Sri Lanka Southern Wildlife Experience

You will be collected early from your hotel and driven to the Elephant Transit Home in Udawalawe, where injured elephants from across Sri Lanka are cared for. We spend around three hours here before continuing to Tissamaharama for lunch, which is included.

After lunch, we embark on a safari in Yala National Park, the country’s most visited reserve. As we enter through the park’s grand gates, you’ll experience the rugged terrain and winding tracks that reveal a landscape once home to ancient Sri Lankan kingdoms. The safari offers an exciting chance to observe wildlife in their natural environment under the tropical sun. After the safari, we transfer to your hotel in Tissamaharama for an overnight stay.

Please note: You can choose to begin this tour from Negombo instead of Bentota, if preferred. Please contact us for this!

After breakfast, we travel to Galle for a two-hour city tour of this UNESCO World Heritage site. Stroll through the Dutch Fort’s streets, where European architecture blends with South Asian influences, reflecting over three and a half centuries of history. We walk clockwise around the ramparts, passing the old gate adorned with the British coat of arms, the Zwart Bastion, and the 18-foot lighthouse beside Point Utrecht Bastion. The fort’s rectangular grid layout features houses with Dutch colonial verandas. We visit the Dutch Hospital Shopping Complex, offering a variety of souvenirs, while noting that the fort remains a vibrant community with administrative offices, courts, churches and local life. After the tour, we enjoy lunch at a local restaurant in Galle (included).

Later, we proceed to Balapitiya for a three-hour boat ride on the Madu River, a rich mangrove ecosystem. The boat tour provides a close look at diverse plant and animal species in their natural surroundings. We visit an island with a Buddhist monastery, where young monks share a 150-year-old palm-leaf manuscript and demonstrate traditional cooking over a cinnamon wood fire. After the tour, we return to your beach hotel for the evening (accommodation is not included tonight).