Lunugamvehera National Park

One of the main factors of attraction of the Lunugamvehera National Park is the easily possible sightings of the glorious Sri Lanka elephant. For many tourists, especially from the corners of the world where elephant are not found in their natural habitat, the Lunugamvehera National Park is ideal as it provides one of the best ways by which elephants, some with large tusks, can be viewed.

             These herds of elephants are seen when they move or migrate to and from the Yala National Park and the Udawalawe National Park, two of the most famous wildlife sanctuaries to spot elephants in South Asia. The Lunugamvehera National Park is based on the Lunugamvehera water reservoir, or more specifically, the ‘catchment area’ of the Lunugamvehera Reservoir. Therefore there are dozens and dozens of water birds in this particular wildlife sanctuary, and despite not popular for its birds as the Kumana National Park is, the Lunugamvehera National Park is a paradise for bird watchers.

            The area of the Lunugamvehera National Park is just under 60,000 acres and therefore it is one of the largest in Sri Lanka. A ride of over six hours is required to reach the Lunugamvehera National Park as it is located over 260 kilometres from Colombo, and almost 300 kilometres from the international airport in Katunayake. The Yala National Park, the Udawalawe National Park, and the Bundala National Park are all situated close by to the Lunugamvehera National Park. Declared a national park in 1995, the Lunugamvehera National Park is one of the most recent to be turned in to a national park. The vegetation of the Lunugamvehera National Park includes forests, grasslands, and scrublands which has led to a large diversity of wildlife.

           The presence of water bodies in the park as made it popular among nearly 200 different species of birds, some of endemic to Sri Lanka and South Asia.