Did you know that the very first wildlife reserve of the ancient world was established in Ceylon by an ancient Buddhist King Devanampiyatissa in the area around Mihintale, in the 3rd Century BC. He decreed “the people not to harm animals or destroy trees within the area” so he must have been the first known environmentalist!
Well, at Yala National Park you can thrill to the slinking shadows of stealthy big cats in dense tropical jungles of Sri Lanka the most visited and second largest national park in Sri Lanka. Notably the largest concentration of Leopard (panthera pardus kotiya) in the world hunts in this 378 square mile wildlife reserve situated in the South Eastern region of Sri Lanka, along with large populations of deer, elephant, monkey, sloth bear, peacock, wild boar and sambhur, to name just a few. Bird watchers will thrill to the spectacle of numerous endemic and visiting species including rare birds, at Yala. About 300 km from Colombo, the park is situated in the dry semi-arid climatic region and rain is received mainly during the northeast monsoon.
