About this experience
Board a private 4x4 safari jeep — seating up to six passengers — and head into Udawalawe National Park with an experienced driver-tracker at the wheel. Over seven hours you scan 30,821 hectares of tropical wilderness for the park's celebrated elephant herds, including playful calves at the water's edge. Keep your eyes open for water buffalo, spotted deer, sambar, wild boar, mongoose, the endemic Toque Macaque, and a roll-call of birds from Sri Lanka grey hornbill to spot-billed pelican. Water is provided, and Lakpura arranges complimentary pickup and drop-off within 5 km of the park gate.
The tour also includes a visit to the Elephant Transit Home, a sanctuary on Udawalawe's western border that rehabilitates orphaned elephant calves before releasing them back into the wild. You attend the 12 noon milk-feeding session, watching keepers bottle-feed calves whose entrance ticket is already covered. Feeding happens every three hours, 365 days a year, and the midday session gives you a front-row view of the calves' energy and appetite before the afternoon drive wraps up your wildlife-packed day.
