TikaWeeks #31/2025: Sri Lanka update
Posted by John on 31st July 2025
Here is an abridged version of Dave Arnold’s account, which may be read in full in his article “The Herpetofauna (and more) of Sri Lanka” published in The Herptile (2025), Journal of the International Herpetological Society, Volume 50, Number 1.
“Sri Lanka is a country of many different climates and habitats from the semi-arid drier areas in the north west to the cooler, temperate central highlands and the tropical lowland wet rainforests further south.
Being an island Sri Lanka has many endemic species. The tropical humid conditions make it a hotspot for amphibians which were found everywhere we travelled from the semi-arid sea level areas in the north to the highest village in Sri Lanka at 7300 feet [2225 metres]. Currently 120 amphibian species are recorded in Sri Lanka, of which 107 (89%) are endemic. Reptiles are equally prolific with 223 recorded species consisting of 9 chelonia (2 endemic), 107 lizards (93 endemic), 105 snakes (50 endemic and 21 venomous) and 2 crocodilians. Although both of our trips were for general wildlife viewing, not just herping, we did manage to record 39 reptile species and at least 16 amphibian species during our time, not to mention over a hundred and twenty bird species including ten birds of prey.
You know it is going to be a good trip when you arrive at your hotel [Villa Hundira, Negombo] and the first thing you see is a water monitor swimming in the creek [and] running through the middle of the hotel! Another bold species [Bengal monitor], an adult wandered through our hotel restaurant on one occasion, [and] they are found from the coast to the lowland areas further inland. Always hunting for food they would generally ignore our presence and one of the highlights was in Wilpattu where we watched two adult males wrestling in combat to gain the attention of a nearby female. We watched from our vehicle, only a few feet [metres] away, for several minutes as the trial of strength took place although amusingly the female herself was far more interested in us, wandering over to our vehicle and standing on her hind legs to seemingly get a better view! “Land monitor” is probably not a very accurate description as they were often spotted in trees and apparently it is not unusual for them to be found resting during the day in the roof of houses.
There are two species of freshwater turtle found in Sri Lanka [Sri Lankan Black Terrapin and Sri Lankan Soft-shelled Terrapin] (as well as a few red eared terrapins) both of which we saw in Wilpattu.
Our second trip [January/February 2025] saw us venturing further north to Mannar Island and an area which proved to be fruitful for evening “head torch” searches for frogs. The area had been hit by a cyclone a couple of weeks prior to our arrival and so had even more standing water than usual. Being low lying anyway we needed improvised stepping stones to get to our hotel [The Palmyrah House] room and had to literally paddle to get to the hotel pool. Our room opened onto a small garden area which had the double benefit of many bird species during the day (including Paradise flycatchers and nesting pair of black-hooded oriole) and the ideal frog habitat in the evening. By far the most commonly seen species was the Spotted Treefrog. The largest frog species in this area is Jerdon’s Bullfrog and I didn’t have to go very far to spot my first one as he was sat literally on our doorstep!
Despite the paddling trip to get to the hotel pool it did prove to be quite fruitful for reptiles as well. The pool bordered a marshland area with boardwalks designed for bird watching so the pool received quite a few visitors – this was where Mrs A was nearly joined by a juvenile water monitor.
As it got towards late afternoon the pool canopy proved to be the gecko capital of Mannar with at least four different species putting in an appearance above our heads. [Spotted Giant Gecko, Bark Gecko, Spotted House Gecko and Common House Gecko] The only other gecko species [Kandyan Gecko] that we found was when we stopped off to buy some spices on the outskirts of Kandy.
Our first trip [January 2024] saw us staying at the wonderful Galkadawala Forest Lodge [Habarana], built with clay walls and from recycled timber with the rooms having open windows with just blinds. Wildlife visitors were almost guaranteed! After a late night successfully looking for [the Grey] Slender Loris we awoke to find not one but two species of frog inhabiting our sink. [Rohan’s Pug Snout Frog and Ornate Narrow Mouth Frog] Both trips had us making an early morning climb up Sigiriya (something which is a must if you ever visit the country) and this was one of only two places that we saw a “traditional” snake charmer, with his cobra in a basket and a python to drape round the shoulders of tourists for a paid photo opportunity.
Returning from Sigiriya to Galkadawala gave us one of our most unexpected animal sightings when we found our room full of bats! Apparently we had made the schoolboy error of switching the bedroom light off thinking it would otherwise attract bugs when you are supposed to leave it on to keep the bats out! Easy mistake to make!
Close to Sigiriya is Minneriya National Park, famed for large gatherings of elephants during the summer months. An afternoon visit there produced not just elephant sightings but numerous birds and our first of what would become many Garden Lizards. We managed to find five of the nine species over our two trips. The Common Garden Lizard is widespread around the island up to 1000 metres and was regularly seen basking on the sides of trees, telegraph poles and walls.
