Archive for the 'wild life' Category

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Sri Lanka, world’s number one tourist destination

Published on 20/11/2010 in Historical sites, front page, press coverage, surf, the bay and wild life. 2 Comments

And Arugam Bay? Sri Lanka’s number One (Surf & Wild Life) destination !

MagicSeaweed.com (file photo)

Germany also has relaxed travel advisories to German nationals visiting Sri Lanka.
The German Embassy said that a long standing travel advisory had been eased enabling German tourists to visit Yala National Park and Arugam Bay.

“The Island of Sri Lanka is a small universe; it contains as many variations of culture, scenery, and climate as some countries a dozen times its size . . . I find it hard to believe that there is any country which scores so highly in all departments – which has so many advantages and so few disadvantages. Lovely beaches, beautiful landscapes, impressive ruins, a vibrant culture and charming people.”

Sir Arthur C Clarke

From West Coast to East Coast (Exploring Kumana National Park)

Published on 16/11/2010 in Blogs, Traveler's Reports, front page, people and wild life. 1 Comment

Lakdasun explores Arugam Bay. Panama and Kumana National Park.
With excellent, unique photos attached.

"Never seen a more beautiful beach thanPanama"

With the reopening of the Kumana national park early this year it had been on our priority list for quite some time and finally we managed to make that dream come true. The camp sites were booked more than three months in advance as there is no other accommodation south of Arugam Bay. Wildlife department is trying to rebuild the destroyed circuit bungalows and hopefully we will get to use them before long.

Having never been to the east coast before, we wanted to have a glimpse of the rising sun from the east coast and planned the trip so that we will be at Pottuvil by sunrise. So we left Colombo late night at 10.30PM and drove through the night via the Beragala route. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Beragala junction the road via Koslanda to Wellawaya was closed for repairs and the detour took us to Haputale, Bandarawela, Ella and then to Wellawaya. We lost a good part of an hour due to this detour and the sun was already rising as we passed Lahugala. Continue reading ‘From West Coast to East Coast (Exploring Kumana National Park)’

Wild Elephants take lives of villagers in Ampara.

Published on 16/11/2010 in From our own Correspondent, Security & Safety, front page, people, press coverage and wild life. 0 Comments

A house damaged by a wild elephant

(Arugam Bay, Lahugala & PottuVille are part of the Amara District)

Electric fences built to prevent Elephants from entering villages have been broken in many areas in the Ampara District endangering lives of people, with government paying scant attention to the problem.

Several areas including Samanabadda, Abhayapura, Buddangala in the Uhana Divisional Secretariat area under the threat of wild Elephants due to broken electric fences.  Although Ampara Provincial Council Continue reading ‘Wild Elephants take lives of villagers in Ampara.’

Kumana – The bird paradise

Published on 09/11/2010 in Blogs, Historical sites, Traveler's Reports, front page, people and wild life. 0 Comments

A brilliant trip report by Danushka of Lakdasun to Arugam Bay and nearby Kumana. Scoll down for some amazing photos!

It was a long weekend ahead of us, just 3 days left before it. We still haven’t had any clue on what to expect. One of my friends was repeatedly calling for Wilpattu, but I was disappointed after my last visit there. Wilpattu is yet to rehabilitate, that was my opinion. But since everyone was calling for it I joined them. At this point we received a bad news from Wilpattu, Bad but it was good for me ;) it was raining there.

As soon as we got to know about this we checked on other available options. Yala is my favorite place on earth, but since it is a long weekend Yala must be crowded. We decide at least we should let those animals live in peace. The only option left was Kumana, The Yala East National Park which is famous for its birds and, none of us had ever been there. Even though it was the beginning of the bird migration season we decided to go there. After struggling a bit we managed to book a campsite and start our journey toward the birds paradise.

We started from Colombo around 9PM on Thursday. Continue reading ‘Kumana – The bird paradise’

And we are back! On Facebook!

Published on 04/11/2010 in Arugam Bay Surf Club, Arugam Surf Club, Arugambay Surf Club, Blogs, Culture, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Fun, Historical sites, Humour, Ideas, Kitesurf, Literature, Money Matters, Music, Share Transfer, Surf Federation News, Surf competition, Traveler's Reports, Wind Surf, front page, parties, people, press coverage, presse-deutsch, services, shops, stop over Ideas, surf, taxis, the bay, tuk tuk, weddings and wild life. 0 Comments

Done! Super Happy ARUGAM !

We managed to resurrect our popular Facebook page “Arugam Surf”.
Which was knocked off the net exactly 2 months ago.

