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Yala National Park is where most visitors come hoping to see a leopard, and more people succeed here than almost anywhere else on earth. This safari takes you from Hambantota into the park's open grasslands, dry forest and rocky outcrops aboard an open-sided 4x4 jeep, with an English-speaking driver who also works as your tracker. It is a three-hour game drive through terrain that shifts from scrub to wetland to granite outcrop within a short distance, which is part of why Yala supports such a range of wildlife in a relatively compact area.
The park itself is Sri Lanka's most visited and its second-largest, a stretch of land bordering the Indian Ocean in the island's southeast. It was set aside as a wildlife sanctuary in 1900 and became one of the country's first two national parks in 1938, and it has since built a reputation for one of the highest densities of Sri Lankan leopard found anywhere in the world. Elephants move through the same ground, sometimes close enough to the track that your guide will pause the jeep and ask you to stay seated. Sambar deer wade through the shallow lakes, and the wetlands draw in wading birds that pick through the margins where water meets grass.
You travel in a safari jeep built for this terrain, the kind with a raised open body and a guide who knows the tracks, the waterholes and the rock formations where leopards like to rest in the sun. Sightings are never guaranteed, because this is a wild park and not an enclosure, but the habitat variety - dry monsoon forest, open plain, lagoon, outcrop - means the guide has many places to look within a single drive. Where the vehicle does stop near elephants or other large animals, you are asked to remain in your seat, since a lone elephant disturbed at close range can turn aggressive, and your guide's instructions take priority throughout.
Practically, the tour includes hotel pickup and drop-off from Hambantota, the safari jeep itself, your driver-tracker, and a bottle of water per person, with all taxes and service charges covered. Park entrance tickets are included only when you select the option with tickets at booking; choosing the no-tickets option means you will need to arrange entry separately. Food, drinks, gratuities and any personal expenses are not included, so plan for those separately.
