Ecotourism experiences in Sri Lanka: trip report

Ecotourism experiences in Sri Lanka: trip report

Text and Photos by Stam Zogaris and Vassiliki Vlami

Introduction

Natural history activities by tourists include a variety of rather specialized pursuits (e.g. birding, nature photography, botanizing, diving, etc). In developing-stage tropical ecotourist destinations, these activities are often centered on protected areas, particularly the high-profile "parks". Much "nature experience" obviously also takes place outside protected areas but sometimes this is neglected in the promotion literature and in conservatoin management in practice. In this brief report we bring insights from a recent visit to Sri Lanka (late February 2019). We remark on the importance of the authentic "wider landscape" in the ecotourist experience. And also in helping protect it through conservation initiatives, education and effective ecotourism development.

Materials, methods, study areas

Two seasoned ecotourists, myself and my wife, stayed at the following locations: Kandy- (3 nights), Mirissa-Polhena-Matara (8 nights), Deniyaya-Mederipitiya in the Sinharaja rainforest (1 night). The idea being our best-possible immersion into the nature and culture and R&R (=rest and relaxation). Also, we were invited to speak at Ruhuna University, Matara and had meetings with professors from Peredineya University as well. We also maintained and expanded contacts with ecotourism specialists before the trip and upon our arrival back in Greece.

In Sri Lanka we birded each morning from our hotels and guesthouses (early morning walks, c. 2 hrs) and visited and photographed various locations near our residences. We only entered one protected area (Sinharaja Biosphere Reserve) on two days. We snorkeled in shallow reef-flat lagoon conditions on 4 days (Polena coral reef flats- near Matara and Parot Island, Mirissa) and also visited several urban areas.  

Results and discussion

We experianced rich wildlife both outside and within PAs in Sri Lanka. It was easy to observe 100 bird species in 13 days (on two days we had a guide) - our bird data has been uploaded in the ebird database (https://ebird.org/profile/MTAxNzk5Ng/LK). The birding for a northern temperate visitor from Europe or North America is fascinating and the country makes an excellent introduction to the Indo-Malayan Biogeographical Realm. Its not just the birds. In nearly all areas visited the traditional and rural elements and features of the landscape were quite fascinating.  These included frequent and satisfying encounters with rural people, village life, and wildlife, even a few mammals (particularly primates), a rich flora, and varied landscapes, including fascinating and regionally unique cultural landscapes (e.g. the "tanks"- old artificial reservoirs often rich in birds etc.). The sea was also very interesting: Typical coral reef fishes abounded in the dead-coral shallows and reef flats-and we developed a list of photographed fish species. Several other interesting animal groups were prevelent (rain forest herps, butterflies and other spectacular arthropods, stream fishes, etc)- all observed and  easily photographed under excellent conditions. 

Positive aspects of ecotourism development in Sri Lanka

The following important points should be mentioned as positive steps that have been made in developing ecourism in Sri Lanka. Even without mentioning the parks and other PAs, Sri Lanka is strides ahead of many other tropical ecotourism destinations.

-Field guide books covering birds, butterflies, dragonflies, reptiles and mammals are readily available and most are up-to-date and well geared for amateur naturalists. The work of several local and visiting naturalists, including industrious and generous people such as Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne has been critical in promoting Sri Lanka as a globally-important biodiversity destination.

- A booming guiding industry has developed in recent years, including specialist guides (particularly for birding) and local guides in and around the protected areas. The guides we met were well trained. Some proprietors of hotels and guesthouses have also become informed and may help tourists to explore nature.

-Botanical gardens, especially the fantastic Peradeniya Botanical Garden (Kandy) host spectacular exhibits and some interpretation opportunities of native and non-native plants. This is a legacy of British colonialism and a strong academic interest in nature, horticulture has evolved since the country's independence. 

- Local people's attitude towards wildlife is very positive. Birds are not hunted in Sri Lanka, due to Buddhist inspired law and they are often fearless of people.  People do not fear various reptiles like most snakes and monitors (although they do fear crocs - even Salt Water Crocodiles still survive in Sri Lanka...)

There is no doubt Sri Lanka occupies a special place as an ecotourism show-case area in the Tropics. After the end of the nearly 30 years civil war (2009) the country has developed wildlife and nature tourism remarkably fast.  Smart business choices and marketing have helped, however there has been some serious criticism of the sustainability of ecotourism in Sri Lanka (see paper by Newsome 2013). 

Recommendations

Of course, as one would expect there are serious biodiversity problems in Sri Lanka. Vistors and locals can see this widely. Localized rapid change in landscape patterns especially at and near the coast are easily apparent. This includes: poorly planned tourism development, new high-rise tourist resort buildings being planned and advertised on the coastal roads (near Galle, for example). Industrial monoculture farming (cash-crop palm oil) and natural habitat destruction in woodlands and wetlands were also apparent in some areas. Landscapes change and degrade as tourism and globalized trade spread. Also aesthetic aspects that degrade authenticity were widely apparent, especially in and near urban areas (e.g. a remarkable number of large signs (billboards) is prevalent along the coast and generally degrades landscape authenticity).

