Yala National Park

Sri Lanka’s most popular national park is best known for its leopard sightings, but it’s also where you can expect some of the best big mammal sightings in Asia. Let’s start with the leopards – they are elusive, but the chances of seeing one are reasonable if you go on a safari with an experienced guide. The best part is Block 5, which merges with Lunugamvehera National Park on the western side – remote, less-visited, and a bit otherworldly, it’s roamed by leopards and sloth bears.

Minneriya National Park

This is one of the best places in Sri Lanka for seeing wild elephants. The best time to come on a Jeep safari here is April to October, when water in the ancient reservoir of the Minneriya Wewa has dried up, exposing grasses and shoots that animals come to munch on in ‘the Gathering’. You’ll also see flocks of birds, including cormorants, painted storks, herons, and pelicans fishing in the shallow waters. With lots of scrub, forest, and wetlands, the park also provides a home for many other animals, from sambar deer and buffalo to crocodiles and (very rarely spotted) leopards.

Gal Oya National Park

This is the top spot for boat safaris in search of crocodiles, turtles, and swimming elephants in the park’s vast, island-filled Senanayake Samudraya reservoir which is surrounded by mountains and ancient woodlands (the elephants often swim from one island to another). Very untouristy and serene, it has a gorgeous population of butterflies, geckos, monkeys, golden orioles, and paradise flycatchers in its forests, which you can take guided tours of with a member of the native Veddah community.

Kumana National Park

Uncrowded and very accessible from the east coast, this area of swampy grasslands and villus (large salty lakes) is home to wading elephants, storks, ibis, hornbills, langurs, and macaques. It’s also thought to be home to around 40 leopards, so you might well spot one without being surrounded by other Jeeps. Other reasons to head here are the meditation caves in rocky outcrops, ancient stupas (some with inscriptions and statues), and the 9th-century reclining Buddha statue.

Mirissa

This beach town on the south coast is one of the world’s very best locations for spotting blue whales and sperm whales on the same boat trip. Because the shoreline here is close to the continental shelf, it doesn’t take very long to reach the deep waters where the large marine life resides. Between November and April, you’re likely to see dolphins, sperm whales, and blue whales during their annual migration