Plan to Protect Yala Wildlife – Wildlife Protection Underway in Yala

The Yala Wildlife Park which is roughly a 1-hour distance away from Cinnamon Wild Yala is famed as the indigenous Sri Lankan leopard calls these surroundings home. Sadly, the very frequent visits made by vehicles carrying tourists have done considerable damage to the environment in Yala. Therefore, the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has decided that measures have to be taken soon for the protection of this national park.

Looking at things numerically, with the increasing number of tourists to hotels in Yala, the number of visitors to the park has increased by 1000% during the period from 2008 to 2015. This means that on average at least 250 vehicles keep entering the Yala block (1 vehicle per day with more visits during season time). To deal with many vehicles (700) now entering the park, the ‘Yala Sub- Committee’ is working on formulating a more sustainable method to manage the Yala National Park. The committee has come up with a few plans that have been divided into short-term actions which are already being implemented and medium-term actions which will gradually begin in the near future.