We first came across the much more colourful Green Garden Lizard during a walk in the Kelani Valley Forest Reserve, a lowland rainforest near the town of Kitulgala – a similar size but bright green with the males sporting some serious war paint during the breeding season! I realised I was being watched from about a metre away by an adult male sporting his full breeding colours – bright red-orange head, pale blue around the eyes, dark blue patches on the sides of the neck and thin white bands running the length of the body and tail. He seemed unperturbed by my presence and sat watching me as I photographed him from within a few feet [a metre].
Kelani Forest proved to be a great spot for herping, being very similar habitat to the more well known Sinharaja Forest and finding a couple of species that we only encountered here and in Sinharaja. The first of these was the spectacular Lyre Head Lizard, the country’s largest endemic agamid. Both male and female have an obvious bulge on the end of their nose and a pronounced ridge that loops over the top of the eyes. The body colour can change from bright green to brown with the males developing a yellow throat pouch, a neck sail and pale blue spots on the lower flank. The second species that we spotted several times in the forest was the Sri Lankan Kangaroo Lizard, a much smaller agamid with, as its name suggests, long hind legs and very long tail which in the adults was about twice the length of the body. The kangaroo lizards are known to run short distances on their back legs, basilisk like, when disturbed.
What was potentially our rarest find was at our lodge in Kitulgala [Borderlands Eco Lodge]. One night it chucked it down with rain whilst we were having our evening meal which resulted in a mad dash back to our room through the grounds. As we reached the door I spotted a medium sized toad making its way through the undergrowth – Kotagama’s Toad, a species that wasn’t discovered until 1994 and is restricted to a very small area of lowland forest. It had an orange-brown coloured stocky body and is distinguished from other toads by a horseshoe shaped black ridge that runs along either side of the head behind the eyes.
At this point in both visits our trip took us into the Central Highlands via the city of Kandy. If you ever have the chance to visit Kandy, I would highly recommend a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya if only to see its fantastic orchid house and the huge colony of fruit bats living in the trees by the river. From Kandy we travelled further into the highlands to the old colonial city of Nuwara Eliya. This area is surrounded by tea plantations and our accommodation was in fact a renovated tea plantation owner’s bungalow [Oliphant Boutique Villa by Amaya]. As, due to its altitude, this is probably the coolest part of the island you would have expected few reptiles to be around. However in the hotel’s gardens was a large pond and as you can probably guess as it went dark it was head torch on again time, which did get a few odd looks as it was quite a posh hotel! The croaking of frogs could be heard some distance away. Most of the adult frogs appeared to be the Half-webbed Pug Snout Frog. Also present were several Sri Lankan Narrow-mouth Frog froglets.
Within striking distance of Nuwara Eliya is the Horton Plains National Park, a plateau in the southern highlands and one of the coolest places in the country with a mean annual temperature of 13°C, although daytime temperatures can vary dramatically. On our second trip we found the one species we didn’t expect to see! The weather had turned cooler and the rain was just beginning as we walked across the grasslands when I spotted sitting in the grass next to the path a Common Rough-side Snake. During both trips we only came across one amphibian species on Horton Plains when we passed a marshy pond area that was full of calling Montane Paddy Field Frogs.
The rest of our time in the highlands was largely spent looking for endemic birds, of which there are many spectacular colourful species, before continuing our journey south to Udawalawe National Park. This was our favourite area. The whole area is rich with wildlife both in and around the national park with elephants often spotted as you are driving along the roads. At dusk hundreds of bee-eaters took to the air to be replaced an hour later with passing fruit bats. We were even joined on our balcony [at Kalu’s Hideaway] one evening by a pair of Golden Palm Civets. One unusual and lucky spot here was a juvenile Dotted Garden Skink.
The park itself is one of the top places to visit if you have an interest in birds of prey, we saw eight species, but is also a great place to easily spot Mugger Crocodiles which are frequently seen basking around the edges of the lakes. We saw large muggers in reasonable numbers in Udawalawe, Yala and Bundala National Parks. The only other reptile we saw in Udawalawe we saw nowhere else but it put a smile on our faces. Wandering down the track was an Indian Star Tortoise, Sri Lanka’s only land tortoise.
On our first trip we spent a full day in Sri Lanka’s most well-known national park Yala in the south east of the country. Yala is just under 1000 sq. km and a mix of forest, grassland and lagoons and reportedly has the highest density of leopards anywhere on the planet, although we only managed one fleeting glimpse. We did however spend several minutes observing something much rarer, a Sri Lankan sloth bear, looking for food in the undergrowth next to the trail. Land monitors and mugger crocs were also seen regularly along with a variety of other larger species (elephant, wild boar, buffalo, spotted deer etc.).
