The Mannar Vankalai Bird Sanctuary is located in the district of Mannar in the Northern Province, and is over 4,800 hectares of wetland, comprising the islands of Puliyantivu, Pallimunai, Vankalai, and Pallimunai as well as the causeway connecting the mainland to the Mannar islands. The sanctuary was declared open by the Ceylon Bird Club in 2008 and there are currently 149 species here.

These include both migrants and breeding residents. Most of the birds at Mannar Vankalai Bird Sanctuary are aquatic or semi-aquatic, including the Spot-billed Duck, Greater Flamingo, Temminck’s Stint, Red-necked Pharalope and Black-tailed Godwits. One of the raptors found in the sanctuary is the South Asian race of the Peregrine Falcon. There are over sixty species of fish in these marshes and wetlands.

Perhaps one of the largest predators here is the Saltwater Crocodile, the biggest terrestrial carnivore alive. There are also Dugongs here, grazing the seagrass beds just offshore. Seagrass beds are unique biomes that also provide nurseries for pelagic fish such as the commercially-fished snappers and trevally. In fact, the Mannar Vankalai Bird Sanctuary also supports local fishermen and herders in the region, even though there has been civil unrest in the area for over two decades.

Written by Vasika Udurawane for Travel Lanka Compass