 We feel obliged to provide our raw ideas as recommendations here:

-Effort must be made to protect the wider landscape instead of only the official protected areas of Sri Lanka. A large amount of time by any tourist is spent outside protected areas, and if "time-in-nature" is to be maximized by a visitor, most time will be outside of protected areas (i.e. often near hotels or guesthouses and near built-up areas). Many lovely places that are semi-natural are threatened and degraded near urban areas and along the coast. Landscape scale conservation must be identified as an important unmet need, to be strategically promoted and enforced.

- There are many sites of special interest for nature (and for tourists) outside protected areas that require some kind of designation and official protection. These "sites of special natural history interest" are very poorly charted or promoted and most are difficult for naturalists and independent tourists to locate and or to experience. We recommend government and NGO investment in the creation of many new small parks and micro-reserves.

-Tourists must get "educated"; most visitors to the country are not aware of the the real nature of Sri Lanka. We feel there still is a lack of interpretation facilities and information guiding tourists or making them more appreciative of biodiversity (the particulars of biodiversity, not just the, generalized tropical nature image, i.e. the "park scene" and whale-watching safaris...). Many tourists are interested. Many tourists would visit nature attractions. We recommend a series of nature museums, a national aquarium, more publications and web-based material for this. Also private tourism industry stakeholders can better support these developments in their properties and facilities.

- Nature guides (trained professionals who guide in nature) play an important role in wildlife watching outside PAs. The issue of training, certification and enforcement of nature guides is important and has been stressed as a problem in Sri Lankan ecotourism (e.g. Newesome 2013). Universities are supporting nature guide training and many NGOs are on the ground - there is hope for continuing education and training in natural history in Sri Lanka (we've seen great efforts in the Sinharaja area). Any increased government and tourism industry support of this aspect will most definitely increase the quality of wildlife tourism experiences in Sri Lanka. (For example, many of the guides at Sinharaja do not have binoculars - an easy gift that would make them even more effective at their job).

-As in many south Asian destinations, garbage and water pollution is almost everywhere apparent in Sri Lanka (the situation is of course much cleaner than in most of India and the Middle East). Western tourists are known to be particularly sensitive to garbage in nature. A "nature clean-up" campaign would not be costly and this can be organized at many levels of government and by the private sector as well.

Finally, for ecotourism to prosper, sustaining top wildlife watching experiences both inside and outside PAs is very important. We think these have somewhat been neglected when focusing primarily on show-case PAs (National Parks and the safari activities). The parks cannot save the wider landscapes and living landscapes of Sri Lanka and there are certainly serious threats facing biodiversity on this island. This needs to be addressed now, early on, as tourism grows in Sri Lanka. A biodiverse nature-rich tourist experience especially outside PAs needs to be upheld and enhanced.

References

D. Newsome (2013) An ‘ecotourist's recent experience in Sri Lanka, Journal of Ecotourism, 12:3, 210-220, DOI: 10.1080/14724049.2013.879153

Acknowledgements

We thank the following individuals and intuitions for helping us:
-Professor Asanka Jayasinghe and collegues at Ruhuna University
-Sumith Jalath, family and his staff at the Lavendra Villa Mirissa.
-Mike Pope, ornithologist from Kuwait (see:http://www.hawar-islands.com/blog/bugs_stub.php?cat=242)
-Amila Salgado and two excellent local nature guides at Sinharaja Biosphere Reserve
-And we especially thank Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne for all support both before our trip and during our meeting in Athens in March 2019.

Mirissa, south coast

Polena near Matara

Polena near Matara

Monitor inside Matara city

Cultural landscape immediatly outside Sinharaja Biosphere Reserve

Deniyaya-Mederipitiya

Snake - said to be an Indian Cobra- crossing the road at Mirissa. We saw about four snakes on the trip.

Loten's sunbird, Kandy

Red-wattled lapwing near Kandy

Asian emerald dove near Mirissa

Birding in upland rainforest in Sinharaja Biosphere reserve with top-expert bird guides

The elusive and spectacular island endemic: Sri Lanka blue magpie

Sri Lanka jungle fowl at Deniyaya-Mederipitiya

Upper-mid elevation stream fish in Sinharaja. In this photo, the striped ones are the endemic black-lined barb Systomus pleurotaenia. The rest are young Deccan mahseer Tor khudree. (Thanks to Hiranya Sudasinghe for the fish ID).

Mid elevation rainforest at Deniyaya-Mederipitiya; entering the Sinharaja...

This is an old ranger's center near Deniyaya-Mederipitiya (Sinharaja Biosphere Reserve), the interpretation signs were old, faded and rusted; facilities like this are important and should be maintained.

Yellow-billed babblers near Mirissa

Green imperial-pigeon near Mirissa

Toque macaques at Mirissa

Crested serpent-eagle at Sinharaja (digi-scoped through a powerful Swarowski)

Yellow-browed bulbul, Sinharaja

 Yellow-fronted barbet, uplands cloud forest of Sinharaja

Moorish idol, Parrot Island, Mirissa

Chromis damsels at Polena, Matara

Vassiliki at the Galle fish market.

Vassiliki with the girls at the Batik factory in Kandy.

Us in Kandy.

One of our fine meetings with local specialists; here at Peradeniya: Professors Nimal Gunatilleke and Savitri Gunatilleke - our warmest thanks for the hospitality!

Meetings with the students at Ruhuna University, Matara

Even the most touristy beach on the island had a very special feel, Mirissa.