Wildlife, Landscapes & Photography : Journey through Sri Lanka with Renowned Naturalist Gehan De Silva Wijeyeratne

Leopards, birds, whales, and forests — Sri Lanka’s wild heart beats in every corner. Naturalist Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne shares how this tiny island rivals the world’s great biodiversity hotspots. 

In this episode of “Sri Lanka: Modern Perspectives from an Ancient Melting Pot,” I speak with Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, one of Sri Lanka’s leading naturalists and authors. Together, we explore the island’s extraordinary biodiversity — from its ancient forests to its unique evolutionary story. Gehan reflects on his early inspirations, his career fusing business acumen with wildlife tourism, and his deep passion for photography. The discussion offers insight into Sri Lanka’s approach to balancing wildlife tourism, conservation, and sustainable growth, highlighting how the nation can welcome more visitors while preserving its precious natural heritage.

00:00 Introduction to Sri Lanka: Modern Perspectives

01:17 Meet Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, Sri Lanka's Foremost Naturalist

03:36 Gehan's Early Inspirations and Journey

13:24 The Rich Biodiversity of Sri Lanka

16:09 The Ancient Origins of Sri Lanka's Wildlife

29:06 Challenges and Solutions in Wildlife Tourism

37:17 Photography and the Esoteric Experience of Sri Lanka's Nature

51:09 Future Projects and Final Thoughts

Photo and Soundscape credits Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

1. Leopard, Wilpattu

2. Shama and Jerdons Nightjar, Sigiriya

3. Koel n Tailorbird, Colombo

About Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Regarded as one of the most high-profile wildlife personalities in Sri Lanka, his work helped raise awareness of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity and turned nature-tourism into a more viable proposition in the country.  Gehan has an ability to bridge science, photography, publishing and business (tourism). He has written over 20 books and is credited as being Sri Lanka's foremost naturalist.  

Major Publications (Selected)

A Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka | 2019 (First Edition)  | Covers all 468 bird species recorded in Sri Lanka including 34 endemics
A Naturalist’s Guide to the Mammals of Sri Lanka | | Field guide for mammals of Sri Lanka; includes checklists & top mammal-watching sites.
A Naturalist’s Guide to the Butterflies & Dragonflies of Sri Lanka | Focuses on ~280 species of butterflies & dragonflies, with photographs and field-use info.
Wild Sri Lanka | | More general overview of Sri Lanka’s wildlife, biodiversity and nature-tourism.
Birds of Sri Lanka | | A photographic guide to Sri Lanka’s avifauna (with co-authors in some editions).
Mammals of Sri Lanka | | A photographic guide to mammals of Sri Lanka.

Title: Sri Lanka: Modern Perspectives from an Ancient Melting Pot
Host: Dee Gibson — Sri Lankan-born, award winning designer based in London and founder of boutique hotel Kalukanda House in Sri Lanka. www.kalukandahouse.com | instagram @deegibson2017 & @kalukandahouse

Podcast Themes:

• Modern Sri Lankan identity and culture
• Architecture, art, and design
• Sustainability and heritage
• Diaspora experiences and storytelling

Why Listen:
This podcast offers deep, intelligent storytelling about Sri Lanka’s evolving identity — a blend of East and West, ancient and modern. It’s for listeners who love culture, travel, architecture, and thoughtful conversation.

Transcript

dee gibson: 0:00

Welcome back to series three of Sri Lanka, modern Perspectives from an ancient melting pot, the podcast that shares a dynamic modern day. Sri Lanka. I've been lifting the veil on who this island is, and you'll hear about all the things you never read about in the travel pages. I believe that meeting the people of a place gives us truthful narratives and authentic travel experiences. So through these conversations with people from the worlds of art, design, culture, hospitality, philanthropy, and more, you'll hear about a global stage setting and a multifaceted land. This is an old world island with a long indigenous past that predates centuries of colonization, followed by independence, civil war, and now on our radars as a holiday destination. Sri Lanka is so much more than that. So I'll show the truth of the Sri Lanka narrative straight from the amazing people who call this island their home. In series three, I'll be looking at groundbreaking projects across all disciplines that showcase a world class regenerative approach to preservation and harmony. Gahana Silver Ner is one of Sri Lanka's, foremost naturalists, an author of more than 20 books, a passionate advocate for wildlife tourism, and a figure of international renowned for his deep knowledge of the island's natural world. In this gorgeous conversation, we explore the astonishing diversity of life that thrives across Sri Lanka. A tiny island that stands shoulder to shoulder with Borneo and other global diversity hotspots, Gahan reveals why this compact landmass holds such abundance from the cool miss of the cloud forest to the sunlit planes of safari park. From the bustling metropolis to the quiet corners of hotel gardens wildlife is never far away. We talk about Sri Lanka's apex predator, the leopard. The island's dazzling array of birds and the ancient indigenous trees that sustain its wetlands. All living in delicate symbiosis. Gahan explains how ancient planetary shifts and migratory patterns have shaped this remarkable biodiversity. And as a keen photographer, he paints vivid scenes of magical encounters, moments of pure wonder captured in both image and sound. Together we reflect on how responsible wildlife tourism can help protect these precious species. And how by truly seeing the natural world, we can all play a part in caring for this beautiful living planet we share. Gahan, welcome so much to my podcast. Thank you for being here today.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 3:01

