Elephants in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is home to nearly 10% (around 2,500) of the world’s remaining elephant population and it is the best place to see the Asian Elephant. This largest of land animals is a vital part of the island’s natural and cultural heritage, respected by Sri Lankans for over 3,000 years.
The Sri Lankan elephant (Maximus Ceylonicus) is a highly intelligent animal, friendly, sensitive and at times mischievously playful. Just watch one when it fancies eating a coconut. Herds of elephants still roam wild across the plains and foothills. The jungle provides them with cover and food to satisfy their enormous appetite and they feed at the bore holes and tanks, their territory now largely restricted to the national parks. There is often conflict between mammal and man as land becomes increasingly cultivated and populated - the elephants will mow down anything that stands in their customary path or if they become frightened when lost.
Uda Walawe and Minneriya National Parks are famous for their herds of wild elephants. The ‘Elephant Gathering’ is an awesome scene in the dry season when hundreds of elephants ‘Gather’ to drink the water at Minneriya tank. In captivity, the Sri Lankan elephant is trained to perform everything from religious roles to lifting heavy objects in locations difficult to access with machines and gently thrilling tourists with elephant back rides. There are two large Elephant ‘homes’ at Pinnawela near Kandy, and at Uda Walawe in the south, where abandoned and injured elephants are cared for in captivity. Visitors can watch the elephants at feeding time (popular with children especially); at Pinnawela, you can get quite close to these magnificent creatures and the sight of them bathing and frolicking in the river is quite an experience.
Elephant Rides
Discover the farmland and forests at a leisurely pace from the top of an elephant, swaying with the rhythm as it swaggers deftly along the tracks, its trunk reaching out to undergrowth for snacks. The watering holes may well provide some playful fun.
Elephant back safaris are usually found in the Cultural Triangle, though they can be offered elsewhere. The Heritance hotels have their own resident elephants so guests can enjoy an elephant ride along the beach at Ahungalla or through jungle forest at Kandalama.
Elephants in the Wild
There are numerous places in Sri Lanka where elephants can be seen in their natural habitat:
The South-East Dry Zone
Yala National Park
Yala National Park is Sri Lanka’s most visited national park, possibly because it offers the best chance to see leopards in the wild. Over 250 Asian Elephants roam wild in the park, including 10-12 large Tuskers. Yala has a spectrum of habitats from scrub jungle, lakes and riverine habitat to brackish lagoons and mangrove swamps by the coast.
Visits: Yala National Park is visited by jeep, usually in the early mornings and late afternoons, when wildlife sightings are more frequent and the sun and heat are not so strong. The park normally closes to visitors between 1 September and 15 October annually (to give the animals some peace).
Location: In the south-east corner of Sri Lanka, bordering the coast. Dry Zone. Remote. 300km from Colombo, 100km from Tangalle, 180km from Nuwara Eliya or Galle.
Weather: With daytime temperatures of around 30C this is a dry heat, with little rainfall for most of the year. The hottest months are usually between June and September, the coolest January and April.
Where to stay: The best place to stay is at Yala Village hotel near the park entrance, or else splash out on your own private luxury tented camp set up exclusively for you in the national park. The luxurious Amanwella, by the beach near Tangalle, is one and a half to two hours away by car. Day excursions to Yala are feasible from the hotels further west on the south coast as far as Galle, though be prepared for a lot of driving in a day (it is 4 hours each way from Galle).
Uda Walawe National Park
Uda Walawe is best known for its elephants and you are virtually guaranteed to see elephants in the wild. The Elephants move around in tightly-knit family groups of up to four generations of adult females and their young; the baby Elephants are especially fascinating to observe. The elephant population is estimated at around 400 and it is sometimes possible to see 50-60 elephants during your visit. This is mostly flat, hot, dry terrain with some wooded areas, bordering a reservoir and two rivers. The watering holes make it a magnet for wildlife searching for water in the dry terrain.
There is also an Elephant Transit Home near the entrance to the park (separate fee), supported by WWF, where you can see young elephants up to 5 years old roaming free in a large field, and flocking into the feeding enclosure for meal times (3 or 4 times a day). Children, especially, will enjoy this.
