Where to see elephants in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka is one of my favorite countries in the world, and it has it all for me – stunning beaches, fascinating temples and archaeological sites, amazing food, warm hospitality, and incredible nature. In fact, it is home to about 13-14% of all Asian elephants in the wild, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. 

Where to see elephants in Sri Lanka? There is not one but a few national parks where you can do an elephant safari and see these majestic animals in the wild. Which ones I recommend and how to get there? Read on…

How to see elephants in Sri Lanka 

Minneriya & Kaudulla National Park 

Probably the best place to do an elephant safari in Sri Lanka is Minneriya National Park close to Sigiriya. Next to it, you will find Kaudulla National Park, and they are connected by an elephant corridor. This means elephants can roam freely between the two parks.

While Minneriya is a bit larger and better known, both parks are excellent choices to view the Gathering when hundreds of elephants meet. This happens during the dry season from July to September when they come to the reservoirs in the parks. It is a sight to behold and a good reason to put the Cultural Triangle on your itinerary, even if you are not interested in history and temples.

You can stay either by Sigiriya or in Habarana, and you will have easy access to both parks as well as the Hurule Eco Park (another great contender to see elephants in Sri Lanka). 

During my recent visit, I stayed at the Back of Beyond Jungle Hideaway in Pidurangala. Pidurangala is the rock right by Sigiriya that offers the perfect view when you climb up. 

The Jungle Hideaway is a beautiful lodge with tree houses in the forest – perfect for a night or two surrounded by nature. Plus, you have a lot of creature comforts, including electricity, a western toilet, and even wifi, so you don’t even have to rough it. 

The lodge can organize various tours and activities, including night walks to see loris and, of course, elephant safaris. Depending on when you go, the guides will decide on the day which park will be better for a safari. Trust them on it! 

I ended up going to Kaudulla National Park, which turned out to be an excellent choice. Not only is it generally less crowded than Minnerya when it comes to people, but we saw about a hundred elephants that day. Different herds had gathered and we saw mothers feed their babies, little ones play-fighting, and even a tiny one, about a month old. 

A great thing about safaris in the North-Central province – you will drive around in a jeep with an open roof. Since there are no leopards here, you stand up for uninterrupted views of the elephants. 

Elephant safaris take about 4 hours, including the drive from/ to the lodge. If you are booking with an outside operator, make sure to check their prices, as most don’t include your tickets to the national park. 

• Book a treehouse at Jungle Hideaway

How to get from Colombo to Habarana

There are a few different options to get to the area. The cheapest one is to take a train to Galoya, Habarana, not to be confused with the Habarana railway station. Galoya is somewhat bigger with better connections, but about 16 km further northeast from Habarana. 

Habarana itself has some direct trains from Colombo, but on the way back, trains take the ‘scenic’ route – 19 hours of scenic route that is. Just make sure to check where you are departing from and how long your travel time is. If leaving from Galoya, you will need to add some extra time for a taxi or tuk-tuk to get to the station (especially when coming from the Jungle Hideaway or other places around Sigiriya). 

The easiest and most comfortable way is to take a private transfer. I have used Real Lanka Holidays a few times and can wholeheartedly recommend them. Not only do they offer the best prices, but they also have great drivers and vehicles, and are very reliable. You can even book them on 12go and thus pay with your credit card or PayPal and get a proper receipt. 

YALA NATIONAL PARK

Yala is probably the most famous of all the national parks in Sri Lanka. To me, it felt like an African safari park, but with a coastline that makes it feel even more special. There are plenty of hotels and lodges, camping and glamping options in Yala – something for every budget. Most can organize a safari for you, or you can book a safari from anywhere on the south coast with a transfer. 

What can you see in Yala? While Yala is mainly known for its leopard population, it is also an excellent place to watch elephants in Sri Lanka. In fact, when staying at Jetwing Yala, the hotel manager showed me a security camera tape of an elephant in his hotel lobby. Needless to say, I was more than a little tempted to camp out in the lobby after seeing this.

