Yala National Park

Ruhunu (Yala West) National Park or Yala as it is popularly known - is Sri Lanka's most visited national park. It is situated 305 kilometers southeast of the Fortress. Apart from being renowned for the variety of its wildlife, it has several distinctive physical features, such as extensive scrub jungle, patches of open country, and many tanks and lagoons. In addition, the park has a fine coastline on its eastern boundary with impressive dunes up to 25 meters high, broad sandy beaches and offshore coral reefs. Yala also features a number of scattered rock outcrops, some with caves.

Yala's vegetation mostly consists of secondary forest containing semi-arid thorn bush. Along the coast this vegetation is either stunted or prostrate. Small patches of mangrove appear along the coastal lagoons.

There are Elephants (Elephas maximus) , Leopards (Panthera pardus) and the species that are more frequently seen include the Sri Lanka Sloth Bear (Melurus ursinus), Water Buffalo (Babalus bubalis), Indian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa), Sri Lanka Spotted Deer (Axis axis ceylonensis), Sri Lanka Sambur (Cervus unicolour), Mouse Deer (Tragulus meminna), Sri Lanka black-naped Hare (Lepus nogricollis singhala), Toque Monkey (Macaca sinica) and Sri Lanka Jackal (Canis aureus lanka).

Yala is home to a variety of reptiles, such as the Sri Lanka swamp Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris kimbula), which is abundant in the abandoned tanks. The Sri Lanka estuarine Crocodile (C. porosus meniyanna) is to be found in and near the rivers, and the Water Monitor or Kabaragoya (Varanus bengalensis), a Daboia russellii.

Yala is home for hundreds of endemic & immigrant birds that makes the music of the nature & remember to feel the silkiness of a peacock feather if you found on the ground.