OLIVE Apartments

10/04/2024

09/01/2024

Another beautiful evening in Sri Lanka. Come and enjoy the view.
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06/01/2024

Look at this beautiful evening when the sun goes down, in down south of Sri Lanka. Most of the evenings are like this for us. Come and enjoy the view with us.
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12/12/2023

Asian Longhorn beetle
As the name suggests, they have a pair of long horns. Actually those are a pair of antennas.
Have you seen these giant beetles flying around like drunkenly? You may see them when the monsoon begins. They are large, dark brown, nocturnal beetles about 3 -3.5 inches long. They belong to the family, Cerambycidae, the longhorn beetles.
These beetles look rather fierce mostly due to their big pinching mandibles, long antenna, and spikes over the thorax. But these are harmless creatures, but well known as pests.
This adult stage of these creatures will only last about a month. During this month what they will do is fly around to find a mating partner and mate and lay eggs on a dying tree. Yes, you heard correctly. That's all they do. They don't eat during their adult life. They survive with the nutrients they got during their larval stages which took 2-3 years to complete.
Want to see a longhorn Beetle Larvae?
Comment below 👇. Like us. Follow for more.Share the post.

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30/11/2023

Wild Elephants in Sri Lanka
A huge elephant, in it's fifties, harmless, staying beside the road, stoping vehicles passing by, in search of food.
People used to throw fruits at the elephant, which is not a good practice at all.
Wild animals do not need food from humans to survive. And also it not legal by the law.
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18/11/2023

Commonly known as Pleated Inkcap, is a small mushroom, with a plicate cap. The cap diameter is around 10mm. It is a decomposer which can be found in grassy areas, alone, scattered or in small groups. The fruiting bodies grow at night after rain, and will self decompose after spore dispersion is achieved. Otherwise, they are quickly dried up in morning sunlight. The overall body resembles a cocktail umbrella. The cap is papery. Although it is not poisonous, species is generally regarded as inedible.
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16/11/2023

The black-naped hare, (Lepus nigricollis)is a common species of hare native to the Indian subcontinent and Java.
They can be freely seen in Yala and other national parks in Sri Lanka.
Are the rabbit and the hare same?
Nope. Hares are distinguished from rabbits by their larger size, longer ears, and longer hind legs. They also tend to live alone or in pairs in above-ground nests, whereas rabbits often live together in groups of up to 20 in underground tunnels known as warrens.
Another important difference between hares and rabbits is the way their young are born: hares are born covered in fur and with open eyes, but rabbits are born furless, blind, and helpless.
What other differences do you know about them. Comment 👇
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12/11/2023

Sunset at Weheragala Reservoir

Weheragala Reservoir is located in Block 5 of Yala national park. The idea of the Weheragala Reservoir was born when the Lunugamvehera Reservoir failed to live up to the expectation of providing adequate water for the farming community of the South. The Lunugamvehera Reservoir was built by daming the Kirindi Oya at Lunugamvehera in 1985 to provide water to the farmers of the south. But this proved inadequate for the new colonies which were settled to engage in cultivation in the area.

The Weheragala Reservoir was built in 2009 by damming the Menik Ganga at Weheragala to store and divert the excess water of Menik Ganga to Lunugamvehera Reservoir to supplement the water collected from Kirindi Oya.
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10/11/2023

What can you see here?

This is a crab spider sucking out hemolymph from a honey bee. Crab spider's scientific name is Thomisus onustus, belonging to the genus Thomisus. These spiders are found across Europe, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East and Asia. The name crab spider came because it can move side by side, as well as forward and backward. This makes easier for it to hunt, as they do not use silk web to catch it's pray. It uses venom to immobilize the prey, then use their front pair of legs to grab and use chelicerae to suck. T. onustus reside in flowers in lowland vegetation. Females are distinguished by their larger size (7-11mm) and ability to change color between white, yellow, and pink as a means of matching flower color which uses for capturing prays and also to avoid predators. Males are smaller (2-4mm), more slender, and drab in coloration, usually green or brown. Furthermore, T. onustus have developed a mutualistic relationship with host plants where spiders feed on and/or deter harmful florivores while benefiting from the plant's supply of pollen and nectar, which T. onustus spiders are able to use as food sources, especially during periods of low insect prey abundance. Crab spider are harmless to human, as they cannot pears human skin.
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20/10/2023

