Saturday, December 27, 2008

yala

yala National Park is geographically located in Sri Lanka at latitude 06°16' - 06°42' North and longitude 81°15' - 81°42' East. The Park can be visited via the town of Tissamaharama in the Hambantota District of the Southern Province.

While Block I has good access roads, access to Blocks II and III is limited mainly to dry weather. There are eight Park bungalows all of which are within Yala Block I. Another has been constructed at Katagamuwa Sanctuary, and one more is now ready for occupation in Yala Block IV. Accommodation is available for 8-10 people in each bungalow on the basis of prior reservations with the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Apart from resident visitors occupying the bungalows, a large number of day visitors enter the Park.

The Block I boundaries of the Park, take in 19 kilometers of sea coast in the southeast from Amaduwa to Yala, 19 kilometers from Yala up the Menik Ganga to Pahalahentota, 19 kilometers from Pahalahentota to Bambawa, and 3 kilometers from Bambawa to Palatupana.



Elephant is the star of Sri Lanka’s wild life and the largest land animal in the island. among the two verities of African elephants (elephas coxenda) and Indian elephants (elephas maximize maximize), in Sri Lanka you find Indian elephants and considered to be intelligent than their African counterparts hence domesticated. Although there have been about 36000 elephants with the start of this century it has reduced up to about 2000 due to pouching. according to the recent records about 2000 of them scattered all over the country in small pockets and about 500 of them are domesticated. “Pinnawala Elephant orphanage” is dedicated to help these endangered species and has sofa become a success. Also few National parks like “Udawalawe”, “Lahugala” are mainly reserved for wild elephants. Major attraction of Yala national park is wild elephants. Any given time you can see large number of baby elephants and female elephants. In a herd you always find female elephants and sometimes herds of male elephants too could be seen. in case babies are looked after by mother, aunt or another female elephants and male elephants are loners and never live in a group and are attracted in to a group during the mating season (from September to October) only and most of the parks are closed for visitors during this period.Their average height (height is measured to the shoulder) goes to about 8 feet (2.5m) and 1800 Kg in weight and consume about 200 kg of foliage and grass per day and plenty of water for drinking and bathing. Female elephants give a birth once in 4 years and 2-3 babies in their life span. get 4 sets of teeth and every 10 years a new set of teeth is coming to get the last set when they are about 40 years old. walk about 20 miles per day and young female elephants are reedy for mating when they are 13 years old. very active in the night and most of them sleep under large trees in the day time. only a few tuskers can be seen in Sri Lanka due to brutal killings to get their tusks due to high value. However new laws has introduced to protect them and let tomorrow's people too see them. Some people believe that they have grave yards and come near to a water resource when they are about to die…some do not believe it and say ..when they are old their teeth are wasted and difficulty of consuming heavy branches of trees made them come to a place where there is grass and water. Physical features

"Most of the area is underlain by Vijayan rocks formed over 600 million years ago. Rock outcrops or inselbergs stand out of a relatively flat plain, looming to heights of up to 800ft. They are made up of migmatites, hornblende, and granite gneisses. Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial and aeolian deposits cover the Vijayan series near the Menik ganga and along most of the coast line."

The Menik Ganga is now a seasonal river, since its damming for irrigation purposes higher up, as far back as 1878. There are four other seasonal "aras" or streamlets carrying water during the rainy season.

The breached and denuded earth bunds of several irrigation tanks are still visible, together with natural water holes and tanks (wewa), improved to hold water. These sources of water are a link in the survival of the wildlife found within the area.

Amongst the rock ridges and monoliths are several natural rock pools that have a charm of their own. Some contain water throughout the year, and have their own development of water plants and fauna.

In the southeast, the Park is bounded by the sea. The many bays carve out an intricate mosaic. Unspoilt natural beaches and sand dunes provide a beautiful environment of undulating and shifting sands. This is surely one of the most spectacular seascapes of Sri Lanka. Far out at sea are two lighthouses, Great and Little Basses, which stand on two submerged ridges by those names and beam a red and white light respectively at night.

Lagoons fringe this part of the coastline, each lined with mangroves and filled with brackish water. The extensive parklands that surround these lagoons offer visitors superb locations for viewing animals and bird life

yala National Park is geographically located in Sri Lanka at latitude 06°16' - 06°42' North and longitude 81°15' - 81°42' East. The Park can be visited via the town of Tissamaharama in the Hambantota District of the Southern Province.

While Block I has good access roads, access to Blocks II and III is limited mainly to dry weather. There are eight Park bungalows all of which are within Yala Block I. Another has been constructed at Katagamuwa Sanctuary, and one more is now ready for occupation in Yala Block IV. Accommodation is available for 8-10 people in each bungalow on the basis of prior reservations with the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Apart from resident visitors occupying the bungalows, a large number of day visitors enter the Park.

The Block I boundaries of the Park, take in 19 kilometers of sea coast in the southeast from Amaduwa to Yala, 19 kilometers from Yala up the Menik Ganga to Pahalahentota, 19 kilometers from Pahalahentota to Bambawa, and 3 kilometers from Bambawa to Palatupana.

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