Thank.

dee gibson: 3:06

uh, it's a pleasure to have you because you are widely recognized as one of the island's foremost naturalists. You've written over 20 books. You've been advocating far and wide for Sri Lankan wildlife tourism, and, I wonder. Your skills are so wide ranging. They cover an engineering degree business and tourism as well. So where did your love of wildlife and photography come from?

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 3:36

Well, I have to credit my interest to my uncle Dowell de Silva. Because I had a early start with wildlife and wildlife tourism at the age of three, he would take me to the jungles of yah. And, and I remember as a young child, I would just live for these holidays and I couldn't sleep, you know, the night before we were due to depart at four or 5:00 AM to go to Yala. Um, so I would, I would get into the vehicle and, and those days, you know, everything had to be packed in all your, uh, food and drink. Um, the vehicle would be sort of, uh, literally creaking at the, at the seams. Um, and we would go off in a loaded vehicle and every few hours I would wake up and I would say, are we there yet? Because I would see the jungle and I would get very excited and I'd be told, shh, go back to sleep. It's another couple of hours more. Um, and that was partly because. When I was growing up there, there was more forest and you know, you didn't have to drive seminars to get to Yala before you saw forest. And sort of, illustrates, some of the landscape changes we have seen in our own life. So we'd get there and I would then be like, in heaven, because the, the sight, the sounds, the smells, the textures, you know, the, the redeeming white bone of a buffalo that hadn't survived the last drought and then the rains coming in and I would see the lush growth sprout again, just watching that transformation and just listen to the birds. Um, so I think, you know, at the age of three had become a convert.

dee gibson: 5:24

Amazing. So, Uncle Dodwell, thank you Uncle Dodwell for inspiring Gehan. But you know, to capture your imagination at such a young age is really wonderful, isn't it? And, and, uh, so that sort of was absorbed into your DNA, I suppose, and you painted this beautiful picture about the things that you sensed as well as a young child. And it's one of the things that people talk about, Sri Lanka, it's a, it's very much a sensory experience, isn't it? So as you grew up, and obviously this passion grew with you, how did you then find yourself moving into a more mainstream career, as it were? and how did you balance that with the passion that's always been inside you?

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 6:16

So I think what I learned at a very young age, uh, with my Uncle Dodwell was that. What we see is what we have the birds for. So when it comes to wildlife, it means being able to put a name to things. You know, what is that plant? What, you know, what is, what is that bird that's calling? What is that mammal that just dashed across the Jeep track? Um, and this is generally true of language and how we function as human beings. We, we need the words to articulate, to even think and to see. So I sort of grew up appreciating the rich biodiversity around us. Uh, thankfully because my uncle was one of the earliest bird watchers in Sri Lanka and he had a of binoculars and he had a copy of GM entries, a field guide to the Birds of Ceylon. So when the adults were having a afternoon nap, I would use his binoculars and I would be just amazed at what I could see through that. I'd be coming through his book and learning the names. But I was growing up in Srilanka at a time where there was also that sense of, uh, realism that you are not going to, uh, earn well going into conservation or research. Uh, and I also saw that the people who were successful. Conservationist also had very good administrative skills. So I thought what I needed was to acquire a blend. So I came to London and I studied civil engineering and then I went and qualified as a chartered accountant with one of the big four firms. So I put myself on a trajectory that I would have some business skills so that in a private capacity I could help the people in research and conservation and indulge my interest and big game changer was there. When I came to London, I joined groups like the London Wildlife Trust and the London Natural History Society, and it was quite intoxicating to go out in the field with like-minded people, people who were a really expert, people who could point things out and, uh, talk to me about ecology and how these. Species interact with each other. So it was almost like going to a second university, just going out in the field with all of these

dee gibson: 8:42

Mm.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 8:43

So I kept these two panelist strand going the, you know, the business side in the day job, and honing my skills as a.

dee gibson: 8:53

Yeah, I think that's such a smart thing to do, to bring some structure to the, the creative interest and, and the natural world. It's interesting what you are saying. One of the things that we've talked about in the past on this podcast with previous guests and, um, I don't think it's just Sri Lanka that is experiencing this, but there is in some of, in some of the, the countries which have had economic Uncertainty. There's been a big brain drain of talent out of the island, and it's really wonderful to hear that you, you know, went and studied, maintained your passion, and you've brought it back to Sri Lanka. So I think you're a wonderful inspiration for our current talent on the island to, really think about coming back and, and bringing those skills.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 9:39

