Habarana - Elephant Land

If your a nature lover and especially fond of elephants Habarana is the place for you. Its about 4 - 5 hours journey from Colombo and the road is pretty good up to Dambulla. There are plenty of Holiday Bungalows around so lodging is no problem. In fact the closeness to the wild is pretty amazing in some of those bungalows. For example in the bungalow we stayed there was a tree house at the very edge of the jungle where you could spend a night viewing wild life. There are not many Hotels around so if your looking for a five star treatment you could stay in Dambulla. Its about 15-20 minutes journey from Dambulla to Habarana National Park.

Now to the important part of Watching Elephants. The first thing you should do is find the right guide for the tour. For one jeep which can carry about 6 people easily it costs about 2500-3000 rupees per tour. By finding the right guide I mean finding the a driver who knows how to handle himself in a crisis , especially in case of an Elephant attack. As you can see in the picture above we were very close to the Elephants , not all guides take you this close so if you didn't find the right guy you will be disappointed. Finding the right guide will guarantee you fun but it does not guarantee safety. On this trip we were attacked by the Elephants and the guy who took this video got bruises all over his body since he didn't held on to the jeep. So be sure to have fun but be careful so you come back to tell the story. And remember the best times to catch these wonderful beasts close up is either early in the morning or in the evening after 4. Hope this post helps you in having some fun with the elephants. Follow this link if you want to see more photos.