YALA NATIONAL PARK

INTRODUCTION TO YALA

The yala national park has a huge area of 130000 hectares. It is located in between the southern and eastern parts of sri lanka. Although the park belong to the dry zone, it has a green effect. There, one part is surrounded by the Indian ocean. Yala was designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1900 and was designated a national park in 1938.

The most visited national park in sri lanka is the yala national park where we can see a lot of animals, specially these two, sri lanka leopards and sri lanka sloth bear. The population of sri Lankan leopards are highly increased in yala and they walk around the tracks in total of which 20 – 30 during the day.

Specially yala is enriched with bio – diversity and it has vegetation including moist and dry monsoon forest, thorn forest, savanna grasslands and fresh and saltwater wetlands.

Yala is the perfect habitat for the large number of endemic plants and animal species unique to the country. Also it is a paradise of migratory birds. There are some species of mammals in yala which including sri Lankan leopard, sri Lankan sloth bear, elephants, spotted deer, samba deer. Also there are crocodile, wild boar, peacock, jackals, many species of birds, reptiles, amphibians.

BIRD WATCHING

Yala is a also famous for a birds paradise. A number of bird species who live in water is reported to be about 80% in yala wetlands. Some of them are endemic birds to sri lanka and others are special migratory birds. When you enter in to the yala national park, you can observe their beauty and various behavioral patterns. Mainly, you can see the birds like Grey heron, black headed ibis ,spoonbill, Asian openbill ,painted stork, pelican, cormorant, egrets, oriental darter, lesser whistling duck, lapwing, curlew, rock pigeon ,green pigeon,hornbill, crested serpent eagle, white bellied sea eagle, Asian barbets, orioles in yala.

YALA BEACH WALKS

Inside the park, it is prohibited to get down from the jeep or any other vehicle, but one place in the park is separated for your convenience. That is the golden sandy beach which is one of the longest pillars of the yala national park. This location is best suited to avoid getting rid of the tiredness of walking for hours in a single posture and to dine. This is one of the tourist attraction places in sri lanka. Also the park is best place to take a photographs even.

HOW IT WORKS

HOW TO GET TO THE YALA

Although there are several top routes to enter into the yala 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 YALA (135 KM)
This park will open at 6 o clock in the morning. The best time to travel in yala is early in the morning and then again in the dusk.
Selecting a good guide is the most important part when travelling to yala. 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 yala national park. The morning tour will start from mirissa at 4.30 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 11.30 am. And it’s also a good time to have a look around animals in the park.

THE PRICE LIST AND TIME TABLE OF YALA SAFARI

Number of Person	Entering Tickets Price (LKR)	Time Duration in Side Park	Safari Jeep Food and beverage	From Mirissa to Yala Hire Charges (LKR)	Total Price(LKR)	Maximum Tour Time
01	13000/-	4 hours	15000/-	25000/- (Include with Southern Expressway Tickets)	53000/-	9 – 10 hours
02	25000/-				65000/-
03	33000/-				73000/-
04	42000/-				82000/-
05	50500/-				90500/-
06	58000/-				98000/-

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 2 hours to go to Yala from mirissa and we provide you comfortable air condition cars and vans to travel. We change the vehicle in Yala 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
FAMOUS PLACES AROUND THE YALA 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 Yala, 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.

FAMOUS PLACES AROUND THE YALA NATIONAL PARK

We introduce you some important places that are very famous among the tourists. They are two salt spits on your way to yala . there are hambanthota salt spit and the salt spit that situated near the entrance to the yala national park. You can observe the major process of those salt spits without paying any fee.

Buddhist temples/ “thissa lake” and “yodhakandiya lake” are another famous places. There, you can see the natural beauty of the place and the marvelous creations of the ancient kings in irrigation industry.

Also, kirinda beach and the Buddhist temple are famous among the tourists.

Furthermore, kataragama temple is well-known among the tourist and as well as among the sri lankans as they go to worship there with full of devotion.

“sithulpawwa viharaya” and “magul maha viharaya” are also famous Buddhist temples and they are located in one end of the park.

Through this journey, you will be able to visit very valuable tourist attraction places and when you organize the route that you hope to travel by considering your valuable time and mainly your comfort.

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.