Marine national park in Trincomalee:

Pigeon Islands ready for visitors

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Located just 1 kilometer from the beautiful Nilaweli beach in Trincomalee is one of the most wonderful places of this island nation, the Pigeon Island, the realm of Rock Pigeons. The import of this island is that it is one of two marine national parks Sri Lanka owns. Apart from the major inhabitants, the rock pigeons the island used to draw hundreds of people until the terrorist threats killed this wonderful tourist attraction.

At present with peace restored permanently the Department of Wildlife Conservation has managed to reopen the beautiful island providing more facilities for the nature enthusiasts.

The beautiful island was officially reopened yesterday for the public by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Wildlife and Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena. A new ticket outlet will be open today on the Nilaweli beach for the Pigeon Island visitors.

The Pigeon Island which was declared as a sanctuary in 1970 under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance got transformed in to a National Park on June 24, 2003. The national park spread approximately over 430 hactares.

The island is named after its endemic inhabitant the blue rock pigeon that take roost in the island in hundreds.

According to historical records it is believed that this island was used as a centre where official letters were transported using pigeons during king's time. The surrounding coral fringe is rich with over 100 species of corals and over 300 species of coral fish. Thus makes the Pigeon Island a divers' paradise.

A visit to the island could incorporate swimming in the sea, snorkelling, diving and sun bathing. Now the visitors can buy tickets from the Wildlife Conservation Department counter, established on the Nilaweli beach at a very reasonable rates.

At the moment the boat transport is operated by several local businessmen and the Department plans to set up their own boat rides in the near future to give the visitors a quality and safe service. The National park has created many job opportunities for the local people.

In order to provide better facilities for the visitors basic infrastructure facilities will be set up in the near future such as safe drinking water facilities, toilets and cafeterias etc. Natural tracks are made on the island for the people to enjoy the beauty of the island without harming the surroundings.

Though this is identified as one island in fact it is two. i.e. the large pigeon island and small pigeon island. The large pigeon island is fringed by a coral reef and the small pigeon island is surrounded by rocky islets. Hawksbill turtle, Green turtle and Olive Ridley are the visiting sea turtles of the coral reef. The island is an important breeding ground for the Rock Pigeon. The large pigeon island's coral reef's vegetation is dominated by Acropora spp. with some Montipora spp.

It has been identified that Faviidae, Mussidae and Poritidae species dominate the coral reef around the rocky islets. Areas with soft corals such as Sinularia, Lobophyton and Sarcophyton can also be observed. The coral reef harbours many vertebrates and invertebrates. Juvenile and adult Blacktip reef shark are seen around the shallow coral areas. Rains are predicted from October to March and during the rest of the year it is extremely warm. The sand and rock mixed geography is covered with cactus varieties and Lantana shrubs in addition to the variety of flora that colour the land.

Being an attraction for tourism the Pigeon Island is ready to bring the serene beauty of the environment for nature lovers. With more people visiting this volatile land, the area needs to be protected from pollution and hazards.

So when visiting please leave only your footprints and not plastic bottles and polythene, bring only memories and photos not corals. Thus it will survive for many generations yet to come in the calm seas of Trincomalee.

Pix courtesy : dept. of Wildlife Conservation