Arugam Surf

Please join, participate, submit YOUR photos, videos. Let’s make this page even more popular.
Please understand that we had to add additional security features to avoid access to our hacker ‘friends’ in future.

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Sripala’s Place, Arugam Bay

Published on 28/09/2010 in Arugam Surf Club, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, Historical sites, Money Matters, Traveler's Reports, cabanas, front page, guesthouse, hotels, people, press coverage, restaurants, surf and the bay. 1 Comment

Sripala’ s Place  is one of the most original and oldest establishment of Arugam Bay.
They are situated near famous Surf Point for many years.

Sripala & Family, at Arugam Bay

Arugam.info has just been notified of a  legal case to relocate them.
As soon as we receive confirmation and further information, details will be published here.

For now, please send us your old memories so that we can add them to our  “Old Arugam” section. To document the Bay’s history.
Send them to: arugam.info@gmail.com
And all will be published here:
http://www.arugam.info/old-arugam/

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What Wolfgang loved in Arugam Bay …

Published on 20/09/2010 in Blogs, Traveler's Reports, front page, people and wild life. 4 Comments

Wolfgang stayed and worked at Arugam Bay for many years.
AbHa has  hundreds or even  thousands of his nice wildlife photos on file.
But, as a tribute, below is just one selected dozen, of what he, himself considered to be his best memories of his time in the Bay and Sri Lanka.

Photos taken from Wolfgang’s  own web site and album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/wpe.cameroon

Wolfgang's last known photo.Taken in Cameroon, August 2010

Arugam’s “Monkey Man” has Died

Published on 19/09/2010 in front page, people and wild life. 0 Comments

In Memory of Herrn Wolfgang Heilman

Arugam.info has been informed that Wolfgang Heilman, known as “The Monkey Man” throughout Sri Lanka has died in Cameroon, Africa.

The report has so far not independently confirmed, but it is believed that he contracted Malaria and passed away as a result of his untreated condition.

The mainly uneducated  Arugam Bay Community never really understood him. His outstanding contribution as well as totally unselfish support for our remote Bay has never been noted by most.
Specially after the 2004 Tsunami, he gave up his German job, risked and lost his good relationship with his Thai wife.
And, within hours after the Boxing Day waves,  he transformed this very web site into the world’s first, true  Community based Tsunami Self-Help Web Site.

A strong critic of affluent and wasteful and mainly totally useless  NGO’s (“Enjoy’s”) he concentrated later in helping endangered species, and with the support of AbHa and a few German donors an animal orphanage was established in the grounds of the Siam View at Arugam Bay.

Often totally misunderstood by greedy locals, who demanded cash for luxuries such as mobile phones and motorbikes, he turned away from human support in  jealousy dominated Sri Lanka.

After trying his best to assist the island and preserve its outstanding wildlife and Nature, he received no support himself at all. Indeed, organizations shunned and obstructed his work. As a result, be moved to West Africa, where he continued to do what he loved best:
To look after our planets greatest asset:

Our Nature,animals and wild life.

RIP, Dar Wolfgang!

As a tribute, arugam.info will publish some of his best Nature photographs shortly.  Here. On HIS website. Of course.

http://www.ecoproject.info/

Elephant Safari at Arugam Bay

Published on 16/09/2010 in Blogs, Traveler's Reports, front page and wild life. 0 Comments

Nancy has really wanted to engage with elephants while in Sri Lanka; she so loves them. We looked into the possibility of visiting elephant orphanages and retirement centres.
One at Kegalle on the way to Kandy looked like it might work. It’s run by a Westerner, but we’ve heard some murmurings about questionable ethics as it maintains a breeding program—for what purpose? A clearly legitimate sanctuary, also at Kegalle, was a possibility, but the gate fee is rather expensive for our budget.
The third option was one we took up while visiting Arugam Bay—an elephant safari, something that’s offered in a number of Sri Lankan national parks. Of course, you can’t get too close, so photographs are only possible under unexpected circumstances or with good telephoto equipment. We hired a tuk-tuk and driver through our hotel and at 4:00 p.m. headed out along the main highway to Lahugala National Park about fifteen kilometres out of town. In the excitement of the journey, I wasn’t as attentive as I might have been to the amazing savannah landscape and arid woodlands as I was on the return journey; so our first palpable experience was the goal of arriving at a huge expanse of savannah grassland with shallow lakes off in the distance Elephant Between Tres

Elephant Between Tres

. Our guide informed us that the entire landscape would remain under shallow water during the rainy season and become a sea of wetland sanctuary for all manner of water and wading birds that would share the land with the hundred or so wild elephants that live there.

