Whether you’re an avid lover of nature or visiting a wildlife park for the first time, if you’re coming here with an eager mind to explore and learn, you ‘re going to go away with new meaning to life. Lunugamwehera National Park has a large nature reserve paired with a national park. The park is divided into many blocks and has an area consisting of light forests, scrubs, grasslands, tanks, and lagoons.
Lunugamwehera National Park is all about magnificence and resilience convergence, creating a picture of everlasting elegance and mystery. It is a large deciduous forest where the soil surrenders its green edge, revealing wide expanses of open fields filled with grasslands and shrubs, reservoirs and lagoons, water holes and sand dunes. Given the lack of a dense forest cover, animals are always safe from danger.
Double Room with Lake View – BOOK NOW
About Lunugamwehera National Park
Lunugamvehera National Park in Sri Lanka was declared in 1995, with the intention of protecting the catchment area of the Lunugamvehera reservoir and wildlife of the area. The national park is an important habitat for water birds and elephants. The catchment area is vital to maintain the water levels of the five tanks in the down stream of Kirindi Oya and wetland characteristics of Bundala National Park.
This national park also serves as a corridor for elephants to migrate between Yala National Park and Udawalawe National Park. The national park is situated 261 km southwest from Colombo. After being closed because of the Sri Lankan civil war, the national park is now open to the general public. Along with majestic elephants, sloth bears, sambars, jackals, spotted dear, peacocks, and crocodiles. The best time to visit Yala is between February and July when the water levels of the park are quite low, bringing animals into the open.
Given its lush greenish look, Yala is in a dry, semi-arid climate, particularly during the Monsoon season. Temperatures range from 26 degrees celsius to about 30 degrees celsius. The North-East monsoon season is from September to December, is when Yala receives much of its rainfall.
Safari rides at Lunugamwehera National Park
Your travel to Lunugamwehera National Park obviously revolves around the safari ride which takes you on a lifetime experience. Note, this is not a circus and there are no animals waiting for you on duty. It is the feeling of uncertainty and excitement the makes it an experience with wildlife. To capture the forest inhabitants you need to sit there patiently at the right time and place.
Bird watching at Lunugamwehera National Park
Their are a number of waterbirds inhabiting Lunugamwehera National Park wetlands, and nearly half are migrants. These include waterfowl, cormorants, large waterbirds, medium-sized waders, and Charadrius spp., small waders. Black-necked Stork and Lesser Adjutant are two of the park’s rare birds which can be seen. At Lunugamwehera National Park the migrant Great White Pelican and resident Spot-billed Pelican were also sighted.
Family Suite – BOOK NOW
Weather conditions at the Lunugamwehera National Park
Lunugamvehera is in the Dry zone of Sri Lanka, therefore the park is exposed to annual drought, relieved by the south western monsoon. The elevation of the park is 91 metres. Out of 23,498 hectares of total land area 14 percent, that is 3283 ha, is land under the reservoir. Another 50 ha are two smaller reservoirs. Nearby Thanamalvila area receives a 1,000 millimetres of annual rainfall. Rainfall decreases from North to South and West to East across the national park. Mean annual temperature of Lunugamvehera is 30 °C