Wildlife & Safari

Sri Lanka's cultural capital, home to the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic.

An ancient rock fortress rising 200m above the jungle - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A crescent beach paradise with world-class whale watching and surf breaks.

Sri Lanka's most famous wildlife reserve - the best place to spot leopards.

A UNESCO-listed Dutch fort town with cobblestone streets, boutiques, and ocean views.

Sri Lanka's surf capital - a laid-back east-coast bay with world-class waves.

A golden beach resort town known for water sports, ayurveda, and luxury hotels.

One of the world's finest natural harbours with pristine beaches and diving sites.

A rugged limestone range with hiking trails, cloud forests, and endemic wildlife.

Home of 'The Gathering' - the largest meeting of wild Asian elephants on Earth.

Sri Lanka's last great lowland rainforest - a UNESCO World Heritage Site bursting with endemic species.

A long ribbon of white sand north of Trincomalee, with calm turquoise water and Pigeon Island offshore.

Sri Lanka's bird paradise - lagoons and mangroves alive with nesting waterbirds, plus uncrowded leopard country.

An ancient lake-side temple town of great white dagobas - the classic base for Yala and Kataragama.

Sri Lanka's largest national park - a wilderness of natural lakes, leopards, and sloth bears without the crowds.

A Ramsar wetland of lagoons and dunes where greater flamingos winter alongside crocodiles and elephants.

The safari crossroads of the Cultural Triangle - a village lake, catamaran rides, and every park within reach.

A lively fishing city near the airport, famous for its lagoon, Dutch canals, and fiery seafood.

The most reliable place in Sri Lanka to see wild elephants - hundreds live around the great Udawalawe reservoir.

Trincomalee's laid-back village beach - golden sand, calm seas, and beach-shack dinners under the stars.

Arugam Bay's wild backyard - dawn canoe safaris among mangroves, elephants, and crocodiles.

Sri Lanka's only boat safari park, where elephants swim between islands on a vast jungle-ringed reservoir.

Remote peninsula famous for dolphin and whale watching in pristine lagoons.

A Ramsar-protected river-lagoon of 64 islands, mangrove tunnels, and cinnamon islands near Balapitiya.

Colombo's secret wilderness - a vast marsh of crocodiles, otters, and birdlife minutes from the airport.

One of Sri Lanka's two marine national parks - snorkel with blacktip reef sharks and sea turtles.

One of Asia's oldest zoos - a leafy Colombo institution of walk-through aviaries, big cats, and butterfly gardens.

A coastal lagoon teeming with waterbirds - Sri Lanka's oldest sanctuary, explored by silent canoe.

A vast ancient tank with birdlife, crocodiles, and water buffalo herds.

Minneriya's quieter twin, where hundreds of elephants gather around an ancient tank late in the dry season.

The heart of Sri Lanka's turtle conservation coast - nurseries, night nesting walks, and hatchling releases.

A tiny park with a big spectacle - elephant herds feeding on tank grass beside the Arugam Bay road.

A remote park of reservoirs, rock outcrops, and elephants - the wild heartland of the Vedda people.

A far-flung island of baobab trees, wild donkeys, colonial forts, and world-class birdwatching.

Sri Lanka's most important sea-turtle nesting beach, where five species come ashore at night.

A relic stupa on the wild Mahaweli floodplain, where pilgrims and wild elephants share the sacred ground.

Colombo's birding secret - an ancient tank and paddy wetland where jacanas and kingfishers commute past the suburbs.

An eerie red-earth plateau above the sea, tied to Ramayana legend and unlike anywhere else on the island.

Boardwalks through the old capital's marshes - the wildest corner of Ramsar-listed wetland Colombo.

Sri Lanka's largest natural freshwater lake - boat safaris, birdlife, and lakeside ease an hour from Colombo.

The 'black water pond' - serene monastery ruins around a dark forest pool near Dambulla, with wildlife for company.

A vast bird-sanctuary lagoon on the wild north-east coast - flamingos, pelicans, and fishing villages between the waters.

Sri Lanka's first drive-through safari park - lions, elephants, and open enclosures near Hambantota.

The gold standard of elephant care - orphaned calves raised wild and released, watched from a distance at feeding time.

A remote riverside park famed for large elephant herds and one of the island's healthiest sloth bear populations.

A Ramsar wetland of ancient cascade tanks between Chilaw and Puttalam - heronries, mangroves, and morning bird clouds.

A 7th-century tank with sunset views, toque macaques, and the quiet back door to Polonnaruwa.

A UNESCO biosphere reserve near Habarana offering reliable year-round elephant safaris.

The south's great rainforest - waterfall pools, giant creepers, and endemic wildlife without Sinharaja's crowds.

Sri Lanka's second-highest peak - and the highest you can actually climb, across the wilds of Horton Plains.

The quiet elephant corridor between Yala and Udawalawe - big herds, big reservoir, almost no jeeps.

The deep south's thermal pools - a renovated bathing garden in the scrub near Sooriyawewa, beloved by safari-goers.

A famous sanctuary for orphaned elephants, best known for the herd's twice-daily river bathing.

A 2,200-year-old monastery rising from the wilds of Yala - pilgrims, monks, and leopards share the rock.