Minneriya & Kaudulla National Parks · Sri Lanka
Open jeeps, experienced driver-trackers who read the park every day, and a booking answered the same day by email and on WhatsApp. Free pickup within 5 km of Habarana town.
When to come
As the reservoir dries back, hundreds of wild elephants walk in from Wasgamuwa and the surrounding jungle to feed on the fresh grass. Numbers build from June and peak in August and September. Outside those months the herd often shifts to Kaudulla or Eco Park — we track it daily and move your drive to whichever park the elephants are in, free of charge.
Tour packages
Every package runs in an open 4×4 safari jeep with a raised roof and an experienced driver-tracker. Take a seat in a shared jeep, or take the whole vehicle. Food and drinks are not included on any of them.
Pickup is free for any hotel within about 5 km of Habarana town. Further out we charge for the transfer based on the distance, and we always confirm that figure with you before you pay anything.
The fine print, up front
No surprise charges at the gate. Everything below applies to all four packages unless a line says otherwise.
From our own drives
Every photo here was taken on one of our safaris. Tap any of them to open it full size.
Not only elephants
Minneriya is a birding park that happens to have the largest elephant gathering on earth. Bring the zoom lens — your tracker carries a field guide and knows where the nests are.
From booking to gate
Choose the package, the date and how many of you are travelling. The price updates as you go — no quote request, no waiting.
Checkout runs on the Sampath Bank payment gateway with 3-D Secure. Visa, Mastercard and Amex, charged in Sri Lankan rupees at the day's rate. Your card details never touch our server.
A booking reference appears on screen straight away, and the same permit lands in your inbox and on WhatsApp within a minute.
Your driver messages you the evening before with his name, plate number and exact pickup time. He waits in your hotel lobby.
Instant booking
Fill this in, pay, and your permit is issued on the spot. Prefer to talk it through first? Send the same details to WhatsApp with one tap.
Questions
The Gathering builds from June and peaks in August and September, when the tank shrinks back and hundreds of elephants move onto the exposed grassland. Sightings are good year round, but roughly between November and February the herds often shift to neighbouring Kaudulla or Eco Park. We track them daily and move your drive to whichever park they are in, at no extra cost.
Evening drives usually produce the biggest herds, because the elephants come out of the forest to feed in the late afternoon, and the light is far better for photography. Morning drives are cooler and much quieter, with a fraction of the jeeps, and are better for birds and for families with young children. If you can only do one and you want numbers, book the evening.
A seat in a shared jeep starts at €25 per person for a 3-hour drive; a private jeep starts at €60 for the whole vehicle, up to six people. Park entrance tickets are separate and set by the Department of Wildlife Conservation — about €30 per adult and €15 per child, including service charge and VAT. You can add tickets at checkout so there is nothing to pay at the gate. Food and drinks are not included on any safari, and an English-speaking safari guide is an optional LKR 4,000.
In a sharing jeep you buy a seat and travel with up to five other guests, which keeps the cost down. In a private jeep the whole vehicle is yours — you set the pace, stop where you want, and the driver works to your photography rather than to a group. Private is the better call for families, photographers and anyone who wants a specific pickup time.
Free within about 5 km of Habarana town — that covers most Habarana hotels and guesthouses. Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandalama, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee and anywhere further out carry a transfer charge worked out from the distance. Pick your location in the booking form and we confirm the figure in writing before you pay anything, so there are no surprises.
Yes. The moment your card payment clears, the system issues a booking reference and sends your permit to your email and your WhatsApp — usually inside a minute. There is no waiting for someone to reply. The evening before your safari, your driver messages you his name, the jeep's plate number and the exact pickup time.
No. Food and drinks are not included on any of our safaris, including the full day and the two-park combo. Bring water and something to eat — a 3-hour drive in the dry zone is thirsty work, and 10 hours certainly is. Tell your driver at pickup and he will stop somewhere you can buy supplies before the gate.
Your driver is an experienced tracker who finds the animals and knows the park's moods. A safari guide is a separate English-speaking naturalist who rides with you and talks you through what you are seeing — species names, behaviour, the history of the tank. It costs LKR 4,000 for the guide, whatever the size of your group. Most guests skip it; birders and photographers usually take one.
Cancel more than 24 hours before pickup and you get a full refund to the original card, usually within five working days. Inside 24 hours we refund half. Date changes are free at any time, subject to availability. If the park closes or the drive is cancelled by weather, you choose between a full refund and a free reschedule.
Minneriya holds 24 mammal species and around 160 bird species. On most drives you will see spotted deer, water buffalo, toque macaques, purple-faced langurs, land monitors and peafowl, plus painted storks, spoonbills, kingfishers, bee-eaters and serpent eagles around the tank. Sloth bear and Sri Lankan leopard live here too, but sightings are rare and nobody should promise you one. If you want the birds named as you go, add a safari guide at checkout.
Yes. The tracks are rough but the drive is slow, and our jeeps have seat belts, a roll bar and a raised roof for shade. Children under six travel free on a parent's lap. Tell us in the booking notes if you need a child seat, step assistance or a wheelchair-accessible vehicle and we will arrange it.
Close enough to fill a frame with a 200 mm lens, and no closer. Our drivers keep a respectful distance, never block a herd's path to water, and switch the engine off rather than chase a sighting. Crowding elephants is how animals get stressed and people get hurt — we don't do it, and we will say so if another jeep does.
Your permit is on its way to your email and WhatsApp.
