Yala National Park Morning Safari
In this article, we will share with you our experience in the Yala National Park and more particularly, the Yala National Park Morning Safari.
After lots of consideration between, the morning, the afternoon and the whole day safari, we opted for the morning as it was the one that sounded best and would provide us with the most chances of seeing animals and wildlife.
And we chosed well, we saw most of the big one, leopard, sloth bear, elephants and so much more.
In this article, we will tell our Yala National Park Morning Safari story. So, if you too are planning a trip to Sri Lanka and to Yala National Park, then let ‘s dive in this Yala National Park Morning Safari article.
Here is our complete video from this trip :
Table of Contents
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Cost & Safaris
As mentioned above, there are 3 types of safaris:
- Morning: starts at 4:30am, ends at 12:00pm. Cost 55 USD per person for a 6pax shared jeep with breakfast, VAT, water, and the entrance ticket.
- Afternoon: starts at 1:30am, ends at 6:00pm. Cost 83 USD per person or 140 USD for two for a private jeep with snacks, VAT, water, and the entrance ticket. Afternoon safaris are less crowded and where we book it wasn’t possible to have a shared jeep.
- Full day: starts at 4:30am, ends at 6:00pm. Cost 75 USD per person for a 6pax shared jeep with breakfast, lunch, VAT, water, and the entrance ticket.
We personnaly booked the safari through our accommodation in Tissa.
Where to Stay
Our favourite accommodation in Tissa
Best time to Visit
Yala national Park can be visited throughout the year. However the best time to visit Yala National Park is from February to June during the dry season. At that time, there is less water in the ponds making it easier to spot animals coming out to drink. The peak season for leopards is February and March.
About Yala National Park
The park consists of five blocks, three of which are now open to the public. There are also two adjoining parks, Kumana National Park or ‘Yala East’ and Lunugamvehera National Park. The blocks have individual names, such as Palatupana (Block 1).
We went to the block 1 which is the most visited one as it is where you can see most of the animal at the time we went there. Beforehand we didn’t know that. Our jeep actually went there without ever mentioning it.
Animals in Yala National Park
The vast reserve – with lowland woodland, grassland, lakes and lagoons is home to 44 mammal species and 215 bird species. The big animals of the park are
- Sri Lankan Leopard (50% chance of sight)
- Sloth bear (20% to 30% chance of sight)
- Sri-Lanka Elephants (almost 100%)
- Wild water buffalo (almost 100%)
- Wild dears (almost 100%)
- Peacocks (almost 100%)
- Mongoose (almost 100%)
- Wild boar (almost 100%)
- Bonus one: The crocodite: The one we didn’t see
How to get to Yala National Park
To get to Tissa or Tissamaharana (the town next to Yala National Park) our hotel organized a driver to pick us up in Ella in the afternoon. We arrived at the end of the day and checked in at “La Safari Inn”. We opted for that hotel as it had really good reviews, both for the hotel and the safari.
In bonus, the room price was also great as we were looking for something not too expensive as we would barely be staying one night there, as our safari starts at 4h30am.
Once settled in, we went around Tissa, there wasn’t much to do but saw the Yatala stupa and the Fruit bats viewpoint.
After that, we hanged around and headed to Smoky kitchen for diner which had nice vibes and it was so cool to see them cook in the old pots.
On the way back to our accommodation, we got a bit lost. After dealing with a young and friendly dog that wanted to play, we headed up in a dead-end and had to walk all the way back and around.
What an adventure! And how hot it was! But we got to see so many fireflies which was beautiful
Safari – Step by Step
Picking up
That morning we were with a cool crowd of 3 other people. Once everyone on board, we drove until the ticket office of Yala national park.
There we waited in the jeep while the driver got our tickets and then went to the main gate that was still closed when we arrived. The Yala national park opens at 6am.
Slowly, the sun raised, and the park opened. We were some of the first to enter it that day.
Sloth bear
We right away started spotting some of the common animals and birds of the park. However, we quickly got lucky and saw a sloth bear which is one of the rarest animals to see.
Leopard
We then continued around the park, and not too long after we spotted a leopard, unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to record it. We then spent some time around the area where we spotted the leopard, trying to see him again but it didn’t happen. At least we saw lots of beautiful birds
Rest of the morning
We then continued exploring the park where we saw peacocks, moongose, monkeys, buffalos, deers. And right before lunch, Elephants. That was amazing, they were so closed and even had babies with them.
Breakfast
It was then time for breakfast (around 9am), for that we went to the Patanangala beach within Yala national park.
The place had toilets, sinks and even soap. It felt great cleaning the dust off our skin. Breakfast was super yummy, Sri Lankan and vegetarian.
Plus, we had a nice view of the beach.
End of morning
It was then time to continue with safari. The rest of the morning was also great, and we kept seeing animals in a a lushy and breathtaking landscape.
And slowly the morning was ending, and it was time to leave Yala national park. So, to sum up, we took the morning Safari which started at 4h30am and ended around noon. The cost for it was around 115 euro for two.
We loved it and found that it was totally worth it
Once back in our accommodation, we left for our next stop, Mirissa.
It is not the destination where you end up but the mishaps and memories you create along the way
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Why pin one by one when you can get them all at once? With this map, you get all our pins, destinations, things to see, where to eat and sleep, and so much more in one time.
