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Experience the best of Udawalawa

Udawalawe is a national park and reservoir in southern Sri Lanka, known for elephants that gather on open grassland and for rich birdlife.

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Udawalawe National Park lies in the dry zone of southern Sri Lanka, on the plain where the Walawe River has been dammed to form the Udawalawe Reservoir. The park of grassland, scrub and light forest, with the hills of the central highlands rising behind, was set aside in the 1970s to protect the catchment and its wildlife. Its open country makes animals easy to see.

Elephants are the main attraction, and herds of females and calves often come to the reservoir. Water buffalo, spotted deer, sambar, wild boar, jackals and crocodiles live here too, as do many birds, among them peafowl, painted storks, raptors and kingfishers. The Elephant Transit Home at the edge of the park cares for orphaned calves until they can be returned to the wild, and visitors tour the park by jeep.

Rice and curry is the meal of the region, with coconut sambol, dhal and fresh river fish, and buffalo curd with palm treacle is a regional sweet. Fruit stalls sell king coconut and bananas. The park is hot and dry for much of the year, with the driest weather between May and September.

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Top experiences in Udawalawa

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Signature experiences in Udawalawa

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