So yes, Yala is excellent to see elephants as well as sloth bears, buffalo, crocodiles, various birds and butterflies, deer, and more. While it is said to have the highest leopard population in the world, they are still quite tricky to spot. Apparently, February is a great time, though I did manage to see one for a whole two seconds. 

Overall, I found Yala to be a mixed experience, not so much for the lack of leopards but rather for the number of vehicles I saw. They get up to 450 vehicles in a day and it was crowded.

That said, if you are in Sri Lanka for the first time and focus on a trip in the south, I still reckon Yala is worth a visit, especially if seeing elephants in the wild is your focus. I recommend staying at Jetwing Yala, which is lovely, but I would also love to try the Back of Beyond Dune Camp to make the most of Yala’s unique location by the ocean. 

• Book a room at Jetwing Yala
• Book Back of Beyond Dune Camp

How to get from Colombo to Yala

Depending on how much comfort you want or need, you can either take a bus or book a private transfer to Yala. The latter is not as expensive as you may think, especially if you are sharing the cost with another traveler. Again, I can recommend Real Lanka Holidays. 

Udawalawe National Park

The Udawalawe National Park is another great spot for an elephant safari in southern Sri Lanka. My guide had promised me that we would see an elephant in less than two minutes upon entering the park, but we saw one within thirty seconds. In fact, it was two mothers and their babies. It didn’t stop there…

For me, Udawalawe is one of the places to see elephants in Sri Lanka. There are quite a few and there is no question that these elephants are just happily roaming around. We even came across one bull in heat, and there was no question who would give way: us. We were on his turf after all.

Right by the Udawalawe Reservoir, you will find the Elephant Transit Home. Usually, I get suspicious when I hear the word “orphanage” but this one is a proper elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. 

The sad reality is that there are quite a few orphaned elephant babies, and they need human help. Here, they are fed and taken care of until they are old enough to return to the wild and hopefully find a new family there.

You can learn quite a bit about elephants at the Transit Home, but the highlight happens at noon: feeding time. And while the idea of bottle feeding a tiny elephant (tiny by elephant standards) melts my heart, fortunately, you can only watch from a distance. At the Elephant Transit Home, any contact with humans is minimized for the benefit of the elephant. 

Still, you will have the best time ever observing them getting fed, playing, and being proper naughty kids. 

There are plenty of lodges and guesthouses in Udawalawe that can organize both a safari and a visit to the Elephant Transit Home. Alternatively, stay in Hambantota by the coast and book a trip with transfer from there, the drive takes less than 1,5 hours. 

How to get from Colombo to Udawalawe

Similar to Yala, you can either take a bus or book a private transfer to get from Colombo to Udawalawe. Considering the state of Sri Lankan buses, my choice is the latter. 

(Fun) facts about elephants in Sri Lanka

Whichever national park you go to, do invest in a guide. You will learn so many new things about Sri Lankan elephants. 

While Sri Lankan elephants are part of the Asian elephant family, they are bigger than their Indian or Thai counterparts, and only 5% are tuskers. And did you know that elephant mothers feed their babies with poop because they cannot digest grass before? Yuk, but also really interesting! 

Also, elephants do need their ears so they don’t overheat. Just by flapping them, they can cool their bodies down by 5 degrees. And if you see an elephant picking up grass and brushing it back and forth over the ground with its trunk, it does so to get the dust off the grass. 

Riding elephants in Sri Lanka is officially not allowed unless it is for religious processions. Unfortunately, people still find ways around it. Please don’t if you see it offered! And if you are looking for an elephant sanctuary in Sri Lanka, please go to Elephant Transit Home and not Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. 

If you love elephants, you don’t want to support options that are less than ideal for the elephant and compromise its well-being in any way. Sometimes that stance is hard even for me after having seen many elephants up close. Do I want to bathe an elephant in the river and have a baby sit on me? Of course, I do!! What kind of person even are you if you don’t?! But I have also come to realize that the less interaction any elephant has with humans, the better. They are still wild animals and I ain’t Mowgli, and neither are you. 

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