Gal Oya National Park is an amazing secluded wildlife paradise and has some of the most beautiful landscapes that can be found in Sri Lanka. This national park, due to its location in the middle-eastern part of the Island, it has remained almost entirely undeveloped with very few accommodation options.
It encompasses the country’s largest inland body of water, the Senanayake Samudraya Lake which is a huge body of water comparatively to Sri Lankan standards. Consisting of many small islands, it provides the best opportunities in the world to see the Asian elephant in its natural habitat. Gal Oya is the only place in Sri Lanka where safaris can be conducted by boat. It gives a unique and special perspective whilst watching animals as they come to the water’s edge to drink and forage along the shore.
Gal Oya national Park is roughly a three-hour drive east of Kandy and a two hour drive north of Arugam Bay. Alternatively, two new airports have opened nearby making it much easier to fly there. Forty-five percent of Gal Oya is evergreen forest and 33% is savanna area; wildlife thrives in this environment and there are 32 species of mammal including elephants, wild boar, leopards, sloth bears as well as 100s of bird species. The highlights are seeing wild elephants swim from island to island.
Location MAP
Nearby Hotels
