“Pieces of eight, pieces of eight” is an expression one might expect from a pirate’s parrot but not a cheeky green parakeet in the middle of an ancient lake reservoir, Siyabala Weva, surrounded until 1983 by Tamarind trees. The lake is the original training ground for the King’s soldiers and a water supply that fed the ancient paddy fields. “Give me a kiss, chutemanike” he cries out and I learn, over sweet tea, that the chatty parakeet’s name, Manike, is known to come from the olden days and literally means, when used by a husband referring to his wife, ‘very lovely and special.’
I am surprised, as I suck on fruit-dipped in chilli and a little bit of sugar, that it is a parrot talking and leaving little space for her owner to explain more about this enchanting jungle area. P.W Nimal, who lives on the best bit of the lake, helps with the water buffalo crossing in front of the hotel just before sunset, and lives an idyllic life off the produce of the surrounding area. He gets rice from the paddy fields, jungle fruits and more than 60 wild, as well as home grown, herbs and spices, which his wife uses in her cooking to create a symphony of tastes in their daily rice and curry.
A Singhalese lesson
The leftovers are eaten by Manike who is rather partial to rice and, between mouthfuls, is happy to give anyone a free Singhalese lesson as long as he gets lots of kisses from his owner, Nimal, at the end and, well, another handful of rice. This is one bird that has learnt that henpecking gets you pretty much everything you want including living next door to an exciting new five star nature resort, Jetwing Lake. When the bird is asleep which is rare, Nimal puts his head right up to the bird’s cheek when he wakes up for a kiss, with no fear of having it pecked. In fact, it is obvious that the bird adores his owner, being happy to trim his beard and give him a head massage with his well-manicured claws, used from time to time to steal his wife’s safety pins and a Singhalese lesson to hotel guests wishing to brush up on the local lingo.
The parrot only got upset if his tail was tweaked or, like a small child, if he was ignored, which put his tail totally out of joint. As the parrot repeats itself it has plenty of repeat customers who love having a teacher that does not mind saying the same thing over and over until you can say it back word perfect. The bird praises you if you get it right and if wrong will be appeased with something tasty to eat.
Nimal the owner of this lovely creature explains that he came to live in the area in 1970, as he hated Colombo and the horror of urban living. At the time, there were only three village houses and the land owned by famous local artist, Laki Senanayake; his eyes light up as, at the time, there was still an abundance of wildlife including elephants that would trample past his house, deer that would come down to the lake and drink and even a wild cat from time to time.
Although they are gone, having moved further back into the wildlife conservation areas, one can still see herds of wild water buffalo, sixty at a time, that cross the lake at around 5pm, after being herded together with big sticks by him and a little bit of push from his fellow villagers, to stop them going walk about; even as far as popping over to have a look at the Jetwing Lake swimming pool open to the stars bar. I realise the challenges of herding when I had a go and the most important lesson was keeping my nerve to which I was rewarded by the parrot saying, “Well done, well done!” when I returned for an evening cup of tea with my kids and to learn more about this fascinating area with the gem of a hotel naturalist Bandara.
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