BY Prof. Sampath Seneviratne
To witness it and to get that “click” of it, Mannar is filled with birders and photographers from across the country.
Hotels full, hoteliers thrilled
Not just at the high-end Palmyrah House, at the medium-scale hotels like John’s Hotel Agape, to the old-school birders’ hideout of Laurance’s Four Tees Guest Inn, the phone rings every so often to inquire for reservations. All the hotels are booked for the long weekend, and hoteliers are thrilled. After a very long time, Mannar is full. The island is thrilled by a special arrival. There are over 5,000 greater flamingos at Vankalea and Veddithalathivu Nature
It’s not just about birds; it’s about local economy and creating livelihoods Together with these flamingos are another half a million small waterbirds, namely sandpipers, plovers, knots, terns and large gulls. Mannar is one of the most important overwintering sites in the Central Asian Migratory Bird Flyway. These birds are ecologically very important to the planet’s environment and wellbeing. Even more so, they are critical for Mannar’s economy. The flamingos in particular, are a great money maker for hotels, guides, eateries and for those who sell roadside produce in this arid wilderness. Both Mannar and Pesalai towns see fruit juice parlours only when the flamingos emerge. The plush Colombo crowd is a livelihood generator for many.
Flamingos afar
Flamingos come to Mannar from the salt marshes of the Rann of Kutch at Gujarat and Maharashtra states of Western India. To reach Mannar they fly about 2000 kilometres. They will stay at least for another few months, till March in Mannar. That’s only if they don’t get disturbed.
What is right in Mannar is wrong in Bundala
The salt lagoons in Mannar on the other hand are unaltered and the tiny crustaceans are thriving there, nourishing the hungry flamingos, and giving them the pink colour in their silky feathers.
What is right in Bundala is wrong in Mannar
The Bundala National Park and southern wetlands are mostly protected by a stringent legal framework administered through the Department of Wildlife Conservation. However, the northern wetlands are less protected and the threats to these birds are numerous. The threat of the snares of poachers of Mannar are always a danger for migratory ducks, gulls and Francolins (partridge-like birds found in Mannar and elsewhere in the North). There were instances where flamingos were hunted for the pot and the danger is never fully gone. Every year this author removes numerous nooses aimed at wildfowl, gamebirds and even for larger wildlife such as spotted deer and wild boar in Mannar.
Vanishing prosperity in encroached wilderness
Flamingos and other waterbirds face injuries and death by the barbed wire fence in the water bodies, power lines erected across the Vankalai Sanctuary and dumped garbage in the wetlands. This author and a team of naturalists had observed a few injured birds over the past few weeks. A northern shoveler with a broken beak is still out in Mannar, only to starve to death over the next few days, and a northern pintail duck with a broken keel bone. The latter died after several surgeries done at a veterinary hospital in Colombo.
The much-debated windmills stood like an army of giants along the southern shores of the island. On a usual day the tips of those blades reach a speed of 160 kilometres per hour – a blender in the blue sky. Birds seem to be avoiding them – for now.
Getting a decent shot – whatever the cost it takes
Troubles for the pink flush are not over. The marginalised encroacher, the confused planner and the misguided governments had done enough to create a wilderness, a mess – a promised landscape, a hopeless wasteland. To make matters worse, some of the Colombo crowd, the photographer kind, who brings the much-needed lift for the local economy, creates unwanted harassment.
Protecting the goose that lays golden eggs
As a monthly visitor to Mannar over the past eight years to conduct scientific research on birds, wetlands and environment, this author strongly urges several key measures to protect Mannar’s green gold and its economic potential.
Demarcate the boundaries of protected areas of Mannar. Place signboards and intensify enforcement to stop poaching and other wildlife crime
Remove all the illegal encroaches from the Karakulam Tank and encourage the paddy farmers to continue and expand paddy cultivation in the Mannar island
Establish wildlife tourism friendly facilities such as bird blinds for photographers, information panels, an information centre for local nature and historic attractions, and a local guiding facility in Mannar
Declare Puthukkudiyiruppu Lagoon and the adjacent forest as a protected area to save resident and migratory forest birds in Mannar
Declare a protected area for Mannar’s asiatic donkey and other large mammals such as spotted deer and wild boar, and unique sand dune forests in the Central or Western parts of the island
With the help of the Sri Lankan Navy and the Department of Wildlife Conservation ensure a tighter protection for wildlife including greater protection for the large aggregation of breeding seabirds in the Rama’s Bridge Islands.
Dr. Sampath Seneviratne is a research scientist in ornithology and evolutionary ecology, and a professor in zoology at the University of Colombo. He is also a committee member of WNPS.
The history of wildlife protection in Sri Lanka is almost synonymous with that of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) of Sri Lanka. At 128 years old, the WNPS is the third oldest non-governmental organisation of its kind in the world and was responsible for the setting up of the Wilpattu and Yala National Parks in Sri Lanka, and of the formation of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).