• Wildlife photographer and author Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne urges improving visitor facilities and managing them to high sustainability standards 

Sri Lanka is often thought of as a moderately sized island, yet, it still possesses significant wild areas that, if managed responsibly and sustainably, could allow us to double or even triple annual tourist arrivals without putting stress on the environment.

Highlighting this, wildlife photographer and the lead author of ‘A Photographic Guide to the Wildlife of Sri Lanka’, Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne added that achieving this however depends on developing the necessary infrastructure in a careful and sustainable manner. He made these remarks during an interview with The Daily Morning.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

How did this book come about?

A publisher based in the United Kingdom, John Beaufoy Publishing, launched a new series of multi-taxon photographic wildlife field guides starting with their first title on India. Their previous photographic guide series concentrated on a single taxonomic group such as birds or butterflies or mammals for example. This new series was meant to be a guide for multiple taxonomic groups so that within one book, several groups of animals as well as plants were covered. 

As I had written and photographed a number of books on Sri Lanka for them, they approached me to work on a title for Sri Lanka. This fitted in perfectly with my own plans as for a long time I had wanted to produce such a multi-taxon field guide. If I were to trace the genesis of this book, it probably goes back to 1997 when I lead-authored ‘A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Sri Lanka’ published by the Oriental Bird Club. 

This drew me to the attention of people in the Sri Lankan tourism industry as well as natural history publishers. This led me to authoring and photographing books published by Bloomsbury, Bradt Travel Guides, John Beaufoy Publishing and New Holland.

What do you want to achieve with this book?

There were two broad objectives. Firstly, to educate and enthuse an interest in the incredible biodiversity in Sri Lanka. I wanted people, whether they were residents or visitors, to have a book that will help them to put a name to the commoner plants and animals around them. The idea is that rather than taking a library of books into the field, they could have one book which covers a lot of the species that casual wildlife enthusiasts have an interest in, and if they get hooked, they could progress to more advanced field guides.

Secondly, the book would be a tool to develop the skill levels in wildlife tourism. To be a competent naturalist guide in Sri Lanka, a naturalist will need to be able to identify over a thousand species from the groups popular with wildlife tourists. These include groups such as birds, mammals, butterflies, dragonflies and plants. A book such as this becomes a training resource and has the added advantage of being compact and portable. Its usefulness in tourism was one of the reasons why Malabar Hill in Weligama became a principal sponsor. They purchased 250 copies of the book as gifts for guests who were booked in for multiple nights. The second objective also fitted in with one of my long-standing personal objectives to monetise wildlife. I have long held the belief that whether it is at the level of national strategy and policy making or at the individual level, people are more inclined to conserve nature if they can see direct, tangible and measurable economic benefits. 

What is the coverage of this book?

The book covers over 90% of all birds, mammals and dragonflies recorded in Sri Lanka. It includes 453 birds, 122 mammals, 72 reptiles and amphibians, 90 freshwater and marine fish, 144 butterflies, 121 dragonflies and 66 other insects, 72 other invertebrates, and 42 plants. A total of 1,180 species. It includes detailed topography diagrams of all species groups from over six illustrators and over 1,250 photographs from over 60 photographers. 

I am the lead author and the lead photographer of the book. However, very importantly, it has section contributions from Amila Prasanna Sumanapala for other insects, Anslem de Silva and Dr. Kanishka D.B. Ukuwela for reptiles, Dr. Darshani Singhalage and Nadeera Weerasinghe for herbaceous plants, Dinal Samarasinghe for amphibians, Dr. Dinarzarde Raheem and Vishan Pushpamal for land snails, Nishan Perera for marine fish and marine invertebrates, Nuwan Chathuranga and Anushamalee Jayawardana for moths, Ranil P. Nanayakkara for spiders, and Sampath de Alwis Goonatilake for freshwater fish. I was pleased that the book also gave me the opportunity to showcase the work of a few of the many talented Sri Lankans who are engaged in field work in scientific research and conservation.

What are the little-known places suitable for wildlife photography in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka has hundreds, perhaps thousands of little pockets of wild areas which are good for wildlife photography. One does not need to engage in expensive and time-consuming visits to national parks. Take for example Colombo. One may think that you need to spend around five to six hours to travel from Colombo to reach a National Park like Yala or Wilpattu to indulge in wildlife photography. Colombo, in its suburbs, has wonderful sites such as the Diyasaru Park, the Beddegana Wetland Park, the Gothatuwela Wetland and the Thalangama Lake. These are very rich in biodiversity. 

Plus, many of the animals here have become habituated to people and allow for some fantastic photography. If you are a serious wildlife photographer, taking photographs of a large water monitor padding towards you is as exciting as photographing a leopard.

What is your opinion about the importance of Sri Lanka’s wetland systems in wildlife photography and its conservation?

