattu.
However, this mode doesn’t guarantee you of an animal sighting even
if you stay for hours. In National Parks, the animals are free to roam
but also have capacity to be aggressive as they wouldn’t be comfortable
with human interference.
 Hence, a systematic approach should be in place to ensure that
visitors are not threatened and they can have a better position of
viewing the animals. Speaking to the Sunday Observer about why safari
parks should be built, the Wildlife Nature Protection Society (WNPS) of
Sri Lanka said that not only it is beneficial to tourism but people are
guaranteed of sighting animals. “We should adopt a stringent policy to
permit visitors to see animals in a controlled manner yet enjoying
themselves at the same time,” said Douglas Ranasinghe of the WNPS.
In international safari parks, there is a safari jeep in front to
protect the visitors and animals are more friendlier to humans. Also,
the safari jeeps carrying visitors should be animal-friendly in the way
that they don’t make noise or harm the natural environment.
In safari parks, the policy is somewhat like that of a zoo but within
an enclosure where animals are free to roam, breed and be fed by humans
in a process which is rather independent. Even though they are fed,
animals like lions can chase their prey in full view of the visitors.
“It can also reap benefits for the tourists because they can go home
happy that they have seen animal action in the flesh” said Douglas.
In Sri Lanka, the safari park concept was pitched years ago when the
WNPS told Government authorities to build one instead of depending on
the National Parks for entertainment which severely affects the
well-being of the wildlife in the area. However, in Galgamuwa on the
Anuradhapura-Kurunegala road, a safari park was being built by the
National Zoological Department but stopped due to various security
reasons owing to the conflict.
This time around, the village of Ridiyagama in the Hambantota
District will make the dream of a safari park a reality. A proposal
sanctioned by Parliament and the Department of National Planning was
brought forward by the Ministry of Sports and Public Recreation with
jurisdiction In about two years, Sri Lanka also will be a safari
destination for those who yearn for wildlife action the Central
Environmental Authority. |
