Sinharaja reserve (1 Viewer)

[Earnest lad]

I may have opportunity to go to Sri Lanka in the near future, and have heard about above place a place for many endemic species of Sri Lanka and other rare birds.
I hear one has to travel by 4 wheel drive to the entrance to the reserve also that a guide is obligatory (one cant apparently just wander round unattended)
I also hear some have been and seen very few birds. (apparently the ones one sees are too high up in the forest canopy)
Please can anyone make suggestions about how to get there and how to ensure I see good birds
where do i hire a guide from
I heard of Martins Lodge - is it dear?
can I see many good birds?
Your kind advice appreciated Ian

 

[wintibird]

Well I will be there in about four weeks and it's said to be a fabulous place for most of the Sri Lankan endemics. However, it's rainforest birding, so birds are hard to see and don't show in big numbers. Martin's Lodge is said to be the best place to stay for birdwatching. I will have a guide but I don't know if it's compulsory or not. However, if you don't have much experience in rainforest birding then a guide will be able to show you much more birds as he knows the calls and their habits. There are several companies in Sri Lanka which can organise your stay and a guide and they are easy to find on the internet. December to February is often fully booked as it is the main season for this companies but you still might be lucky.

André

 

[Steve G]

I may have opportunity to go to Sri Lanka in the near future, and have heard about above place a place for many endemic species of Sri Lanka and other rare birds.
I hear one has to travel by 4 wheel drive to the entrance to the reserve also that a guide is obligatory (one cant apparently just wander round unattended)
I also hear some have been and seen very few birds. (apparently the ones one sees are too high up in the forest canopy)
Please can anyone make suggestions about how to get there and how to ensure I see good birds
where do i hire a guide from
I heard of Martins Lodge - is it dear?
can I see many good birds?
Your kind advice appreciated Ian

Sinharaja is well worth visiting for many of the Lanka endemics. It is true that you need to hire a guide for the NP but they are not expensive (though do vary in their quality and English language skills). Apart from Martin's Place all the other accommodation is 80-90 minutes + drive along (and up) a very poor track and so it is almost impossible to arrive for first light.

Martin's (Simple) Lodge is pretty basic with clean but very basic rooms, limited power supply and limited food choices with no chilled drinks or alcohol. The rooms have a basic shower with mid-morning hot water and a flush loo. That said the lodge is in a superb position with a number of endemics in the immediate surroundings. It is also only a 10 minute walk through forest to the actual NP entrance so really Martin's Place is almost a must for exploring Sinharaja. However you should know that as soon as you leave the immediate lodge area you will be leech-bait!

I think you have already found my Sri Lanka trip report which has a lot of detail about Sinharaja. I can't remember how much Martin's Lodge cost but it was very cheap though of course you will need to get there first. The main issue with Martin's Lodge is that the vast majority of serious birders want to stay there 'cos of the proximity to the NP gate and because of the birds visible from the lodge itself and so Martin is frequently booked up well in advance.

 

[Tony Knight]

Sinharaja is well worth visiting for many of the Lanka endemics. It is true that you need to hire a guide for the NP but they are not expensive (though do vary in their quality and English language skills). Apart from Martin's Place all the other accommodation is 80-90 minutes + drive along (and up) a very poor track and so it is almost impossible to arrive for first light.

Martin's (Simple) Lodge is pretty basic with clean but very basic rooms, limited power supply and limited food choices with no chilled drinks or alcohol. The rooms have a basic shower with mid-morning hot water and a flush loo. That said the lodge is in a superb position with a number of endemics in the immediate surroundings. It is also only a 10 minute walk through forest to the actual NP entrance so really Martin's Place is almost a must for exploring Sinharaja. However you should know that as soon as you leave the immediate lodge area you will be leech-bait!

I think you have already found my Sri Lanka trip report which has a lot of detail about Sinharaja. I can't remember how much Martin's Lodge cost but it was very cheap though of course you will need to get there first. The main issue with Martin's Lodge is that the vast majority of serious birders want to stay there 'cos of the proximity to the NP gate and because of the birds visible from the lodge itself and so Martin is frequently booked up well in advance.

The Blue magpie Lodge is only 3 mins drive or 10 minutes walk from the park HQ so a good second option if you can't get into Martins. Basic but the food and attention from the staff were both excellent. Also had great views of a number of birds inc SL hanging parrot in the garden.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Just to clarify on locations, the Blue Magpie Lodge is just a short distance from the park HQ, as Tony says, but is quite a long distance up a hill from the park entrance. If you stay at Martin's then you're much closer to the entrance and the main rainforest area. You can get your guide to purchase your entrance ticket from the HQ for you, so you don't actually need to visit there so long as you have a park guide to sort out the ticket for you on a day to day basis.

