Get lost in Massai Mara

by Shanika Sriyananda

Have you ever heard about a small boy who had an unusual collection of pets - a toad, dragon flies, a snake (diyabariya). His love for innocent creatures around him grew with him and later switched to bird watching where he noted each and every bird that he observed in his note book, with over 247 notes each with a fine description, a sketch and other vital details.

The tight learning schedules at the college prevented him from going into deep forests. This nature lover who also loved the anatomy of the human brain soon became a Consultant Neurologist who yet found time in his busy schedules to pursue his childhood passion.

Today Dr. Athula Dissanayake is ready to take you on a journey from Sri Lanka's Yala to Massai Mara in Kenya. Opening his maiden photographic exhibition. "A moment in nature" where over 140 images of wildlife and nature photographs from the two national parks are to be displayed.

Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition , which is open to the public from March 4 to 5 at the National Art Gallery, his book with the same title "A moment in nature" will be launched.

Dr. Dissanayake, who believes that some of the animals in the African forests lived in Sri Lanka many years ago says "The fossil records show that the lion, two species of rhinoceros and even a hippo lived here in the Pleistocene era". Dr. Dissanayake also tries to convey a message "the need of conserving wild animals for the future generations.

Yala is his favourite haunt and whenever this Consultant Neurologist at the Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, gets time, travels to the country's wildlife spots to capture the amazing wonders of nature.

Having started taking wildlife photographs in 2000 with a very normal conventional camera, his childhood dream came true the day his uncle gifted him a latest digital SLR camera. Since then, Dr. Dissanayake's camera has captured wonderful moments in nature, a butterfly getting nectar from a beautiful flower or a majestic elephant walking or an innocent deer drinking water from a lake.

He is a lecturer for undergraduates and postgraduates on the amazing but difficult behaviour of the human brain, who has found harmony in life through wildlife. Dr. Dissanayake says that a moment in the country's wildlife parks would be a tool to ease stress.

So, try to keep March 4th and 5th free to walk through the dense jungles, of Yala and Massai Mara to ease your troubles for a moment.