Bird Paradise in the Southeast: Kumana National Park

Going further towards the southeastern side of the island, you can find the Kumana National Park which indefinitely is a paradise land known for its exotic bird inhabitants beautifying the whole land. Even though very much overshadowed by the Yala National Park, Kumana is it’s own beauty and charm with quite the amount of wildlife and nature to offer. 

Kumana is mostly venerated for its breathtaking bird population boasting over 200 species of them. The season from April to July starts the migratory season bringing life to the park like in no other season with exotic birds flocking in with so much color. Greater flamingos, pelicans, painted storks, and herons and many more colorful birds find Kumana to be their home for the next several months and its 200 hectare natural lagoon becomes the breeding space for all these birds at this time. 

Diversified Wildlife

Despite being famous for its significant bird population, Kumana has a variety of wildlife dwelling in this space. Elephants, leopards, wild boars, crocodiles, and an array of smaller mammals and reptiles have made a home out of this beautiful Kumana National Park and a safari visit there would give you a chance to witness this very amusing wildlife there. 

Kumana, given the fact that it is quite overshadowed by Yala National Park, is mostly secluded and offers a calm and serene setting to its inhabitants leaving the nature to hum it's quiet hums, birds to chirp as they want, and lazy reptiles to slide up and towards the land giving out that russell sound for the hushed nature. The park is not just its wildlife and nature, but also a very subtle historical importance that reads this place back to history. Within the park, there are many rock inscriptions and ruins found, giving the park a splendid mix of nature and history.  

Best time to visit

Being less crowded makes this park the perfect spot to witness the most amazing birds and other wildlife and planning your visit there should probably be done during the season, in the months between April and July, making it the perfect time for bird watching.  During the dry season, between the months of May and September, the park is famous to showcase more of its other wildlife as well. 

Just like inYala, touring Kumana is done in Safari style mostly, but Kumana is the singular perfect spot for bird watching in the island, so that can be done too. Kumana is also the perfect location for a camping night which could be exciting to the eyes and ears and mind. What more can be done is exploring the Kudumbigala Monastery situated nearby. 

Preserve for future

Kumana National Park is known for its beauty in nature and wildlife. However, the beauty has remained after careful preservation and needs further mindful attendance to preserve further and more.  Unlike Yala, crowds are a little foreign to this park but those who bother to catch the beauty of this park are strictly requested to enjoy the beauty mindfully, not attending anything that would disturb nature such as feeding animals, making loud noises, carelessly dropping and leaving anything other than their footsteps.