Diyasaru Park Thalawathugoda

Diyasaru Park is situated by Japan friendship road in Thalawathugoda, next to Diyawanna Oya. The park consists of about 60 acres of area. Diyasaru park is a beautiful park filled with biodiversity and tranquillity.

This place was originally a paddy field before 1980. During the construction of the new Parliament, the land was used to dump mud and debris removed from Diyawanna Oya. With the passage of time, this area is slowly converted to a wetland naturally. Later the park is further developed and built as a beautiful wetland park.

Gravel and timber footpaths are made to walk around the park. Timber footpaths are built to walk over water and marshlands. In Diyasaru Park, various types of birds (mostly aquatic), butterflies, dragonflies and fish can be seen. There are even dedicated facilities to observe and take photos of birds (Bird Hide & Bird Watching Tower). It is also said that there are otters, fishing cats and crocodiles. But they are really hard to observe since the park has a large area.

Apart from its natural beauty, Diyasaru Park has a lot of information and knowledge to share about ‘wetland management’ and ‘biodiversity’. It has dedicated study centres for workshops and seminars. The park management itself conducts workshops and seminars on the above subjects in them and even the general public can reserve them for events. Further, there is a laboratory to investigate soil and water, and an organic farm. Plenty of students and researchers can be seen inside the park gathering information.

Diyasaru Park is a really calm and relaxing place to spend a morning or an evening. And this place is ideal for 'bird photography' and for studying wetlands and biodiversity. Since there is not much shade, it is better to avoid visiting the park around noon. Parking facilities are available at the entrance.

Article by Explore sri lanka