Location
Leopards, bear and elephants are the highlight
Yala National Park is Sri Lanka’s second largest park. Located on the southeastern tip of the country, it is bordered by the sea. The area was declared a national park in 1939 and it occupies almost 1,000 square kilometers divided into five blocks each with its own vegetation and characteristics. The park’s vegetation has forests, scrubs, grasslands, lagoons and everything in between. Although its 44 mammal species and 215 birds are all protected today, the park was originally a hunting grounds during colonial times. Perhaps what has made Yala so famous is its high concentration of leopards, the highest in the world, thanks to the fact that they have no natural predators and, as a result, they are more easily seen parading their beautiful coats around the park, day and night.
