What makes Udawalawe different from other national parks in Sri Lanka?

Udawalawe stands out for having this vast open grassland setup that, when you look at it, looks like an African savannah. It also tends to make elephant encounters more frequent and a little easier, compared with parks that are heavy on dense forest.

Places like Yala are often praised for leopards, and they have those tight, lush jungle areas. Udawalawe, though, is really hard to argue against in the way it centres pachyderms. Since there is no thick canopy, the animals cannot so easily slip out of view, and the park usually gets slightly fewer jeeps than Yala. That means you end up with a calmer, more observational day out in the wild.