Archive
Episode 37 – Elahera – Girithale Sanctuary
Thieves were fierce I joined Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1997. I worked as an Assistant Director until 2000 in Horton Plains. Then I worked as the Assistant director of the Eastern region until 2002 and as the Assistant Director of the Central region in 2003. In January 2024, I got a promotion as […]
Dimuthu
Episode 36 – Somavathiya National Park
Somavathiya National Park, is located centrally bordeing the Kaudulla National Park, Flood plain Valley National Park and Trikonamadu National Park while surrounding the historical Somavathiya sacred site.Somavathiya National Park with an area of 37645 hectares located in Trincomalee and PolonnaruwaDistricts, was upgraded to a National Park on...
Dimuthu
Episode 35 – Mahakanadarava Sanctuary
Only one child saved from a whole family I joined the service in the beginning of November 1998 as a Wildlife Ranger in the Department of Wildlife Conservation. I was 20 years old then. First, I reported for duty at the Beat office at the Anuradhapura Division which was located in Anuradhapura Kachcheri. As a […]
Ishara
Episode 34 – Anawilundawa Sanctuary
How Anavilundawa became a Ramsar Wetland In the year 2001, we proposed to make the Anawilundawa Sanctuary, a Ramsa Wetland. The RAMSA declaration aims to safeguard wetland ecosystems in a variety of ways. The only Ramsar wetland in Sri Lanka was Bundala Wetland till 1991. Other than that, no other wetland was included on the […]
Ishara
Episode 33 – Senanayake Samudraya Sanctuary
Starting of the Sri Lanka’s first wildlife boat service I joined the Wildlife Department on June 3, 1996, as a Class 3 Wildlife Ranger. At first, I was in charge of the Kataragama site for about 6 months, and then in January 1997, I was appointed as the in charge of the Meegala site on […]
Ishara
Episode 32 – Horowpothana National Park
The first elephant census in Sri Lanka While there have been several regional studies about the number of wild elephants residing in Sri Lanka, there has never been an island-wide elephant census covering the whole island. Thus, it was decided to carry out such a census in August 2011. I began this survey shortly as […]
Ishara
Episode 31 – Hikkaduwa Marine National Park
How Hikkaduwa Sanctuary became a National Park Hikkaduwa area is declared originally as a sanctuary. Then it was declared as a nature reserve and followed as a National Park. Hikkaduwa National Park was established as a full Marine National Park in 2002. Before 1998, Hikkaduwa had more than 180 coral species belonging to 60 Genus. […]
Ishara
Episode 30 – Ussangoda National Park
Ussangoda forest to become a National Park In 2006, I was transferred to the Kalamatiya Beat Office. The Ussangoda area was close to the Kalamatia Beat Office. The Ussangoda area was conserved by the Department of Archaeology. The Department Forest Conservation has conserved around the reserve as a buffer zone. Ussangoda is located on the...
Ishara
Episode 29 – Adam’s Bridge Marine National Park
Seeing the destruction of rare animals cannot be forgotten In January 2020, I started working at Adam’s Bridge National Marine Park. It was my first assignment as a wildlife Ranger. Thalaimannar was the island’s southernmost point, and there are roughly 17 islands between there and Rameswaran in India. The eight islands that are...
Ishara
Episode 28 – Sigiriya Sanctuary
Sigiriya provides a model of reconciliation I assumed duties in Sigiriya Sanctuary as a Beat Officer in 2016. As a tourism area tourist are abundant in Sigiriya. There were officials in charge of various tasks in this area, but there was no connection between them. There was no relationship between the officers of our Department and […]
Ishara