Seeing elephants in the wild on safari in Sri Lanka is one of our most memorable experiences! With over 20 national parks, there’s a huge population of these majestic mammals. We believe this is the most ethical way to see animals, instead of visiting them in captivity in tourist attractions like the immoral “sanctuary” Pinnawala. Avoid these and discover our favorite national parks in this complete guide, including ticket prices and the tours we chose.
4 x Best National Parks to See Elephants in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has many national parks where you can spot wild elephants. Even better, with some, you don’t even have to enter the park itself. Near Yala, for example, we saw elephants pass along the main road early in the morning and late in the afternoon!
1. Kaudulla National Park
Kaudulla is Minneriya National Park’s unknown little brother, and perhaps our absolute favorite! This beautiful national park hosts over 250 wild elephants, so the chance of seeing more than five together is really high.
How to visit: We stayed in Sigiriya and joined a 4-hour tour for about 6250 LKR (40 USD) per person, though prices can vary. The tour included a private jeep, hotel pickup, and drop-off. It took us 50 minutes to get from Sigiriya to Kaudulla, making it easy to combine on a 3-week route through Sri Lanka.
We also paid an entrance fee of 2700 LKR (18 USD) per person, in addition to the safari price, to enter Kaudulla National Park.
2. Yala National Park
Yala is Sri Lanka’s most famous park, and we completely understand why! The area covers a large part of the South-East coast, which means there’s a greater chance of spotting elephants in the wild.
Every time we’ve visited, we’ve been lucky enough to see elephants here. Plus, we also saw a leopard once, which was magical (and rare)! Most of the hotels in Yala offer either a private or a group tour.
We spent about 65 USD per person on a guided tour of the park. The price is higher than that of other national parks in Sri Lanka, but we think it’s totally worth it, especially if youโre lucky enough to spot a leopard. See tickets and availability for a safari tour to Yala National Park.
Tip: We’ve also gone glamping in Yala National Park, which is a unique experience we highly recommend doing if you get the chance.
3. Minneriya National Park
Near Kaudulla lies the popular national park of Minneriya. We spotted so many (!) animals here, from wild elephants and leopards to different birds and water buffalo.
The park is especially famous for its ‘elephant gathering‘, an incredible natural phenomenon in which hundreds of elephants gather during the dry season.
On a later trip, we also had the pleasure of witnessing this ourselves, with so many elephants in the wild together! A half-day safari tour through Minneriya NP cost us around 40 USDย each and picked us up from ourย hotel in Sigiriyaย (50 minutes away).
4. Udawalawe National Park
Further south, while staying in Ella, we visited the beautiful Udawalawe National Park. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to see parrots, deer, buffalo, monkeys, and of course, elephants, too. We heard that there are over 400 elephants here!
How to visit: From Ella, we drove 2 hours to Udawalawe; it’s easy to do in a day if you book a tour from your accommodation. Alternatively, book a private driver to take you to the edge of the national park and join your safari from there.
Is Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage Ethical?
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is one of the popular places that advertise themselves as caring for and protecting elephants. There are beautiful photos on social media, and influencers often promote this “sanctuary”. Unfortunately, the reality is very different.
Like many other tourists, we were led to believe that this was an ethical experience, where we’d get to see staff bathing and caring for rescued elephants. However, we couldn’t have been more shocked at what we saw.
The local people walked chained elephants out of town into the river, where they attached them to rings on the rocks. The hope is that tourists won’t see this, as the chains and rings are hidden under the water’s surface at high tide. However, that day was low tide, and we could see everything.
We also noticed that while the staff were washing the elephants, the animals looked extremely scared. We realized that this is because the staff hit them with sticks. Later, they also hung their full body weight on the elephants’ ears to get them to kneel in the water.
So, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is NOT a sanctuary; they have a completely unnecessary breeding program for elephants. Instead of being released into the wild, they are kept to serve as a tourist attraction.
Please, please, please DO NOT support this. You can easily find more evidence of the situation online (like here, and here). Therefore, we urge you to see wild elephants in Sri Lanka on a safari, living and socialising in packs in nature, as they should be.
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This was an insightful read. Will share this with friends who are planning a trip soon.