Features
Thilo Hoffmann’s contribution towards improving and creating protected areas
Excerpted from the authorized biography of Thilo Hoffmann by Douglas. B. Ranasinghe
Set out below is an account of Thilo Hoffmann’s other work in nature conservation site by site. Further details about his involvement in some of these sites and yet others are found elsewhere in this book.
1) Wilpattu National Park
When the important Western section of Wilpattu had only the status of Sanctuary, and it was even proposed that there should be a public road across it, Thilo intervened on behalf of the WNPS and persuaded the government to make it part of the Wilpattu National Park.
The two Intermediate Zones to the South and East were incorporated in the Park at his suggestion. It was an important consolidation, as the Wilpattu East IZ occupied a major portion of the present Park.
He proposed, as also described in the last Chapter, a further extension to the Park as a Marine Sanctuary. This proposal, too, was supported by ample documentation prepared by him.In recognition of Hoffmann’s contribution to the cause of conservation of nature and wildlife in Sri Lanka, the Talawila bungalow at Wilpattu was named after him by the Ministry of State in 1985. On this occasion two conservationists were honoured in this manner, the other being Dr. RL Spittel.
2) The South-East Complex
On Hoffmann’s suggestion all the Intermediate Zones in the country were incorporated into National Parks. Thus the land in the Yala complex with that status was made part of the Yala, now Ruhunu, National Park. He also proposed extending the Park into the ocean to include the Basses ridge and reefs.
As the President of WNPS Thilo was pleased when the Society was invited on two occasions to participate in discussions at the Ministry of Irrigation, Power and Highways on the Heda Oya Project and the development of the Lower Uva area. He pointed out that, if implemented, the projects would have a very considerable impact on exiting and proposed conservation areas, notably the entire Yala complex, the Lahugala-Kitulana Sanctuary and also the very important Bundala Sanctuary, the two last named now National Park.
In 1977 Thilo gave his view on this project in an article to Loris under the title ‘Major Threat to the Oldest Wildlife Reserve’. He brought to the notice of technocrats and administrators that National Parks and other National Reserves are areas sacrosanct by definition and law, which cannot be altered and changed at will, that it is only the National State Assembly which can decree and approve boundary alterations in these.
Further, he strongly argued that buffer zones of natural forest or of plantation forest should be established and maintained in lieu of Intermediate Zones when the latter were incorporated in the National Parks. His opposition to the construction of hotels on the Yala coast is also set out together with his comments on visitor pressure at the Ruhunu National Parkrk’, below.
The Lahugala-Kitulana National Park of 1,550 hectares was declared on October 31, 1980 especially for the protection of elephants, and the Bundala National Park of 6,216 hectares was declared on October 15, 1990 mainly for waterbirds. The earlier planned development projects were abandoned.The Bundala National Park was named Sri Lanka’s first Ramsar Site in 1991. Thilo’s role in this, and the declaration of other Ramsar Sites, is also recorded in this book.
The Gal Oya National Park, of 25,900 hectares, was established on December 12, 1954 by the Gal Oya Development Board for the protection of the new reservoir, the Senanayake Samudraya, and was handed over to the Department of Wildlife in 1965. It lies in the dry zone low country, and is part of the Uva Province. The basic concept of the Park was to provide at least a small, fully protected catchment and protective area for the reservoir – whose total catchment is much larger.
Thilo made several visits, and reported to the authorities on shortcomings and the improvements that could be made. In April 1973 – just after climbing Ritigala Peak and despite a painful back injury, a slipped disc – Thilo spent four days in this National Park, sleeping in the open and walking long distances in the company of several officers of the Wildlife Department, in order to obtain a clear picture of the conditions in the Park at that time.
It contains the greatest extents of talawas with mana grass and the fire resistant aralu, bulu, nelli and gammalu (Pterocarpus marsupium) trees and madu. Hoffmann published a summary of the report on this visit in Loris, titled ‘The Gal-Oya National Park. His ideas, in brief, were:
1. This is the most beautiful and attractive National Park. The combination of its wildlife, notably elephants and birds, the special flora and the impressive landscape makes it ideal for visitors, including foreign tourists. The potential of the Park was great and basic access relatively easy with almost daily flights to and from Ampara. Opening it for visitors should be the first priority of the Department.
2. The boundaries of the Park should be altered with the inclusion of a few square miles of additional land, notably along the Western flank. The most important corrections suggested were those concerning the inclusion of the ‘Nilgala wedge’, the Pallang Oya Reservoir (now called Jayanthi Wewa), and all uninhabited land west of the Namal Oya and the reservoir of that name and/or the road from Iginiyagala to Mullegama.
