Yala National Park

Yala National Park is home to a huge variety of wildlife such as leopard, bear, elephant, wild boar, deer, peacock, jungle bird (the national animal of Sri Lanka), crocodile, water buffalo, lizard, and around 200 different bird species and many more.

The gateway to Yala National Park is Tissamaharama. A 20km drive via Kirinda takes visitors to the Palatupana. In Palatupana, the well-designed visitor center provides the information for the tourists and assigns a tracker to all arriving vehicles. The park provides soft-top jeeps that offer wildlife viewing opportunities. Dawn and dusk bring the best timing for safari tours in Yala National Park. As the national park is located in one of the arid regions of Sri Lanka, the climate in Ruhuna National Park is usually hot and dry. The annual average temperature is 27 degrees Celsius, although in the dry season, the temperature can reach up to 37 degrees Celsius.

The rocky outcrops scattered throughout the park provide vantage points from which to enjoy the vast areas of Sri Lanka’s arid zone landscape: low scrub and forests. As the park’s southern boundary forms the southeast coast, the brackish water lagoons and dunes add to Yala National Park’s distinctive charm.