With terrorism being brought to an end in Sri Lanka, it is great news for nature lovers both national and international, that steps are being taken by the Department of Wildlife Director General Ananda Wijesooriya under the instructions of Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka to provide the much needed facilities to the parks, especially in the Southern Province.

Needless to say, due to the war that lasted nearly three decades, Yala, one of the most popular National Parks in Sri Lanka was prone to LTTE attacks. Unfortunately, the LTTE menace prevented a large number of wildlife enthusiasts visiting the country’s popular National Park.

During a recent visit to the Yala National Park and Lunugamvehera National Park, we witnessed a number of projects targeting both animals and visitors.

Obviously, the most important among the projects was the supply of water through Veheragala to Lungamvera and filling the artificial tanks round the clock, which has resulted in a healthy animal population, free of starvation.

There are not many Sri Lankans with the slightest interest in wildlife who have not visited the Yala National Park. The same goes for a significant proportion of the thousands of foreign tourists who make this Indian Ocean island their holiday destination each year.

When it comes to seeing Asian wildlife up close and personal, there is no other place quite like it, according to Sri Lanka’s biodiversity expert, Rohan Pethiyagoda.

Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says between January and June in 2008, 9078 locals and 7532 foreigners had visited the park.

These visits resulted inan income Rs. 16.6 million. This year, 2009, between the same periods, the number of locals who visited the park increased to 18,031 and the number of foreigners increased to 10,439. Thus, revenue increased to Rs. 27 million within a short period.

A confident Ranawaka is hopeful that there would be a steady visitor increase in the coming months; thus he believes the National Parks will contribute to the national economy in a significantly.

One of the most important items on the agenda was the setting up of a Visitor Information Centre in the name of the late Dr. Ravi Samarasinha.

Dr. Samarasinha was a medical doctor who for many years was involved in wildlife conservation and photography, focusing since 1996, especially on leopard ranging and identification, including full time research in Yala for 18 months from 2000 to 2001.

He was a programme consultant for numerous television documentaries, including the BBC’s ‘Leopard Hunters’ which became an instant hit when it was translated into Sinhala. Ravi was the co-author of ‘For the Leopard’ in 2003, the first book dedicated to the leopards of Sri Lanka.

I was indeed fortunate to meet Ravi whenever I visited a National Park. The last time I met him was at the Minneriya National Park where he was accompanied by BBC Wildlife Features Editor James Fair and leading Naturalist Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne. Interestingly, this trip was indeed a memorable one for me and fellow journalists because we had the golden opportunity of sighting one of the massive male leopards for nearly 20 minutes. My immediate thought was Ravi, because he performed a tremendous service to the country by studying leopards in depth.

Yala originally gained fame as a National Park because of its elephant population, but thanks to the efforts of Ravi, the interest shifted to leopards. The Sri Lankan leopard (‘Panthera pardus kotiya’) is a distant subspecies differing genetically from the leopards in India. With any doubt, Sri Lanka is the only country where leopards could be sighted rather easily during day time, because it is considered the main predator, whereas in other countries it is the lion or the tiger.

Ravi was totally dedicated, disciplined and focused on wildlife conservation and its study, says Ravi‘s eldest brother Dinesh Samarasinha.

Samarasinha believes conservation has to be instilled in people, a conservation that is not only for wildlife enthusiasts.

In this sense, he says the Dr. Ravi Samarasinha Information Centre is an eye opener, where visitors will be presented with a true scientific understanding of the workings of nature.

Derek Samarasinha, Ravi’s father, says the project will include a ticketing centre, a reception with a display hall and sitting accommodation for 25 people. The sitting area will be used to display documents and slideshows, while the display hall will showcase the dos and don’ts of the park etc.

It was heartening to see naturalists Rukshan Jayewardene and Chitralal Jayathileke present at the occasion to witness the setting up a centre in memory their dear friend.

During the simple ceremony, Ranawaka said that though the Asian Development Bank agreed to provide funds for the improvement of the park, it could not be utilised because the park had to be repeatedly closed down due to terrorist attacks.

However, he expressed confidence that now that the war is over, the allocated monies from the ADB would be forthcoming and could be used for the betterment of the park.

Try to get to know the animals you are likely to see in the park, as studying animals in their natural settings can be difficult and is often tedious. Most fail to appear when you want to see them, or appear suddenly only to disappear as quickly, allowing you a little time for observation.

However, learning to observe is the first step towards enjoying them. Start with the species that frequent the park. Take a closer look at those species frequenting the side of the road, sambar, wild boar, deer etc. If an animal has disappeared into a burrow, remain stationary and quiet; usually it will appear to find out where you are and what you are doing.

Please bear in mind that the park belongs to the animals and plants and that we have entered their domain as visitors. If we understand them, we will learn to be considerate to their needs and they will continue to thrive in their wilderness surroundings. Observe, enjoy and appreciate the animals, but do not disturb them.