This isn't to say that you should definitely stay at Martin's, but it's certainly the best option for being close to the main forest areas. The area around the Blue Magpie Lodge and the village is also very good for birds and the tracks up to the park produce a lot of birds that you don't see very often in the forest. The whole area has very nice birding.

 

[Tony Knight]

Just to clarify on locations, the Blue Magpie Lodge is just a short distance from the park HQ, as Tony says, but is quite a long distance up a hill from the park entrance. If you stay at Martin's then you're much closer to the entrance and the main rainforest area. You can get your guide to purchase your entrance ticket from the HQ for you, so you don't actually need to visit there so long as you have a park guide to sort out the ticket for you on a day to day basis.

This isn't to say that you should definitely stay at Martin's, but it's certainly the best option for being close to the main forest areas. The area around the Blue Magpie Lodge and the village is also very good for birds and the tracks up to the park produce a lot of birds that you don't see very often in the forest. The whole area has very nice birding.

Yes this is true though we saw more birds in the walk between the HQ and park entrance than we did once we'd gone through the formal entrance, trogans, Malkohas, woodpeckers, blue magpies. The habitat is identical, the siting of the gate seems a little arbitrary (I guess its where the villagers would walk in?) and I'd have been gutted to miss the birds I saw between HQ and entrance so definitely worth the walk. I'm sure martin's is ideal but it's not the end of the world if you end up at the Blue Magpie as long as you don't have to walk from the BM to the HQ - then it does start to become a long tiring walk before you're in the park-proper !

 

[Earnest lad]

Sinharaja

Dear all who answered my query

Thank you for your effort. I found the answers most helpful and should I make it to S, this will be all borne in mind.

Thank you
Ian

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Hi Ian, maybe you've been already? I'd also really recommend Martin's. My partner and I got to the HQ area on public transport, and hiked up to Martin's with all our stuff. Martin's was certainly very much an affordable budget option when we were there, but that was several years ago. We saw nearly all the possible Sinharaja endemics around Martin's without having to enter the park with a guide, but did go higher with the compulsory guide once, and saw a couple of things we didn't see otherwise.

 

[Namal]

There are a no of accommodations options at sinharaja, but none have the proximity to the forest as Martins. A guide is mandatory even for locals. The walk up from the ticket counter (where u collect the guide) to the entrance of the forest is also good for birding.

If staying at martins and u wish to go into the forest, u will have to go down to get a guide. this can be a problem in both energy and time. My solution is the previous day get a guide and walk up to martins with him. Strike up a relationship with him, and then give him the money to buy the tickets for you the next day and ask him to come up to martins to meet you. They are generally trustworthy.

Going into the forest at the crack of dawn is over rated. As this is a rain forest there is insufficient light until about 7.30am, and gets dark around 4.30pm

As for leeches you can buy leech socks cheap at the Kudawa town (near the ticket counter) or at martins.

 

[Feathered and Free]

Does anyone have any suggestions if both Martin's and Blue Magpie are booked up? We will be there in early Dec. We are using buses from town to town then will get a taxi to the lodge so we aren't going to have a private driver so we need to either be within walking distance or in a place where we can get taxis on the street. The other places in Kudawa seem to be very expensive, we need to stick to $100 or less and aren't fussy about mod-cons.

 

[Earnest lad]

Dear everyone who took the time and effort to answer my question.
I am going in May 2014 and all the information posted here is invaluable and sure to enhance the enjoyment of the visit, being sure also to eliminate unnecessary hassle that can arise due to being totally unfamiliar with an area and setup.
Thanks

 

[Alf King]

Has anyone any experience of the Rainforest Edge accommodation?

I've been to Sinharaja before and stayed at Blue Magpie, which is already booked up for our planned visit, and I've also eaten at Martin's which does have a superior position to be sure. I've been offered the option of the Rainforest Edge and wondered how it compares, particularly its position.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Petri]

When I was there, I did as Namal suggested. I stayed with Martin ja gave the guide money for the tickets beforehand. I entered the park well before dawn, hoping to reach the forest camp at dawn, to see Zoothera imbricata (succeeded), which is most likely to happen very early in the morning. They used to feed at muddy spots by the camp.

All the endemics could be seen between the gate and the station in two-and-half days. The guide followed me to the camp and we returned together, slowly, repeating the arrangement the next day. It was not according to the book, but the thrush required some bending of the rules.

Funny enough, he returned his fee the second day, thanking me for teaching him some new things... I tried to resist (he needed the money), but he refused to take the money.

By the way, I took a local bus from Ratnapura to Sinharaja, and got another to the park hq road junction. From there to hq (short walk), I was offered a lift. Taxis would also have been available for the last leg. From the junction to hq and Martin's, its downhill and uphill, steep and boring especially in mid-day heat.