Wilpattu The largest park, the quietest: leopards among 106 lakes

Where to stay in Wilpattu

Things to do from Wilpattu

• Culture and heritage · 4 to 5 hours, with about 10 km of flat ridingThe Sacred City of Anuradhapura by bicycleAnuradhapura was the island's first capital, founded in the 4th century BCE and a royal city for more than 1,300 years, and its Sacred City has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982. It holds the Sri Maha Bodhi and the great stupas of Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya and Abhayagiri, among the tallest ancient brick structures ever built, with the twin ponds of Kuttam Pokuna and ancient reservoirs still in use.
• Culture and heritage · an evening, from about 17:00 to 19:00Dusk at the Sri Maha Bodhi on a full moon dayThe Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is a sacred fig grown from a sapling of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, brought to the island in the 3rd century BCE and held to be the oldest documented planted tree in the world. Beside it rises Ruwanwelisaya, the great white stupa begun by King Dutugemunu in the 2nd century BCE.
• Nature and wildlife · a half day from about 06:00, or a full day inside the parkA leopard safari in WilpattuWilpattu, 1,317 sq km of dry-zone forest and scrub on the north-west coast, is the island's largest national park and is named for its villus, some 106 natural, sand-rimmed lakes and tanks. A 2018 camera-trap survey counted 133 leopards, and sloth bears, elephants, sambar and spotted deer share the forest with mugger crocodiles and water birds.
• Water and coast · a morning, with boats leaving at about 06:30; Kalpitiya is about 2 hours by road from the park's main gateDolphin watching off KalpitiyaOff the Kalpitiya peninsula, across the water from Wilpattu, dolphins gather most of the year, and pods of more than 1,000 have been recorded, which gives the best chance of large groups anywhere in Sri Lanka. Spinner, bottlenose, striped and Fraser's dolphins are found here, and whales are most likely in November, March and April.
• Culture and heritage · a late morning, between the game drivesA village walk on the edge of WilpattuThe camps on the southern edge of Wilpattu sit among farming villages, seasonal rice fields and chena plots, and some take guests out on foot to meet their neighbours: a walk through a village beside the park, with the chance to share a cup of tea in a family home. At night the farmers here set off crackers to keep elephants away from their crops.
• Nature and wildlife · about 90 minutes, from about 16:30A sunset walk to a tank outside WilpattuOutside the park boundary, the land around the camps is villages, chena plots and small tanks, and elephants come to some of these tanks to drink and bathe. Some camps lead a walk with a naturalist at the end of the day to a tank nearby, through a village and its fields, to watch for elephants and forest birds as the sun goes down.
• Dining · an evening, after the afternoon game driveDinner by the campfire at a Wilpattu campEvenings at the tented camps around Wilpattu are spent outdoors. The park closes to visitors at 18:00, and after the afternoon drive guests gather round the campfire for a drink before dinner is served in the open, as a barbecue by the fire or a longer dinner at candlelit tables under the trees and the stars.
• Culture and heritage · part of a morning or afternoon, beside the Tissa Wewa reservoirIsurumuniya's rock carvings and the royal gardensIsurumuniya is a rock temple beside the Tissa Wewa reservoir, founded by King Devanampiya Tissa in the 3rd century BCE for 500 newly ordained monks and restored in the 5th century by Kasyapa I. Its granite boulders are carved in relief with elephants bathing at the edge of the pool and a seated man with a horse's head behind him, and the temple's small museum, opened in 1984, keeps the carving known as the Lovers and a panel of a royal family.
• Culture and heritage · a daytime visit, 09:00 to 16:30; closed on Tuesdays and public holidaysThe Archaeological Museum of AnuradhapuraThe Archaeological Museum near Ruwanwelisaya was established in 1947 through the work of the archaeologist Senarath Paranavithana, and it is the oldest and largest archaeological museum of the island's Department of Archaeology. It holds the country's largest collection of inscriptions, alongside finds from the excavation of the ancient city.