Wilpattu National Park

Wilpattur National Park is known as the biggest sanctuary in Sri Lanka. It is also famous as the oldest sanctuary. The unique feature of this park is the existence of “Willus” (Natural lakes). Wilpattu is situated between the Puttalam and Anuradhapura districts. The area of Wilpattu Nationa Park is 131,895 hectares.

Many foreign tourists and locals enjoy visiting the sanctuary, to see the animals and its natural beauty.

As the park lies in dry zone rainfall is highly seasonal. Inter-monsoonal rains in March and the northeast monsoon (December – February) are the main sources of rainfall. Mean annual rainfall is about 1000 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 27°C.

The park consists of willus, dry-lowland forests, scrublands, open grasslands and coastal belt. Characteristic feature of the park is that majority of park area is covered with dense forest.

Inside Wilpattu National Park, rivers, lakes, ponds and streams can be seen. there are many scenic places lie mountains. the highest place is know as Kudiramale. There are many trees too which are gown inside Wilpattu. Some are rare an some are native to Sri Lanka. There are many big pounds where animals some to drink water. The biggest land mammal, the elephant can be seen near these ponds. Most of these ponds have salty water.

In 1980 the number of leopards living in Wilpattu was nearly a hundred. The Sloth bear is also seen often in this sanctuary. Monkeys, wild boars, deer and wild casts are some of the mammals that ive in the sanctuary. Crocodiles and cobras too are seen near the huge ponds. Birds which migrate and the native bids of Sri Lanka can also be seen hovering near the rivers and the salty ponds.

Willpattu can be reached from Chilaw going north along west coast from colombo or coming from Anuradhapura