Uh, thank you. Dee yes, I think I always had a sense that I had, that I wanted to, uh, bring something back. Um, um, and it's not a criticism. I mean, a lot of people, you know, they grew up there and they go abroad and their lives sort of go on a different

dee gibson: 9:58

Hmm.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 9:59

and, uh, and they don't come back, uh, which is a bit of a shame because there's a lot of expertise that they gain a lot of business experience that, you know, it'd be nice to bring it back, but sometimes it, it doesn't work. Uh, I think for me, it was very fortunate that my wife wanted me to go back when our children were born so that grandparents and grandchildren had time together and the children would grow up with this sense of dual cultural identity.

dee gibson: 10:26

mm.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 10:27

Um, and I was also very lucky that I managed to forge a relationship with the business sector and particularly the tourism sector. and this began in 1997 when I worked with four others to produce a birdwatchers guide to Sri Lanka. Uh, and this is published by the Oriental Bird Club. So I went to the Tourism Promotion Bureau and I said, I'm doing this. And I said, um, would you like to shout this amongst the tourism people, uh, to see that anybody would be interested in advertising? And at that point, the tourism industry suddenly realized that there was this chap working in the financial sector in London who's writing about what a great place Sri Lanka is for wildlife and for birds. So every time they would come for WTM (World Travel Market) or some trade fair, they would want to meet me. Uh, and, and several people met me and pick my brains. And, and one day after I moved back to help set up Nations Trust Bank, Hiran Cooray came home. So for the people who don't know, um, Herbert Kray founded the Jet Winging family of companies. They have one of the biggest, uh, hotel groups as well as a travel company. Uh, and his children Hiran and run the two sites, And Hiran said that he wanted to start a specialist wildlife travel subsidiary and asked me whether I would like to get involved. And I had been working sometimes two, three in the morning setting up this new bank. And I thought this would be very exciting. I could get paid for doing something I enjoy doing. Uh, but one condition I negotiated was that I could bring in some of the thinking I had seen in the conservation NGOs in the uk and he was happy with that. And another thing that worked really well was that Hiran and Shiromal both understood that as Jetwing is a large company, we would have to think of Sri Lanka first. So everything I did to develop the wildlife tourism product, the disseminating the knowledge, they were very happy that it immediately became available, either in terms of an article which went public or in producing literature, which could be shared, so I think it, it's, it's as if, uh, all the doc docs had lined up and, um, I was with the right people and in an environment where I could work with people who could bring out the best, I would've men.

dee gibson: 12:58

Absolutely. And I think that Sri Lanka has very many people who really do, think beyond themselves and think, uh, about the good of the country. And I think that's, uh, I'm a big fan of Jet Wing, so that's wonderful that you did that. So let me just cut, to, how you've brought all your skills back into Sri Lanka, but also your, you are known internationally as someone who's incredibly knowledgeable. And so I'd love to talk about the wildlife of Sri Lanka now. I mean, it is the case, isn't it? That there are certain species that are found around the island and then there are others that are sort of localized in different regions. you recently wrote a book called The Photographic Guide to the Wildlife of Sri Lanka, which covers 1,180 species in different taxonomic groups. And so we know that we have this incredible diversity, but within the island there is a diversity of spread. So I'd, I'd really love to know more about that.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 14:06

Um, certainly, so a photographic guide to the wildlife of Sri Lanka was published by John Beaufoy, and in a sense, it, it's been 25 years in the making because that's how long I wanted to do something like that. And it only became possible because I had the 13 section contributors who did 25% of the book, and I did 75% of the book. And, and there were two reasons why I brought in the other contributors. Uh, firstly, you know, it, it would've taken me another five years of 10 years if I tried to do it on my own. I thought it, it just nice to show the breadth and depth of talent we have in Sri Lanka and, and the expertise we have. So, you know, for groups like the reptiles, the amphibians, snails, spiders, other insects, et cetera, it just made sense to bring in other people and, and showcase what they have. So then the question becomes, how come we have so many species? If you look at butterflies, for instance, we have about 243 species. Britain has around 50. If you look at Dragon andies, we, in the uk, there may be about 30 to 40 species that you see regularly. So the British uh, dragonfly list is around 50. Sri Lanka has about 120 and half of them are endemic.

dee gibson: 15:28

Wow.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 15:29

It's incredible biodiversity. And I have often talked about how disproportionately rich Sri Lanka is. So take another example. Borneo has something like, uh, 54 endemic bird species, but Borneo is 11 times bigger than Sri Lanka. Now does, Sri Lanka has only one 11 of what? Borneo has? No, Sri Lanka has about 33 endemic species. So in terms of endemic bird species per unit area, Sri Lanka is about seven times richer than Borneo.

