UDAWALAWA NATIONAL PARK

INTRODUCTION TO UDAWALAWE

Everyone may believe that there’s no other attractive island in the world just like sri lanka. Traveling for any direction in our country gives you some exciting experiences each and every corner of sri lanka reverberates with the sound of natural world.

Mainly, you can see elephants who can be considered as the marvelous creatures in the nature when you travel around udawalawa national park. This is one of the oldest national park in sri lanka and it’s the residence of wild elephants. A number of visitors come to udawalawa nationa park to see the social dynamics of these great creatures as we narrates the facts 100% in detail.

This national park includes approximately 30,000 hectares and it is located in the southern dry zone. This huge land area has become the habitat of different types of animals and some of these are endemics and the others are migrants.

Furthermore, udawalawa reservoir is situated inside the park and it’s water flows from hortain reservoir, this place is famous for aquatic birds and there are 150 species of birds living in this area.

Some of the animal who live in this place are sri Lankan elephants, spotted deer, monitor lizard, samba deer, wild boar, common langurs, jackals, toddy cat and endemic toque macaque. Also there are many species of birds such as jungle fowl, brown-capped babbler, hornbill, sri lanka spor fowl, osprey and cormorant. Furthermore, we can notice some snakes and endemic flora and fauna in this national park.

BIRD WATCHING

Udawalawe national park is a also famous for a birds paradise. Some of them are endemic birds to sri lanka and others are special migratory birds. The udawalawe reservoir situated in The udawalawe national park has created a good habitat for both parties . When you enter in to the udawalawe national park, you can observe their beauty, sound and various behavioral patterns. Mainly, you can see the birds like black-capped kingfisher, black headed ibis , Asian Openbill ,painted stork, spot-billed pelican, cormorant, crested serpent eagle, changeable hawk eagle, Eurasian Spoonbill, Grey-headed fish eagle, Indian Roller, Malabar pied hornbill, Peafowl, Pied cuckoo, Red-faced Malkoha, Sri Lankan junglefowl, White wagtail, white-bellied sea Eagle in udawalwe.

SRI LANKAN ELEPHANT GATHERING AT UDAWALAWE NATIONAL PARK

Sri Lankan elephant is a recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant and is recognized as a threatened species. In general, sri lankan elephants are smaller than elephants of countries. the Elephant height varies from 1.5m to 2.5m and thier weight varies from 2000kg to 5000kg. Female elephants are usually smaller than male elephants. Udawalawe national park is mostly famous for its resident elephant population. There are around 200 to 300 sri lanka elephants in this wild life national park and it is not unusual to see large herds gather to drink water and feed. During the dry season when water supplier start’s diminishing, more and more animal congregate around the udawalawe reservoir where grasses are rich and fertile. They come beyond udawalawe. To be an observer of the largest gathering of wild elephants in the world is truly a memorable sight and an unforgettable opportunity to watch the social dynamics of these great creatures.

HOW IT WORKS

HOW TO GET TO THE UDAWALAWE

Although there are several top routes to enter into the udawalawe national park from the main city, we use the easiest route to get to the park.We use the Southern Expressway every time. MIRISSA TO Udawalawe (95 KM)
This park will open at 6 o clock in the morning. The best time to travel in udawalawa is early in the morning and then again in the dusk.
Selecting a good guide is the most important part when travelling to Udawalawe. We have well experienced guide who know about the park very well and who give you the real experience of enjoying the wild life in the park.
We arrange 2 tours to go to udawalawe national park. The morning tour will start from mirissa at 5.00 o’clock because the park will open for travellers around 6.00 o’clock. We recommended you to join with our morning tour as you can see a lot if animals without wasting your valuable time. Our evening tour will start from mirissa around 12.15 am. And it’s also a good time to have a look around animals in the park.

THE PRICE LIST AND TIME TABLE OF UDAWALAWE SAFARI

Number of Person	Entering Tickets Price (LKR)	Time Duration in Side Park	Safari Jeep Food and beverage	Mirissa to Udawalawa Hire Charges (LKR)	Total Price(LKR)	Maximum Tour Time
01	13000/-	3 hours	10000/-	24000/- (Include with Southern Expressway Tickets)	47000/-	8 – 9 hours
02	25000/-				59000/-
03	33000/-				67000/-
04	42000/-				76000/-
05	50500/-				84500/-
06	58000/-				92000/-

For children between 7 -12 years half of the full ticket
For each and every child who is below 6 years – free of charge
(We provide light breakfast (Cake / biscuits / banana / water bottles) , including this price)
Mainly, when going in this safari tour from mirissa and anyone who board in between the area of weligama to matara the above mentioned prices are same as they are and anyone who board beyond weligama, for the example in midigama, koggala and unawatuna area has to pay extra for hire.
It will take 1 and half hours to go to udawalawe from mirissa and we provide you comfortable air condition cars and vans to travel. We change the vehicle in Udawalawe and we provide you an excellent safari jeep so as to observe the animals and enjoy the nature effectively.

Are you a responsible visitor?
Facts that you need to know in the case of an emergency
Advice for the Visitors in Generally
About the Safari Jeep
WELL-KNOWN PLACES AROUND THE UDAWALWE NATIONAL PARK

Are you a responsible visitor?

