About this experience
Wasgamuwa National Park sits apart from Sri Lanka's more crowded safari circuits, a stretch of dry tropical forest and open grassland bordered by the Mahaweli and Amban Ganga rivers. This day tour collects you from your hotel in Dambulla and takes you there in an air-conditioned private vehicle, swapping to an open safari jeep once inside the park, with an English-speaking driver who doubles as your tracker for the drive.
The park takes its name from the Sinhala "Walas Gamuwa", the sloth bear's forest, and the animal still moves through its undergrowth along with leopard, golden jackal, water buffalo, wild boar, several species of deer and the elusive fishing cat. It is best known, though, for its elephants, which gather here in sizeable herds, their numbers drawn to the pools, marshes and riverine grassland that make up much of the park's roughly 39,000 hectares. Purple-faced langur and toque macaque move through the canopy, and birdwatchers have recorded well over a hundred species within the park's boundaries, alongside water monitor, crocodile and python around the smaller pools.
Established as a national park in 1984 to shelter wildlife displaced by the Mahaweli Development Project, Wasgamuwa has kept a quieter, less developed character than its neighbours, with hilly forested ridges giving way to open illuk grass plains in the south-east. The terrain and the tree cover change the texture of a game drive here: long views across grassland alternate with narrower forest tracks where sightings come suddenly, and the pools scattered through the park draw animals into the open for clearer viewing and photography.
This is a private safari rather than a shared one, run over seven hours, with your transport, jeep safari, driver and a bottle of water per person included. Entrance tickets to the park, food and drinks, gratuities and personal expenses are not included, so plan for those separately. Comfortable walking shoes and a hat are worth having for the day, and travellers should be at least five years old to join.