3. For tourist and visitor development:
a) Have several boats because a trip on the waters of Senanayake Samudraya is an unforgettable experience and the best way to see elephants.
b) Establish one major viewing track and a few jeep tracks. The major track could be from Mullegama via Bubula and Henebedda to Makara where the Gal Oya River enters the lake through a picturesque boulder-strewn gorge.
c) A bungalow and a camping site at Makara.
These suggestions were made nearly 40 years ago and are still valid.
Some time later a foreign company proposed to take over the Gal Oya National Park and develop it as a tourist project. Thilo opposed this project because he feels that in a National Park only full government control, which is subject to public scrutiny, can guarantee the proper maintenance of correct conservation practices. Further, the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance does not allow the alienation of land under its purview, or commercial activities such as private tourist camps in National Parks.
This principled stand caused Thilo further worry in his dealings with the WWF, and added to his troubles in the matter of the presidency of the WNPS. The reasons were that a member of the WNPS Committee was the designated Manager of the private Gal Oya project, and the foreign company had close ties to the WWF.
Thilo and the WNPS had upheld the same position in the battle against a chain of hotels along the coast in the Yala National Park, and in the construction of the Society’s own bungalows, which are all outside National Parks.
4) Udawalawe National Park
After years of agitation by the WNPS, the Udawalawe National Park was declared by the Government in June 1972, when Mr S. D. Saparamadu was Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Like Gal Oya it was mainly meant as a protection for the reservoir.
The new ‘Park’ was in desolate condition. It was crisscrossed by tracks for the extraction of timber and large-scale cultivation. Large numbers of people worked in felling camps, and many capitalist landholdings had been cleared. Bananas, chillies, tobacco, tomatoes and other crops were grown, with paid labour living in wadiyas on the land. Much of the forest had been cleared, and wild animals exterminated in these areas. The Park was a hive of illegal human activity.
There were also extensive teak plantations, and the State Timber Corporation was busy removing all the usable timber trees from the area.One month after the declaration Hoffmann visited the new Park, mostly on foot, during several days, and wrote a detailed report, which was later published in Loris, titled ‘The New Uda Walawe National Park’. A copy with a request for action was handed over to Mr Saparamadu as Director of the Wildlife Department. It is the only detailed account and description of the state of all parts of the Park at that time, and contains a number of specific recommendations for improvement.
During that visit the newly appointed Park Warden had stated: “It was a mistake to declare this Park.” He felt that it was beyond redemption, as did his mentor and friend, the earlier Director. Thilo comments:
“Contrary to what S. D. Saparamadu writes in his book Sri Lanka: A Wildlife Interlude (2006), the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society welcomed the establishment of the new Park for which it had lobbied over the years. This is recorded in the WNPS annual reports and Loris as they had foreseen its great potential.
The Society, however, was not happy when after the declaration nothing happened with regard to the desperate situation of the Park, despite the appointment of a few staff without the means to assert the Department’s authority over it. When Director Saparamadu retired a few years later, in early 1975, the Park was in the same desolate state.
Subsequent Directors did what was required, and the Park was properly opened for the public in 1980. It was also somewhat enlarged, and now comprises 30,821 hectares. It has amply fulfilled the high expectations which Thilo and the WNPS had of it. Thilo says:
“Saparamadu’s book contains many more distortions, manipulations of facts and downright untruths. There is hardly a chapter in which he does not disparagingly refer to “the wildlife establishment”, by which he means the WNPS, described as “western educated, English speaking and mostly Christian”. He and – in some ways – his predecessor were the extreme cases of supercilious bureaucrats with minds battened down against anything and anyone outside their own establishment. Arrogant confrontation and denial instead of friendly collaboration was the rule.”
In Thilo’s report to Loris in 1972 – written after his visit – he noted the matters set out below:
1. In the eastern sector, there were at least four timber wadiyas. The area had been systematically logged since the 1950s. As a result there were no large trees to be seen anywhere.
2. Large tracts of abandoned chenas were overgrown with Lantana and eupatorium, the latter recently introduced from abroad: New land was being cleared for cultivation.
3. The Forest Department had established 3,500 acres of teak plantations in the Park. 500 acres were newly earmarked for a three-year chena control system.
4. Inside the eastern sector there are two ancient villages, Sinuggala with four families and Nebodawewa with two families.
5. Few animals were observed. A leopard was seen, a very rare occurrence here. The presence of elephants was noted. It was recorded that there was a potential carrying capacity of about 150 elephants. Though not a single spotted deer was seen, dry deer skins were observed in timber wadiyas.
6. Logs were being loaded into lorries using tame elephants.
7. The situation in the western sector of the Park (west of the Walawe River) was very similar with chenas and settlements. The latter would have to be excised, but the higher lying part, north of Kuda Oya, was ecologically very valuable because of its special character, containing talawa.
The report (in 1972) ended with the following sentence: “The new Uda Walawe National Park has a future and is worth a special effort; no more time must, however, be wasted.”