Encounter rare animals at Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park

Yala National Park is the most visited national park in Sri Lanka, and it isn’t hard to see why. Yala was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1900, and has since become known for its outstanding variety of wild animals. There are so many creatures to see at Yala, but the elephants, leopards and sloth bears remain the most popular.

Elephants

A subspecies of Asian elephant that is native to the island, the Sri Lankan elephant has been put on the endangered list in recent years, but Yala has managed to maintain a herd of 300-350 individuals. There are many places around the world where you can see elephants in captivity, but this is one of the few places where you can still reliably watch these gentle giants in their natural habitat. In fact, many people come to Sri Lanka just to view them! Weighing up to 12 tons and reaching heights of 10 feet, seeing these animals range across the open scenery of Yala is an experience you’ll remember forever.

Leopards

The most leopards recorded within Yala at any one time was 44. That might not sound like much, but it gives Yala National Park one of the highest leopard densities in the world. There are many leopard spotting sights across the park, providing a good possibility of glimpsing some of these graceful creatures. Sri Lankan leopards are the king of the jungle, and a little bolder than those found in other countries. This means that daytime sightings are much more common.

Sloth bears

There may be only around 500 of these peaceful creatures left in the wild, and Yala National Park is now one of the few places they’re safe from the destruction of their natural habitat. Yala showcases a great range of wildlife throughout the year, but if you’re set on seeing a sloth bear, you should plan to come during June or July. In these months, Palu Tree fruit becomes ripe and the sloth bear makes many more daytime appearances. Unlike leopards, these animals are unperturbed by vehicles and humans, so they’ll usually just keep eating when under observation.