Location
When I was in Sri Lanka I visited Bundala national park in the south of Sri Lanka. I have attached a map for you to see where it is located comparing to where the capital Colombo is. There is a highway from Colombo all the way to Matara. It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to reach there. From Matara it does not take very long to reach Bundala.
Bundala is located in south of Sri Lanka
This place is great for bird watching. If you are a wildlife photographer you will find lots of animals to take pictures of. The nature is nice with lots of lakes and greenery.This park is near to Yala national park which is more famous and bigger. Although Bundala have it’s own charm to it.
It was in the afternoon that I arrived there and we headed out on a safari in a jeep. The first thing we saw was these monkeys. They are grey langurs. They were not bothered that we drove by them. They were very calmly eating the leaves on the bushes and trees.
Bundala national park is a bird sanctuary and you get a wide range of birds here. There are about 197 species here. The most common birds you will see are the birds below.
Intermediate Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Little purple swamphen
Grey-headed fish-eagle
Painted stork
Even though Yala National park is more popular I think I prefer Bundala park. The reason is because when I was visiting it was basically only we there. No other jeeps were there. It gave the animals a chance to breath out and not fly away or run away.
We got so close to the animals. I got to see an elephant in close encounter, it were almost going to attack even. It was only trying to scare us a little. That is the fault of the driver. Because the driver of the jeep do not know the boundaries sometimes and they need to keep a distance to not risk anything for the customers they are driving. Below is the pictures of the elephants we saw.
Face to face with a elephant
Close-up of a elephant from Bundala
Elephant enjoying a bath
Bundala is known for having lots of birds but there are other animals as well. For example this crocodile which was laying very close to the road.
Look what I found
Smile!
After a whole afternoon in the park I got lots of photos of wild animals. The best thing about having your own driver and jeep is that you can decide when you want to take the safari. You do not have to limit your visit to only morning or afternoon safari. We came there at around 1 or 2 pm. I was very happy with the results and I can really recommend this park. It is a good alternative or addition to Yala. I visited both Yala and this park and I can tell you that I saw more animals here than in Yala. The birds are very interesting here.
Sunset in Bundala National Park
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Categories: Sri Lanka
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