Wilpattu is situated in the north-west of the island, close to Puttalam, Kalpitiya and Anuradhapura. It’s one of Sri Lanka’s largest and oldest parks and arguably one of the most spectacular. Dense scrub jungle and dry zone forest opens onto ‘villus’, small lakes, surrounded by grassy plains. The park also borders the coast where you can see the remains of Queen Kuweni’s palace, which is thought to date from ancient times. The real advantage of doing safaris here is that it is not commercial like Yala, and therefore there will be times when there are only a handful of other jeeps in the park, but it houses all of Sri Lanka’s big game – elephants, leopards and sloth bears.

We have two high-end camping options on the border of Wilpattu – Leopard Trails and Leopard Safaris – both of which offer guests comfortable tented accommodation surrounded by lush wilderness, traditional Sri Lanka cuisine and jeep drives into the national park.