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Yala National Park
Sri Lanka travel guide to the best safari
Sri Lanka is without a doubt one of the most visited Travel destinations in the world. The heavenly natural beauty of the country is one of the main reasons for Sri Lanka tourism to be very prominent. The many spectacular national parks in the country paved the way for Safari in Sri Lanka to be pretty much an essential leisure activity among the travelers who Visit Sri Lanka. Especially Yala National Park Sri Lanka is very significant for its Leopard Safari. Through this article let’s discuss everything about taking a safari to Yala National Park.
About Yala National Park Safari
Yala National Park is famous for its unique environment, especially the leopard population. Yala National Park is a combination of ecosystems that ranges from moist monsoon forests to freshwater and marine wetlands. Hence the environment of the Yala Park area is very unique and special among other Sri Lanka travel places. Yala National Park consists of 4 main blocks including Palatupana, Katagamuwa, and Galge. Travel enthusiasts who take Sri Lanka tours almost all of the time take a safari to Yala National Park. It’s not a lie to say that the Yala National Park safari is the best way to observe leopards. Since sighting a leopard in its nature is quite rare, the Yala national park safari is more likely once in a lifetime experience.
Things to Do Yala National Park
There are some interesting things you can do in Yala that would make your Private tour of Sri Lanka worthwhile.
Most importantly you can get a safari to observe wildlife in Yala National Park. Specifically to observe leopards. There’s a high chance of spotting a leopard while you are in Yala National Park since the density of the leopard population in the area is very high.
You can even spend overnight at a camping site around Yala National Park.
There’s a recently developed ‘Leopard Research Center’ in the Yala National Park where you can learn about Sri Lankan leopards in great detail.
Weather in Yala National Park
Since Yala National Park is located dry semi-arid climatic region most of the rainfall happens during the northeast monsoon. The annual average rainfall ranges between500-775 millimeters. The average temperature in Yala National Park usually depends on the season. When January the average temperature in Yala is around 26.4 C (79.5 F) and in April it’s around 30 C (86 F). The atmosphere in Yala National Park is usually windy especially during southwest monsoon the wind speed is about 23 kmph while during northeast monsoon it’s about 15 kmph.
Travel Tips to Safari
Here is some Sri Lanka travel advice that would come in handy during your safari trip to Yala National Park;
Since the main goal of taking the Yala National Park safari is to observe animals, it’s better to take equipment like binoculars and cameras to get the best experience of your safari. Taking some good photos to capture your memories is always worth it right?
You can’t most probably step down from the safari jeep once you start the journey so be cautious about it.
Start the safari as early as possible in the morning since you might need a good amount of time to observe the park and get the best effect of the journey.
Since Yala National Park usually has dry windy weather and also because the safari requires you to be comfortable make sure to dress conveniently.
Moreover, there are two important Buddhist pilgrim sites which are Sithulpahuwa and Magul Vihar in the vicinity of the Yala area that you can visit.
If you follow the rules and regulations when you take the Yala National Park safari and are attentive to what your tour guides say you can make your Yala National Park safari a huge success.
Leopards in Yala National Park
The main attraction of Yala National Park is the excessive amount of leopards that inhabit the area and this is the main reason Yala National Park is exceptional among other Sri Lanka tourist places. Reportedly Yala National Park is home to the highest density of leopard population in the whole world. Yala Park is home to around 25 individual leopards. The leopards in Yala belong to a subspecies known as Panthera padus Kotiya or ‘Sri Lankan Kotiya’ which is native to Sri Lanka. This subspecies was first discovered in the Yala area by a Sri Lankan zoologist named P.E.Deraniyagala in 1956. The notable thing about this subspecies of leopard is the fact that they have evolved to be quite larger compared to the other leopards around the world. Usually, a male leopard in Yala National Park grows about to size of 220lbs (100kg) which is very unusual for a leopard. This is because Sri Lankan leopards are the apex predators in the jungle without any competition from any other feline species. Below are some facts about Sri Lanka leopards;
Scientific name of the subspecies: Panther pardus kotiya
Life span: around 12-15 in the wild
Weight: males average 60kg females average 35kg
Gestation period: 95-105 days
Distribution: Arid zone, Dry zone, and Wet zone
Other Animals Living Inside Yala National Park
Mammals;
There are 44 mammals in Yala National Park. Except for leopards, the elephant population in Yala National Park is prominent too. An elephant herd that contains around 300-350 individuals living inside Yala Park. However, the elephant population in the park usually depends on the seasons. Among the resident mammals in Yala National Park wild water buffalo, leopard, Sri Lankan sloth bear, and elephant are considered as threatened species. Even though water buffalos are indigenous to Sri Lanka original genes that belong to the native species have been descended throughout the years. But these water buffalos that live in Yala still have those native genes hence they are recognized as a threatened species. Furthermore, red slender loris, toque macaque, fishing cat, and golden palm civet are other mammals that live in the Yala area.
Reptiles;
There are around 47 reptile species inhabiting Yala National Park. This includes 6 endemic species which are Sri Lanka flying snake, Sri Lankan krait, Wiegamann’s agama, Boulenger’s keelback, Bhahir’s fan-throated lizard, and painted-lip lizard. Since Yala National Park is located on the coast of Sri Lanka, the coastline of the park is visited by all the 5 globally endangered sea turtle species. They are green turtle, leatherback turtle, hawksbill turtle, olive ridley, and loggerhead sea turtle. Saltwater crocodiles and mugger crocodiles the two breeding crocodiles of Sri Lanka can be found in Yala National Park. More Russell’s viper and the Indian cobra also live in Yala Park.