No sooner had we arrived than we saw off in the middle distance three elephants browsing on the grassland with another seven or eight in the far distance. We left the Continue reading ‘Elephant Safari at Arugam Bay’

Wild elephant cause of A4 main road accident

Published on 05/08/2010 in Security & Safety, Traveler's Reports, front page, people, press coverage and wild life. 3 Comments

Accident scene located on A4 main road 30 Minutes West of Arugam Bay

By U Wijesinghe

The ambulance of the Lahugala rural hospital ran off the road and crashed into a wayside tree causing injuries to a doctor and five others travelling in the vehicle and extensive damage to the ambulance itself.

Wild Elephant on road. File photo

The ambulance was on its way back after transferring a patient in critical condition to the Moneragala General Hospital.

A male nurse and an attendant of the Lahugala hospital, a relative of the patient, and the ambulance driver were among the injured. They were admitted to Siyambalanduwa Base Hospital from where four were transferred to Moneragala General Hospital. The driver said he lost control of the vehicle in his attempt to avoid a wild elephant that was standing on the road. Potuvil police are conducting inquires into the incident.

source:

http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/news/provincial-news/17693.html

Kebilitta, Arugam Bay And Kumana

Published on 03/08/2010 in Blogs, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Historical sites, Religious, Security & Safety, accomodation, front page, guesthouse, press coverage, restaurants, the bay and wild life. 0 Comments

Over the last weekend I visited the Eastern Province with a group of friends. Having left Colombo at 4.00 in the morning, after almost a seven hour journey, we reached our destination; Arugam Bay.

"Arugam Bay"

By Kanchana Ratwatte
The closest access to this much sought-after surfing beach of Sri Lanka is via Ratnapura, Uda Walawe, Wellawaya, Monaragala, Siyambalanduwa and Pottuvil. While on the way, passing Uda Walawe and Lahugala, we did see quite a few elephants. The road network as in the case of all main roads in the Eastern Province, was well laid out with a new carpet and the drive was one great experience.
As we entered the bustling township, the first observation was the number of tourists that had gathered for the internationally publicized surfing festival which had concluded the previous weekend. Continue reading ‘Kebilitta, Arugam Bay And Kumana’

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Arugam Tourists nabbed at Horton

Published on 03/08/2010 in front page, people, press coverage and wild life. 0 Comments
By Shelton Hettiarachchi
Two westerners who tried to steal rare plants from the Horton Plains national park have been fined Rs. 85,000 each by Nuwara Eliya magistrate S. G. Kariyawasam. A Sri Lankan was fined Rs. 60,000 for helping the couple.

It was revealed that the two Irish nationals had been involved in such thefts during their previous trips to Sri Lanka too. It was alleged that earlier thefts took place in Polonnaruwa, Giritale, Arugam Bay, Siyambalanduwa, Sinharaja and Hakgala national parks.

WARNING! Endemic Plants. Many visitors may not know that there are strict regulations in force in Sri Lanka

Park caretaker P U Saranga produced the suspects in court. They were charged with unlawful entry into the park, theft of rare plants and obstructing public officials from carrying out their duties.

The two foreigners were identified as Continue reading ‘Arugam Tourists nabbed at Horton’

Protest against destruction at Arugam Bay temple

Published on 02/08/2010 in From our own Correspondent, Historical sites, Religious, Security & Safety, front page, people and press coverage. 1 Comment

Buddhist monks and people of the area staged a protest today (Aug 02) against the recent destruction of several buildings of Samabodhi Vihara in Arugam Bay.

Protest on the PottuVille side of Arugam Bay bridge

A certain group, aided by Pottuvil Police, had reportedly used bulldozers and razed the buildings 10 days ago, alleges chief incumbent Ven. Sivurumulle Dhammasiri Thera.

Meeting the protestors this morning, DIG R.M. Weerasuriya promised to apprehend the culprits within three days and to renovate the destroyed buildings. Continue reading ‘Protest against destruction at Arugam Bay temple’

Travel industry poised for a spirited upsurge

Published on 29/07/2010 in Arugam Bay Surf Club, Arugam Surf Club, Arugambay Surf Club, Blogs, Culture, Historical sites, Money Matters, accomodation, bars, cabanas, front page, guesthouse, hotels, people, press coverage, restaurants, services and wild life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Daily News. by Philip Fernando

…… Places like Kalpitiya, Pasikudah, Kuchchaweli, and Arugam Bay-the surfing haven, Yala, Wilpattu, Koneswaran temple in Trincomalee or Unawatuna beach-just to name a few- are entering the tourist lexicon like Banda Aceh or Pattaya Beach…..

