Tag 32+33: Udawalawe, Sri Lanka - Safari through Udawalawa National Park

After spending the last few days at the beach, on day 32 we continued inland to Udawalawe by bus. The transportation network is relatively well-developed, so it took us about 2 hours to reach our next accommodation.

Here we were kindly advised and booked a safari in Udawalawe National Park for the next day. This park is especially known for the many elephants that call it home. One thing we liked about this tour was that the animals do not live in captivity and are not cramped together in a small space, as is often reported on other tours.

After a small cockroach incident in the evening and a short night, we set off at 5:30 am. We were picked up in a 4x4 vehicle and headed to the entrance where we had to buy tickets. We started early in the morning to avoid the long queue at the entrance.

While we were waiting, our time was made pleasant as we could admire the sunrise over the trees and bushes shrouded in fog.

And then it started. We encountered a variety of animals. Starting with various birds, crocodiles, lizards, and the absolute highlight: elephants!

Unfortunately, our mobile cameras could not capture even a fraction of what we could see, but here are a few attempts: