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Observing Wild Elephants at Eco-park Sigiriya

Sanjeewa Padmal (Seerendipity)
Minneriya National Park Safari, 4 Sri Lanka wildlife safari/s in a single circuit, Sri Lanka safari tours

Eco park Sigiriya is an unpopular wildlife reserve for safari tours in the central province of Sri Lanka, which is located near Habarana junction as you drive in the direction of Trincomalee. One can reach Habarana easily along the A6 (Colombo-Trincomalee) main road. It takes nearly four hours for the journey from Colombo and the distance to cover is about 180 km.

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Eco park Sigiriya

Eco park Sigiriya is an unpopular wildlife reserve for safari tours in the central province of Sri Lanka, which is located near Habarana junction as you drive in the direction of Trincomalee. One can reach Habarana easily along the A6 (Colombo-Trincomalee) main road. It takes nearly four hours for the journey from Colombo and the distance to cover is about 180 km.

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What is Eco park Sigiriya?

Exploring wildlife is one of the most interesting activities among travellers of Sri Lanka and wildlife tours are a hot topic in Sri Lanka. As a Sri Lanka tour operator, we receive a large number of inquiries for Sri Lanka wildlife trips from foreign travellers. Perhaps Sri Lanka is not a big player in wildlife tours like Kenya, but there is an interesting collection of wildlife in Sri Lankan jungles.

There are many places for wildlife tours in Sri Lanka such as eco-park, Minneriya national park, and Udawalawe national park. But Yala national park is superior to all national parks in Sri Lanka for safari tours, which sit in the deep south of Sri Lanka.

Eco park Sigiriya is also known as “Hurulu park“, “Sigiriya wildlife reserve” or “Habarana national park” is a wildlife reserve located near Habarana on the A9 road. Eco park Sigiriya is a biosphere reserve since January 1977. The wildlife reserve is a habitat for a large number of wild elephants and therefore, the eco-park is one of the best places to spot wild elephants in Sri Lanka. Sigiriya eco park represents Sri Lanka’s dry-zone evergreen forests.

What is the importance of an eco-park?

Eco-park is considered to be one of the most important habitats for wild elephants, hence it is one of the best places for Sri Lanka elephant safari. Eco-park along with several other national parks ( Ritigala strict nature reserve, Mahaweli flood plains nature reserves, Wasgamuwa National Park, and Kahalla-Pallekele sanctuary ) creates a network of wildlife reserves and makes a large extent of habitat for the wild elephant in the north-central province of Sri Lanka.

Why choose the eco-park for the Sri Lanka safari?

Eco-park is one of the best places for a safari in Sri Lanka, which enables you to spot a large number of wild elephants. Eco-park takes the attention of travellers during the rainy season in the dry zone, during which popular wildlife parks such as Minneriya and Kauduall come underwater, due to the fact most wild animals living in those national parks move to Eco-park as it remains dry even during the heavy rain. Moreover, the eco-park also provides an ample amount of food for the wild jumbos.

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Eco-park Sigiriya is categorized as a dry zone forest similar to Minneriya and Kaudulla national parks. All 3 national parks (Kaudulla, Minneriya, and Eco-park Sigiriya) are located within easy reach of Sigiriya and Habarana. Therefore these national parks are most visited by travellers, who come to visit the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka.

Eco-park Sigiriya best alternative to Minneriya national park

Eco-park Sigiriya is a good alternative for Minneriya and Kaudulla national parks. Especially during the rainy season, a large portion of Minneriya national park is flooded and visitors have to find other alternatives, due to the unsuitable muddy surface to travel in the park.

Eco-park is the best alternative national park in a situation like this. Eco-park is located in between the national parks of Minneriya and Kaudulla, therefore elephants and other animals also migrate to Eco-park, which rarely comes underwater, when other nearby two national parks are heavily flooded.

Unlike most national parks in the country, at Eco-park, travellers can’t see the water resources such as lakes and tanks, where the animals gather most. Maybe that is the reason, why the visitors have a very meagre chance of seeing animals other than elephants here.

Flora of Eco park Sigiriya

The Sigiriya eco-park is a well well-grown grassland with shrubs and occasional big trees native to the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The grass can grow up to a few meters while thick shrubs are also well grown. The elephants are fed on these grass and the shrubs. Therefore wild elephants are roaming in the area very often due to the abundance of food. A similar kind of vegetation also can be seen in Udawalawe national park in the western province of Sri Lanka, which is also popular for spotting elephants.

National parks such as Yala have a large number of lakes and waterholes within their borders and those water holes are the best spots for witnessing the animals, as animals gather in those places in search of water.

At Eco-park, there is no water accumulating places other than the stream that flows through the national park. The most valuable reward for the visitors of Eco-park is the opportunity to spot large herds of wild elephants and beautiful vegetation.

The unavailability of water holes such as lakes has resulted from its elevation, the eco-park is located well above the adjoining national parks. Therefore it is not coming under the water even in the worst flood.

When is the best season to visit the eco-park?

If you go to Sigiriya during the rainy season it is recommended to venture on a safari at the eco-park Sigiriya instead of Minneriyna national park or Kaudulla national park. During the rainy season, a muddy surface resulted from the retention of water in a large part of Minneriya and Kaudulla national parks. Therefore the wild animals of Kaudulla and Minneriya migrate to the nearby Eco part, which has a dry surface.

One needs to have a four-wheel-drive cab with plenty of ground clearance in order to travel in the park. Unlike Minneriya and Kaudulla, Eco-park has a very rugged terrain and is difficult to travel. The muddy surface in some areas must be dealt with care due to the slippery condition.

Eco-park Sigiriya- a place to see large elephant gatherings

Eco-park is the most popular spot for wild elephants. It is possible to witness more than several hundred wild elephants in a 2 hours safari at the park. The vegetation at Eco-park Sigiriya can be described as very suitable for elephants. It mainly consists of various types of grass and bushes providing an ample amount of food for hungry jumbos. Due to a very suitable living habitat for elephants, it is inhabited by a large number of big elephant herds. The vegetation at the eco-park can be described as dry-zone forest vegetation.

Eco-park is relatively smaller than the other nearby national parks of Kaudulla and Minneriya. Eco-park is 25800 hectares in extent.  Leopard, bear, various species of deer, crocodile, monkey, and several species of birds are the other most seeing animals here.

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