The Exo Terra Team was welcomed by local staff upon arrival in Colombo. After changing some money in the capital we left almost immediately for a 5 hour journey up to the Sinharaja forest. It is actually only about a 100 km but the hectic traffic and the sometimes bad road conditions held us hostage. We spotted our first reptile right of the main road on a fence, the colourful Calotes calotes. These are very abundant lizards, but nevertheless very striking, especially the males.
A male Calotes calotes
Smoking team member Benny Trap photographing the Calotes calotes.
After photographing the lizard we continued to the rainforest edge where we booked some basic accommodation.
Rice fields and tea plantations near our sleeping quarters with in the background the Sinharaja Forest.
We arrived around 2 pm and almost immediately we located the first snake of the trip. A real team effort was necessary to get this rat snake out of the tree. Exhausted from the trip we all went straight to bed to catch up on sleep. As soon as the sun set, some of us went for a night walk in the area. More tomorrow!
Sent from Sri Lanka
