The Ultimate Udawalawe National Park
Safari Guide

Udawalawe was declared a national park on 30 June 1972, under Government Gazette Notification No. 14 — established at the close of the Udawalawe Reservoir Development project to protect the reservoir’s catchment and give displaced elephants a refuge. A second reservoir, Mau Ara Tank, was added inside the park between 1991 and 1998.

The park sits in a strategic corridor position, linking Lunugamvehera National Park to the southeast with Kalthota, the Bogahapattiya pond reserve, Koslanda, and Haldummulla to the north. It spans a total gazetted extent of 32,315 ha, including the 3,405 ha Udawalawe Reservoir. The western half, on the reservoir’s left bank, falls within Ratnapura District; the eastern sector on the right bank lies in Moneragala District. The Udawalawe–Thanamalvila road marks the southern boundary, beyond which lies the Sevanagala sugar plantation.

Landscape and Geology

The park encloses the drainage basins of the Walawe River and Mau Ara, forming an undulating plain around 100m in elevation that rises to 373m at the Ulgala foothills in the west. The Kalthota Escarpment to the north is its most striking physical feature. Much of the park lies within the Vijayan Series of pre-Cambrian crystalline rock, with extensive gneiss and granite exposed in the northwest and east.

Climate

Lying in the Dry Zone, Udawalawe sees uniformly high temperatures and seasonal rainfall — around 1,500mm annually, peaking with the Southwest Monsoon (April–May) and Northeast Monsoon (October–November). Mean annual temperature hovers near 32°C, with daytime humidity ranging from 61% to 94%.

Vegetation

Once over 80% forested in 1956, land clearance for chena cultivation and reservoir construction had reduced forest cover to just 4% by the park’s establishment in 1972. Today’s landscape is a mosaic of Dry-Mixed Evergreen Forest, Riverine Forest along the Walawe River, scrub (over 50% of the park), and grassland (nearly 32%) — much of it regenerated from abandoned chena land and now dominated by Guinea grass. A 2006–07 biodiversity survey recorded 218 vascular plant species, nine of them endemic.

Wildlife

Udawalawe is best known for its large, easily viewed Asian Elephant population, especially across its open grasslands. Beyond elephants, the park supports 42 mammal species (six endemic), 225 recorded bird species (four endemic, including the critically endangered Rock Pigeon), 26 reptile species (eight endemic), 15 amphibian species, and a rich freshwater fish assemblage of 25 species. It is also considered one of the best places in Sri Lanka to spot the elusive Jungle Cat.