Peak wilderness Sanctuary,a tropical rain forest that spreads over a land of 224 square kilometers around the Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak) mountain. It is no stranger for the Sri Lankans because of the historical and religious importanceof the peak. A huge forest area that belonged to the Peak Wilderness was cut down and cleared during the British colonial rule in Sri Lanka (1815-1948) to gain land for the massive tea estates which are still functioning in Nuwara Eliya district. The remaining portion of the Peak Wilderness was declared a wildlife sanctuary on October 25, 1940. Last September the Peak Wilderness was upgraded and declared a nature reserve.
The contours of Peak Wilderness vary from 1000 to 7360 feet above sea level. Therefore, it possesses bizarre geographical formations compared to the other natural reserves of the island. Bena Samanala (6579 ft), Dotalugala, Detanagala, are some of the remarkable mountains in the Peak Wilderness. It is also the birthplace of Kelani, Kalu, Walave rivers and many tributaries of the river Mahaweli. These waterways make fascinating waterfalls such as Dotalu falls, Geradi falls, Galagama falls (655 ft), and Mapanana falls (330 ft) inside the sanctuary.
Out of the 3 access routes; Hatton route, Kuruwita route and Palabaddala route, which Buddhist devotees and other tourists use to reach the Adam’s Peak, Kuruwita and Palabaddala routes go right across the sanctuary. It is home to a host of fauna and flora, including endemic species of birds such as Sri Lanka Junglefowl (wali kukula), Sri Lanka Woodpigeon, White-faced Starling, Blue Magpie (kehibella), Chestnut-backed Owlet, Ashy-headed Laughingthrush, Yellow-eared Bulbul, Sri Lanka White-eye being some of them, and other threatened animals such as leopards, elephants, some rare amphibians, insects and fish.
The gift…
Pilgrimage season begins in December and continues till May, which brings out the peak flow of people into the area. The sanctuary also receives the gifts during the season… lots and lots of Garbage, more than 75% of it being plastic bottles and toffee and biscuit wrappers. It is no magic and not hard to imagine the amount of plastics being dumped yearly as we all know how much of plastic we use during such trip. Being very good consumers of all the fast food, snacks and the mega's easily available in the market and not being strong enough to carry back the remaining (i.e: the empty packets and bottles), we follow the easy way… dump it!
Thanks to environmental friendly organizations and school children, the littered area gets cleaned up annually free of charge. So it has become total responsibility of such parties to clean up the annually messed place. It is time to ask ourselves is this act fair enough? Are we real human with a backbone? What make us carry all the excess food and drinks with us but prevent us from bringing down back and dispose appropriately the wrappers and bottles which weigh far away less than what is being carried up. Instead of that we use to point out fingers to the authorities that the amounts of garbage bins are not sufficient.
Recent conversation carried out with my friends in a forum in www.lakdasun.com highlighted a list of remedies that could be taken to minimize the "effect of the Gifts". Best of the suggestions being;
- A media campaign - Highlighting the significance of the issue and making people understand the depth of the problem.
- Educate the children and youth
- Introduce a Fine for irresponsible dumping of garbage - especially polythene
- Strict checks and prohibit carrying polythene - similar to what is done at Maha Eliya (Horton Plains).
As to my opinion these are really effective solutions, especially the check points run by the wildlife officers at Maha Eliya is really great and should be praised a lot. Applying such actions needs lots of resources, commitment by the government and non governmental parties, youth and a bit of time. But the simplest way we could contribute to heal this matter is to be responsible personally. That is at least to be humble enough to carry the garbage with us down to an urban location (or preferred to be carried back home!), where disposal can be done easily by urban or municipal authorities. Spread this word around to all of your friends and relatives who will be attending the season this December. This small action would surely be a positive impact on this problem.
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For further reading on this issue read (the article which inspired me with these thoughts!);
