This National Park is mainly popular for its glamorous elephants and it was established in June 1972 as a sanctuary for wild animals displaced by the construction of the Udawalawe Reservoir on the Walawe River. Udawalawe is the 3rd largest National park in Sri Lanka and it covers an area of 308 square kilometres (119 square miles).
The National Park is lightly vegetated but it has a stark beauty and the lack of dense vegetation makes game-watching easy. It’s a must visit national park in Sri Lanka.
Since Udawalawe National Park is famous for its large population of elephants, this national park is ideal to observe the herds of photogenic Asian elephants in their unique natural habitats. Other than the elephants, the national park provides home for many other species of mammals such as the rusty-spotted cat, fishing cat, Sri Lankan leopard etc.
You will see
Ceylon Spotted Deer, Elephants, Grizzled Giant Squirrel, Leapord, Otter, Sloth Bear, Sri Lankan Spotted Chevrotain, Thick-tailed Pangolin, Toque Macaque, Water Buffalo, Wild Boar, Bengal Monitor, Mugger Crocodile, Oriented Garden Lizard, Sri Lankan Pipe Snake, Vipers of Sri Lanka, Water Monitor, Asian Openbill, Black-capped Kingfisher, Black-headed Ibis, Booted Eagle, Brown-capped Babbler, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Eurasian Spoonbill, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Indian Roller, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Painted Stork, Peafowl, Pied Cuckoo, Red-faced Malkoha, Spot-billed Pelican, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Sri Lanka Spurfowl, White Wagtail, White-bellied Sea Eagle