From Yala we travelled down to the south coast for a few days by the beach in Tangalle, staying at Buckingham Place with the Indian Ocean on one side and a lagoon on the other – it’s a hard life sometimes! When we returned to the room after dinner Chris went into the bathroom, flicked the light on and uttered a sentence that only the wife of a herpetologist would ever come out with “Dave, Dave, come quick – there’s a frog on your pants!” Makes me chuckle every time I think about it. It was actually an Indian toad but became known as “Pants frog” from that point onwards. It wasn’t the only amphibian that had made it into the bathroom either as sat on the window frame was a Common Hour-glass Treefrog. It is a nocturnal species that is often found around human habitation – we found several around our room with them making their way into our bathroom every evening!
Sinharaja is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only area of viable primary tropical rainforest left in the country. It is a hilly area with a high density of flora so travel around the reserve is predominantly by foot along well established trails. It is one of only a few places in the country where you may see the spectacular Sri Lankan Blue Magpie which we were lucky enough to spot within a few minutes of entering the reserve. However top of our list was the endemic Sri Lankan Green Pit Viper. It is relatively large nocturnal, arboreal viper with the typical pit viper triangular head, a light green body with black variegated patterning. Sadly we were out of luck, despite our local guide spending some time searching areas where they have been spotted before. It had rained for the last few days and he seemed to think this had caused them to move a little deeper into the forest. There were plenty of lizards to be seen however including several species we hade previously only seen in Kelani forest [kangaroo lizards, green garden lizards, Whistling Lizard].
The south and west coast of Sri Lanka are not only the main tourist areas but also the main turtle nesting areas. Five of the seven species of sea turtle nest on the beaches of Sri Lanka and so numerous Turtle Hatchery’s, Turtle Conservation Centres etc. have sprung up along the coast, some of which are better than others. Some, such as the one near our hotel in Tangalle, take groups of tourists out at night to observe turtles laying eggs. We were going to go on one of these walks but, although it was organised with restrictions on flash photography, the distance you had to stay from the turtles etc., we left before it began as we felt there were far too many people there (50+) which was bound to cause some disturbance to the turtles. Other places, the turtle hatcheries, collect the eggs from nests on the main tourist beaches, rebury them in fenced off areas and then once the eggs hatch collect the offspring, keep them for a couple of days in indoor pools then, for a small charge, allow tourists to release them once it starts to go dark. We visited one of these on both trips and although we did not stay to release turtles it was obvious that the staff were genuinely enthusiastic about what they were doing and the baby turtles themselves probably had a better chance of successfully making it to the sea than if the eggs were left in areas where they could easily be disturbed.
Also not far from the south coast is Welgama Snake Farm, a family run place that has been open since 1915. It operates on two levels, part educating both locals and tourists as to which snakes are and are not dangerous, and part acting as a service to remove “problem snakes” from houses and farms many of which have already been injured in their encounter with humans. The aim is always to eventually release the snakes back into a safer area. We spent over an hour here chatting to the owner and snake handler who brought out the snakes that they currently had, allowing us to handle the harmless species and photograph the others. At that time they had two adult Indian cobras, two Russell’s Vipers which varied in colour, one of the most well marked Indian pythons that I have seen in a long time, a Green Vine Snake, a Sri Lankan Cat Snake and a Forsten’s cat snake. The first two, along with the Common Krait and the Saw Scaled Viper, are responsible for the majority of human fatalities in Sri Lanka although a polyvalent anti-venom that covers all four species is now available in most major hospitals. The majority of Sri Lanka’s snakes are harmless and the other species that were at the farm were regularly used to educate and demonstrate this fact to both tourists and locals. Cat snakes, of which Forsten’s is the largest found on the island, are mildly venomous and will regularly enter houses to hunt geckos. Vine snakes are also rear fanged, mildly venomous species and are found throughout south east Asia. When threatened they will inflate the forebody and gape the mouth.
Right at the end of our second trip we managed to add one final species to the list, spotted from our first-floor hotel balcony in Bentota [The Villa Bentota], early one morning [Painted-lip Lizard].
I must finish by saying thank you to a few people that made these trips possible.
Firstly Tikalanka, the specialist travel company that initially produced a “Wildlife Holiday” for our first trip and then a bespoke itinerary for our second. We could not recommend them more highly.
Secondly our guide and good friend on both trips Nihal Gunarathne, endlessly cheerful and always full of knowledge about the culture and wildlife of his country. There were times when we thought that everyone in the country knew Nihal!
Lastly my wife Chris for putting up with endless 5.00am starts so that we could be one of the first people in the National Park, waiting patiently whilst I took yet more photos of something and putting up with having to wear “leech socks” as we trekked round Sinharaja. I do sometimes forget it is supposed to be a holiday!
Categories: Accommodation, Culture, Sightseeing, Sri Lanka, Sustainability, Travel tips, Weather, Wildlife
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