Wetlands including coastal wetlands with mangroves perform a number of critical ecosystem services. It is important that what is left is conserved. If we harm our wetlands, we harm ourselves. In Mannar, coastal wetlands such as Vidattaltivu face threats. Wildlife photographers can find a range of interesting subject matter to photograph and popularise wetlands as important reservoirs of biodiversity and as a place for responsibly managed recreation. Urban wetlands in Colombo are already being appreciated as beautiful places for nature watching or as recreation spaces for walking or as backdrops for wedding shoots. 

I just love the way that urban wetland sites such as the Diyasaru Park have become popular for wedding shoots. A wedding is a very important milestone in a person’s life. To have the wedding shoot in a wetland nature reserve reinforces why nature is important to us. I am full of admiration and appreciation for the people who manage these urban wetland sites for their thoughtful management and administrative foresight in making access and making it hassle-free to purchase tickets for wedding shoots, baby shoots, model shoots and other commercial photography. Sites such as the Diyasaru Park demonstrate that it is possible to responsibly and thoughtfully manage nature reserves for multiple audiences in a way that the experience is not compromised for different audiences and without disturbance to the wildlife.

How can we integrate and promote wildlife in the tourism industry?

Wildlife has already become a big part of the tourism industry. There are two aspects to this. Firstly, there are hotels and lodges for whom a key selling point is that they are located in sites with outstanding natural beauty or close-by to important national parks and reserves. Secondly, there is nature watching which can vary from a safari in a vehicle or a mangrove boat ride or walking inside a reserve to observe wildlife. A large network of service providers including naturalist guides has emerged to support wildlife tourism. What needs to be worked on is to increase the visitor experience. This means improving visitor facilities, improving the skill levels of the guides, and the better handling of visitor traffic, especially to sites where the experience is being spoiled by a large flow of visitors not being managed better.

We think of Sri Lanka as a moderately sized island. However, we still have enough wild areas left which can be developed and managed responsibly and sustainably in a manner that we can double or triple the number of annual tourist arrivals without causing stress to the environment. Of course, this all depends on developing the underlying infrastructure responsibly.

In your opinion, what can Sri Lanka do to reduce the adverse impacts of wildlife tourism on wildlife, especially in protected areas?

The facilities for visitors need to be managed to high sustainability standards. This includes everything from waste management to the use of energy. If this is done well, there will be a significant net benefit to wildlife from the additional revenues that become available to support conservation.

One of the biggest issues now is to do with the adverse experience of visitors. In parks such as Yala, this can be managed by using simple techniques that are already in use in other parts of the world. One method would be for visitors to purchase tickets in advance for designated routes. Let’s say for example there are three routes, each of which allow a maximum number of vehicles on each route, the fewer the vehicles allowed, the more expensive the tickets are. 

In Yala, for example, each route can be laid out so that no one route offers a significantly higher chance of seeing iconic mammals such as leopards. This means that it is democratic and seeing iconic animals is an option for everyone. However, one can pay more for a better experience. For example, let’s say Route One is the cheapest and allows 200 vehicles and the ticket is priced Rs. X. Someone like me who is a birdwatcher or just wants to see the park can use Route 1 and opt not to go rushing to join a crowded leopard sighting. Someone who wants a quieter experience could go on Route Two which is several times more expensive and allows only 25 vehicles. The price may be Rs. 3X or Rs. 4X. Someone who can afford it can buy tickets for Route Three which allows only 10 vehicles and is even more expensive. This way, people can buy the experience that they want by selecting the route, each of which is subject to a maximum number of vehicles allowed on that route.

You can improve this further by offering a price discount for entry between say 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. This will spread the traffic temporally as well as spatially. The traffic can be diluted even further by managing the entire Yala Protected Area Complex of 1,500 square kilometres as an integrated unit. It could, for example, have 15 entry and exit points. The ticketing system can go further by allowing entry from a pre-designated gate but allowing exit from multiple gates which are applicable to that route. This will thin the traffic out and avoid the need for visitors to come speeding back in the evening to the same gate that they entered from. Existing technology which is in widespread use can be used so that on purchasing a ticket, a quick response (QR) code is delivered to a mobile phone and safari vehicles can scan in and out of the gates. Each vehicle could be compelled to take a tracking device which will monitor route compliance and speed compliance. Sri Lanka has a number of information technology companies which service some of the most sophisticated companies in the world and it should not be difficult to develop automated solutions using the in-country expertise.

Any closing thoughts for nature enthusiasts?

With life, learn to appreciate the specialness of the everyday. Reading across to an interest in nature, learn to put a name to the huge range of biodiversity around you in a tropical country like Sri Lanka. Even in a busy City like Colombo, you probably wake up to the call of endemic Sri Lanka Small Barbets atop tall trees. If you live near a patch of wetland or a well wooded patch, you may hear the whooping of endemic Purple-faced Leaf Monkeys. Dazzling butterflies and dragonflies can be seen in a back garden or any country lane. There is biodiversity magic everywhere. Think about taking membership of one or more nature conservation organisations which are active in your area.