Yala East (Kumana) National Park

Beautiful, though little visited Yala East is situated on the southeast coast of the island in the Eastern Province. Less well known than its sister, Yala West (Ruhuna) National Park, it is an exciting and diverse place to visit for its main attraction, the Kumana wewa, fed by the Kumbukkan Oya, and its surrounding mangroves that provide an important habitat for many aquatic birds. Even better, it is immune from the crowds that seem to descend on Yala West so that you'll have much of the 18,149 ha to yourself as you wind though the flat terrain dotted with rocky outcrops.

Expect to venture though dry zone tropical thorn forest, saline lagoons, extensive plains, marshy swamps and scrub in search of animals and birds. While herds of elephants are often seen as well as leopards, sloth bears and deer as in Yala West, Yala East is more renowned for being an outstanding location to view large numbers of migratory and aquatic birds, especially in May and June. Your slow safari will sensitively take in common sightings of pelicans, painted storks, spoonbills, the open billed stork, pond heron, moorhen, black-winged stilt and whistling teal in a way that will leave them undisturbed. However, prepare yourself also for the exciting possibility that you may also see the very rare black-necked stork, which is the tallest bird in Sri Lanka.