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National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries in Sri Lanka Vacations and Luxury Travel Packages
Sri Lanka is a paradise for animal lovers who enjoy animal or bird watching. There are many national parks and sanctuaries in Sri Lanka that offer you an opportunity to observe a real wildlife once in your lifetime. The animals that roam the national parks and sanctuaries are variety. Example of animals that you can see in a national park such as Yala National Park are elephants, leopards, sloth bears, deer and monkeys, wild buffalos, wild boars (pig), porcupines, ant-eaters, civet cats, jackals, mongooses, Loris (unique to Sri Lanka), several varieties of lizards, squirrels, reptiles and amphibians, and many more.
Yala National Park 
Yala National Park is 309 km south of Colombo on the southeast of the island. It is well known for its biggest, extensive the area of 1,259 sq km, and for its best wildlife preservation in the country. With it considerable size, the terrain of the national park is varied from flat plains to rocky outcrops. The vegetation ranges from open parkland to dense jungle. There are also abundance of water supply for animals and birds ranging from waterholes, streams, small lakes to lagoons. The national park is divided into Yala West (also called Ruhuna) and Yala East.
Yala West or Ruhuna National Park is now well recognized for the best park in the world to observe and photograph leopards. There are about 35 leopards in the park which probably is the highest density than anywhere in the world. It is possible to take one day jeep-safari trip through the park although it takes you three days to see the entire park. The park is usually closed relatively late (almost 7.00 pm) therefore the chance to come across one of the leopards is quite high.
 Wilpattu National Park
Situated 176 km. north of Colombo, Wilpattu is approximately 1,908 sq.km. in extent. It has a dense jungle cover which makes it a more exciting park where animals have to be tracked. There are numerous delightful little lakes - known as villus - and the leopard and sloth bear are the speciality rather than elephants.
Maduru Oya National Park
The Maduru Oya National Park is located in the Dry Zone and is 300 km. away from Colombo and 58,849 hectares in extent. A wide variety of wildlife including some endemic birds species and reptiles are found here. Maduru Oya is rich in ancient ruins found in different places and its southern parts provide veddhas, indigenous people their living environment. Endemic purple monkey is among the important animal species that can be seen in addition to Sambhur, a member of the cat family etc. There are some endemic avifauna also found within this Park.
 Uda Walawe National Park
Situated 170 km southeast of Colombo, the Uda Walawe National Park covers area of approximately 30,821 hectares in the dry zone. This park lies within the Ratnapura and Monaragala districts and sitting in the middle of the park is the Uda Walawe Reservoir. This Park comprises grasslands and thorn scrubs and many valuable species of trees especially teak. It is largely inhabited by elephants, spotted deer, sambhur, water buffaloes, mongoose, bandicoots, foxes, water monitor lizards, crocodiles, wild boars, Toque Monkeys, Grey Langur, leopards and 30 varieties of snakes.
Bird life of Uda Walawe National Park includes Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Wooly-necked Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Shikrs, Sirkeer Malkoha, and Blue-faced Malkoha.
Gal Oya National Park
Situated in Inginiyagala district west of Ampara, the Gal Oya National Park is 314 km from Colombo with its area of 260 sq km. It is surrounded by the largest tank in Sri Lanka, the Senanayake Samudra. The best time to see wildlife here is between March and July when you can possibly see almost 150 elephants at one time. This park is most renowned for its extraordinary elephant population. The usual way to enjoy the park's scenery is to take a boat trip around the lake, watching animals and birds on the shore before drifting close to the herds of elephants.
 Bundala National Park
Bundala National Park is the latest addition to national parks and is situated 260 km away from Colombo with 62 sq km in extent. Comprising of scrub jungle and bordering the sea, the park stretches along the coast east of Hambantota. The beach is an important nesting site for turtles. Between October and January, four of Sri Lanka's five species of marine turtles come to lay their eggs. Wildlife living in the park includes elephants, spotted deer, grey langur, jackal, water monitor, crocodiles, the olive ridley and leatherback turtles, the hawksbill and green turtles.
Wasgamuwa National Park
 Situated approximately 200 km away from Colombo, the Wasgamuwa National Park lies within the Polonnaruwa and Matale Districts and have the Mahaweli River and Amban River as its eastern and western boundaries. Tropical intermediate dry mixed evergreen forest dominates its environment. The vegetation consists of primary forests, secondary forests, scrublands and grasslands. The inhabitants here are elephants, wild buffaloes, spotted deer, leopards, sloth bears, water monitors and crocodiles. Other livings are 143 species of bird including the Red Faced Malkoha, Ceylon Jungle Fowl, Lesser Adjutant, Yellow Fronted Barbet, Ceylon Spur Fowl and Ceylon Frogmouth. Plus there are 8 species of amphibians reported of living in this park which include the endangered skink, lizards like the Red Lipped Lizard and Earless Lizard. In addition, 17 species of fish and 50 species of butterflies are found here.
 Horton Plains National Park
The Horton Plains National Park is the only National Park situated in the Hill Country and falls within the Nuwara Eliya district and is 200 km. away from Colombo. Panoramic scenic beauty of the Hill Country could be witnessed within the Park. The famous "Worlds End" is a major attraction within the Park. Endemic slender loris and endemic purple monkey are among the important animal species that could be seen in addition to sambhur, a member of the cat family etc. There are some endemic avifauna also found within this Park.
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