dee gibson: 16:09

I'd really love it if you could share what you were describing to me before that had happened hundreds of millions of years ago with the tectonic plates shifting and the migratory patterns of certain animals so we can understand a bit better.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 16:23

Indeed. So let, let's start with where does all this richness come from? So there are two sources. So one is the con one origins when this great southern continent con one and broke up. The second is immigration. And then another factor is what happens when species come in? So let's sort of travel back in time and 120 million years ago. So there was a supercontinent with Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, seashells, and Antarctica all joined up. And a hundred million years ago, it began to break up. Sri Lanka, India and the seashells began to drift away. And then around 60 million years ago, or six, 7 million years ago, the seashells part broke away. And the India Sri Lanka play continued to drift North.

dee gibson: 17:22

Hmm.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 17:23

And around 50 to 60 million years ago, it made. with Eurasia. And then interesting things began to happen and in fact we don't know quite the exact pattern of contact 'cause it is possible that these giant dip carp trees, which are so characteristic of Sri Lanka's with Zone Forest, one possibility that they actually got off the Indian plate and that's how they got into Southeast Asia. And places like Borneo are very rich in di carb species about, you know, 400 species. But after this sort of crunching impact, which is creating the Himalayas, what we found was that plants and animals from Asia immigrated into Sri Lanka. And around 20 to 30 million years ago, the climate was very different.

dee gibson: 18:18

sorry to interrupt you. I just, I was just thinking do we know which animals would've moved between the areas? Do we have any idea?

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 18:28

Well, a lot of the vertebrate animals would've come from Asia because, 'cause you, you've heard of the famous KT boundary, also called the Cretaceous Paleogene boundary, where this giant fireball, this asteroid crashed on the earth somewhere near the Gulf of Mexico. And it created almost like the aftermath of, uh, nuclear holocaust because it kicked up so much of dust into the air. The earth went dark, the sky was shrouded. There was no light. And we believe that hasten the extinction of the dinosaurs. So on Sri Lanka, we have very few vertebrate animals that have this kwana lineage. It's just things like the borrowing snakes which are blind. The surface vertebrates probably got wiped out, which means that all our other vertebrates then immigrated across India. And some of them came from the rest of Asia. However, plants did survive, which is why there were species of plants where we see them in Madagascar and we see them in Southeast Asia and a Australasia.

dee gibson: 19:47

Wow.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 19:48

So there's this goana plant stock plus fresh immigrants as well.

dee gibson: 19:55

Amazing. So, so we've got these really ancient species that are found, on the island as well. So we are known for our leopards, uh, which is a big attraction for many wildlife lovers. Would the leopards have been a species that migrated into Sri Lanka from India?

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 20:15

So the leopard is probably a very recent arrival so I'll just go back a little bit to the, the biographic theory and the history. so that was a period when Peninsula India and Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka were covered with what are called per humid forest. So these are very special forests where you need a monthly rainfall of over a hundred millimeters and no prolonged drying periods. So you can't have two to three dry months. There are per forests in Africa. And in Southeast Asia and in between, it's only Sri Lanka that has these, but India was, at the time, covered with Perhumid Forest, but around 20 million years ago, they began to dry. And so the southwestern forests of Sri Lanka are very special because there ancient rainforest, India lost all of its per humid forest. It still has the western gats, which are very special and, and they have rainforest there, but they're not this special per humid forest. Sinharaja has more affinity, which some of the forests in southern Thailand and Malaysia and Borneo because of their humid nature. So some of the species that arrived beginning 60 million years ago onwards, they survived in Sri Lanka. They've been lost in India. Yeah, sister species survive in Southeast Asia. So you can see how, in a way, Sri Lanka has worked as a refuge On top of this drawing, there were also periods where a very broad land bridge was made between India and Sri Lanka. It could be 200 kilometers wide at times when during ice ages, you know, the water just was removed from the oceans and deposited as these vast ice sheets. And it's even hard to imagine how big they were. They were kilometers deep. And in places like Britain, the land was pushed down a few kilometers. Can you imagine that? Pushing down the land a few kilometers, that was the depth ice. But those ice ages meant that Sri Lankan, India were connected and there were western archic mammals like the tiger, which. Journey itself. It entered India and Tiger did enter Sri Lanka as well because fossils have been found. But perhaps they didn't enter in enough numbers or maybe the prey base wasn't big enough to support the tigers getting established because they went extinct. However, the leopard, which actually originated in Africa, crossed from Africa to Asia, worked its way east into India, worked southwards cross Sri Lanka, and to become this much love iconic Prada.