If you get the chance to stay overnight in a tented camp it is thoroughly worth it. Your camp is an amphitheatre for viewing the night skies and monkeys playing around in the trees, amidst a cacophony of nature’s sounds.
Visits: Visit Uda Walawe National Park by jeep, best in the mornings and afternoons out of the midd-day sun.
Location: in the interior of southern Sri Lanka, around 50 kms from the coast. In the dry zone. Approximate driving times: 1.5 hours from Tangalle, 3.5 hours from Galle, 4-5 hours from the south-west coast, 4.5 hours from Nuwara Eliya, 2.5 hours from Ratnapura, 6 hours from Colombo/international airport.
Weather: Hot, average 29C and usually dry.
Where to Stay: The best, though most expensive option, is to stay overnight or two nights in a luxury tented camp within the park, set up especially for you. Alternatively, take a day excursion to Uda Walawe whilst staying at Amanwella near Tangalle on the south coast (1.5 hours drive) or Weligama/Koggala/Galle (3-4 hours drive). Or visit the park en route from the highlands to the south coast (though this would make it a long day).
Bundala National Park
Bundala National Park is a mix of thorny scrubland, brackish lagoons, salt pans and sand dunes stretching along the coast, providing a haven for bird-watching (nearly 200 reported species of birds). Mammals likely to be seen include elephant, spotted deer, hanuman langur, jackal, black-naped hare and wild pig.
Visits: Visit Bundala National Park by jeep. Primarily for birders.
Location: In the South-eastern Dry Zone. Bordering the south-east coast near Yala (30 minutes drive from Yala Village). Dry terrain, little shade, hot and remote. About 1.5 hours drive from Tangalle.
Where to Stay – Visit whilst staying at Yala Village or at Amanwella in Tangalle. It is also possible to stay overnight in the park in a luxury tented camp, though the sites are rather exposed.
The Dry North Central Plains of the Cultural Triangle
Minneriya National Park
This park offers an excellent chance of seeing elephants in the wild. Its large population of elephants are sometimes seen in herds of 100 to 150, particularly on the water’s edge of the vast Minneriya tank, an ancient reservoir built by King Mahasen 1,500 years ago.
In the dry months from August to October (at its height in September), you can witness the phenomenon of 100, even up to 300, elephants gathering in the late afternoon around Minneriya tank This gathering of elephants is the highlight of the National Park and is one the largest gatherings of elephants in the wild anywhere in the world. Asian elephants are renowned as highly social animals and their ‘tank gatherings’ are their version of a festival, a time to feast, water, protect, frolick and do some courting. ‘The Gathering’ of Elephants at Minneriya is an awesome spectacle to treasure.
Visits: Wildlife safaris by jeep can be arranged in Minneriya National Park during most of the year
Location: This park is easily accessible from the main road to Polonnaruwa.
Where to Stay: Minneriya National Park can be easily visited from all of our selected Cultural Triangle hotels. The Deer Park Hotel in Giritale, near Polonnaruwa is the closest.
Around Kandy
At Pinnawela, orphaned, abandoned and injured elephants live in a large enclosed area and are herded to the river twice a day for bathing. There may be an element of a zoo about Pinnawela, and there has been some criticism of its working practices, but it does offer the best chance to get close to these magnificent animals. The number of elephants has increased to more than 65 now, with more then 25 babies born as a result of the captive breeding program. The feeding times are from 0930-1000 hrs and 1330-1400 hrs and the bathing times 1000-1030 hrs and 1400-1430 hrs.
Where to Stay for Kandy area: At the 4* Amaya Hills, take a guided nature walk, go bird-watching and visit Peradeniya Botanical Gardens. Much of the Hantana mountain where the hotel is dramatically situated, is forested, providing a haven for birds and wildlife, with some slopes covered in tea estate. There are over 200 species of birds nesting in Hantana, where yellow-fronted barbet, jungle fowl and hanging parrots are commonly spotted.