Enjoy discovering the surprising variety of wildlife to be found across Sri Lanka’s forests, lakes and coast, as we go in search of some of its rarest mammals on this small group tour.
Combining three of the country’s top mammal hotspots with expert guides, this small group tour provides excellent opportunities to see a range of mammals, including many rarely seen species.
Starting in Sri Lanka’s cultural heartland, near the ancient Kandy, we search for giant flying squirrels and golden palm civets in the lush, forested grounds surrounding our lodge. From here, we travel to our second base near the iconic Sigiriya Rock to explore a mosaic of wetlands and dry forest, including a private reserve beside our accommodation that's home to grey slender loris.
We also visit a research site dedicated to the study of the rare Indian (thick-tailed) pangolin. Here, we learn about the conservation work being carried out and, with luck, may enjoy a sighting of this elusive species. On most evenings, we head out with spotlights to explore nearby wetlands and forest habitats in search of more rare mammals including fishing, rusty spotted and jungle cats, small Indian and common palm civets, Indian crested porcupines, and white-spotted chevrotains.
Daytime excursions include tracking a habituated family of endemic purple-faced leaf monkeys, observing a wide range of birdlife, and taking safaris into national parks and reserves that support high densities of Asian elephants.
Our third base is the wonderful Wilpattu National Park. Only reopening to visitors in 2003, this beautiful area of semi evergreen forest is one of Sri Lanka’s largest and oldest protected areas. Taking safaris through this picturesque park hopefully rewards us with sightings of Sri Lanka’s stunning leopards, forest dwelling sloth bears and a great range of other mammals, birds and reptiles. We also take night safaris here to increase our chances of finding rare nocturnal species.
For a different experience, we also enjoy a boat trip offshore from Kalpitiya in search of super pods of spinner dolphins - sometimes hundreds strong - and with luck seek the rare Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin or even a Bryde’s whale.
Typical Itinerary
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Day 1:
Depart UK
Depart the UK on an overnight flight to Colombo.
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Day 2:
Arrive Colombo & Transfer to Kandy
Arrive in Colombo and transfer to our lodge. We spend the afternoon relaxing, with the option to join our first evening night walk in the grounds of the lodge in search of giant flying squirrels and golden palm civets.
Accommodation: Hotel Tree of Life, 2-nights
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Day 3:
Wildlife Watching Around Kandy
This morning we start with a visit to the Udawattakele Forest Reserve, a wonderful tract of rainforest home to a diverse array of wildlife. Some of the highlights include the endemic toque macaque, Indian palm squirrel, and with luck, the shy dusky palm squirrel, which keeps to dense undergrowth. Birdlife is also superb with Layard’s parakeet, Sri Lanka hanging parrot, yellow-fronted and crimson-fronted barbets, and Sri Lanka scimitar babbler. After exploring the forest, we take a short city tour of Kandy, passing notable sites such as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and also visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya, home to one of the largest known roosts of Indian flying foxes in the world.
After lunch, there's time to relax in the tranquil setting of the lodge, before an evening night walk where we hope to watch the giant flying squirrels gliding between the trees and spot the endemic golden palm civet foraging in the canopy.
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Day 4:
Transfer to Sigiriya & Elephant Safari
This morning, we depart the hotel to our next accommodation in the dry zone of Sigiriya. After lunch and some time to settle in, we set off for our first thrilling elephant safari at a nearby reserve such as Hurulu Eco Park. This park is particularly special as it offers excellent grazing habitat for large groups of Asian elephants, including a small number of tuskers and young families. We can enjoy some intimate views of the elephants feeding up close and a range of open country birdlife too.
This evening, after an early dinner, we set off on a transfer of around 50 minutes to a site near a village and forest, where we join a researcher monitoring Indian pangolins. There are no guarantees of a sighting, but with the guidance of the researcher we visit known burrows and foraging areas, giving us the best possible chance of encountering this highly elusive nocturnal mammal.
Accommodation: Hotel Sigiriyaaya, 4-nights
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Day 5:
Kaludiya Pokuna Forest & Night Safaris
This morning, we visit a nearby semi evergreen forest reserve at Kaludiya Pokuna, which is also the site of a research project into the endemic, purple-faced leaf monkey. This is a beautiful area of natural forest, home to a great diversity of wildlife, from spectacular lyre-headed lizards and velvet-fronted nuthatches to dazzling butterflies. During our visit we track a troop of habituated purple-faced leaf monkeys and enjoy learning about the ongoing research of the project.
After an afternoon to rest and enjoy the lodge facilities, we set out on a pre-dinner evening night walk to hopefully enjoy close sightings with the remarkable grey slender loris. After dinner, we embark on a extended night drive in search of some of Sri Lanka’s most charismatic yet rarely seen mammals. High on our list of hopefuls will be fishing cat, jungle cat, small Indian, and common palm civets, Indian crested porcupine, Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain and a whole range of other nocturnal species.
