I can’t believe I got this close to wild elephants in Sri Lanka!
Okay, so I have a confession. Before I booked my flights for this trip to Sri Lanka, I had absolutely no idea that wild elephants existed here in Sri Lanka.
I had however heard mixed things about the “elephant orphanages” and upon further research, see here and here I was definitely not going to support this. Having no desire to see chained up elephants, I resigned myself to the fact I would probably not see any elephants on this trip.
After three days in beautiful Ella (read more about that here), I was ready to hit the beaches down South, but wasn’t sure how to tackle this gruelling six hour journey. The train doesn’t extend further than Ella, and so the journey would have to be done by winding road. Either by bus (terrifying and uncomfortable) or taxi (slightly less terrifying and slightly more comfortable but expensive).
After hearing horror stories of the treacherous bus rides and crazy driving, I was happy to find a fellow backpacker who fancied sharing a car ride to split the cost. We realised that we could break up the journey with a stop off at Udawalawe National Park which is about two hours drive from Ella.
After my rather underwhelming walk around Horton National Park where I didn’t see so much as a grasshopper, I didn’t have particularly high expectations of Udawalawe National Park. But I was happy to use it as a stop off point to the South. I have since learned that Udawalawe is one of the best places in Sri Lanka to see wild elephants!
The best place to see wild elephants in Sri Lanka…
Getting in the Park..
Upon reaching Udawalawe National Park we jumped in a safari jeep. Plenty were waiting outside the Park to take customers inside. Most jeeps arrive early at 6am as this is the recommended time to see the animals. We didn’t arrive until late morning, so we didn’t have to queue- we were straight in!
Cost of Udawalawe National Park:
The cost of getting in the Park depends how many are in your group. As there were only two in our jeep it was more expensive than if there were a group of six. I can’t remember the exact cost but it was about £25 each. Some of the cost was for the entrance fee of the National Park, and some was for the driver and jeep.
We drove through the entrance and were almost immediately greeted by the sight of an elephant munching happily on some grass by the side of the dirt track!
A short drive down the dirt path and a whole herd appeared…
They didn’t seem perturbed by us in the slightest and came extremely close to us!
The elephants have full reign of the 408km2 National Park, and our vehicles aren’t allowed to leave the paths, so it was very much a case of they come to us and not the other way around. I couldn’t believe they came so close!
Of course you have to be careful as there have been stories of elephants ramming safari trucks, particularly if they have babies as they are very protective of them. But we just sat quietly and watched as they grazed next to the truck.
The young ones were adorable, especially the ones that had little mini tusks!
The elephants were clearly hot (they weren’t the only ones), as they were hoovering up the dust with their trunks and splashing it over their bodies to cool them down.
They seem to constantly munch on vegetation.
Over the duration of the safari ride we saw water buffalo, a jackal, lots of elephants, a cobra basking in the sun (I spotted that one!) and a variety of birds including giant hawk eagles and pretty green coloured exotic birds. But the elephants were definitely the highlight!
We then drove to a watering hole where we stayed and sat watching the elephants who were enjoying a good bathe!
It was lovely to watch them drinking and squirting water over themselves to cool themselves down.
The most dramatic moment was when suddenly all bathing elephants huddled together, and surrounded the baby of the group. Only one stood apart from the rest, facing the shore, standing tall. It was clear he was defending his herd. What from we weren’t sure. The jackal was at the shore, maybe it was that?!
We soon saw that the reason for this defensive behaviour was because a crocodile was swimming through the water very close to the elephants. The elephants were all protecting the baby!
The crocodile growled a low, deep growl which resonated around the air, and gave me a shiver. It was like being in Jurassic Park or something! My heart almost stopped beating the tension was so high.
The elephant standing away from the others, trumpeted and splashed loudly in the water to frighten the croc away. I will upload the clips to YouTube.
I think the crocodile was just asserting his authority and marking the pond as his territory. (Typical male ego!) There’s surely no way he could have taken on a herd of elephants.
Anyway the crocodile admitted defeat and the elephants went on with their washing and bathing. Some took it as their cue to leave..
I have no idea how long we were in the park. Maybe an hour, maybe two. All I know is that I could have stayed all day.
Observing their behaviour was so interesting. It’s making me want to book an African Safari!
I left Udawalawe National park so happy that I’d come. It really is a perfect stop off destination between Ella and the South.
It’s one of the best places in the world to see wild elephants- you’re almost guaranteed to see them here. It was a wonderful and very special day! I’m so glad I visited Udawalawe National Park! It was incredible.
Please like & share if you enjoyed this post or found it useful. Follow me on WordPress for more travel posts.
Thanks for reading!
The post Seeing wild elephants in Udawalawe National Park Sri Lanka appeared first on gettingthedreamlife.com.