Half Day Game drive to Kumana or Yala East National Park is a 3 hours game viewing opportunity with Beyond Escapes Safari Team. This is a favourite outing spot for the country's residents is located at the south eastern corner of Sri Lanka. Kumana is a well-known eco-tourism attraction and bird sanctuary where a multitude of birds breed and roost with an area of 18,149 hectares.
Kumbukkan Oya forms the southern boundary of the national park. Some 20 lagoons and tanks support the extensive birdlife of the national park. The lagoons are shallow with depths less than 2 metres (6.6 ft). Kumana villu, one of the most significant features of the park - a 200-hectare natural swamp lake, is subject to occasional inundation with seawater.
A dry zone tropical thorn forest surrounds the wetlands with a variety of flora, dominant trees and common aquatic plants that form colourful swamps. The vegetation includes mangroves and kumbuk trees.
Kumana National Park in Sri Lanka is renowned for its avifauna which home to 255 species of birds. For bird watching enthusiasts, this park is an absolute must. This park is renowned for large flocks of migratory waterfowl and wading birds. The surroundings are also popular for pelicans, painted stalks, spoonbills, white ibis, heron, and little cormorants. Pelican is the most common while the rarest bird spotted here is black necked stork. The Kumana Bird Sanctuary established in 1938. Plenty of tanks and lagoons scattered around the park where thousands of birds’ nest and breed. Rare species such as black-necked stork, lesser adjutant, Eurasian spoonbill, and great thick-knee are breeding inhabitants; Waders belonging to families Scolopacidae and Charadriidae are among the visitors to the area. It is known that thousands of birds migrate to the swamp every year between the months of April to July.
Tilapia and mullet are the commonly fish varieties in the area.
Kumana is also home to some of the mammals found in YALA NATIONAL PARK such as elephants and leopards. Mugger crocodile, Indian flap-shelled turtle and Indian black turtle are the common reptiles inhabiting the park. The number of elephants roaming in the Kumana is estimated at 30–40.
This park is truly “off-the-beaten-track” and can only be accessed by 4WD vehicle. You will be provided light refreshments and water bottles during the safari.
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