Open grasslands around a reservoir where herds of wild elephants roam year-round, plus the Elephant Transit Home for orphaned calves.
If seeing wild elephants is your top wish, Udawalawe is the safest bet in Sri Lanka. Created in 1972 to protect the catchment of the Udawalawe reservoir, the park's open grasslands and scrub make elephants easy to spot, and several hundred live here throughout the year.
On safari
A three-hour jeep safari almost always finds elephants: family herds bathing in the reservoir, young bulls testing each other and calves sheltering under their mothers. You may also see:
- Water buffalo, spotted deer and jackals
- Mugger crocodiles basking on the reservoir banks
- Raptors such as the crested serpent eagle, plus peacocks and bee-eaters
Leopards live here too but are rarely seen, so come for the elephants.
Elephant Transit Home
On the park's edge, the Elephant Transit Home cares for orphaned calves and returns them to the wild when they are old enough. Visitors can watch the calves being fed from a viewing platform at set times through the day (roughly every three hours, starting around 9:00 am). It is a responsible alternative to places where elephants are ridden or chained.
Tips
- Book a jeep through your hotel or at the park entrance.
- Elephants here are used to vehicles, but drivers should still keep a respectful distance and never feed them.
- Udawalawe sits between the hill country and the south coast, so it fits neatly into a route from Ella to Mirissa or Yala.
