We’re off to Sri Lanka in February for a 3 week holiday. We’re going to do a sort of clockwise circuit and missing out most of the very north. Nothing booked yet, and most of it won’t be till we get there.
A wildlife park / safari is on the agenda (so I’m told). But I’ve seen good and bad accounts. I would prefer to go to a less touristy one and don’t want to be part of an army of jeeps hassling the animals and don’t want to go to places where elephants are chained.
The only report I’ve seen that is a bit encouraging is one of a boat trip round Gal Oya but getting details about how to book without it being part of an organised tour has got me beat. I suppose we could rock up and ask some locals with a boat when we can go, which would be OK.
I can’t get that excited by the idea of seeing particular animals, be they whales, elephants, leopards, monkeys etc. (what makes them better than seeing squirrels or sparrows?) but I know other people do. But being taken through some wilderness by a sympathetic guide can be magic.

Oh, and while we’re at it, I’m hoping to get in some windsurfing at either (or both) Kalpitiya and Negombo. Where’s best late Feb – early Mar and where’s best to learn to surf properly?

From this thread link
“I didn’t enjoy the elephant orphanages, much preferred the wild variety in the Minneriya National Park. Camped out in Yala National Park (properly organised, not wild camping) We saw all manner of wildlife; crocs, leopards, elephants, bears, monitor lizards, birds, etc.-highly recommended!”

We visited the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage near Kandy. Which was enjoyable. They walk the elephants from the camp to the river in town and let them have a bath. Touristy but OK.
We also visited Yala National Park. We went for the day in a jeep leaving the nearby town and entering the park before sunrise. We too saw crocs, leopards, elephants, birds of prey, etc. Really good.
We went whale watching on a catered trip while we were staying in Marissa. A great experience too.

We went to the Udawalawa National Park and the Yala National Park last summer. Both Jeep trip and both pretty enjoyable although somewhat busy given that it was summer hols time. Yala was quieter and we saw more wildlife, probably the one I’d do again.

Thanks for the replies and I’ve already got that thread above in my favourites. So it’s interesting to see that everybody who responded seems to have enjoyed their experiences, so it’s probably more to do with which guide you go with, and at what time of day/year that’s more important.

We did a couple of hours around Udawalawa National Park & it was amazing. We went towards the end of the day & only saw one other jeep, so can’t really comment on how busy it might be during the day.

We were barely out of the start area and came across a load of water buffalo wallowing in a massive mud bath.
We saw monitor lizards, a Sea Eagle, crocodiles, loads of elephants, some really interesting birds etc.

The highlight was definitely the elephants. We saw probably 6 groups, with everything from large bulls to babies who the guide reckoned were only weeks old. We even got charged by a bull elephant when we came upon a large group round a corner. The larger elephants formed a protective wall around the younger ones and the largest elephant stuck it’s ears out trumpeted several times and then launched itself at our jeep. Luckily a few shouts & gestures from the guide had him changing his mind & calming down!

Here’s a pic of a more gentle elephant!
I took my 70-300 lens on my SLR. Another bloke on the tour got some good shots with some kind of ultrazoom compact.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/gnEo5d]13-06-29 DSC_6806[/url] by STW stumpy01, on Flickr