17 May 2010

Butawa


Above picture was taken in front of Butawa Tank, within Yala National Park. The prominent rock seen on the other side is Elephant Rock.

A few tanks in the park keep all the animals alive during dry periods. Butawa Wewa is known as the last water resource that remains even during heavy draughts. You could see hundreds of crocodiles here, especially during dry seasons.

26 comments:

Tankar från Trädgårdsmästarn; Hillevi said...

What different life you have, and beautiful scenes you serve us:-)
That Elephant Rock, looks very impressive!

Amaris in Wonderland said...

Love the lilies along the edge of the lake! Very pretty place...

ha-ha: The tree + patch of green above water, in the middle reminded of a certain someone, er... something.
:D

rainfield61 said...

Hundreds of crocodile?

Luckily Butawa is big enough for them.

Μαριανα said...

What a magic landscape... I like how the water lilies frame the picture. It seems delicious to swim in it, damn crocodiles! :)

Regards from Greece Kirigalpoththa!

Mahasen said...

It's a wonderful landscape!
Mentioning of the crocs gives me a freak though :)

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi K, Wouldn't want to get too close to those crocodiles!!!!! Neat place though for the water critters... Elephant Rock looks like an interesting place...

Love your header.
Betsy

magerata said...

Thanks a million for your work KP, as always, brilliant.

Me-shak said...

Wow, man!
You are one lucky fellow :D Loving the pictures. Can you take a dip in it? Looking forward for more :)
I remember your other post about Elephant rock :)
Cheers!

Tammie Lee said...

that rock really does look like an elephant. It is good to have a water resource.

Rajesh said...

Beautiful place. Very scenic.

cat said...

That is such a beautiful shot of an interesting and to me very different place :)

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

that's amazing!
outstanding!

Nadia said...

I just returned from Ooty (southern India) and they have Lamb's rock and Dolphin's nose :)

dev wijewardane said...

Are eithe rof the Butuwa bungalows opened? nice shot.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Hillevissan,
Yes the climate and vegetation is quite different to Scandinavia isn’t it? :)

Amaris,
You saw the nessie of this place :) Most of the lakes here have water lilies and quite attractive when they are in full bloom.

Rainfield,
Yes, it is quite a big lake to accommodate all of them + quench the thirst for many more animals.

Μαριανα,
Yes if not for crocodiles it would be a great place for a dip :)
Best wishes from Sri Lanka!

Mahasen,
Infact, we could see many of them further away on the other banks.

Betsy,
Elephant Rock is an interesting place, although I could not get closer to it. Glad you like the header :)

Magerata,
You are most welcome!

Me-shak,
You can have a dip in it if you have the same capabilities of Steve Irwin. BTW It is not allowed to even get down from the vehicle in this area, leave alone swimming in the tank :)
Earlier photo of the rock was taken from a different place, further away from the tank.

Tammie,
Yes, it is like a massive statue of an elephant!

Rajesh,
Thanks a lot for your comments.

Cat,
Glad you like the picture.

Jingle,
Many thanks for your comments.

Nadia,
Oh really! Hope you would be able to post pictures of those interesting rocks. :)

Dev,
Sorry, I have no idea. But I’ll check and get back to you.

Thanks all for your comments!

George said...

This is a very beautiful scene. I don't think I'd like it as much with all those crocodiles, however. I remember Elephant Rock from an earlier post. It's very impressive.

Amila Kanchana said...

Beautiful! Speaking of crocs,what's the difference between them and gators? What kind is there in Bolgoda?

Anjana Gunawardena said...

Beautiful shot K.

Ahh crocs! My friends …LOL

Harshi said...

A tank filled to the brim with water, tiptoeing lilies and dancing dead trees.. this is such a scenic scenery full of life.

And wow.. to see real live crocodiles! Did you getta capture them on your cam?

Loshini said...

Lilies? I see the elephant rock! :)

Naquillity said...

how i'd love to explore this area. one can get lost in such a gorgeous scenery. and everytime i see that elephant rock i'm amazed. have a great day.

Kirigalpoththa said...

George,
Yes, if not for crocs it would have been a great area. Elephant rock is always impressive. Glad you remember my earlier post on the rock :)

Amila,
Alligators are in America and not found in Sri Lanka. Alligators have wider and shorter heads. Also their heads are more U-shaped. This Wikipedia link gives a proper account on differences of two varieties.
There are two species of crocodiles in Sri Lanka - Salt-water Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) known in Sinhala as Geta Kimbula and the Mugger Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) known in Sinhala as Hala Kimbula. Yala has both varieties and it has one of the highest concentrations of muggers. At Bolgoda you will probably see saltwater crocs, the larger of the two varieties.

Anjana,
Yep, they are good friends as long as they keep a good distance from you :)

Harumi,
You are right, Butawa wewa has full of life.
I took quite a few photos of them but they were faraway. So it was not very clear.

Loshini,
Water lilies can be seen as little dots in the water :)

Naquillity,
Thanks a lot for your comments and wish you a great day too!

Linnea said...

those are beautiful water lilies in the foreground and what a large rock in the background! You're getting around, aren't you!

NicoleB, Egypt said...

I was going to say that it looks like a wonderful place to jump in and cool off....until I read the crocodile part ;)

But hey, nature watching is awesome too ;)

Harshi said...

Oh that's too bad. Don't miss them next time. =D

Kirigalpoththa said...

Linnea,
Yep, thanks! It is a massive rock and real elephants look minuscule when they go nearby.

Nicole,
Yep beautiful place but you have to suppress all the temptation when crocs are around :)

Harumi,
I'll promise better shots next time :)