26/10/2012
The Ruhunu National Park best known as Yala, situated in the Southern region lies between Southern and Uva Provinces with five blocks, two of which are now opened for public with the conclusion of thirty year dragged war in the country.
YALA NATIONAL PARK, is one of Sri Lanka's premier eco tourism destinations, off 24km northeast of Tissamaharama and 305 km from Colombo on the Southeast coast of Sri Lanka, spanning a vast area of 97,878 hectares over the Southern and Uva Provinces. The park could reach after a seven-hour drive from Colombo along the Resort-studded coast to the historic town of Galle.
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Galle which is wealthy of Colonial Architecture carries the proofs of Portuguese, Dutch and British settlement. The perfectly preserved Dutch Fort, built in 1663 is the focal point that you will never miss out on your way to Yala through Southern coastal way. The historic part of town with the lighthouse – is mostly within the Fort’s walls that you may find worth watching.
The massive park can be visited via the town of Tissamaharama, the gate way to Yala National Park in Hambantota district in down South, which the main access while there is another way from Kirinda as well.
Yala was designated as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1900, with six other National Parks adjoining Yala. The Yala National Park that consists of five blocks and spreads over an area of 1260 square kilometers, but only one fifth of the area is opened to the visitors. Four-fifths of the park is designated a Strict Natural Reserve. Adjoining the Eastern border of the park is Yala East National Park (Kumana), a paradise of birds. The park is divided into the five blocks as::
Block Extent Year the block is added
Block I 14,101 hectares (54.44 sq mi) 1938
Block II 9,931 hectares (38.34 sq mi) 1954
Block III 40,775 hectares (157.43 sq mi) 1967
Block IV 26,418 hectares (102.00 sq mi) 1969
Block V 6,656 hectares (25.70 sq mi) 1973
The park which renowned for variety of its Wildlife, most notably its elephants and its fine coastline with coral reefs. It also carries a large number of historically important cultural ruins, bearing testimony to earlier civilizations.
Yala is opened for visitors from 5.30 am to 6.30 pm. Any visitor who wish to get lost in wilder must always be accompanied by a tracker provided by Park Authorities and that you are not permitted to alight from your vehicle within the park except at marked locations. alt
Several authorized hotels conduct jeep safari drives into Yala National Park. The recommended times to see wildlife are in the early morning and late afternoon. The safari tour will generally start at Tissamaharama or Kirinda. However arrangements can be made for hotel pick-ups if you are booked into hotels in Tissamaharama, Yala, Kataragama, or Kirinda areas on rates given below:
Half a day safari Full day safari
01 pax – US$ 95 01 pax – US$ 150
02 pax – US$ 70 per person 02 pax – US$ 102.5 per person
03 pax – US$ 65 per person 03 pax – US$ 90 per person
altYala being 70 Important Bird Areas (IBAs), harbors 215 bird species including endemic species. Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, SL Jungle fowl, SL Wood-pigeon, Crimson-Barbet, Black-capped Bulbul and Brown-capped Babbler with 90 varieties of Water birds inhabiting wetlands in Yala and nearly half of them are migrants.
Waterfowls, Lesser Whistling Duck, Garganey, Cormorants and water birds, Grey Heron, Black headed Lbis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Asian Open bill, Painted Stork etc are some of the birds wandering and flying free in Yala.
Black-necked Stork and Lesser Adjutant are rare among them and migrant Great While Pelican and resident Spot-billed
altPelican are common flocks of sights in the park. Thousands of water r birds attract Yala lagoons and rare species such as Purple Heron, Night Herons, Egrets, Purple Seamphen.. During northeast monsoon thousands of waterfowls are in abundance, and to mention a few; Pintail, Eurasian Curlew, Ruddy Turnstone and Godwits etc. Among the other bird species are Great Stone curlew, Rock Pigeon, Indian Peafowl, Black Stork, Black winged Stilt, Barred Buttonquail and Greater Flamingo. The forest birds and Orange breasted Green Pigeon, Hornbills, Old World flycatcher, Asian paradise flycatcher, Orioles and Asian barbets.
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altYala is an Oasis for 44 species of mammals, elephants and other animals with the highest density of leopard in the world. Elephant herd of Yala is between 300-350. The other mammals that could be found in the park are Red slender Loris, Fishing cat and Golden Palm civet.
There are 45 varieties of reptile fauna out of which five are endemic, Sri Lankan krait, flying snake and red-lip Lizard fall within the category. There are Mugger crocodile and Saltwater crocodile live in the park with other reptiles such as Indian Cobra and Russell’s viper.
