Sri Lanka is blessed with a very high level of biodiversity resulting in a grand display of exotic fauna and flora, a large number being endemic to the country. This rare spectacle for a country as small as Sri Lanka has been its biggest attraction making it one of the top five biodiversity hotspots in the world and ranked amongst the highest in Asia.
Do you wish to see Leopards lazing with its cubs, or be part of the single largest Elephant gathering in the world? How about seeing Sloth Bear, large herds of Elephant, Deer, Monkey, Wild Boar or perhaps a close encounter with the rare Red Slender Loris, slithery reptiles, rare amphibians and plenty of colorful birds, butterflies, and insects?
With over 60 National Parks and Reserves you can decide where you want to go and what you want to see most, and we will willingly oblige to take you there. Being Wildlife and Safari experts, we ensure all are safari trips are well organized with knowledgeable chauffer guides, professional naturalists, safari trackers and other resource personnel, in addition to dependable 4WD vehicles, taking you to the right places at the right time.
Park Speciality -Elephants, there are around 500 in the park.
Created to protect the watershed of the enormous Uda Walawe Reservoir, this park, just south of the central mountains, has extensive stretches of grassland as well as scrub jungle and riverine forest. It’s the best in the continent for observing Asian elephants in the wild; in fact, elephant sightings are virtually guaranteed, even if you only go on one game drive.
Otherwise, the park is poor for viewing mammals, but birdwatchers will enjoy the presence of fabulously named raptors such as the changeable hawk-eagle, serpent eagle and grey-headed fish eagle.
Park Speciality -Elephants, there are around 150 in the park.
Wasgomuwa is in the dry lowlands of the North Central Province, 40km north of the richly bio-diverse Knuckles Massif. All of the big game is found in Wasgomuwa, but bear and leopard are pretty elusive. However, it is very good for observing family units of elephants, still relatively wild with unpredictable temperaments.
Park Speciality, Leopards – the park hosts around 30, some of which are fairly bold for this normally secretive cat.
Located in the south-east of Sri Lanka, Yala is a beautiful area of lowland dry scrub sitting on a long stretch of coastline, punctuated by rocky outcrops. It is the premier national park of Sri Lanka, and arguably one of the best for mammals in Asia.
The top draw is the Sri Lankan leopard, a sub-species endemic to the country; in certain areas of the park, the average leopard density is as high as one cat to every square kilometre. During the fruiting of the palu trees in June and July, sloth bears are often observed.
Other animals you might spot include sambar (a large deer), spotted deer, buffalo, wild pig, stripe-necked and ruddy mongooses, langur monkey, toque monkey, golden jackal, and Indian palm civet.
The combination of freshwater, marine, scrub and woodland areas ensures a high diversity of birds. Indeed, the park hosts 220 different types, and serious twitchers have recorded 100 species in a single day. Ardent birdwatchers should also visit Bundala National Park (an hour away) or the Palatupana Salt Pans (ten minutes away), especially for migrant shorebirds.
Situated in the wet south-west of the island, this is the country’s premier rainforest. The canopy towers up to 45m in places and more than half of the trees here are found nowhere else in the world. Mixed-species bird flocks are a key feature of Sinharaja. Around six endemic birds may make up one flock, including species such as red-faced malkoha, Green-billed coucal, and Sri Lankan blue magpie. Animals present include leopard, purple-faced langur, barking deer and three types of a squirrel.
Park Speciality – The biggest elephant gathering of South Asia and large flocks of little cormorants.
These two parks are within half an hour’s drive of each other in the North Central Province, sited around two large reservoirs. Scrub jungle surrounds the lakes and contains many mammals, but game viewing is generally poor – except for the wonderful seasonal congregation of elephants. The ‘gathering’ takes place in Minneriya during September and October, when over 300 elephants come together on the bed of Minneriya Lake, which dries out to create a lush grassland.
Park Speciality -Sightings of the elusive sloth bear.
Wilpattu, Sri Lanka’s largest park, is situated in the dry lowlands of the island’s north-west and comprises a series of lakes – or villus – with varying degrees of freshness or salinity.
The park reopened in 2003 after nearly 15 years of closure. Over time, the wildlife should recover to its former abundance and become more habituated to vehicles – at the moment the animals are wary of any human presence.
Wilpattu was famous for its leopards, and big-cat enthusiasts are hoping this reputation will return. The park’s fauna is similar to Yala, but visitors also have a chance of seeing the muntjac or barking deer.
Park Speciality -Birdwatching around the stunning 880m drop-off of World’s End
The Horton Plains vegetation is classified into two distinctive groups, mostly consisting of montane grasslands and lesser subtropical montane evergreen cloud forests. It is also where two important peaks Kirigalpoththa and Thotupolakanda, the second and third highest peaks in the country respectively are situated, making it a key catchment area of three major rivers in the country. Close to 750 species of plants have been observed here; this includes dwarf bamboo species (some endemic to Sri Lanka), Myrtaceae and Lauraceae species, and many varieties of ferns, lichens and orchids amongst others. The fauna of the region includes 24 species of mammals, 87 species of birds, 09 species of reptiles, 15 species of amphibians and 02 species of fish.
Of the mammals, the most commonly seen are the Sambar deer with a population close to 2000. Others include Toque macaques, Purple-faced langur, Kelaart’s long-clawed shrews, Sri Lankan Leopard, Wild boa; Strip necked mongoose, Spotted chevrotain, Giant squirrels, Fishing cat and one of the world’s most endangered primates, the Red slender loris.
The park is also considered a very important birding area in Sri Lanka containing 21 endemic bird species such as Sri Lanka Superfowl, Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Orange-billed babbler, Sri Lanka bush warbler and Sri Lanka Whistling thrush, with four species namely the Sri Lanka Magpie, Dull-blue flycatcher, Sri Lanka White-eye and Sri Lanka Wood pigeon which occur only in Horton Plains. There are also a variety of migrant birds such as the Alpine swift, Crested serpent eagle, Mountain-hawk eagle and Black-winged kite. Amongst the reptile species are the Rhino horn lizard, the Common rough sided snake and rat snake.
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