Episode 39 – Anganmadilla National Park

Enjoying the beauty of Mahaiyawa.

I joined the Department of Wildlife Conservation on January 10, 2007 as a Wildlife Guard. I have been working as a Wildlife Ranger in Angammadilla National Park since 1st February 2022.

During my seventeen years of service, I work tirelessly to improve my knowledge of wildlife conservation at the Angammadilla National Park Headquarters with very few staff from the Department of Wildlife Conservation.

In the meantime, I set out on foot at 6.45 a.m. on 30.04.2022 for an inspection tour on the instructions of the Park warden. I was accompanied by Field Assistant SampathGeethRanaweera, R.N.M.S. Chandana and K.P. Sumith Sampath. We carried a firearm. We walked through the garden path to Mahaiya Lake. The purpose of our journey was to find out information about poachers and fishermen who enter the park illegally.

It was around 11:15 p.m. by the time we reached the station. We didnot feel tired because we started our journey in the morning. The wind blowing through The Mahaiya Lake quenched our exhaustion. We all found a place to swim near The Mahaiya Lake and had lunch there. Except for bird sounds, there was silence throughout the forest. While staying in the Mahaiya Lake area, we saw a large number of people coming to the Mahaiya Lake in search of drinking water. We were looking at this place, enjoying the beauty of nature. It was a beautiful sight to see the tusker drinking water and bathing. We all checked the surrounding area further, but found nothing suspicious. That day, we had coconut sambol with bread prepared for the dinner on the Mahaiyawa dam and stayed at the place for the night.

The next morning, we started back to work. About two kilometers from near The Mahaiya Lake, we heard the sound of breaking tree branches. We checked it thoroughly and realized that a wild elephant was there. We all avoided the elephant and took a different route, but again another wild elephant appeared in front of us. We did not even have a time to run. Even though we were terrified, we immediately turned to the other side and started running. At that time, I was at the forefront. The firearm was in my hand. Other officers were behind me. Looking back, we saw the elephant following. There was not much space between the two of us. I think if you go to a marathon, like you ran that day, you would win. I suddenly remembered the firearm. I lowered the weapon a little and fired into the air. The frightened elephant ran into the forest. Then I searched for the others. One of them was climbing a tree. I searched for the other two, but couldnot find them. Though we made phone calls for them in the fear of they might have been attacked by an elephant,there was no response from them. We stayed in the woods for about an hour, searching for them suddenly we heard their voices from far away. We met the two officers a long time after we searched them hooting through the forest. One of the officers had his left ankle strained and the other officer was stayed with him to help. We picked up the officer with strained ankle and headed to the parkway. I climbed a tall tree and spoke to the driver on the phone. The incident was narrated and the vehicle was brought to the spot. We reached the workplace at 7 a.m. This was a horrific experience I had during my seventeen years in the Department of Wildlife Conservation. However, we were happy that the incident ended without any danger.