Sri Lanka Wilderness Experience

Sri Lanka has a history of more than 1,25,000 years or may be more. As per Indian epic ‘Ramayana’ it was created by the divine sculptor and architect ‘Vishwakarma’ for the great King Kubera, also known as lord of wealth. This description itself tells how prosperous this island was once upon a time. As per latest archaeological excavations inhabitants of the island had been pursuing agriculture for almost 40,000 years back. Vedda tribals inhabited this land earlier and still around 2500 of them live here.

Sri Lanka is one of world’s 25 bio diversity hotspot with 27% of the 3,210 flowering plants and 22% of 113 mammals are endemic to it. Elephant, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Blue Whale and Sperm Whale are called the Big Five of Sri Lanka. It is the best place to spot the above animals along with small loris, the purple-faced langur, porcupines and Indian pangolins in 24 forest reserves in the country. Government of Sri Lanka has declared many areas as bird sanctuaries for more than 433 bird varieties seen here of which 233 are local residents.  

Surrounded by sea from all sides it has 1585 km long coast line which gives it a tropical warm climate, the biggest reason behind its rich bio diversity. Sri Lanka has 103 rivers, 45 estuaries and 40 lagoons and over 7,000 hectares of mangrove ecosystem.

Today with well-developed tourism infrastructure tourists and wildlife lovers from all over the world visit Sri Lanka to enjoy nature and biodiversity of this beautiful island kingdom.

Blue Whale and Sperm Whales

Mirissa is the best place to spot both Blue whales (the largest mammal on earth) and Sperm whales. Trincomalee is famous for spotting Blue Whale while Kalpitiya is among the top ten sites in the world for spotting the Sperm Whale.

Elephant Congregation

Listed by Lonely Planet as among the Top Ten wildlife spectacles in the world with over 300 elephants gathering at one place, Minneriya and Kaudalla National Parks are visited by tourists from all over the world. Uda Walawe National Park is the other reserve where wild elephants are sighted on every game drive.

Leopards: the spotted one

Leopard can be seen and photographed at Yala National Park where at times you can spot 4 – 5 of them in a single safari.