'Raja' 🐘
Raja is a wild elephant in Sri Lanka, you will encounter when you travel in Kataragama - Buttala main road.
A huge elephant, in it's fifties, harmless, staying beside the road, stoping vehicles passing by, in search of food.
People used to throw fruits at the elephant, which is not a good practice at all.
Wild animals do not need food from humans to survive. And also it is not legal by the law.
So if you want to see Raja, you need to come this way.
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06/10/2023

Queen of the night
Epiphyllum oxypetalum is well known as queen of the night, also known as the Dutchman's pipe cactus or princess of the night. It is from the species of cactus.
It blooms nocturnally, and its flowers wilt before dawn. They grow on flattened stems and are up to 30 cm (12 in) long and 17 cm (7 in) wide, and very fragrant.
The plant is widely used in traditional medicine to treat respiratory ailments, bleeding conditions, and is also believed to have the property of reducing pain and inflammation.
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Photography Masterclass Magazine

02/10/2023

Red-vented bulbul chicks
කොණ්ඩ කුරුල්ලා

The red-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) is a member of the bulbul family of passerines. It is a resident breeder across the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka extending east to Burma and parts of Bhutan and Nepal.
Red-vented bulbuls build their nests in bushes at a height of around 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft). Nests are occasionally built inside houses or in a hole in a mud bank. In this instance, the nest was made inside a house, on top of a lampshade.
They breed from June to September and lay two or three eggs in a typical clutch. The eggs are pale-pinkish with spots of darker red more dense at the broad end.
Nests are small flat cups made of small dry twigs and spider web, but sometimes making use of metal wires. The eggs hatch after about 14 days. Both parents feed the chicks and on feeding trips wait for the young to excrete, swallowing the faecal sacs produced for the first few days when the bacterial level is minimum. Later they carry the faecal sacs and dump them elsewhere.
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28/09/2023

Tarantulas are easily identified by their hairy nature and large size from other commonly encountered spiders. Throughout the world, they are considered as a popular exotic pets, as most of the tarantulas are non-poisonous to humans.
In Sri Lanka, the largest known specimens are size of a dinner plate or size of the palm. There are over 9000 species of tarantulas are described from all over the world. They are well distributed in Africa, south of Asia, South America, and Oceania. Indian subcontinent including India and Sri Lanka is home to 15 tarantula species and Sri Lanka has 9 endemic species
This tarantula was seen at a camping site in Kumana National Park.

27/09/2023

Ancient Kantharodai Historical Site with some remains of Stupas is situated in Kandarodai village in Chunnakam, Sri Lanka. The temple is considered one of the ancient Buddhist remains in existence today in Jaffna Peninsula.
In 1917 remains of several Buddhist ruins were found at Kandarodai by then Jaffna District Magistrate Paul E. Pieris which was identified as the ancient Kadurugoda Vihara. He reported about 56 stupas in the area but at present only about 20 stupas can be seen.
According to Mahavamsa the history of Kantharodai Buddhist Monastery goes back to the Anuradhapura era. During the time period of King Devanpiya Thissa, theri Sangamitta arrived to Dambakolapatuna in Sri Lanka with a sapling of Sri Maha Bodhi. It is said that the road to Anuradhapura from Dambakolapatuna was through this Kadurugoda Vihara area and before going to Anuradhapura she has visited this temple.
There are few folklores which reveal some stories related to this Kadurugoda Vihara. According to one legend, in the 16th century, Jaffna Peninsula was ruled by a king named Sangili. At that time there were 60 Arhat Bhikkus practicing meditation. Due to harassment from King Sangili, those 60 Bhikkus decided to leave Jaffna and go to India. On their way, they had stayed at the Kadurugoda area to accept alms-giving from local residents. A mushroom curry served to them was poisoned and all of the Bhikkus had died. It is believed that these stupas were constructed with enshrining the relics of those 60 Arhath Bhikkus.
1948 the archaeology department purchased seven acres around this area to preserve this site. But due to land occupation by local residents, the area had been reduced to about three acres in 1965. Currently the land has been reduced into less than one acre.

