Udawalawe delivers what some parks make you wait for - large wild elephant herds in open terrain, visible throughout the day, at the reservoir edge in golden hour. The Elephant Transit Home adds an encounter with orphaned calves at scheduled feeding times that is genuinely affecting rather than staged.
Kumana National Park
Sri Lanka’s most underrated wildlife region - wetlands, leopards and coastal forest
Kumana sits at the eastern end of the Yala complex and offers a very different experience - dense wetland habitat, lagoon systems and coastal forest that are among the most productive birdwatching environments in South Asia. Leopards and elephants are present. The sense of remoteness makes Kumana worth including for travellers who have already done Yala.
