Udawalawe National Park Safari
Description
This half-day safari will give you the chance of visiting Udawalawe National Park which is one of the best places in Sri Lanka to see wild elephants. An Asian elephant herd, no less than 250, is permanently residing at Udawalawe national park.
Udawalawe National Park is one of the best places to see Raptors in Sri Lanka and afford excellent opportunities for photography. Endemic birds include the Sri Lankan junglefowl, Sri Lanka spurfowl, Sri Lanka green pigeon, Sri Lanka grey hornbill, Sri Lanka woodshrike and Sri Lanka swallow. Among the other bird species seen are Spot-billed pelican, Little cormorant, Grey heron, Indian pond heron, Cattle egret, Great egret, Little egret, Intermediate egret, Painted stork, Woolly-necked stork, Yellow-wattled lapwing, Green bee-eater, Crested treeswift. In forested areas Sirkeer and Blue-faced malkoha are found.
During the migrant season of birds (Nov to March): Booted eagle, Common kestrel, Harris’s hawk, Rosy starling, Black-capped kingfisher, Wood sandpiper, Common sandpiper, Little ringed plover, Whiskered tern, Western yellow wagtail, Forest wagtail & Citrine wagtail.
The Udawalawe Elephant Transfer Home is an Elephant orphanage located within the Udawalawe National Park. Established in 1995 by the Department of wildlife Conservation, it is home to over 40 orphaned elephants. The orphaned calves and juveniles of the park are brought into the orphanage and raised with necessary care until such time as they could be released to their habitat. Once they are released to the park, the Park authorities take upon themselves to keep constant track of the beasts till they get used to the new life in the wild. As at the year 2008, no less than sixty-five elephants had been released to the jungle.