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Yala is the territory of leopards, elephants, sloth bears, crocodiles, spotted deer, sambar deer, barking deer, wild boar, wild (as opposed to domesticated) buffaloes, jackals, mongooses, languor and other monkeys - and birds such as peacocks, hornbills, painted storks, black-necked storks, grey herons and green bee-eaters, butterflies and an abundance of frogs.
Coastal line of the park stretch is full of sea turtles and fresh fish population flattering and dancing in clear shiny waters.
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According to the history, in 1560, Spanish Cartographer Cipriano Sanchez has marked Yala in his map “ it has been abandoned for 300 years due to rough conditions. Then in 1806, Chief Justice Alexander Johnston wrote about Yala having travelled from Trincomalee to Hambantota and later in 1900, March 23, Government declared Yala and Wilpattu reserves under Forest Ordinance as a hunting site only for resident sportsmen with H.H.Henry Engelbrecht, an Afrikaaner and Boer Prisoner of War who was not returned to South Africa on account of his refusal to swear allegiance to the British Monarchy, became the first Park Warden from 1907-1928. Then the Governor of Ceylon Sir, Henry Arthur Blake who met Engelbrecht on his way from Badulla to Hambantota, took pity on him and appointed as the Park Warden. The warden used to traverse Panama, Okanda, Kumana, Yala, Buthawa, Palatupana, Kirinda, Tissamaharama and finally arrives Hambantota to collect his pay packet from government authority and buys back provisions and other essentials returning via the same route.
altHe administered the park well, taking care of wildlife and nabbing unauthorized hunters. But during the World War II, he was jailed on false allegations for supplying flesh to a Germany ship, “SMS Emden”, and then released after 3 months and died in poverty in 1922.
However, after his death it was revealed that he was innocent and never supplied meat to the German cruiser as the second in Command of the Ship, Captain S. Withoift came to Ceylon in 1931 to address the Colombo Rotary Club. There it was confirmed that ship never received meat or had any contacts with Ceylon during the voyage. The Captain of the ship has officially written to Lucien Poulier, the Lawyer of Engelbrecht about it.
But there are other stories of Henry Engelbrecht that he served under General de Wet in Second Boer War as an Boer officer and taken as a prisoner of war and deported to Ceylon with 5000 other prisoners by Edwar VII.
However, in 1938, D.S. Senanayake brought Yala under Flora and Fauna Protection Act when he was the Minister of Agriculture
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This region was part of the Rohana (Ruhuna) Kingdom, having an advanced civilization as proved
by remains of dagabas and ancient man-made reservoirs (tanks), built by clever hydrological engineers, to irrigate large extents of cultivable land, indeed, its soil is rich beyond description.
In the vicinity of Yala, there are several ancient civilization including Sithulapahuwa Raja Maha Viharaya (temple) which had given the shelter for 12,000 Arahants and Magul Vihare built in 87 BC and the Akasa Chitya in 2nd Century BC.
Magul Maha viharaya is located to the south of Sithulpauwwa, is now find only the remains of the Buddhist temple. It is believed that the temple is located on the spot where King Kavan Tissa married Vihara Maha Devi. 'Magul' refers to wedding in Sinhala; the temple was built to celebrate the nuptials of the King. The Magul Maha Viharaya is situated within the Yala National Park and visitors could view the ruins of historical temple which carries a historic Legend. One could visit Sithulpauwwe and Magul Maha Viharaya together in one single visit as they are located closely together.
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King Ravana had established his Kingdom in Yala area with Ravana Kotte, now submerged in the sea, as its boundary. There are enough evidence to say that Seafaring merchants established A***n Civilization Yala as several abandoned tanks are seen in the area with proofs to rich hydraulic and agricultural civilization in 5th century B.C.
Yala National Park is written in the history as most visited park in Sri Lanka by both local and foreign tourists. Most visitors prefer to watch elephants, bears, leopards and in the year 2000, revenue from visitors had stood at US$ 468,629 and in 2002, around 156,867 tourists have visited the park. Since 2009, with the conclusion of war and as Yala was fully safe for visitors’ the arrivals as well as the income were increased tremendously.
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For any guest or visitors who is enthusiastic for a break in and around Yala, there are top-rated hotels are in Yala National Park. if you are looking for a place to rest with all other what you need, there are best lowest priced hotels and motels guaranteed, within the territory. When you want unique accommodation, there are enough hotels in the surrounding areas with modern facilities to suit your budget. To name a few of them; Yala Safari Game Lodge, Sun Sinda, Owin Rose Hotel, Seasons Rest Inn etc.