Currently this temple has been declared as an archaeological site in Sri Lanka.

21/09/2023

Nymphaea is an aquatic plant in the family Nymphaeaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants. Plants of the genus are known commonly as water lilies.
This photo was taken in the back yard of a house, at Dikwella, in Sri Lanka.

16/09/2023

Garcinia is tree typically found in rain forests in Sri Lanka. It is a flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae native to Asia, America, Australia, tropical and southern Africa, and Polynesia. More than 400 species found world wide. It produces a fruit which is popular as monkey fruit. Ripen fruits are dried and used for culinary and medicinal purposes. In Sri Lanka, it is known as 'Goraka'. The young Goraka fruits are green in color and it will gradually turn yellow when ripe. Once fully ripe, fruits are collected, cut in half, deseeded and sun-dried for a day. The sun-dried fruit halves are smoked till black, and are rubbed with a mixture of salt and oil before transferring to earthenware pots and tightly sealed. These will stay fresh for years. Before use, the pieces are washed under running water to remove any dust accumulated from the drying and smoking process. It is then soaked for 10 minutes in water.
This photo was taken at Kanneliya Rain Forest which is a UNESCO world heritage.

11/09/2023

This is a sea hare, in the clade Anaspidea. They just look like a naked snail without a shell,🐌😀 but they have a soft internal shell made of proteins. The name derives from their appearance, because of their rounded shape and the two long rhinophores which projects out of their heads, just as ears of hare.
They are marine gastropod molluscs, and they are hermaphroditic. Sea hares are herbivorous, and are typically found on seaweed in shallow water as in here.
Their color corresponds with the color of the seaweed they eat: This gree sea hare have been feeding on green seaweed. This camouflages them from predators.
When disturbed, a sea hare can release ink from its ink gland, which turns in to a fluid and a smoke like toxic screen which affects predators olfactory senses. Their skin contains a similar toxin that renders sea hares largely inedible to many predators.
This photo was taken at , , where there is an abundant green algae growth.

10/09/2023

Chondrus crispus is a type of red algae, which grows abundantly along the rocks in coastal areas. It is soft and cartilaneous, presented in varying colours from greenish yellow, red to a dark purple. This was seen at , .

08/09/2023

Another gloomy day in Colombo.
After about 10 days of continuous rain, we finally see some sunshine through dark clouds.
Location - Nila madura, Colombo 5.

30/08/2023

Ampelocissus is a genus of Vitaceae found variously in Asia, Central America, Tropical Africa and Australia. This picture was taken at Kanneliya forest reserve.

23/08/2023

The red spot duke, Dophla evelina, is a species of brush footed butterfly found in Cambodia and South East Asia.
This was captured at Kumana National Park, Sri Lanka, on the riverbed of Kumbukkan Oya.
Thank you for the insight.

19/08/2023

Spooky.
Found this in our camping site beside Kumbukkan Oya, kumana national park. Silent, undisturbed forest, surrounded by wild beasts.

18/08/2023

Pogonatum
Ever heard of it?
If you have studied biology you may have heard. It is commonly called spike moss. Contains more than 70 species. Mostly seen in Asian Countries.
They are a window into similar steps in the evolution of plants hundreds of millions of years ago.
This photo was taken at Kanneliya rain forest in Sri Lanka, which was recognised as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2004.

17/08/2023

Damselfly.
An insect belonging to the order Odonata. They are skillful and fast hunters.
A very old group of insects which changed a very little over the years in comparison to their ancestors.
They are similar to dragonfly, but are smaller and have a slimmer body.
Caught this at Kumbukkan Oya river bed in Kumana national park.

16/08/2023

Camping fire in far east Sri Lanka in Kumana national park.
National Geographic Adventure National Geographic Magazine Lonely Planet Kumana National Park

15/08/2023

Canna indica, commonly known as Indian shot, is a plant species in the family Cannaceae, which is native to Central America, South America, Mexico and West Indies.

31/07/2023

Blue sky