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Four days in the dry south-east, with two drives in Yala National Park, whose leopards live at one of the highest densities known. Wading birds on the Bundala lagoons, the reservoir at Tissamaharama and cave shrines high on Mulkirigala rock.
Trip Experience Guide
A wildlife journey through scrub, lagoon and rock country, with the game drives set at first light. Middays are long and quiet beside the lake at Tissa.
Day 1
Tissamaharama – Arrival & the Tank
Drive south on the Southern Expressway, about four and a half hours, to Tissamaharama. Late in the day, walk the bund of Tissa Wewa, an ancient reservoir where egrets and painted storks settle into the trees below a whitewashed dagoba.
Day 2
Yala – A Dawn & Dusk Safari
Be at the park gate for its 6am opening and spend the morning in an open jeep among rock outcrops, waterholes and scrub, watching for leopards, sloth bears and elephants. The heat sends you back to rest before a second drive from mid-afternoon.
Day 3
Bundala & Kirinda – Lagoons & a Seaside Temple
Drive the tracks of Bundala early, a Ramsar wetland where spoonbills, painted storks and, in the northern winter, flamingos feed in shallow lagoons. In the evening, climb to the temple on the boulders at Kirinda, with the surf breaking below.
Day 4
Mulkirigala – The Rock Temple & Return
Climb the stairways of Mulkirigala, a rock rising above the paddies near Tangalle, to cave shrines with reclining Buddhas and painted walls. From there the expressway leads back to Colombo, roughly three hours, for the onward flight.
Yala’s main blocks sometimes close for several weeks in a September and October drought, and then we shift the drives to Lunugamvehera. Add a day and Udawalawe’s elephant herds are about ninety minutes inland.
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Similar Experiences
More Sri Lankan journeys that start early and slow down by midday, on the south coast, among the ancient cities and in the tea hills.
Ella: Tea Hills & the Hill-Country Train
Sigiriya: Rock Fortress & Cave Temples