Underpinning the tourist revival is the fact that Sri Lanka is emerging a popular destination for many seeking to fill their leisure amidst the country’s idyllic setting. The laid-back and the debonair are being increasingly lured to our shores as an assured place for respite or revelry.

Golden beaches and tropical climate, main tourist attractions. File photo

More importantly, the country’s stunning diversity embodying cultural sites, historical treasures, the sun-drenched beaches and trendy urbane hotels promises it to be a captivating destination.

It is also a fact that professionalism inherently linked to tourism, the new tier in social networking had been well-articulated by Sri Lankans practising this trade. Its vexing demands are met quite competently by thousands who are in it for good.

Sri Lankans seemed quite adept at it now. The long drought brought on by the terror war did not dim their hopes. Continue reading ‘Travel industry poised for a spirited upsurge’

Ranga’s ‘Shorepiece’

Published on 25/07/2010 in Blogs, Traveler's Reports, accomodation, cabanas, front page, guesthouse, people, press coverage, restaurants, surf, the bay and wild life. 3 Comments

By M. Naushad Amit
Sri Lanka, as a global tourist destination, has many wonders on offer to its visitors who come with different plans during their stay in this beautiful pearl shaped island situated in the Indian Ocean. Within Sri Lanka itself, there are many holiday destinations which are popular among local and foreign tourists alike. But the unspoiled beachfront of Arugam Bay is a beautiful location yet to be explored by holidaymakers.

Arugam Bay. A popular Surf Destination

Though Arugam Bay is gradually picking up in popularity among the locals as an infrequent getaway, it has been a surfing haven for foreigners for three decades. Even during the peak of the 30-year long ethnic war that affected tourists arrivals, Arugam Bay catered to many foreigners, especially surfers, who found the waves there a special treat to their surfing ‘needs’.
Arugam Bay, which is located near Pottuvil in the country’s east coast, is rich in bird life and wildlife in the surrounding jungles, wetlands and lagoons nearby. Being an area with links to ancient kingdoms, there are many remnants in the jungle from old Buddhist culture. Just outside Pottuvil, behind the dunes, are excavations of a 2000-year-old temple, the Modu Maha Vihare. About 3,500 people live in and around Arugam Bay. It consists of three small villages, where fishing and farming are the main livelihoods. Since Arugam Bay is reputed to be one of the world’s best surfing points, the number of foreign surfers to visit the location has increased. To meet the demands, many in Arugam Bay have shifted their interest and trades into tourism. Though the area lacks luxury hotels, the limited number of beachfront resorts and cabanas provide the best in tourist hospitality.

Ranga of Beach Hut fame

Comfort Zone
One such resort with a difference is ‘Ranga’s Beach Hut’, where guests get to enjoy a totally new experience in hospitality. Ranga’s Beach Hut which is located at two different places neighbouring each other, is owned by Continue reading ‘Ranga’s ‘Shorepiece’’

Walking that walk

Published on 20/07/2010 in Blogs, Culture, Historical sites, Religious, front page, people, press coverage, stop over Ideas, the bay and wild life. 0 Comments

Arugambay:

In July, every year, pilgrims walk tru Arugam Bay on their way to Kataragama

With the end of the war, bigger crowds have joined the annual Pada Yatra, says Patrick Harrigan

Many pilgrims walk through the Surfer's resort of Arugam Bay

Earnest devotees of Kataragama by the thousands—hailing from all communities but especially Tamil Hindus—are now undertaking the annual Pâda Yâtrâ or foot pilgrimage through Yala National Park to Kataragama for this month’s Esala festival that started on July 12.

Just passing out of Arugam Bay

With decades of fear and uncertainty swept away, this year more devotees are walking than at any time in living memory, possibly even more than in 2004 when Wildlife Department officials counted over 30,000 pilgrims entering Yala East National Park on the final 70-kilometre stretch from Okanda to Kataragama.

A totally unspoiled Countryside lies ahead. Arugam Bay to Kataragama

The first waves of pilgrims all up and down the east coast have already arrived to Okanda Murugan Kovil in Yala East where tens of thousands are pausing to rest and worship before entering Yala Strict Natural Reserve on the long jungle trek to Kataragama.

The Kataragama Pâda Yâtrâ traditionally starts from points in the Jaffna peninsula like Nallur and Selva Sannidhi Murugan kovils, from where the pilgrimage may take up to two months to reach Kataragama. This year for the first time since 2005, a few souls are walking the full distance, joined along the way by a few more from Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, and Trincomalee districts. Continue reading ‘Walking that walk’