Wasgamuwa National Park – Observations from a brief 4 day visit

The 100,000 acre Wasgamuwa National Park, is without question the Hidden Gem in the Crown of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Sadly though, those in charge of this nation’s future, one part of the Environmental Conservation Battle, the PROTECTION OF SRI LANKA’S WILD LIFE FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS, have NO clue how to preserve it, nor enhance it and develop it. This can easily be done, in the interests of generating the needed income, while at the same time advancing the knowledge of our wildlife, with the aim of preserving the status of endangered flora and fauna in keeping with our Biodiversity value.

Just to point out one fact that horrified me, and I don’t think this made it to the Media, was the granting of 12,000 acres of PARKLAND to the displaced villagers of the  Moragahakanda Project, as their lands went under water when that project was begun. Surely it is a bad enough task of preserving what we got, but having to give so much land from the park for Agriculture in a Country where much of the Agricultural land is VERY POORLY UTILIZED smacks of POLITICAL EXPEDIANCY and not of the preservation of the future of the Country which in any case requires one third of its landmass protected from exploitation to be kept for future generations. It should be preserved as forest lands, which could be used for timber and for revenue earning means in an extremely sustainable manner preserving the ethos of regeneration of new forests, not cutting down existing ones!

Please do not forget, the Wildlife Parks act both as protectors of fauna and flora as the latter too is severely endangered, and there is NOT plan in place to document, preserve, and educate the public on unique flora that is also to be seen in this and other national parks. Why is Wasgamuwa so special?

What makes this park so special is that its climate, bordering the Riverston Range of the Knuckles Mountain Range on one side, offering spectacular scenery, and bordering on the Kalu Ganga and Mahaweli on its eastern and western flanks permits year round water, lush vegetation and ideal conditions for many species of flora and fauna to thrive. Our National Bird the Jungle Fowl thrives here.

Without a fully funded research station at Wasgamuwa, is a reason for its selection as an ideal location for the study of many species in their natural habitat covering a few different CLIMATIC HABITATS, being in the middle of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka with its unique status as a world famous BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT (few of the elected politicians are even aware of this status) does not even have a University, PhD program of international repute that studies this subject. We have the ideal location for such an Academic Institution, and so should at least have a minimal research establishment created for a specific goal of preserving DNA, collecting a database and enhancing knowledge for the future.

When one has leaders who are so busy fighting daily fires set by themselves, they don’t have the vision to identify this need. Their education level is merely to hang on to power, a task they fail miserably at anyway. If they have any love for Country, they must at least realize the potential of being a center of international research which could be completely funded from foreign University Research Programs, without the need to dip into the national coffers for anything. To say nothing of the foreign earnings of a world class research establishment located in Sri Lanka.

How idiotic are we when we catch foreigners attempting to take species out of this country for study, and confiscate and throw those items away, when they are merely taking it to study the genetic patterns to enhance human knowledge anyway. If we had an institution with experts in their fields, people will come here to do that research anyway! So to put it simply we don’t study our own nor do we want anyone else to study, and for all you know we may be losing endemic species we have yet to identify due to this utter foolishness on our part.

Only altruistic people would think about these possibilities, whereas nationalists, have an island mentality of a frog in a well, don’t want anyone interfering who is at a higher educational level than themselves. This has been the crux of why we have not had an outward looking educational foundation that attracts the best to Sri Lanka, a country that yearly loses its best to foreign universities never to return due to the lack of such world class establishments capable of retaining talent. There is NO place for graduates with first class honors in programs, so they go overseas and enhance the knowledge of the host countries. This is a means to reduce the loss of this catch 22 dilemma faced everyday by our best and brightest.

For a system that just cannot ascertain the most appropriate location for placing a practical Electric Fence, and have it maintained regularly to protect the animals and thereby the locals, how can they have foresight for anything more?

We have experts in Elephant behavior, why is their input not taken into account in making fool proof fencing, rather than leave it to a contractor who is tasked with a fence where his interest is merely the profit he can make out of building a fence that will NOT serve the purpose anyway, due to substandard material and longevity.

The Park Bungalows need extensive renovation, as they are simply not conducive to reasonable stays, and those in power simply don’t stay in such bungalows preferring luxurious alternatives, that result in step-motherly treatment, and the exploitation of this weakness by the private sector that is grabbing all the land outside the park to build their establishments to cater for this absence. Current design and solar technology is in place to permit suitable upgrades, without extravagant costs, if the tendering is done not for profit in mind only.

Frankly for a such a world class site (Wasgamuwa Park) the fact that even far thinking hoteliers are prevented from establishing luxurious accommodation, including helicopter landing facilities, by the existing hotels, who have selfishly prevented new entrants with better quality is a testament again to the frog in the well mentality that does not allow others to come in. At least if they renovate thier own establishments to an international acceptable standard for high end wildlife viewing this may mitigate the void created.

The big spending wildlife lover, is denied the conditions upon which to satisfy his demands preferring to spend millions on a holiday in South Africa that merely has game parks that are fenced in, in a canned tourism product that ensures animals are always there to be seen, with no surprises that our parks offer the viewer. Purists don’t like that kind of luxury that is so artificial that it is like going to the safari park to view wildlife and not to a National Park!

I know some of my own friends do not wish anything to be said or done at Wasgamuwa as they have been horrified by the destruction of Yala, Udawalawe, Horton Plains and Minneriya, that they don’t want a repeat of that here. I am not for a moment even pointing in that direction, merely on preserving this for exclusive very high end international tourism amounting to say a regulated 50 groups of a maximum of 10 individuals a month, yielding foreign exchange from their park visits of about US$500,000 a month. Not too bad he!(US$10K a group)

Leaving the development for organic growth as was permitted in Yala, where every person who was able to get a lease on a Jeep became a jeep owner or driver meant that it became a right for them to be allowed to take tourists into the park, even if they had NO love for the wildlife, and only for the money they hoped to earn from that.

It is precisely to prevent a repeat of that scenario, that I am pointing out an alternative means that auctions a slot into the park each month, which will prevent the unfettered exploitation that goes on. We are all free to as members of the public to bid for an entrance, and then we choose the jeep which takes us there, our own vehicle maybe or one from the pool of drivers who offer services, based on their knowledge and capability, not just their ability to race at speed, which appears to be the only qualification needed for Yala, a qualification designed to ruin one National Heritage unless it has not already been ruined. 

This is made possible due to the ruinous action of a senior Minister, who has NO love for wildlife, or for those who observe the rules of the park, and honor and respect other wildlife lovers from peacefully observing the beauty of nature, and enjoying a peaceful setting.

In Conclusion it is clear that we could use this park as a pilot project to be the world standard in Research and invite only those who are really interested in the biodiversity to enjoy and learn from this Wasgamuwa Experience.