This travel story is written by friend of ETG and PR whizz, Phoebe Oliver, fresh from celebrating her 50th birthday in Sri Lanka.
She stayed at Gal Oya Lodge where she picked up a pair of binoculars and a brand-new obsession with birdwatching, which took her by surprise! Here’s her story:
The road to Gal Oya is through spectacular mountain country, and on arrival, guests are greeted with iced tea, cold flannels, and warm Sri Lankan smiles.
The general manager, Heshan, sets the tone and the standard of Gal Oya Lodge, which is situated on the edge of the 25,000-hectare Gal Oya National Park, one of Sri Lanka’s richest and most delicate wildlife habitats.
Famed for its diverse birdlife, the park is also home to several large cats, elephants, sloth bears, and a dazzling array of butterflies.
Heshan shows us to our bungalow. Fashioned from timber and rope, with no visible sign of girder or nail, it feels like a luxurious tree house set deep in the forest.
I recently turned fifty and have come to Gal Oya with my boyfriend, former journalist Johnny Coburn, a self-confessed cricket fanatic and amateur birdwatcher.
We met through a dating app, and our experiences of internet dating have left us both traumatized, to say the least.
Part of his profile’s appeal was the fact that Johnny has travelled extensively in southern Africa—Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa—but this is his first time in Sri Lanka.
He has come armed with a camera and binoculars, and within five seconds, he has them tuned to something in the sky. Van Morrison I can take, and I am now a self-confessed Archer listener, but a twitcher for a lover? I think this may be taking it too far…
We have booked two nights at the lodge and immediately extend our booking to three, such is the lure of Gal Oya and the way in which it sharpens the will to learn and explore.
Guests are paired with a personal guide for the duration of their stay, and we are matched with Anuradha, a dreadlocked cricket lover with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Gal Oya fauna and the most inviting smile.
A Naturalist Guide and Gal Oya lake
We shower and wash the road dirt from our backs and swim in the lodge pool overlooked by a towering edifice called Monkey Rock.
“I wonder if we can climb that?” asks Johnny, who is visibly twitching as brilliantly coloured birds dance through the reeds surrounding the pool. “Sunbirds,” he says, with reference to the hotel bird book and offers me his binoculars. I take them and train my eyes to see. The birds are undeniably beautiful and iridescent in the Sri Lankan sun.
An iridescent sunbird
As the temperature cools, we meet with Anuradha and set off for an afternoon walk past well-tended homes guarded by dogs. Our guide shows us a pepper vine and a green leaf which, when rubbed in our palms, produces the oily scent of teak.
The path leads to a lake surrounded by an amphitheatre of mountains crowned with granite domes.
In full twitching mode, Johnny is rapt as Anuradha points to birds he’s not seen before—lifers as twitchers call them—many of them endemic to Sri Lanka.
I am starting to feel like a third wheel on a tandem bike until Anuradha graciously lends me his binoculars, and with his help, I train them on a Grey Hornbill, Bee Eaters surveying the scene like opportunist bandits, and a cobalt-coloured kingfisher flashing in the sun.
What’s happening to me? These birds are completely wonderful. Why has it taken me so long to fix my binos on these birds? Why am I starting to talk like this?
A cobalt-coloured kingfisher
The following morning, we rise early for a boat safari in the national park. The outboard purrs as we part the still waters of the lake reflecting uncontaminated skies and the scale and majesty of the scenery, which is awesome. Aside from a few fishermen, we see no one. This is indeed the quietest National Park in Sri Lanka.
Anuradha spots a lone male elephant, and we move in for a closer look at his creased skin, marbled ears, and soulful brown eyes. We see eagles, bitterns, storks, and a rat snake curled around the branch of a submerged tree. Cormorants pant in the sun, egrets preen their breeding plumage, and herons hunch like executioners at the water’s edge.
An elephant and a cormorant soaring along
“I’ve never seen so many different species of birds in one place,” marvels Johnny. “Not even in Africa?” I ask. We picnic on the granite boulders of a small island where the only sounds are bird calls and the mellifluous tones of our guides.
On the return journey, we see a pair of nesting spoonbills fixing us with a wise and disapproving look. We decide that if the Dowager Countess from Downton Abbey was a bird, she would be a spoonbill.
The Dowager Countess of the bird world!
We rise early again the following morning to climb Monkey Rock. It’s an arduous ascent through a humid forest, and I must watch my step. But I hear the birds all around me, and the views from the top make it all worthwhile. “This is how our next chapter shall be,” I tell Johnny, “although possibly with a slightly gentler climb.”
At the heart of Gal Oya Lodge is the Jim Edwards Wildlife Research Centre, and later, we learn from the resident wildlife expert Andrew Kittle just how important sanctuaries such as Gal Oya are to the survival of Sri Lanka’s wildlife.
The lodge’s camera traps have recorded images of porcupine, mongoose, mouse deer, wild boar, jackal, civet, leopard, and pangolin; the latter is considered the world’s most trafficked animal, and the species is critically endangered.
Children staying at the lodge can participate in the research centre’s activities, and because there is no Wi-Fi here, Gal Oya Lodge is a place to engage with the people around you and with nature.
Climbing Monkey Rock and kids exploring the wilderness
Far too soon, it is time to leave this extraordinary place. We say our goodbyes to Heshan, our wonderful host. Johnny suggests to Anuradha that he come to watch some cricket at Lord’s. He smiles that smile, and I wonder why he would ever want to leave this place, but hope one day he will.
Our vehicle pulls out of the reserve to join the tar road, and I feel a real sense of sadness—unlike anywhere else I have left. Looking at my finger for possibly the 50th time, I smile at my ring, twin stones as a memory of my new twin loves, my husband-to-be, and my new love for birding.
Phoebe in action birdwatching. Credit: @coburncomms
Tempted to follow in Phoebe’s footsteps? Get in touch today
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(And a heads-up: with ETG, your trip is never one-dimensional or surface-level. Beyond birdwatching, you’ll delve into local culture, taste culinary creations, marvel at extraordinary monuments and much more besides. Travelling with us is a truly enriching experience: distinctive and deeply memorable).
