A few years ago when we were in Luang Prabang we went elephant riding at a sanctuary, and I have to say it is probably my biggest travel regret to date. When planning our trip for last summer I knew I wanted to go somewhere we could safari. Sri Lanka really does have it all, beaches, hiking and is still relatively diluted in terms of tourism.
There are options to stay inside the National Park itself but we opted to stay in a town nearby named Tissamaharama. We took a tuk tuk from Mirissa and stayed in an incredible hotel named Gaga Bees Yala (which I will link in this post when I write a full review later this month). The park is about a fifteen minute drive from this town and we opted to stay there so we had access to shops, banks and restaurants instead of staying in the hotel for the entirety of our time there.
I think for this particular post I’ll let the photographs speak for themselves, but I think it’s worth talking about the cost of the safaris at Yala. There are options to carry out the tours with a guide accompanying you and without, also you can group together with people from your hotel as a way to save money. Both days we hired a truck to ourselves, our first day we had a guide and the second without. It was significantly more expensive with a guide at 16,000 rupees (£70 at the time) and without just 11,000 (£45 at the time). Although our guide was lovely and very helpful at pointing things out, I much preferred the second day when it was just Paul and I. I think because we had already spent a day we were much better at spotting things, and our driver was great at spotting things.
We seen so many animals, we were so lucky. It’s really difficult to spot a leopard and we seen the same one on both days – you can actually see in some of the photographs it had hunted an antelope and had pulled it up a tree. We seen plenty of elephants, warthogs, sun bears, water buffalo, peacocks, birds of prey, alligators and tons more.
I love me some elephants. Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Debra, me too!
Great pictures. I wish I would get to Yala one day. Just a word of correction though: they were crocodiles you saw, not alligators. 😉
Wow!! Beautiful!! Will have to add this to the must see places bucket list! Thanks for sharing!
SQUEEAAAA elephants 😀 YES! I am so jealous though i’m desperate to go to Sri Lanka, good for you 🙂 I’m so glad you guys had fun. Great post and thank you for the photos 🙂 xx
I LOVE elephants so much! I’ve never thought of going to Sri Lanka but your post with all these gorgeous pictures really inspired me! Now Sri Lanka is definitely on my bucket list! Thank you for sharing this beauty and inspire me!
It was incredible! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Great! I would love to visit that place soon!:)
I lived in Thailand for 3 years and traveled all over SE Asia, including Sri Lanka, and remember commenting to a friend that I never wanted to live in a country without wild elephants. They are such extraordinary creatures! Loved your pics and writing!
What an incredible experience! I love it, we still have so much of the continent to visit. I couldn’t agree more – they are just incredible. Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for taking the time to comment!
Looks like an incredible experience.
It really was! Thanks so much for commenting.
It’s interesting, the difference between Sri Lankan and Indian elephants and those from Africa. They’re all fascinating, and Sri Lankan elephants are very clever!
Indeed! I’ve seen elephants in Laos and Sri Lanka now, but I’ve heard the African elephant is huge in comparison!
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I love your photographs, you captured some cool shots.
I loved our visit to Yala! I am jealous you saw a leopard twice. We searched for 2 days and didn’t see one. I was so impressed with how authentic and natural the park was. We never felt like there were too many people there, even when we stopped to watch a baby elephant bathing with several other elephants. Sri Lanka is so amazing, thanks for sharing!
It was the same one both days, but we were so fortunate nonetheless! Thanks for visiting my site 🙂
Amazing photos! That’s a pretty large safari. Which animal would you say is your favorite?
Definitely the elephant! Thanks for visiting 😊