Young Spotted Deer, Ruhunu National Park, Yala
YALA NATIONAL PARK, one of Sri Lanka 's premier eco tourism destinations,
lies 24km northeast of Tissamaharama and 290km from Colombo on the
southeast coast of Sri Lanka, spanning a vast 97,
878 hectares over the Southern and Uva Provinces.
The vegetation in the park comprises predominantly of semi-arid thorny scrub,
interspersed with pockets of fairly dense secondary forest. Small patches of mangrove vegetation also occur along the coastal lagoons.
The park is renowned for the variety of its Wildlife (most notably its many elephants)
and its fine coastline (with associated coral reefs).
It also boasts a large number of important cultural ruins,
bearing testimony to earlier civilizations and indicating that much of
the area used to be populated and well developed.
Diyaluma Falls - 171 m
''And from Seyllan to Paradise, according to what the natives say
after the tradition of forty Italian miles; so that, 'this said, the sound
of the waters falling from the fountain of Paradise is heard there."
Friar Marignolli, Papal Envoy to Peking-14th century