dee gibson: 23:23

Yes.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 23:24

And this then feeds into your other question, why are some species found in some places and others are found all over? So the leopard is a very adaptable animal, and it would've entered into what was an a red zone or a dry zone. But it worked its way into the wet zone and it, and into the mountains. And, and that's because it's got enough prey and that means the prey have to be adaptable. So things like wild peg spotted deer, chev retains pangolins. The animals it eats for food were also generalists that could adapt to different habitats, which meant it could support a generalist predator like the leopard. On the other hand, there are species like fish and frogs, which are just confined to one forest valley or one mountain top. And because they have this very narrow sort of ecological adaptation,

dee gibson: 24:30

Right.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 24:31

so it's uh, um, it's a very complex canvas of events sometimes on overline each other. But this amazing patchwork of events have produce this fluffing of biodiversity and, and, and yeah. And we blessed with the top predators and blue whales off our coast and sperm whale ports. So thanks to events on a planetary scale, um, this island has emerged as this incredible all around wildlife destination.

Speaker 2: 25:21

At the break of dawn in Sri Lanka's Cloud Forest Sound is the first light from the dripping moss and silver fog comes the song of the White Rumped Sharma, clear fluid and impossibly pure. This small bird, no bigger than a hand. Carries a voice that ripples through the canopy like sunlight through glass. Males perch, low on tangled branches, singing to mark their place in the world. Their tails flicking as their notes rise and fall. A melody both territorial and tender. As day fades, the forest changes its tune, the mist thickens, and a hush settles over the trees. Then. From the edge of darkness, another voice awakens The Jerdens Night jar, its call is a measured pulse haunting and rhythmic echoing through the cloud bound valleys. The night gel hunts in silence. Its soft wings, gliding through the twilight, guided by sound, and starlight following the slopes downward. The cool mist gives way to warm heavy air. The per humid lowland rainforest hear the songs of the highlands dissolve into the dense rhythm of life Below beneath towering dipterra carps and curtains of vines moves another master of Silence, the Sri Lankan leopard. Solitary and secretive. This leopard is the island's apex predator, smaller and more golden than its mainland kin, yet perfectly adapted. To rule these jungles alone, its Ted coat melts with dappled light. Its steps Make no sound on the wet forest floor when it moves the forest hold its breath. From the heights of mist to the depths of green, the island's heartbeat never stops. Only shifts. The Sharma song. At dawn, the Night Jars whisper at dusk, the leopard silent passage through the night. Each versed in the living per of Sri Lanka's Wild Places.

dee gibson: 28:01

what you're actually painting a picture of is hundreds of millions of years ago, it seems like this tiny, tiny little island was moving around the planet and butting up to different land masses and, mountains forming and these rainforests. we've said in the past that Sri Lanka is one of the best all round wildlife destinations in the world, promoting the fact that traveling to Sri is. One's best chance to see large mammals, marine mammals, and endemic species in such a compact area. So that really sets context. You know, we, we talk about it a lot. And this isn't just a marketing ploy. This is fact. people who come to Sri Lanka travel around and it's well loved because the landscape is so diverse North to south, east to west. But let's talk about the leopard because people from the west love to go on safari and see these beautiful wild animals. Um. I wondered what your take is on this because Yala National Park is a, is a place that's, well known for Leopard Safari Sri Lanka is having resurgence and and wildlife tourism is, is part of this. How do you see us managing the march of people into Sri Lanka, because we want to share, but at the same time, protecting these species.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 29:37

So I think we need to look at Vista management techniques from all over the world. Um, and we can look close, um, by, at our neighbors in India, how they manage, uh, the demand for Tiger Safaris. You could live, uh, for the West, you could look at how in London, uh, visitors are managed to enter the Ted Modern in London, or, um, how do you ticket for people entering the Louvre. So there are a lot of, uh, vista management techniques that are, that have been successfully deployed all over the world. So with Yala, it's not surprising that there is such a demand to see leopard, because the leopard is the top cat. It's beautiful, it's iconic. It's become habituated to people. So there are great photographic opportunities and. A lot of people want to come in and see the leopard. However, the nature of the terrain and the nature of the roads is such that you now end up in a situation where there's leopard sighting. 30, 40 vehicles race up. It's worse than a traffic jam in Colombo, and, and it's a bad experience for the people. The leopard itself can move away at any time it wants, if it is being disturbed. But the fact that even with 40 vehicles, that the leopard will stay shows that it's actually quite tolerant, but it's a very unpleasant experience for the visitors, the shouting, the jostling, and you know, the tension and sometimes words being exchanged. So how do you deal with this? It's the fact that the leopard is there means it doesn't care because it's, it may be a sub-adult and you know mommy is going to be feeding it, or if it is an adult, it is fed during the night, but it's unlikely that a fully grown adult would actually be out. Uh, sometimes they are, but if it's, it means it is not so concerned. It's just got used to this background phony, but it is unpleasant for the visitors. So how do you improve the visitor experience? So there's a very simple way where you can do it in a democratic and organized way, which is to introduce numbered routes. And then now it's important that the roots are arranged so that. On every route, there's equal likelihood of seeing the iconic mammals like the leopard and the SL bear and the elephants, so that we are not saying you gotta be rich to see leopards. It's not like you got to be able to afford to see a leopard. Everybody can afford to see a leopard. But what you paying for is the experience and the privilege of deciding whether you're willing to pay to have a lesser number of vehicles. You're taking the pressure off people just driving in and driving around until they see a leopard. So there are a lot of things we can do to make the experience more pleasant. and also can develop all the national parks so that we spread the tourist traffic. Okay.

