About this experience
This private full-day trip takes you from Galle to Bundala National Park on the south coast, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, an Important Bird Area designated by BirdLife International and the very first Ramsar wetland site in Sri Lanka. You travel in an air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking driver, and a safari jeep takes you into the park. Children aged five and over are welcome.
Your driver picks you up from your hotel in Galle at 10 am and you reach Bundala at around 2.30 pm, where you meet your jeep for a three-hour safari. The park has a low-country dry-zone climate and five saltwater lagoons, and is home to many kinds of plants, a large share of them aquatic.
Bundala records some 324 animal species. Small herds of elephants roam the park, and you may also see langurs, pangolins, barking deer, sambar and other deer, wild boar, rusty-spotted cats, black-naped hares and jackals. The park is known for its crocodiles, and both of Sri Lanka's species live here, the freshwater mugger and the estuarine crocodile. Other reptiles include tortoises and many snakes, among them the flying snake, and all five globally endangered sea turtle species that nest in Sri Lanka come ashore on this coast.
At the peak of the migration almost 200 bird species gather here, including thousands of greater flamingos escaping the northern winter. Look out for cormorants, ducks such as the lesser whistling duck and the garganey, spoonbills, painted and black-necked storks, and Eurasian coots. After the safari you return to your vehicle and are back in Galle at around 9 pm.
The price covers hotel pick-up and drop-off, transport, your driver and the safari jeep. Park entrance tickets are included only in the option with tickets. Food and drinks, personal expenses and gratuities are not included.
