The 2004 Tsunami had a severe impact on Sri Lanka’s most visited Wildlife sanctuary
I had the opportunity to visit Yala National Park ten years after the most devastating Indian Ocean Tsunanami to strike Sri Lanka’s coastal regions. The 2004 Tsunami reported to have caused the death of around 250 people, a large number of animals and reducing the elephant population significantly.
I visited the sea coast where the twenty feet waves killed a large number of Japanese tourists who had camped there. A small platform is erected as a memorial for the victims.
Only two blocks out of the five blocks of the Park are open to the public. The Park covers about 378 square miles in the southeast region of the country extending from Uva to Sourthern Province. Yala was designated as a Wildlife Park in 1900 under the Forest Ordinance and it became a National Park in 1938 when the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance was passed into law by D.S. Senanayake, the then Minister of Agriculture.
Yala became a major tourist attraction due to its variety of wild animals including Sri Lankan elephants, leopards, aquatic birds and crocodiles. It harbors 215 bird species including six endemic species of Sri Lanka. According to records the Park has 44 mammals and one of the highest leopard densities in the world. The number of visitors to the park has been increasing tremendously since 2009 and there are a large number of Safari Jeeps in operation from dawn to dusk.
Before reaching Yala, I stayed at a guest cottage between Yala and Kataragama, surrounded by a jungle and stream among peacocks and aquatic birds.