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Day 6:
Minneriya National Park & Night Drive
The morning is free to relax and recover after last night’s late drive. After lunch, we head to Minneriya National Park, one of central Sri Lanka’s largest and most scenic protected areas. The park offers excellent opportunities to see Asian elephants, especially around its open grasslands and reservoir.
Minneriya is also rich in birdlife thanks to its diverse habitats, and we may encounter several other mammals during our visit, including Indian grey mongoose or ruddy mongoose, the grizzled giant squirrel, and our first spotted deer. After dinner back at the lodge, we set out on another late night drive where we hope to encounter fishing, jungle and rusty spotted cats. In addition to mammals, we're likely to encounter nocturnal birds such as Indian and Jerdon’s nightjars, collared scops owl and possibly brown wood owl, as well as reptiles.
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Day 7:
Sigiriya Rock & Night Drive
After our late evening night drives, we have the mornings at leisure to relax, catch up on sleep and take wildlife walks around the nature reserve of our lodge. This afternoon we visit the ancient rock fortress of
Sigiriya. Often described as the UNESCO's eighth wonder of the world, Sigiriya’s ancient stone fortress is a marvel of engineering. We can enjoy walking through the water gardens at the base of the incredible rock, or for those keen, a walk to the top for a spectacular view. The forest and gardens surrounding the iconic rock is remarkably rich in bird diversity, and we may also find the endemic purple-faced leaf monkey here. Later, there's again time to rest, before we set off in search of nocturnal mammals once darkness falls.
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Day 8:
Transfer to Wilpattu National Park
Today we transfer around three hours to the west, stopping en route at the ancient city of Anuradhapura. Here we take in a few of its historical highlights and visit an impressive colony of Leschenault’s rousette fruit bats. By lunchtime we arrive at our base for the next five nights, on the edge of Wilpattu National Park.
One of the island's oldest and largest protected areas, the name means; land of the lakes, due to the presence of many natural water bodies that have formed around the park’s limestone depressions. The park is home to a host of wildlife and spotted and sambar deer, Indian muntjac, water buffalo and black-naped hares are all common. With patience, we hope to enjoy sightings of the park’s many leopards and sloth bears, and enjoy its diverse birdlife and wide range of reptiles. After settling in at our lodge, we head into Wilpattu National Park for a late afternoon safari. Our location provides us excellent access to the Wilpattu ecosystem in addition to the rice paddies and scrub that borders the park.
Exploring the dappled forests of Wilpattu we have good chances of encountering Sri Lanka’s apex predator, the beautiful Sri Lankan leopard and with more luck the shy sloth bear.
After dinner, we can again venture out after dark, when a variety of nocturnal species may also be seen, even very close to our lodge. Such enigmatic species as fishing, rusty-spotted and jungle cats and small Indian civet as well as some interesting reptiles are all possibilities.
Accommodation: Claughton Wild, 5-nights
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Days 9-12
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Safaris in Wilpattu National Park & Nights Drives in the Buffer Zone
Over the next four days, we can enjoy morning and afternoon safaris (sometimes a full day or a half day with either a packed breakfast and lunch) in Wilpattu National Park, which gives us the greatest opportunity to track down its most elusive mammal residents. Wilpattu is thought to support one of the most concentrated densities of leopards in the world and as the apex predator on the island, they're both bolder and often active throughout the day, here as the dense canopy keeps the forest floor cooler.
In the evenings we also focus our time on known sloth bear territories, hoping for a memorable sighting of one of these distinctive bears. During our evenings, we always have the option of night drives to further our chances of finding nocturnal species, although with some early starts some days, we may make fewer night drives here.
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Day 13:
Kalpitiya Dolphin Watch
Early this morning, we drive to the coast where we first set off on small, motorised boats into the sheltered waters of the Kalpitiya Lagoon. These shallow, sheltered waters are home to the shy and threatened Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. After crossing the lagoon, we have a change of boats on the sandy peninsula and then set off into the deep-water channel that runs past the peninsula. This is an excellent location to encounter some super pods of the wonderful long-snouted spinner dolphin, often seen as the name suggests, leaping and spinning high out of the water. Some of these pods can be several hundred strong, sometimes up to a thousand individuals even.
A variety of seabirds, white-bellied sea eagles and migrant waders may also be encountered as we return along the coast to our lodge in Wilpattu where we have some time to relax, before the option of a final night drive to spot wildlife, including the rare nocturnal species close to our lodge.
After lunch at a beachside resort, we then begin the drive back to Negomobo for our final night by the beach.
Accommodation: Jetwing Lagoon, 1-night
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Day 14:
Departure & Arrive UK
At the end of our time in Sri Lanka, we transfer to the airport to take our flight back to the UK.