dee gibson: 32:47

yes, I was about to say, we've got a number of national parks in Sri Lanka, and I think that there's work being done isn't there to, to let people know to spread the love, but also spread the load. how can we make. Our development, compassionate towards the landscape, and how can we teach travelers to come to Sri Lanka in a thoughtful way,

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 33:12

I think there's more and more interest in hotel developers, rewilding and, and creating habitat. And again, we can look to the way select in the uk, uh, even for a development in the city, there's a concept of net biodiversity gain and uh, and uh, we have some very good examples from Sri Lanka where. Hoteliers have been very sympathetic and maintained the environment. So you have a Kalema hotel where they were very careful with, uh, how they constructed and tried to cause minimal harm. Um, and they actually bought land around them and, uh, and forested it. Then we have Ena, which was in a very harsh, parched, uh, landscape, which had been, uh, in a sense blood dry by shifting cultivation and, and, and there was nothing there. And then, uh, we worked with people like similar Ja War to create a wetland in spite by what the windfall and Wetland Trust had done at the London Wetland Center in Barnes. And this is the first time, uh, Sri Lankan tourism company had actually gone and created fantastic wildlife habitat. Soon after the crocodiles arrived, the otters arrived and there's fishing cat and jungle cat and all kinds of really exciting animals. And the slender lower because you created the habitat and you loved the forest to reclaim

dee gibson: 34:48

Um,

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 34:48

jungle large land. And then it just amazing to see how you can create life, this amazing biodiversity. So have followed this model. And they're also now creating wetland habitats.

dee gibson: 35:02

Yes.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 35:04

And then Malabar Hill who were the lead sponsor for John Bo's, photographic Guide to the Wildlife Sri Lanka. They have this lovely sort of hill, uh, which is a former cinnamon plantation, and they're reforesting and it's true of many places in the wet zone that you can wake up in the morning and you could hear 42, 50 species of birds calling.

dee gibson: 35:30

Yes, absolutely. I think it's really wonderful to hear of all these, um, people who are very passionate about regenerating the landscape around them and really thinking of themselves as stewards of the land. And I think it's wonderful, isn't it? That nature always wins. Nature always wins. It doesn't actually need a lot. And life comes through

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 35:55

It just.

dee gibson: 35:57

yes, I've witnessed it. It, we have plot of land set within these very lush gardens, which were landscaped around the existing trees. And, um, I'm a huge tree lover. And so I was really careful about how we did things and, and we get a lot of comments from our guests about the bird life. We have a number of endemic birds, It's incredible to me just to watch the woodpecker. The kingfisher. There's the blackface, orole, then you've got the monkeys, the monitor lizards. Um, we've even got mongoose who comes through. It's just wonderful just in this, you know, small space. That's actually just through allowing it to be and to breathe. Yeah.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 36:43

It's, it's amazing how you could sort of randomly pick a hotel property in Sri Lanka, which is a few acres, and, and that hotel property would be like a European nature reserve in terms the wildlife you see. Um, you could be traveling around Sri Lanka, randomly park somewhere, you know, other, other than a very built up area and get down and there'll be so much bird

dee gibson: 37:10

Oh, it's beautiful. And the butterflies and the dragonflies. which kind of brings me neatly onto a point that I've been wanting to speak to you about. I find being in that kind of environment surrounded by lush green listening to the wind in the trees and feeling the heat on my skin and seeing the wildlife, it's quite a sort of spiritual experience. And I don't mean that in a, in necessarily a religious way. I just think it reminds you of how small we are in the world. And, uh, as a designer I love beautiful things including beautiful photography. And your photography is absolutely stunning. So you've created the catalogs but you are also a photographer that creates. Beautiful images. And I'm curious about when you are going out to photograph wildlife, how do you decide when to press the shutter? What's the decisive moment for you as Enri Cartier Bresson would say to create the perfect photograph that captures the essence of what I've just described. You know, that fully 360 sensory experience.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 38:27

