Where Travel And Elephant Conservation Meet In Sri Lanka


It’s the elephant that for 2,000 years has defined Sri Lanka. It’s present in the country’s art, architecture and its religious symbolism. However, over the last three generations, the Sri Lankan Elephant population has declined by as much as 50%. The human-elephant conflict (HEC) is a large threat to both people and elephants.

Last year, 320 elephants were killed. They weren’t the victims of poachers because Asian elephants are usually tuskless. Instead, they fell into cultivation pits, or were hit by vehicles or were killed by terrified villagers protecting their paddy fields.

There was a human toll, too—70 people were killed either when colliding with elephants while riding their motorbikes at night or trampled as villagers tried to scare the elephants away from the rice stores that are needed to feed the villagers’ families.

Sri Lankan owned and run hotel group, Uga Escapes, has been working in partnership with Doctor Prithiviraj Fernando — known simply as ‘The Doctor’ — a man who’s devoted his life to studying elephants. The goal is to take positive action to try and resolve HEC. At the beginning of 2023, Uga Escapes opened Sri Lanka’s first Elephant Research Centre (ERC) with Dr. Prithiviraj. The ERC has opened at one of Uga’s five hotels; Ulagalla that sits near Anuradhapura, the ancient capital in the north of Sri Lanka.

At Ulagalla, a trained team of individuals – in-house guides and members of the local community – are dedicated to tracking elephants in the wider vicinity of the hotel. They are looking at how and where elephants congregate, their seasonal movements and their feeding grounds. This information is then sent back to Dr. Prithiviraj and his team to gradually identify individual elephants, monitoring their habits and habitats, which in turn will help prevent local issues of HEC.

Uga further supports Dr. Prithiviraj by funding specific projects to alleviate local instances of HEC, such as the building of correctly positioned electric fences in the vicinity of Ulagalla and an engagement program to educate the local villagers.

The key to most conservation practices is garnering buy-in from both the locals and the travelers who frequent the area. To ensure that travelers have a better understanding of the situation, guests staying at Ulagalla can visit the on-site Elephant Research Center with maps, photographs and information on the Sri Lankan elephant. Accompanied by a member of the ranger’s team, guests can then walk out into elephant land to track these magnificent creatures.

Starting in February — as the climate becomes drier and the waters recede elsewhere — elephants start coming each evening to the shore of the Minneriya Reservoir which is a 50 minute drive from Ulagalla. And they keep on coming. “By July, there’ll be 150 elephants here, and in September the numbers jump to 300,” says Dr. Prithiviraj. “The whole plain is covered with them.” While this is one of the planet’s great wildlife experiences, few people know it exists. Depending on the time of year, Uga Escapes has special access to Nachchaduwa National Park which is a shorter drive from Ulagalla, where travelers can see elephants during the migration.

Ulagalla is situated close to the Cultural Triangle, a region rich in UNESCO-listed architecture. Hotel guests can borrow bikes and cycle to the ancient capital Anuradhapura. Here you can visit some of the country’s earliest and holiest sites, such as The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi known as the Sacred Bo Tree. Grown from a sapling of the fig tree this is believed to be where Buddha sat and attained enlightenment.

Typifying Uga’s back-to-nature type of luxury, Ulagalla’s 25 vast villas and old chieftain’s mansion occupy a leafy estate. The Cultural Triangle’s only all-pool-villa resort, Ulagalla sits handily close to both Sigiriya’s teetering fortress and the cave temples of Dambulla. You might also attend rice-harvesting festivals, try out archery or take village tuk-tuk tours before slumbering amid a lush, wattle-walled spa. For those who have an appetite for exploring flavors, The Kamatha, a new dining experience at Ulagalla, set in the center of a working rice paddy field brings together travelers and locals alike in arguably one of the world’s most picturesque settings.

On the southern shores of Sri Lanka, at Chena Huts, the newest hotel to join the Uga family, a team of naturalists work closely with Dr. Prithiviraj. Guests can go on Jeep drives with expert naturalists into rural areas frequented by wild elephants, all within the local area.

Though it spans seven acres of golden dunes, tropical beach and monkey-rich greenery, Chena Huts has just 14 secluded cabins. Positioned to offer great views, each has a vernacular, thatched dome roof above its private plunge pool. There’s also a restaurant offering urban-fine dining deep in the wilderness, and a new bar on the sand.

Just a few miles north begins Yala, Sri Lanka’s largest and oldest national park, and thought to be home to the world’s largest density of leopards. Chena Huts’ veteran rangers lead custom, twice-daily safaris around Yala’s various biomes – from monsoon forests to wetlands – and into adjacent Bundala National Park which has a stunning array of birdlife. Crocodiles, sloth bears, flying snakes and flamboyant peacocks are other possible sightings in this part of Sri Lanka.



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