Why visit Yala
- Yala is among the oldest and best known of Sri Lanka's National Parks
- Yala National Park is well recognised as one of the best parks in the world to observe and photograph leopards.
- Game is also much more diverse with elephants, sloth bears, leopards, buffaloes, wild boars, deer, and large crocodiles inhabiting this region.
The Yala reserve covers 1, 260 square kilometres. Much of the reserve is parkland, but it also contains forests, beaches, freshwater lakes , rivers and scrubland. The latter zone is punctuated with enormous rocky outcrops. The range of habitats gives rise to a good range of wildlife. Yala has the world's highest concentration of Leopards, although seeing this largely nocturnal carnivore still requires some luck. There are good numbers of Asian Elephants, Crocodile, Wild Boar, Water Buffalo and Grey langurs amongst other large animals. The open parkland attracts birds of prey such as White-bellied Sea Eagle and the wetlands have waders, Painted Storks, and the rare Black-necked Stork. Historical and religious sites such as Kataragama, Sithulpahuwa and Magul Maha Vihara and many archaeologically important places add additional significance to the area.
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