So I, I think when I'm out photographing, I have sort of two modes that are working in parallel. So one is the, the creative photographer who is looking for that creative opportunity. And then there's this sort of the illustrative photographer where I'm thinking of, I need to get a better image of that butterfly or bird or mammal for the next edition of the book. And with the illustrative side, it's fairly straightforward. You know, you try to get the, the subject parallel to the plane of the camera Think about depth of feel, you think about lighting and your preoccupied uniform lighting. as a wildlife photography, you are also looking for action. So then you are alive to those opportunities. So you're trying to capture the drama of life and also position yourself to react instinctively and, and, and you know how the components need to be assembled in the frame and you position yourself. Then there's a sort of more creative photography. So for example, when I'm up in the cloud, forest of Horton plays again, I may wake up in the morning because I want to photograph, uh, sc and elusive mountain and to make like the whistling th rush. But I will often stop when I see the early morning light sort of penetrating through the cloud forest and, and and sometimes magical scenes unfold in front of you. Um, and quite often I have seen how there's this sort of ragged torn blanket of lichen draping. The trees, and it's almost as if, you know, witches have haunted the forest in the night discarded this sort of, uh, torn and ragged shoal. But as the light comes through, it starts to catch the, the water droplets which have condensed because the forest while it's slumber, has had these sort of reads of mist that snake through and coiled around the trees and forced its way through the, the tangle of lichens and the sunlight then catches these balls of condensation and they glisten and shine, uh, like bulbs on the Christmas tree. And then suddenly it's as if the fairies have come and taken over the And, and then I try to photograph that and I'm thinking about how to compose and thinking about. make the brighter parts appear brighter. So then it's the creative side and, and this is then where you feel it's, it's, it's like a spiritual experience because there you are in, in the cloud forest, you hear blackbird singing or overhead, you might have a, a buzzard or a honey buzzard flying over its call is sort of echoing and fading into the distance. You might hear the alarm call of a samba and you wonder is there a leopard still out there hunting into the early morning? Um, and he, he had that sense of, uh, being back to a primary stage where. As a human, every sense in you had to be alive and alert and humiliated to survive. And you're feeling it because, you know, you're, you're seeing it from the light. You're feeling that coolness on your skin and you're hearing things from the front, from the sides, from behind. And every part of you is alive. And, and it's spiritual as well. And trying to capture that in a photograph, uh, is not easy, but, but right to convey how special these last remaining wilderness places

dee gibson: 42:30

Oh, What an incredible picture you've just painted. In my mind. It's just sounds glorious and so worth getting up and being. Awake and I guess awakened at a time when everyone else is still sleeping. And what I love about those moments as well, and what you've just described and what can be conveyed in a beautiful picture by, by someone who really understands that the image needs to make the person who's looking at it feel those emotions is it's very animalistic. You're not in your head anymore, you're very much in your body. With everything around you are connected to the trees, to the ground, under your feet, the sky above the animals.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 43:22

It, it is an immersive experience and actually for anybody who's listening to things that you may have to travel far, you, you don't, um, you could, uh, go to SinhaRaja Rainforest in a few hours from the capital Columbo and half the trees you see there are found nowhere is in, in the world. And you may be walking in the rainforest and you're looking at these sort of cathedrals of trees and it's all dim in, in the ground there because the trees have raised the top and they have intercepted the light and it's cool and dark and then suddenly there's this ca bird calls is a. That's a boat wave that comes by. And sometimes you might see half a dozen endemic species, but you don't even have to travel those three to four hours. You could go to nar the rainforest in a over and a half, or you can go to D Park in Colombo suburbs, which is only sometimes 15 minutes away early morning. And, even that is very special. I go there and I watch the sunrise rise, and I watch the water sort of rising from the lakes. It's all gone, all misty. And I hear the birds calling into the bubbles, strumming the th flash of red and the hysterical call of a woodpecker that has just arrived in perch near me, the gentle purring or spotted doves. A flash of blue will be a kingfisher that's just flown past and there's just so much. And as the sun rises, dragonflies come out and you have these quadrants of red and orange insects that are scaring the water for their insect prey. So there's, there's magic even in the suburbs, and you can be alone and just, uh, feel the morning, feel all you, and it's very immersive and spiritual experience.

dee gibson: 45:23

You're a beautiful storyteller, and I think the world needs to hear more from you and people like you because this is what brings the story of why we need to preserve our rainforests and our biodiversity, and to keep rewilding and to travel consciously and kindly in order to protect all of this. So Rohan Pethiyagoda, who is an internationally acclaimed bio, a diversity explorer, he said that without question, you are the most celebrated field naturalist the country has produced. And I can absolutely see why. How do you feel about being branded as a naturalist?

