Udawalawe

This national park was created to protect the wild life displaced by the Udawalawe reservoir to protect the displaced wildlife as well as the catchment reserve .It is an important sanctuary for the many herds of elephant that live around the river and the catchment basin. One of its most popular features is the Elephant transit home, where abandoned Elephant calves are rehabilitated and released to the wild. The daily feeding ritual with elephant calves from the surrounding park, who  come for the twice daily offering of milk, is a sight to behold, and gives one a feeling of joy. The Safaris are conducted by experienced guides and the park is also important for its diverse ecological features, with the ghostly figures of dead trees stranded in the middle of the reservoir giving evidence of where the forest once stood. Its waters are teeming with fish, and swamps are alive with other amphibious creatures. The park is visited by the leopard and sloth bear, and deer and sambhur roam freely in the open scrubland jungles. Herds of wild pig and flocks of peacock populate the park as well as several species of endemic and migratory birds. Butterflies and other invertebrate species proliferate and the elephant herds congregate in open grassland areas .A visit that would thrill any nature lover.