Day 26: 3/1/12 - A jack of all trades & and a Birthday Party

This was our last day in the jungle. Weather continued to be iffy, so it was a day of data entry and house work. Of which, one activity constituting making a birthday cake for Mr. Gene Wheeler, another volunteer here.

But let me tell you, making cake in a jungle is just something else. We had to bring over an oven from another person's house. We propped it on top of a giant pot. Then after all that, it had a wrong-sized plug. So Reeve, being the man he is, was electrician for the morning.

Our last night in the jungle was a real village affair with all our accomplists from the last month here in Wasgamuwa. These people will be missed.

Jack of all trades and a birthday boy

Siriya, all gangsta, ready to cut grass

That boy loves his cake batter

Jungle Cake cutting techniques; very lankan, too

The boy has some skill

AND 4 weeks without shaving; complete!

Siriya - the night's entertainment

Happy Birthday, Gene :)

Our new extended family in the jungle

Field Crew! (Jayathilaka & Veroni)

Siriya

Chintaka

Lila

As for the Jude-Camilla Escapades and Ambe Yalua-hood; 6 years and going strong!

Day 25: 2/2/12 - A Rainy Day

There is a paradise flycatcher that pretty much lives at the lodge. I finally managed to catch him on camera.

The morning was spent doing errands in Hettipola

We had intended to go to the treehouse in the evening, but after taking our afternoon bath in stream, it started to rain down for a few hours. As the States has snow days - though not so much these days- we had our first rain day.

True Gamé Latha :)

Day 24: 1/2/12 - Sunrise from a treehouse

Waking up in the treehouse

A chicken to start the morning

A pond of the pink lotuses!

Today's transect was 2 hour long hike through the forest, part of one we have done before. Today the elephants chose to make themselves extremely scarce, unfortunately. There were none early morning near the treehouse, nor any signs along the transect route. It was still a lovely hike.

Siriya!!

Day 23: 31/1/12 - Mud Skiing & Night Long Treehouse Watch

Today, we went through the so called "leopard transect". There weren't any leopard signs in sight, this time. But all the excitement happened when we approached a slope of about 75 degrees and our field guides below, Veroni and Jayathilaka, told us that that was the way to go. It had rained that very morning, so the ground was nice and moist. Holding on to branches and vines, we slide our way down the muddy mountain.

We once again came across very many of these winding tree trunks, constituting many trunklets. I've come to realize that this an opportunistic adaptation that trees, such as the Nuga below, have gained over evolutionary time. As small plants, these trees send up one thin trunk to quickly shoot up through to the top of the canopy to gain optimum sunlight. The Nuga then sends down aerial roots, over time, that wrap around the original tree trunk to give it more strength and support.

The afternoon and night, until the wee hours of the morning, were spent in the tree hut. We were hoping to gain some insight about elephant movements in the night and early morning. Unfortunately, on this particular night there was little activity beyond elephant rustles in the forest about twice.

But we had some brilliant sightings in the evening at about 5 to 6 pm.

a young male

He is confronted by a villager on a bike

And turns back with almost a monkey like squeak

Once the biker retreated, he was able to cross the road and continue his journey to the tank for an evening drink

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We once more witnessed the limping, Nondia from last week. He, too, headed through the forest to the tank