Wild elephant struck by train, Manampity, Sri Lanka.

 Coming back from Batticaloa we saw the carcass of this dead elephant. It had been struck by a train while crossing the railway track at Manampitiya on the Polonnoruwa to Batticaloa stretch. 'The count conducted last month in forests and wildlife parks found 5,879 wild elephants, of which 122 are tuskers and 1,107 calves'.

Brahminy Kite, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.

 

I saw this Brahminy Kite perched on the 'sentinel post' of the old Dutch Fort at Batticaloa. The second picture shows the sentinel post from the top of which the bird flew away a moment ago.

A bath for a baby elephant - Ridivihare, Sri Lanka

I took this sequence of a baby elephant being bathed at Ridivihare, Sri Lanka. Note the broken tusk.
Click on link below to watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb7aQnAap98

Childrens park, Puliyanthivu, Batticaloa.

The childrens park in Puliyanthivu, Batticaloa, is part of the rehabilitation project after the Tsunami.

Deduru Oya at Ibbagamuwa, Sri Lanka.

 The Deduru Oya crosses the Kurunegala Dambulla highway just before Ibbagamuwa. I took these pictures of an 'anicut' upstream made to feed water to the paddy fields and a beautiful tree spreading over the river downstream. Deduru Oya is notorious for its flash floods which occur when heavy rains fall on the hills of Mathale.