Kaudulla National Park Safari Guide | Sri Lanka

When in Sigiriya, you have the opportunity to visit a National Park to spot elephants. The two popular parks to spot elephants are Minneriya and Kaudulla National Park where you can see ‘The Gathering’: the migration of hundreds of elephants searching for water.

I’ve already done two safaris in Senegal and Kenya where I spotted the big 5 altogether. During my trip to Sri Lanka, I was lucky enough to see 2 other leopards in Yala! Now we are trying our luck once again! But first things first.

Decide which park to visit

First of all, you need to decide which park you’ll want to visit. We booked a road trip around Sri Lanka with our tour guide which included Yala, and Kaudulla National Park.

• Yala National Park: the most popular and largest park of Sri Lanka. It has one of the highest leopard densities in the world.
• Udawalawe: smaller than Yala but you can get very up close to the animals (so I’ve heard).
• Kaudulla National Park: perfect to spot herds of Elephants.
• Minneriya National Park: perfect to spot Elephants.

Kaudulla and Minneriya are located next to each other. Elephants can switch between parks is they like so watch out on the road! Every year an elephant is hit by a car because they didn’t see the elephant coming from the bushes.

We first intended to go to Minneriya but our driver called the ranger to ask where the elephants were. It turned out they were in Kaudulla, so we changed our plans and went to Kaudulla.

What wildlife can be spotted in Kaudulla National Park?

As I’ve already said above, we chose Kaudulla National Park. This park is located in the upper-center of Sri Lanka and has a lot of wildlife to show. If you want to see a lot of different kinds of animals, go to Yala but if you’re more interested in elephants go to Kaudulla of Minneriya because there it’s more focused on elephant wildlife.

Leopard Fact: When going to Kaudulla Park, you’ll have to choose to see the elephants or the leopards because their territories don’t cross and therefore another part of the park has to be visited.

Driver & Guide

Always try to call the park to know where the elephants are. The two parks are divided by a road that can be crossed, so if you want to see elephants call in first. Our driver did this and that’s why we went to Kaudulla National Park.

You can easily arrange a safari tour at your hotel or just on the street (don’t pay in advance to make sure they’ll come to get you). You can’t drive your own car into Kaudulla, you’re obligated to go with a licensed driver and guide.

Entrance: 6.000 LKR per person (fees driver and guide not included)

Bring along…

Let’s go do some safari!

We went into the park and we were there by ourselves! Sometimes we saw a jeep but that’s it (we saw 5 jeeps in total). The jeep is open, there are no windows only bars of steel.

1) Buffalo

We first saw some buffaloes bathing in the water. We did not see them very often in this park but we saw them already in Yala luckily.

2) Birds

Kaudulla is an important bird sanctuary. Endangered species can be spotted here if you’re lucky.

3) Monkeys

You don’t have to go to a national park to see some monkeys, because they’re everywhere in Sri Lanka. Nonetheless, we saw monkeys in Yala National Park and Kaudulla National Park.

4) Leopard

Spotting the leopard in Kaudulla is harder than spotting it in Yala because they are in fewer numbers there. You also have to choose between the elephants and leopards because their territories don’t cross over. One part of the park has the elephants and the other part has leopards.

5) Cows

I think this was the most dangerous animal we’ve seen in Kaudulla: the cow. We were just watching the elephants when we noticed that the cows are just standing amongst them. Chilling and eating.

6) Elephants

So Kaudulla is known for elephant migration. We first saw 2 males on their own before we saw a small herd. The jeep got closer so we could take some photos when suddenly a female charged towards our car! We were scared but we knew from our guide not to scream. The jeep drove off but that’s when the elephant kept charging towards us. The jeep then stopped as did the elephant (but we didn’t see that and we just kept whispering “drive, drive, drive”). In the end, the elephant stopped and went back to her herd. We laughed about it but I don’t want to have this experience again! haha

We drove further away and then we spotted the big herd with 100 of elephants! We kept our distance and watched how they bathed themselves and how one took a shower! Afterward, we also saw some cute baby elephants!

This safari was so adventurous with that chase but it was quite the experience! We returned to our hotel with big smiles on our faces.

I hope these tips will help you with your safari in Kaudulla and that the photos have given you a taste of what a safari in Kaudulla could be!

Life of a Passion