Elephant Safari-Minneriya National Park-Sri Lanka – By Dr Harold Gunatillake
Website: www.Doctorharold.com
Minneriya National Park is home to the world’s largest-known gathering of Asian elephants.
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Herds of up to 350 elephants are seen at the 8,890-hectare park within a few square kilometres of the Minneriya Tank. According to some reports, there are as many as 700 elephants.
A group of us stayed at the Elephant Lake Resort in Habarana overnight, and the next day, we made a trip to the Minneriya National Park.
Minneriya National Park is situated in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. The area was designated a national park on 12 August 1997, initially declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1938.[1] The reason for declaring the area as protected is to protect the Minneriya tank’s catchment and the surrounding area’s wildlife. The tank is historically important, having been built by King Mahasen in the third century AD. The park is a dry season feeding ground for the elephant population dwelling in the forests of Matale, Polonnaruwa, and Trincomalee districts.
Many Sri Lankan elephants are attracted to grass fields on the reservoir’s edges during the dry season. The Minneriya tank contributes to sustaining a large herd. We saw Elephants gathered near the surrounding grass fields of the Minneriya tank and saw a family of about 20 wild elephants. They migrate here from Wasgamuwa National Park and benefit from the food and shelter of the park’s forest. Tourists visit Minneriya largely because of elephants, especially in the dry season.
There weren’t many tourists on the day we visited, September is supposed to be the lowest number of tourists seen here yearly.
We did not see any other animals. Sambar deer, monkeys and Sri Lankan leopards are supposed to visit this park on certain days.
We did not see much bird life in the park. The Minneriya reservoir is an essential habitat for large water birds such as lesser adjutant, painted stork, and spot-billed pelican. Minneriya is a dormitory for many residents as well as migrant bird species. Flocks of 2000 little cormorants have been reported. The other water birds here are great white pelican, ruddy turnstone, and grey heron. Among the endemic birds are the Sri Lanka junglefowl, hanging parrot, brown-capped babbler, Sri Lanka grey hornbill, black-crested bulbul, and crimson-fronted barbet.
The Park is more natural, and the park roads are poorly maintained. Worst of all are the toilet facilities for visitors at the entrance gate. They are smelly and dirty and one lady complained that only half a wooden door was in the female toilet. This is a shame, and what impressions do we have of the opinions the foreign tourists carry with them to talk at home?
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