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 46:07

Well, it was a surprise when Rohan Pethiyagoda said this in, in the context of a press release. Um, for John Vo, his book, A Photographic Guide to the While of Sri Lanka, and I felt deeply honored because Rohan Pethiyagoda is a person I admire hugely for the science he has done for ushering in the renaissance in Bios exploration and what he has done to mentor other people and to give lots of other scientists of voice. Through the publications of the Wildlife Heritage Trust. But the interesting thing is, I, I never really set out to brand myself. Uh, it's sort of come about accidentally. I think there were two things that have been driving me. One is this passion for natural history and the excitement I have and wanting to share it with other people. And then secondly, to show people how, uh, extraordinarily rich Sri Lanka is and wildlife combines with its sort of, uh, history, the, the archeological, uh, history, um, and the landscapes. And it's an amazing place and it's very, very good for wildlife tourism. And I wanted to bring out the, and or develop the wildlife tourism because I feel monetizing wildlife is one of the best ways to protect it. Uh, and we see that happening because pe people imagine. Our national parks and reserves as invaluable units. They're not, political constructs. If the people wanted a national park, Dega and hand do for cultivation, that is what will happen. But creating this ecosystem of services from safari drivers to, people who are providing services to adjoining game lodges and hotels, you make it easier for people to have a stable livelihood because farming is very uncertain and very risky. The crops could fail because there was too much rain or too little rain, but tourists will always come, provided no macroeconomic shocks and and it's much better for them to be service providers than farmers, and that protects the wildlife. So my mantra for a long time has been. Monetize wildlife. And I've sort of worked to develop the infrastructure, uh, starting from educating Sri Lankans and the Sri Lankan tourism industry about how special the country is, how good it is for wildlife, why it's one of the best all ground wildlife destinations to make a credible case. Then to bring in the literature by working with lots of people in including tourism, uh, the private sector and the state agencies, the field guides. So there's a raft of things. I've worked with lots of people, um, and. And I think that's how people have sort of found me and discovered me. and like I said, the, the branding has been very accidental. it's really been about, sharing my joy with the biodiversity, uh, that we live with and making, uh, Claire Srilanka is special. And, and, and why, why left tourism, uh, could be a very important part of its, uh.

dee gibson: 49:23

Absolutely. if I could humbly add as well I think it's also a part of the agenda for us globally to show why the protection of everything in the world is so important, but how Sri Lanka can be such a, a wonderful example of how. Things can be done to protect. it's up to us to help educate our guests about what to ask for and where the lines should be drawn. Um, you know, if something can't be done, then we have to respectfully say, no, unfortunately we can't do that today or this time of year or whatever because it, you know, we are protecting what we have. But you can, here's an alternative. Um, I think it's important for us to really consider that.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 50:16

You, you're right. It's, it's, we need to educate our guides to say that you can politely say no to a guest and it is okay. Uh, and sometimes we have to educate the guest.

dee gibson: 50:28

Yes, And I think people really respond to that. Um, most people given the opportunity would want to be respectful and compassionate and care for everything around them. So I feel very hopeful speaking to, to yourself and other people who are in this space, that with the 2026 is gonna be a great year for us to showcase, this through Sri Lanka. So we are coming to the end of our time, it's just gone. It's flown by. I'm really looking forward to being able to share some of your, work as we send this podcast out as well. But I have to ask what's next? What are you working on now?

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 51:09

So one of the projects I'm working on and um, and I'm very grateful that Malabar Hills in Weligama have sponsored the design is to make a series of simple leaflets, uh, what I'm calling mini guides, which cover a hundred birds of the wet zone, a hundred birds of the dry zone, a hundred dragonflies, a hundred butterflies, et cetera. Because, and, and this is a resource that would be made available to anybody in tourism or any NGO who wants to use it. And the idea is that these would be relatively inexpensive to produce. It may cost a couple of hundred rupees. So if. If an NGO or a hotel wants to hand these out to guests and as part of their CSR to local school children and to guides or visiting, then you know, for a couple of hundred rupees you've made at least something basic available, which. Loves people with their children or professional guides to put a name to some of this wonderful biodiversity we see around you. And then hopefully they may progress to some of the more detailed books which have been published. Uh, not, not only by, uh, the British publishers that have worked with, but even some of the local conservation NGOs. Uh, and hopefully, uh, with something like the most recent book I have done, they may even receive it as a gift from a client. When the client sees how keen the guide is and realize that, you know, with the current pricing of around 13,000 rupees, it's too expensive for the guides to buy, uh, they might give those books to the guides, but the guides first have to demonstrate that they're interested and they're making an effort to lend the names. And it's easy being a wildlife guide in Sri Lanka because you probably have to know about the thousand species.

dee gibson: 53:02

You have such, um, a, a big heart Gehan in, in the way you want to share. You are so open and sharing with your knowledge and, and bringing many, many people together in order to create this network of knowledge. So, uh, I just want to thank you again for coming on and speaking with me today. Um, thank you, Gehan.

gehan de silva wijeyeratne: 53:24

Thank you, Dee. It's been a pleasure to be on and I, I, I just wanna close by saying, you know, everything I have done is a massive team effort and I could spend the next hour reciting all the people who've helped me. So big thank you to everybody who's helped me. And I also wanna say that everything I know is something I have learned from someone else.