Wild Sri Lanka

• Accommodation: 6 Superior nights (4 hotel, 2 lodge), 3 Classic nights (hotel)
• Travel by private bus, boat and 4×4
• All breakfasts and nine dinners are included
• Whale-watching season: November to April

Sri Lanka has a tropical climate with two distinct wet seasons or monsoons. The southwest monsoon brings rain to that area of the island between May and August. The northeast monsoon takes place from October to January and only really affects the north and east coastal regions. Generally, expect rain some of the time but with plenty of sunshine. On the plains, day- and night-time temperatures are warm to hot with Colombo having an average daytime temperature of 30C (86F).

This trip is rated Activity Level 2 (Easy & Moderate) with a Wildlife Rating of Four. Visit our Activity Level Guidelines page for more on our trip gradings or our Wildlife Holidays page for more on our Wildlife Ratings. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip please do not hesitate to contact us.  

This is a moderately easy itinerary, staying in comfortable accommodation throughout and travelling on air-conditioned buses, private boats and 4x4 game vehicles. There are some long drives and early starts, and if you’re prone to sea sickness you may wish to take medication for the whale-watching excursions. Temperatures are typically hot although the early mornings can be cool.

There are some important things to note about wildlife watching in Sri Lanka:

Yala is the most popular national park in Sri Lanka, attracting many international and local visitors in peak season. Game drives in Yala are a very different experience to being in Africa; geographically the area is much smaller and wildlife tourism is a relatively new thing, which means the number of vehicles in parks and communication between vehicles is not being controlled by the authorities at this time. In peak times, there can be many vehicles in the park and this can result in traffic jams, where several vehicles are present at the same sighting. The naturalist guides and drivers that Exodus work with do their best to avoid such sightings and, although we always try to make sure you see a leopard, we ensure this is done in a safe and sensible way away from the crowds as much as possible. Our preference is to focus on the quieter areas of the park to enhance the quality of the wildlife encounters – we believe this is the most responsible way to operate game drives in Yala.

Whale watching is becoming an increasingly popular activity here, yet there are very few regulations on the industry in Sri Lanka. Exodus have chosen a responsible operator and our boat trips are always accompanied by a naturalist guide, with a focus on education. We are careful to use small, private boats for our groups and ensure wildlife is approached at a minimum boat speed and only ever from a sideways angle, as approaching head-on can be threatening for cetaceans. In addition, we adhere by responsible tourism guidelines to spend no more than 20 minutes at any sightings.

Enforcing these regulations on ourselves, and educating our clients in best practice, is the simplest way of encouraging responsible behaviour around marine life and we hope to see such behaviour adopted by other boats in Sri Lanka.

Sinhala and Tamil New Year (April departures)

A unique celebration to the people of Sri Lanka, the important new year national festival known as Avurudu in Sinhala and Puththandu in Tamil is not celebrated by any other nation. The festivities are observed by both Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus for two days on 12-13 April 2024 and 13-14 April 2025 (may vary slightly year on year). If you are travelling in Sri Lanka over these dates, expect to see religious ceremonies, family activities, traditional foods, colourful decorations and a general feeling of goodwill towards neighbours and friends. Parties can go into the night and it can be quite loud during this period. Your leader will happily show you some of the activities where your itinerary allows. Please note, during the New Year public holiday, most shops, monuments and attractions are closed; however, your leader will modify the itinerary as required to ensure minimal disruption.