Uda Walawe National Park

Polly, Ellie, Sophie, Jenn, Me! In our safari jeep

On my first weekend the majority of volunteers were going on an organised PMGY trip called the Cultural Triangle Tour however I signed up for that same trip in August. The few of us that weren't going decided that we would have a day trip on Saturday and go on an elephant safari.
The national park was called Uda Walawe and was about a 3 hour drive away from Ambalangoda. We had an early start and left the house at 5.30am. Travel was easy though as we had a private driver and minivan; that's the best way for us to travel when public transport isn't a possibility and is surprisingly cheap! Out of all the national parks and animal safari's in Sri Lanka Uda Walawe is renouned for being the best for elephants with a guarantee that elephants will be seen on every tour. We saw our first elephants within 10 mins. We had a tour guide sit in our jeep with us who was just fantastic. For my first safari it was definitely a good experience! Regardless of being in Sri Lanka, Asia I kept being reminded of ITV's Wild At Heart!