About this experience
Udawalawe is open-country safari at its most direct — wide grassland plains broken by scrub, rocky outcrops and the broad reservoir banks where elephants and wild water buffalo come down to drink. Your driver-tracker reads the terrain, cutting the engine when something moves in the treeline and positioning the jeep quietly on the red-dirt tracks. Elephants are the park's centrepiece: you find them out in the open on the grassland, large, unhurried and close. The reservoir edges draw further wildlife — jackals, spotted deer, mongoose, crocodiles basking in the shallows — while the skies above reward anyone who looks up, with sea eagles, fishing eagles, crested serpent eagles, Sri Lankan jungle fowl, green pigeons and the Sri Lanka grey hornbill all recorded here. The banks of the reservoir are a reliable gathering point, and the photography from the jeep is exceptional.
Your jeep is entirely private — one to six guests, no strangers sharing the vehicle. Choose a three-, six-, or nine-hour safari to suit your schedule. On tickets: select "Jeep With Tickets" and park entrance fees are included in your booking; select "Jeep With No Tickets" and you purchase them at the gate yourself. For a sharper read on everything you encounter, add an optional naturalist guide on top of your jeep booking. Free pickup and drop-off is available from any location within five kilometres of the park gate. Your driver is also your tracker throughout — Lakpura handles the rest.
