Covering 11,187 hectares in the island’s southwest lowlands, Sinharaja is home to 60 percent of Sri Lanka’s endemic tree species and a concentration of rare flora, including epiphytes, ferns and towering dipterocarp trees. Birdwatchers come from around the world to spot the 21 endemic bird species found here, which are best seen on guided forest walks.

Yala National Park is Sri Lanka’s most visited and most famous wildlife sanctuary, covering over 97,000 hectares of diverse terrain spanning dry-zone forest, coastal lagoons, scrubland and rocky outcrops. The park is celebrated for having one of the highest leopard densities, particularly in Block 1, where leopards are a regular feature of early-morning safaris. Elephants, sloth bears, mugger crocodiles, water buffalo, and over 200 bird species, including the painted stork, make every game drive an unpredictable experience.

Minneriya National Park is home to one of the most spectacular wildlife events, ‘The Gathering,’ when hundreds of elephants congregate around the Minneriya Tank between June and October to feed on the fresh grass exposed as the ancient reservoir recedes during the dry season. The park covers 8,890 hectares of mixed forest, wetland, and grassland, and is also home to toque macaques, leopards, Sri Lankan sambar deer, and a variety of water birds. The Minneriya Tank provides a backdrop for game drives at sunset.

The park is home to the Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home, a rehabilitation centre where orphaned elephants are cared for and eventually released back into the wild. In addition to elephants, Udawalawe supports large populations of water buffalo, crocodiles, and eagles, as well as diverse birdlife across its grasslands, wetlands, and forest patches.

Wilpattu is Sri Lanka’s largest national park, covering 1,300 square kilometres of forest, scrubland, and the distinctive ‘villus’, natural, lake-like plains filled with rainwater, that make its landscape unique among the island’s wildlife sanctuaries. The park is best known for its leopards, which can be spotted resting in trees or stalking the open plains in the early morning and late afternoon. Elephants, sloth bears, spotted deer, endemic birds, and mugger crocodiles are among the many other species regularly encountered on safari here.