| Yala National Park | |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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 Map of Yala National Park |
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| Location | Southern province and Uva Province, Sri Lanka |
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| Nearest city | Hambantota |
| Coordinates | 6anshu°16′00″N 81°15′00″E / Expression error: Unexpected < operator 81.25°ECoordinates: 6anshu°16′00″N 81°15′00″E / Expression error: Unexpected < operator 81.25°E |
| Area | 979 km² |
| Established | 1894 |
| Governing body | Department of Wildlife Conservation |
Yala National Park is the largest national park in Sri Lanka.It is situated in the southeast region of the island in the dry zone. The park is situated about 300km from Colombo which is capital city of Sri Lanka. Yala park belongs to two provinces in Sri Lanka namely Uva Province and Southern Province. The park divided into five blocks and only I and II blocks are opened for the visitors. The reserve covers 979 km², although only the original 141 km² are open to the public. It was established in 1894 as a Game Sanctuary.
The park is situated in dry zone of the country which has long period of drought season throughout the year. Main source of rainfall is Northeast monsoon and inter monsoon rain during April - May. Mean annual precipitation is 900 - 1300mm and mean annual temperature is around 27o C.[1] During June to October this area has experienced with very drought condition. The day time temperature is normally higher than 30o C which is not uncommon in this kind of part In Sri Lanka.
Much of the reserve is parkland, but it also contains jungle, beaches, freshwater lakes and rivers and scrubland. The latter zone is punctuated with enormous rocky outcrops. The range of habitats give rise to a good range of wildlife.
Yala has the world's highest concentration of Leopards, although seeing this largely nocturnal carnivore still requires some luck.
The park was badly damaged by the tsunami of 26th December 2004, with the destruction of the wildlife center and tourist lodge. Many tourists, including a party of 22 Japanese, died in the disaster, as did several of the national park and lodge employees. It is claimed that no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the tsunami was found indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground.
Now it is again open to the public visitors.
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History
Yala was proclaimed forestry land on March 23, 1900. A British prisoner of war by the name of Aengal Brake was brought to Ceylon in 1907. Subsequently he was appointed the first keeper of the Yala Park.Later the first zone (Block I) of the Yala National Park established in 1938 and was 14,101 hectares in area.
On February 25, 1938 the colonials announced Yala Park as the Yala National Park. The Department of Sanctuaries was established in 1938 and A.D. Wijewardane was appointed its caretaker.
The Block II was opened in 1964 which included 9.31 hectares land area. The third zone (Block III) was established on April 28, 1967 was 40.775 hectares. The Block IV was opened on October 9, 1969 was 26,418 hectares the Block V was opened in 1969 was 6.656 hectares and further 28,905 hectares were constituted as protected area to the Yala National Park.[2]
Kataragama sanctuary was proclaimed May 27, 1928. Katagamuwa area of 1003.6 hectares and Nimalawa area of 1065.8 hectares were proclaimed sanctuaries with effect from May 27, 1938 and March 18, 1993 respectively. Kudumbigala sanctuary hails in serenity and the fragrance of "Seela" spread over Kumana with the blessing of the Kudumbigala temple along with the Okanda devalaya.
Henry Englebrecht, the first Camp Warden (1907-1928) of the Ruhuna Yala Group of National Reserves used to traverse Panama, Okanda, Kumana, Yala, Buthawa, Palatupana, Kirinda, Tissamaharama areas finally arriving at Hambantota where he collected his pay packet from the Government authority & also bought his provisions & other necessities, returning along the same route. In his times the park was proclaimed as forestry land in dry zone area.
Ecology
Yala Park includes multifarious ecosystems ranging from Moist monsoon forests, to dry monsoon forests, semi deciduous forests, thorn forests, grasslands, fresh water and marine wet lands and sandy beaches with wide varieties of wild animals and plants.[3] It consist of two main rivers which are known as Kumbukkan oya and Manik Ganga flow through the park providing source of water to river side trees and animals even drought seasons.
About 32 species of mammals, 125 species of birds and many reptiles and lagoon fauna species have been recorded in the park.[4]
The forest are dominated with drought resistance trees and shrubs which can withstand with lack of rainfall. Trees are thorny and consist with small leaves to reduce the evaporation. Most of the dry zone forests are secondary forests due to the cultivations 500 years ago, but several patches of old-growth forests are still remain within the Yala National Park.
Wild Life
Fauna
Yala National Park is well recognized as one of the best park in the world to observe leopards. The leopards at Yala largely considered as having the highest density of leopards in the world. The leopards in Yala National Park is subspecies of leopard native to Sri Lanka which is known as Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya). Still Sri Lanka Leopards are considered to be endangered.
All the big game mammals can be found within the Yala park. The park consists with 32 species of mammals. It is famous among the visitors as one of the best places in the island for observing large mammals within one territory.
Mammals
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Yala National Park is one of the excellent place to observe over a 100 species of bird in a full days visit to the park. Around 230 species of resident, migrant and endemic species of birds have been recorded in Yala.
Birds
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Reptiles
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Flora
Yala National Park forest area is dominated by Manilkara hexandra (Palu), Drypetes sepiaria (Weera), Salvadora persica (Tooth brush tree), Cassia fistula (Golden Shower Tree), Limonia acidissima (Wood apple), and Azadirachta indica (Neem). A lot of these trees are food supplies for the wild animals during dry period as well.
Thorny scrubland is dominated by Ziziphus.sp (Eraminia) and Dichrostachys cinerea (Bell mimosa). Sonneratia pagatpat , Acanthus montanus, Rhizopora and Lumnitzera species dominate the mangrove vegetation.
Gallery
 A grey langur monkey |
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 Water buffalo |
 Forsten's Cat Snake (Boiga forsteni) |
References
- ^ "Yala (Ruhunu) National Park". http://www.lankalibrary.com. 2004. http://www.info.lk/srilanka/srilankanature/srilanka_parks/yala.htm. Retrieved on 2009-06-28.
- ^ "Folklore and wildlife of Yala National Park". http://www.lankalibrary.com. 2005-10-03. http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=876. Retrieved on 2009-06-28.
- ^ "Yala National Wildlife Park, Sri Lanka". http://srilankaecotourism.com. 2008. http://srilankaecotourism.com/yala_nataional_park_sri_lanka.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-05.
- ^ "RUHUNA (YALA) NATIONAL PARK IN SRI LANKA: VISITORS, VISITATION AND ECO-TOURISM". http://www.fao.org. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/ARTICLE/WFC/XII/0116-A1.HTM. Retrieved on 2009-07-05.
- P. Fernando, Eric D. Wikramanayake and Jennifer Pastorini, Impact of tsunami on terrestrial ecosystems of Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, Current Science, Vol. 90, No. 11, pp. 1531-1534, June 2006 Online.
- Tsunami Kills Few Animals in Sri Lanka, Gemunu Amarasinghe, Associated Press
- CHECKLISTS OF THE SNAKES OF SRI LANKA,Sri Lanka Wild Life Conservation Society
External links
- Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka
- WWW Virtual Library, Sri Lanka
- National Parks and Wildlife in Sri Lanka
- Centre for Conservation and Research
- Ecological Damage of Tsunami in Yala National Park
- Yala NP trip report with photos
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