About this experience
Bundala National Park sits on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, near Hambantota, a stretch of brackish lagoons, salt marsh and scrubland that was the country's first Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance. The shared safari takes you into this landscape in an open-sided 4WD jeep, riding alongside other travellers on the same tracks that cut through grassland, dune and water's edge where elephants, birds and butterflies go about their day largely undisturbed by the vehicle's presence.
The park's four lagoons - Koholankala, Malala, Embilikala and Bundala - draw one of the richest concentrations of water birds anywhere in the country, with close to two hundred species recorded, including the greater flamingo that has become the park's signature sighting. Expect herons, storks and ibis working the shallows, swamphens picking through the reeds, and if the water and season cooperate, an elephant wading between the dead tree stumps that stand out of the lagoons like old pier posts. Bring binoculars and a camera with some reach, since much of what makes Bundala worth the drive is happening at a distance, in the water or the grass rather than beside the track.
This is a shared departure, so you will be riding with other guests in the same open-top jeep rather than a private vehicle, moving at the pace the guide and the wildlife set between them. The driver doubles as your tracker, reading the terrain and the behaviour of the animals to decide where to stop and wait. Water is provided along the way, and the safari is built around a single pass through the park rather than a long expedition, which keeps the experience focused on looking and listening rather than covering ground.
Bundala was first protected as a wildlife sanctuary in 1969 and became a full national park in 1993, and in 2005 it was recognised as a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve, one of only a handful in the country. Beneath the bird life the park holds a genuinely varied terrain - dry thorny scrub, arid forest, sand dune, salt marsh and mangrove - which is part of why the species list runs so long, from plants and mammals down to reptiles and amphibians sharing the same stretch of coast. The meeting point for the safari is the park gate itself, where your jeep and guide will be waiting before you head in.
