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 the country’s top mammal hotspots with excellent accommodation and expert wildlife guides, this group tour provides excellent opportunities to see a great range of mammals, including many rarely seen species.
Starting in Sri Lanka’s cultural heartland, near the ancient Sigiriya rock, we explore the mosaic of wetlands and forest, right within our lodge’s very own private reserve. Home to a special grey slender loris reserve and with territories of fishing, jungle and rusty spotted cats as well as small Indian, palm and golden civets, Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain, crested porcupines and even a few Indian pangolins all found in the area, we have plenty of potential for our evening excursions.
During the day, we can enjoy intimate encounters with the endemic primates, a wide range of birdlife, visits to historic sites and at Kalawewa National Park, hopefully large numbers of Asian elephant including rare tuskers.
Our second 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 will hopefully reward us with sightings of Sri Lanka’s stunning leopards, forest dwelling sloth bears and a great range of other mammals, birds and reptiles. We again also take night safaris here to increase our chances of finding many 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 seek the rare Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.
Typical Itinerary
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Day 1:
Depart UK
Depart the UK on an overnight flight to Colombo via Dubai.
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Day 2:
Arrive Colombo
Arrive in Colombo and transfer to our lodge. Spend the afternoon relaxing, with the option to join our first evening night walk in the grounds of the lodge.
Accommodation: Jetwing Vil Uyana, 5-nights
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Day 3:
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 and wildlife within the grounds, 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 an 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, common and golden palm civets, Indian crested porcupine, Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain and a whole range of other nocturnal species.
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Day 4:
Explore the Sigiriya area
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 and enjoy the tranquil nature of our accommodation, before we set off in search of nocturnal mammals once darkness falls. We could perhaps start with a search for slender loris, cats, civets and even the tiny chevrotain deer within the grounds of the lodge, but also venture out on night drives within the local area.
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Days 5-6
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Kalawewa National Park & night drives
Following the pattern of our previous days, we have leisurely mornings, but after lunch we set off for a drive of around 50 minutes to reach Kalawewa National Park. We then take a thrilling afternoon safari through the park to spot elephants and other fauna. Made a national park in 2015, Kalawewa encompasses areas around the ancient irrigation tanks of Kalawewa and Balaluwewa. The park's speciality is that it is home to large herds of Asian elephants, with a high concentration of tuskers. On a good day we might be lucky to see up to ten tuskers in the park, which is a rare treat as only about ten per cent of male elephants in Sri Lanka develop tusks. We return to the lodge for lunch and some time to relax before our evening of nocturnal forays.
On our second day we enjoy a safari in Kalawewa, Minneriya National Park or Kawudulla protected areas depending on the recent elephant movements and availability of water. There's again time to enjoy the wildlife in the grounds of our lodge and dedicate our evening to searching for elusive nocturnal species. We put long hours into our night drives to maximise our chances to find some very special and rare species.
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Days 7-10
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Wilpattu National Park & night drives
Today we transfer around three hours to the west, stopping en route at the ancient city of Anuradhapura, before reaching our new base for the next four 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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Day 11:
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 Kalpitiya Lagoon, we have a change of boats on the sandy Kalpitiya 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.
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Day 12:
Wilpattu National Park & transfer to Colombo
This morning we have our final safari in the park with a particular focus on finding mammals such as leopard, sloth bear, golden jackal and stripe-necked mongoose. It will hopefully be a rewarding finale to our time in this beautiful park. After lunch, we then say our farewells to the lodge and drive to Colombo for our final night, ready for our flight home the next day.
Accommodation: Jetwing Lagoon, 1-night
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Day 13:
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.
