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| Minneriya National Park - Why Visit Sri Lanka if you will not watch some Elephants? |
Frankly, when I was planning my trip to Sri Lanka, the first
thing I searched for was where to best see some elephants! There were a couple
of places that popped out from my research. First of course, the famous
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on the way from Colombo to Kandy. Well, this to me
stood out as a touristy thing to do, because it is right in the middle of two
popular cities and hence easy for tour companies to take you here. However, on
probing more, I found these are actually chained and tortured animals! Well, I was
not going to be a part of THAT!
So I kept looking. The second place that popped up was the
Yala National Park. Now, this is a national park. Elephants are probably not
the only animals you would see here, but you would definitely spot some. And if
you are lucky you could spot a leopard too! Well, I am all for wildlife, so kept
this option open and decided to search a little more.
It is then that Minneriya National Park came to my notice.
The pictures, with its beautiful large lake and herds of elephants happily
munching on the green grass and some drinking water from the lake, instantly
stole my heart. And although having to visit this place meant taking a slight
detour from the central and southern part of Sri Lanka (which is the popular
route most tourists would take) and 2 additional days into our itinerary, I just
could not give this place up. Because who knows when I will get a chance to
visit this country again!
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| How Gorgeous do The Clouds Look - Minneriya National Park |
About the Park
So the park is centered around a huge lake, which also
happens to be the primary water source for animals inside – primarily some
birds, monitor lizards, cranes, wild buffaloes, and of course some magnificent
elephants! These come out into the lake in the mornings and the evenings,
probably to just chill? And eat and drink. And that is the best way to spot
them!
Where to Stay
Well, if you want to visit Minneriya National Park, you
could stay in a homestay or a hotel in the Sigiriya area or Habarana. The
number of homestays are enormous, but the number of hotels aren’t too many. Per
night stay should cost you LKR 2000-4000 for homestays and LKR 10,000 – 15,000
for hotels. There is a Cinnamon lodge, a very poplar hotel chain in Habarana as
well.
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| The Cutest Animal Family Ever! Shot at Minneriya National Park, Sri Lanka |
Other nearby places
to visit
Well, if you come to this place, you should make good use of
this time to visit a few of the nearby places as well. The first and most important
being the Sigiriya Lion Rock. It is actually a Unesco declared World Heritage
Site and has a lot of history associated with it. It looks like the sets of
Bahubali to me :P So historic and ancient!
There are also the Dambulla cave temples and the Habarana
lake, which is not as commercialized. The ancient ruins of Pollonaruwa is about
60 Km from here and is a day trip away from here. So if you have some time, keep
a day aside to check the ruin out here.
Entry Fees
Price to enter per person is about LKR 3,100. You cannot go
inside without a jeep, so be prepared to pay LKR 4,000 for a jeep safari as
well. Yeah, this place is not for the frugal. The good news though is that the
jeeps are charged per vehicle and not
per person, letting you achieve some economies of scale. If you are not in a
group, reach the place early and you will be able to partner with another
couple to split the costs of the jeep!
Best time of Day to
visit
Well, they have jeep safari s running one in the morning 7:00 AM and other in the afternoon 3:30 PM. I
personally visited in the afternoon, and absolutely loved the sunset colors and
the weather. Plus, I feel there are more elephants in the afternoon. Although,
if you are a morning person, you could go for the morning tour as well. I am
definitely not, and hence, morning was not even an option for me!
All About the Tour
The park can be explored in Jeep Safaris and the tour takes
about 2-2.5 hours. Usually the jeep would take you through a bumpy road deep
into the forest where all of a sudden it opens up into a large open space. By
now you will start to notice a huge water body and dots of animals, which, upon
driving closer would make you realize are herds of elephants. You cannot get
down from the jeep but sit in and soak in the peace and serenity of the place,
click loads of pictures. Good thing is the jeeps are open. So you can stand up
and get an unobstructed view.
May be after 30-40 mins of elephant watching, the jeep will
take you even further, to spot some more animals, and then on the way back,
make a stop at the Watch Tower. The view from here is notmuch different from
what you would have already witnessed, so you can totally give the Watch Tower
a miss, especially if you don’t like climbing.
So these are some of my tips and tricks to witness the
magnificent Sri Lankan elephants in their natural habitat. I personaly am glad I
added 2 days to my itinerary to visit this park, because it was worth every
penny and every bit of struggle. I mean we visited the park on the day we
landed after not sleeping overnight, but just the sight of these content animals
surrounded by greenery made my entire Sri Lanka trip worth it. Definitely the
highlight of our 10 days in Sri Lanka!
To take a look at our detailed itinerary, click here.
And to know a few more general Sri Lanka tips and tricks
click here.
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and I will
be more than happy to answer!
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