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Kaudulla National Park

 

Because we were so disappointed with the Yala National Park, Menaka from Off2SriLanka offered us a jeep for a safari tour of the Kaudulla National Park which was a very nice gesture from him.  We paid the entry fee to the park, 2250RP per person and off we went.  After about a half an hour of driving through the park, we finally spotted a herd of Sri Lankan elephants.  They are smaller than African elephants but very impressive nonetheless.  It took us another 15 minutes to get close to their vicinity.  Unfortunately there were too many safari jeeps around and many people didn't respect that we were in the elephant's natural habitat.  Some people were screaming and yelling which was quite disheartening.  Our driver stopped a few metres from a small herd and we started snapping away.  It is very important not to use flash in wildlife photography so as not to spook the animals.  It is well known that in the past they attacked and even killed people that used flash to take photos.

 

 

The leader of the group was wandering around by himself but always kept an eye on females and baby elephants from the distance.

 

At one point he got really angry when some jeeps got too close to the herd and he attacked them.  That scared a few people for sure and they finally realilsed that they are not in a ZOO but these are wild animals.

 

It was an incredible experience and we are very priviledged that we saw these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat.  We only hope that people will behave respectfully when they are around wild animals.

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