Sri Lanka is most famous for its sandy white beaches that stretch for miles along its southern coast. But if you’re heading to this beautiful island paradise, you would be crazy not to make a trip to one of their many safari parks throughout the country.
Speak to a local and they’ll always recommend two – either Udawalawe National Park or Yala National Park. Neither seemed to stand out as a clear favourite with the Sri Lankans we spoke to, so we opted for Udawalawe as it was closer to the Southern Province beaches that we were staying at.
Accommodation in Udawalawe National Park
We left it pretty late to start looking for a place to stay (we were travelling to Udawalawe National Park from Weligama the following day), so we fired up the Sri Lankan last minute hotel app, Pikanite to see what we could find. There were a few options available but the one that really stood out for us was La Jade Udawalawe, situated minutes away from the southern entrance of safari park.
If you’re heading out there for any amount of time, I highly recommend La Jade Udawalawe. From the moment we arrived, we were greeted warmly and treated to a welcome drink, before being shown to our immaculately clean quadruple room.
I chatted to our host, Danajaya who was one of the most helpful, friendly people I’ve met so far in Sri Lanka. It turned out the hotel had only just opened 4 months earlier. It’s a family-run business, with brothers, dad’s and uncles all chipping in to build the rooms and on-site restaurant.
Speaking of the restaurant, the meals we had here were all fantastic. Even though we were the only people eating there, they put on a full spread for us, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast was included and consisted of 4 courses to ensure we were set for the day. Lunch and dinner were local dishes. Dinner was a particular highlight and was prepared by Danajaya’s mother and she did not hold back. Mountains of Sri Lankan food and every Sri Lankan curry under the sun somehow made it onto our table. When it came time to settle the food bill at the end of our stay, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they weren’t charging us for the kids meals, so we spent far less than anticipated.
Everything You Need to Know About Organising an Elephant Safari in Udawalawe National Park
The team at La Jade Udawalawe were able to organise everything for us when it came to the actual safari in Udawalawe. They arranged a private safari jeep for us, with a driver (who turned out to be Danajaya’s brother) for 4,000 LKR (£17 / $22) which struck me as being very affordable, considering we had the jeep and the driver, all to ourselves, for a full day.
Udawalawe National Park Entrance Fees
The entrance fees for a local adult (that’s your driver) will cost 60 LKR (£0.26 / $0.34) while foreign adults (that’s you!) will set you back 2,650 LKR (£11 / $15) per person.
The rest of the costs are made up of local charges and taxes.
What About the Animals? What Will You See in Udawalawe National Park?
Naturally, the main reason you’re heading to Udawalawe is to see the elephants and here is where the Sri Lankan safari park really shines. We saw three before we even got in. Once we were in, we spotted big herds of elephants throughout the day. Some were keeping cool in the giant lake, others were hiding on riverbeds and all were constantly eating. An Asian elephant eats about 150kg of food every day, we were told by our driver.
Udawalawe National Park is hugely diverse and we also spotted buffalo, iguanas, crocodiles, eagles and a host of colourful, exotic birds. Our driver was incredibly knowledgeable and seemingly had x-ray vision as he spotted things miles away and knew the names of everything off the top of his head.
Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home
We finished up our safari at around 17:30 and drove 20 minutes up the road to Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home, an orphanage for baby elephants that aims to rehabilitate elephants so they can be released back into the wild. Four or five times a day, they feed the elephants milk and leaves and allow the public to watch from a viewing gallery.
It cost 500 LRK (£2 / $3) per adult and, once again, kids go free (which seems to be a theme in Sri Lanka). The whole experience lasts around half an hour and is definitely worth the trip. Watching the hungry baby elephants run to the milk station as fast as their little legs could take them was hilarious.
Top Tips
- Don’t expect to have any internet. Like much of Sri Lanka, once you get some distance from the coast, the internet around Udawalawe National Park ranges from infuriatingly slow to non-existent. Make sure you’ve already downloaded any Netflix films, podcasts or music before you get there. La Jade Udawalawe does have a 4G WiFi router, which helps, but this still relies on the spotty 4G coverage in the area.
- Go to the toilet at the gate. Once you’re in the park, you’ll be stuck in the jeep for at least 2-3 hours and there are no toilet facilities once you’re through the gate.
- Bring snacks and drinks in the jeep. There is nowhere in Udawalawe National Park that sells these.
- Hire a driver. While it is possible to hire one of the safari jeeps for you to drive yourself, a local driver will know the park back to front, exactly where you’re likely to spot each of the animals and will give a bit of information on what you’re looking at. On top of that, the roads in Udawalawe National Park can get pretty hairy at times, so it pays to have someone that knows their way around an off-road vehicle.
- Bring cash! While there is a card payment facility at the gate, it didn’t seem to work while we were there. Luckily, we had some cash on us. In any case, you’ll need to pay the driver in cash at the end of the day, so be sure to have enough on you. The nearest ATM is a long drive away.
