The world’s most leopard-dense national park by area – a diverse landscape of scrub jungle, coastal lagoon, grassland, and rocky outcrop that supports extraordinary concentrations of leopards, elephants, sloth bears, crocodiles, and over 200 bird species in an environment that makes sustained, close-range wildlife encounters a realistic expectation rather than a hope. Morning game drives through Yala in the golden hour, when every surface is lit and the leopards are still moving through the undergrowth, consistently produce the most photographically and experientially rewarding wildlife hours of any Sri Lanka itinerary.