Travel

Bouncing back to its wilds

DURING a recent visit to Yala, Prasad Abu Bakr re-discovered through pictures and words a 'variety of lives' and places that survived the deadly 'water monster'. Amongst them are the animals at the sanctuary, a hotel that stands tall and the un-broken spirit of the fisher folk of Kirinda.

The drive from Colombo to Yala was like an aftermath unfolding an holocaust of the recent past, details of which the world has already viewed in all its catastrophic events.

The sea which broke out in all its frenzy on the 26th of December last year greeted us in serene splendour every time it came into view during the long drive down Galle Road, making me an unsuspecting viewer of its mysterious ways.

As we pulled up at the compound of the 100 temporary houses project in Kirinda by the Tissamaharamaya Pradeshiya Sabha under the patronage of Ven. Devalegama Dhammasena, supported by The Ministry of Cultural and National Heritage together and many government and non governmental organisations, it was almost mid-day and being a Friday many charitable projects were seen distributing a variety of items to the displaced people.

These 100 dwellings made of timber housed mostly Muslim families, most of them fisher folk who had lost one member or more in the tsunami disaster.

A few meters away there were 50 houses 'Sindu jayapura' put up for the Sinhalese amongst whom were many fisher folks. All these families were in these dwellings looking forward to move into their own house which the government has promised for them.

These temporary houses that gave them shelter and the rations that are made available to them through different organisations and the government have made life easier after the great tragedy that made them destitute said one of the victims who lost a larger part of her family.

As we walked about the compound of the temporary housing complex it was refreshing to watch a few children absorbed in a game of cricket joined in by one of our press colleagues.

The children were smiling after all that had been brought upon them by the catastrophe in the recent past. Even though they were smiling some of these children may have lost one or more of their loved ones in the tragedy, but that sunny afternoon it was an invariable thought that these kids were saved by mercy to be gleefully playing their favourite game, cricket.

As we were driving down to Yala that morning however a private Sinhala broadcasting station was all agog with the news that a restless ocean was sending people from the Tangalle town looking for cover.

This was news to all of us travelling past Tangalle at the time as people were going about attending to their day to day business not aware of the 'breaking news' segment that most of these irresponsible TV and radio channels, that have mushroomed in the recent past, are famous for.

The young barman at 'Yala Village' serving us stated that his family too has called him to find out of what they have already heard over the radio.

'The ocean looked very much like this on that fateful day' said the barman taking us back in time and making us take a look at the calm ocean which he said that he witnessed from the same place on the 26th of December.

'The sea rose to an unbelievable height' he said, before it gushed in all its fury towards the hotel, but it made its way past it miraculously, devastating everything else that came in its way.

'It may be because we conserved a lot of nature during the building of this hotel. Even the animals that were regularly roaming the area was allowed to do so undisturbed by the hotel staff', said the Managing Director of Yala Village Resort Julian Davis.

In his conversation with us he was very compassionate with regard to the many people that were devastated as a result of the tsunami striking in that area. He said they were doing everything within their purview to bring back normalcy into these peoples lives, David Morgan is presently appointed to the 'Social Responsibility' arm of the hotel.

He said that most of the people in the surrounding villages have become a part of the hotel's daily operations in many ways and that it is their duty to look into their grievances positively.

The Wildboar roaming about the premises mostly at night and the Elephants that languish around to be fed by the hotel's kitchen staff are evident enough to make you feel at home with nature, a variety of migrating birds and the herd of wild Buffaloes cooling the heat off immersing themselves in the waters of the nearby lagoon surrounded by a few Cranes is one of the many sights to behold.

A drive through (conducted tour may well explain it) the sanctuary was an unusual experience taking into consideration that the animals were more eager to see us than we were to see them.

The Peacocks and Crocadiles were plenty with many Hornbills perched upon trees. Many Elephants and even a Leopard cub was in sight making us wonder how everything unfolded before our eyes in such perfect order.

The vast number of animals that languished within the sanctuary premises before tsunami struck, according to many media reports and other sources had supposed to have fled the area sensing its roaring approach.

According to villagers most elephants roaming the park enjoy the rain showers by climbing the high sand dunes not faraway from the park and they believe that most of the animals might have moved on to those higher plains to escape the catastrophe.

A catastrophe where animals survived owing to its high degree of sensitivity towards nature and man perished for going against its rules.