Colombo to Wilpattu National Park – One-Day Tour

This is a full day tour visiting the famous Wilpattu National Park north of Colombo. We will depart early and come back in the evening.

  • The tour starts normally at Colombo Dematagoda Railway Station or Fort Main Station in the early morning, from where we will leave for the Wilpattu National Park via Chilaw and Puttalam. Alternatively you can arrange to be picked up from your hotel in Colombo or nearby.
  • The first stop is in Chilaw. There is a saying that “Chilaw is famous for Crabs, Coconuts, and Coreas,” a testament to the influence of the Corea Family who hail from this town. Chilaw is famous for the nearby Munneswaram temple, which is visited by both Hindus as well as Buddhists.
  • We proceed to Puttalam, Puttalam is a small but very populous town. Famous for salt and fishing, Puttalam is the home to one of Sri Lanka’s largest lagoons, also called Puttalam lagoon. We visit the salt factory. This is also a good place for a lunch brake with typical Sri Lankan food..
  • After we have seen this we proceed to the Wilpattu National Park (Willu-pattu; Land of Lakes) is a park located on the island of Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the
    Malabar Pied Hornbill

    Malabar Pied Hornbill

    existence of “Willus” (Natural lakes) – Natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. Located in the Northwest coast lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka. The park is 131,693 hectares and ranges from 0 to 152 meters above sea level. Nearly sixty lakes (Willu) and ponds are found spread throughout Wilpattu. Wilpattu is one of the largest and oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka. Wilpattu is among the top national parks world renowned for its Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population.

  • We will start the Wild Life Safari at 2.00 pm at the entrance and watch the elephants, sloth bears, leopards, water buffalo, sambhar, spotted deer, mongoose, mouse and shrew and more of Wilpattu’s residents.
  • After a 4 hrs Wild Life Safari we will proceed back to the hotel.
  • Arrival at the hotel or railway station in the evening.