If you hope to visit a national park as a responsible visitor, first of all make a study on the history, geography and the inhabitants of the place. You have to understand that you are not going to visit an aquarium, a circus or a zoo and that is a place where the animals with various natural behavioral patterns live freely in their habitats. Those animal do not expect our arrival on to their place and when we reach there, they quickly hide somewhere with fear. Each and every animal has incredibly unique features, their own personality, life styles, and behavior patterns and feeding patterns….etc. therefore, you have to be aware on the above mentioned details and it’s your responsibility to make the other members in your team aware on these facts. Here after, you can enjoy the safari by gaining an educational as well as a fun experience and also it will be a meaningful and a productive tour in your life time.

Inside the national park, your team members have to be very careful on their behavior and the way they speak. Do not behavior in the illegal manner and do not break the law of the national park. If you do such a mal – practice, it will be a threat to the animals and it will affect to your team as well. So, do not leave even your foot print, leave with your valuable memories.

Facts that you need to know in the case of an emergency and how to behave according to the situation.

As soon as you enter the park, there is some risk associated with you. Our well- experienced trekkers will join with you in this tour and we will provide you a jeep to watch these animals in a comfortable and safe manner. You have to keep in your mind that animals attack on humans very rarely. But, you have to be very careful that those wild animals attack on humans suddenly without any warning. If they feel that someone is going to harm them, they will take some violent actions against those people. This differs according to the variety of animal.

In the case of an emergency, please be calm and intently listen to the instruction of your trekker. In your trekker feels that the area you are visiting is somewhat dangerous, he tries to get away from that area. We expect that you will help our trekker with patience and intelligence.

ADVICE FOR THE VISITORS IN GENERALLY

It is prohibited to keep guns/ knives/other potential weapons as well as matches lighters drugs cigarettes alcohol inside the park.

Do not flash photography.

Don’t horn inside the park.

Alcohol consumption is highly prohibited inside the park.

Don’t litter – (it is prohibited to throw away food wrappers and other trash here and there inside the park)

Don’t touch and try to pick up any object from the park ( carrying soil, stones, feather or any other item from the park is strictly prohibited

Please be kind enough to leave the park before the closing time. ( open time 6AM to PM)

ABOUT THE SAFARI JEEP

We will provide you with a comfortable, air-condition car and when arrive to udawalawe, we will change the vehicle in to a safari jeep you can enjoy the tour while traveling in our safari jeep which resists to various kinds of routes and also you can observe the environment keenly. Furthermore , the jeep has a safety roof in which you can be safe from the rain and sunshine.

Our skilled and well-experienced driver will be subjected to you driving rules and regulations of the park and also he will keep the normal speed. Furthermore, he will give the chance to observe the nature without disturbing the other jeeps.

We do not try to track the animals, because it will affect the animals. We will give you the opportunity to observe the animals by keeping a safety distance and it may not be an obstacle to their peaceful natural behavior.

After the safari tour, if you want to go any destination, we can provide you transport facilities at a fair price.

WELL-KNOWN PLACES AROUND THE UDAWALWE NATIONAL PARK

ELEPHANT TRANSIT HOME

We introduce you some well-known places among the tourists that are situated around the udawalwa national park. When you enter into the udawalwa tour, the elephant transit home is situated there beyond two kilometers. at this pace, you can observe the several behavioural patterns of the elephants and also you can observe the way how they treat the sick elephants. Specially, feeding the elephants is one of the famous events among the tourist.

UDAWALAWE RESERVOIR & UDAWALAWA DAM

udawalawa reservoir is one of the largest reservoirs in sri lanka. When you vist this wonderful place, you can see the beauty of this marvelous creation and also the beauty of the environment . the udawalawa Dam represents the uniqueness of the sri Lankan irrigation industry.

UDAWALAWA HYDRO- ELECTRIC POWER PLANT

the small hydro- electric power plant is built on the udawalawa Dam so as to produce electricity when the water level of the reservoir exceeds the amount of water it receives.

WAWULPENE CAVE

this is the largest natural limestone cave system in sri lanka. This is located in 900 feet above the sea level and, about 900,000 bats live in these caves.

MADUWANWELA WALAUWA

this is an old house of a local administrator who lived in 18th century. There were 300 rooms in this walauwa, but today we can see only 20 rooms. Also, this place is well-known for its architectural valuve and also for the reputationof the Sinhalese

SANKAPALA TEMPLE

this Buddhist temple is famous among the tourist because it can be considered as a natural cave system which is built in black stones. There is a myth that this viharaya was built by on of the ten giants of king dutugamunu called, pussadewa.
You have the opportunity to visit such kind of attractive places and when organizing the trip, you have to choose the route according to your time management.

YOUR SUPPORT TO THE WILD ANIMAL

When you come to visit a national park, it can be considered as a help or a support to the wild animals and as well as to the environment where they live in. in the dry zone, water supply is not enough for the park. So, to give water to the animals we have to build up artificial water tanks and it will be a great help for those animals to protect their lives. Also, if some animals get sick, we have to send them to another animal clinic for further treatments. As well as, we separate some money from the valuable ticket that you are purchasing to provide common infrastructure and maintenance for tourists. We appreciate this valuable service and we will be thankful to you for yours kind co-operation.