Birds;
Yala National Park is considered one of the 70 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Sri Lanka inhabiting 215 bird species. This includes 7 endemic bird species which are blue-tailed bee-eater, Sri Lankan grey hornbill, Sri Lanka wood pigeon, crimson-fronted barbet, Sri Lankan junglefowl, brown-caped babbler, and black-capped bulbul.
There are around d 90 waterbird species inhabiting the Yala wetland area and half of them are migrants. Most frequent water birds are cormorants (lesser cormorant, Indian cormorant), waterfowl (lesser whistling duck, garganey), large waterbirds (painted stork, grey heron, Asian openbill, black-headed ibis, Eurasian spoonbill), medium-sized waders (Tringa spp) and small waders (Charadrius spp). Some rare birds are inhabiting Yala Park such as lesser adjutant and black-necked stork. Other migrants like spot-billed pelicans and white pelicans also can be found in Yala. There are a lot more migrating birds attracted to the Yala lagoon area such as flamingos, lesser, and pelicans including rare species such as the oriental darter, purple heron, purple swamphen, night heron, and egrets. During the northeast monsoon waterfowls like Eurasian whimbrel, Eurasian curlew, northern pintail, godwits, white-winged tern, and ruddy turnstone migrate to Yala National Park Lagoon area. More resident species such as yellow-wattled lapwing, lesser whistling duck, red-wattled lapwing, rock pigeon, barred buttonquail, great stone-curlew, Indian peafowl, black-winged stilt, black stork, and greater flamingo raptors such as white-bellied sea eagle and crested serpent eagle and forest birds such as hornbills, orange-breasted green pigeon, Asian barbets, Indian paradise flycatcher, old world flycatcher, orioles inhabit Yala national park.
Fish;
There are around 21 species of freshwater fish in the Yala area. The stone sucker is an endemic species. The most frequent fish species are olive barb, blackspot barb, common spiny loach, and orange chromite. But the perennial water reservoirs are highly populated with exotic food fish Mozambique tilapia.
Amphibians;
Reportedly there are 18 amphibian species in Yala National Park. Among these Adenomus kelaartii and Bufo atukoralei are endemic.
Invertebrates;
Crabs and pawns can be found in Yala lagoons. Also, there are a variety of butterfly species in Yala National Park. Mostly common Jezeble, common bluebottle, common Mormon, common lime butterfly, and crimson rose can be found in the area.
Q & A
Where is Yala National Park?
Yala National Park is situated between Sothern and Uva provinces. The nearest cities to Yala National Park are Hambantota and Kaaragama. Distance from Hambantota to Yala is around 63km and it usually takes around 1 hour drive by a taxi. Katharagama is about 30km away from Yala Park and the drive between the two places would take around a 40-minute drive.
From Colombo, the economic capital of Sri Lanka Yala Park is 248km away and it would take a drive around 4 hours by taxi to reach Yala from Colombo.
When is the best time to take Yala safari?
Yala National Park is usually open all year for visitors except for September and October because at this time animals can get pretty aggressive because of the drought. The best time to visit Yala National Park is from February through June which is typically the dry season. This is because the lack of water attracts wild animals to the park and makes it easier to observe wildlife, especially leopards.
But if you want to see animals like crocodiles and birds the rainy season during October to December is ideal.
How to choose Yala National Park Jeep safari?
Booking a Yala National Park safari is now one fingertip away. Websites like TripAdvisor offer a variety of Sri Lanka tour packages that you can choose from which would be ideal for your safari in Yala Park. Also, the official website of Yala National Park now conducts a safari service and you can send an enquiry form from the official website including your preferred block to visit and the ideal safari time for you. Even the payment can be done online. Below are the usual tour rates for Yala National Park;
Block 1 (Palatupana): Half day – USD 45
Block 1 (Palatupana): Full day- USD 75
Block 1 (katagamuwa): Half day- USD 50
Block 1 (Katagamuwa): Full day- USD 85
Block 4&5 (Galge): Half day- USD 50
Block 4&5 (Galge): Full day- USD 80
The above costs exclude ticket prices and are also relevant for 1 Jeep which can carry 6 people.
How long is the ideal Yala Safari with kids?
Around 5 hours would be enough to wander Yala National Park and cover the main activities like safari, wildlife exploring, visiting the beach, etc especially if you are visiting with kids.
Wandering through the whole park is quite impossible when it comes to Yala. Since the different blocks of Yala National Park exhibit different perspectives you have to make sure to choose the block ideal for you. But if you want to see the entire park I recommend a 1 night 2 days trip.
What do you take on a Yala Safari?
You can take equipment that is ideal for a safari like cameras and binoculars on your Yala trip.
Since the weather in Yala National Park is quite dry it would be better if you could take something like a hat.
It’s best to avoid taking food inside the park especially food that could attract animals. Especially make sure to not feed animals inside the park for your safety. But if it’s essential take some snacks like biscuits for yourself and taking a drink with you would be ok.
So when you plan your Sri Lanka tours to spend your Holidays in Sri Lanka don’t forget to add Yala National Park Safari to your bucket list.
