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Kala Korner - by Dee Cee

Relief to see Wilpattu animals
As I walked through the Harold Peiris Gallery in November last year enjoying the encounters of four keen wildlife enthusiasts roaming the national parks of Sri Lanka armed with their cameras, I was amazed how, after years of devastation Wilpattu still offers so much to the nature lover. I wondered whether the Wilpattu pictures had been taken before it became a Tiger (two legged variety!) infested area. "No, no. It's all after Wilpattu was reopened not so long ago," Namal Kamalgoda insisted. That's certainly good news to wildlife enthusiasts who may have wondered whether there is anything to see. "Sometimes you hear gun shots far away. They are supposed to be having training camps," Namal added.

Gehan Rajapakse joined the conversation. "There are many leopards but the deer population has dwindled. Poachers had also done the needful. In fact, you could see how they had used the backyard of the bungalows to cut and chop the meat," he said.

Gehan was all praise for the warden and his team for doing an excellent job, he said, in doing up the roads and getting the place habitable for visitors. "We didn't mind roughing it out under roofless structures. The bungalows have all been devastated," Gehan said.

Looking at the superb collection of photographs, one could see with what commitment and dedication that the foursome (Gehan, Namal, Palitha Anthony and Sarinda Unamboowe had done their work. Having known Gehan and Namal for the past so many years at Eagle Insurance, I know the busy schedules that these young executives go through. I am sure the other two are equally busy. Gehan and Namal had often told me of their adventures at Yala. Yet I didn't realize their commitment until we had a chat at the exhibition.

"In our own small way, we are trying to help the authorities to maintain the national parks. We are particularly keen to see that Wilpattu is brought back to the good old days," they told me. In fact, when the Wilpattu warden turned up at the exhibition with a whole heap of assistants, they were quite thrilled. "We never expected such a crowd. It was a gesture of goodwill for whatever little help we had given them," Gehan said.

A fine mix
The photographs were a fine mix. There were leopards caught in numerous moods. There were birds aplenty - from the common ones to the not so common. The cross tusker at Kumana was a rare treat. It's in a way surprising that it has survived. Being the 'devale aththa', (apparently he frequents a devale in the vicinity), they are possibly scared to touch him. The pictures amply demonstrated the richness of our land from the nature lovers' perspective and the need to protect this wealth.

'Encounters - A journey through the wild' exhibition was coupled with the launch of the book carrying the same title. Most of the exhibition pictures are in the book which is a high quality publication. And the response for it has been most encouraging. "We have virtually sold out the first run," Gehan said.

The four friends who got together on their wildlife expeditions have now formed themselves into a partnership - Zero3 - to carry on with several activities for nature conservation. Their first project was the book which they have accomplished. They have set up an image bank where anyone interested can purchase pictures. They will soon launch a website with the sole objective of promoting photography among young people. They will spot talent and help them to build on it. The bulk of the money they earn from their activities will be channeled to a fund for wildlife conservation.

Having gone through the exhibition, I was reminded of the pioneers who toiled to create an interest in wildlife photography. After getting back home, I went through the pages of the Studio Times publication (1986), 'The Wild, The Free, The Beautiful'. Pioneer Nihal Fernando has written in his Prologue: "Pat Decker and I, I would say, were partners; and the sum total of our capital for a start was the sun, the moon and the stars. Backed by that huge golden hoard, we wandered together along a thousand treks through a hundred woody wildernesses, each striking out to capture in his own right those shots of the wild, the free and the beautiful of our dreams."

Nice to find youngsters following their path.

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