Wild Life & Safaris

Wilpattu National Park

One of the main national parks situated in the North Central Province is the Wilpattu National Park. The Park which was closed for several years owing to the North-East war is now opened to the public and tourists. Wilpattu is the biggest national park in Sri Lanka covering around 500 sq. miles. Around thirty sand rimmed freshwater lakes surrounded by grass and high forest are where the animals and birds are best seen.

Wilpattu is the largest and one of the oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka. Wilpattu is among the top national parks world-renowned for its leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. A remote camera survey was conducted in Wilpattu from July to October 2015 by the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust. A sample of forty nine individual leopards were photo-captured in the surveyed area and the core area density was between that of Yala National Park's Block I and Horton Plains National Park.

There are many Villu (small type of lakes) and lakes at Wilpattu. This is identified as the main topographical feature of the park. They are often flat and basin like while containing purely rain water. Wilpattu national park is the oldest and perhaps the most important protected area in Sri Lanka. It's fauna and flora are representative of the dry lowland zone. It is unfortunate that many species living in the park are threatened species. 


Sources: https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Wilpattu%20National%20Park
         http://www.wilpattunationalpark.com/
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