It was an easy journey on a highway bus, then local bus from Galle, to reach Udawalawa village nearby the national park, which took less than 2 hours.

It was very easy to arrange a jeep safari with the guesthouse we opted for a half day safari that cost around U.S.$74 per person. This was perhaps not the cheapest, as four hour jerp safaris are available.

It was an early start to see sunrise, but it was worth it as the first photo shows. We then continued into the park in our jeep for the morning.

It did not take long for us to spot some elephants and over the course of the morning we probably saw more than 20, which was amazing.

The birdwatching was also fantastic in the national park with us spotting the following: parakeets, bee-eaters, kingfishers, hornbills, crested hawk eagles, and peacocks.

The elephants did get pretty close to the jeep at times, as I guess they are used to them being in the national park. It was a highlight of my time in Sri Lanka, this safari with getting to see a lot of wildlife on the day.

We stayed in the nearby village where there are some cute hut style guesthouses available, with nice home cooked meals too.