Yala National Park Safari With Kids
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We’re in the last few months of our time living in South Korea so for spring break, we wanted to go somewhere new. We booked this trip prior to all the chaos in the world but we weren’t going to let that stop us from making our way to Sri Lanka.
Why Yala National Park?
Our family posing by our safari Jeep
A safari in Sri Lanka probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of wildlife adventures, but after spending a morning in Yala National Park, I completely understand why it’s one of the country's most popular experiences.
A safari has been on my bucket list for pretty much my entire life. In my mind Sri Lanka was lush and green with beautiful so last year while researching safaris around the world, I was surprised to learn that there are safaris in Sri Lanka. In fact, Sri Lanka has the world's highest density of leopards and offered us an almost 100% chance of seeing Asian elephants. Sri Lankan safaris are also significantly less expensive than African safaris.
There’s water buffalo AND a leopard in this photo!
After more research, I found a hotel that would fit all our needs, just minutes from the National Park and so our spring break vacation planning began. Also, SriLankan Airlines has an 8 hour direct flight from Seoul to Colombo several times per week which is great for us.
There are about 3 options when it comes to safaris: morning (5am-noon), full day, and evening (noon-6pm). In Yala, the full day safaris include a 2 hour break from noon-2pm. Typically you won’t spot a ton of animals during this time and it is a lunch break for the safari as well. I was gung-ho for a full day safari - this was my first chance at a safari and I wanted as much of the experience as possible. My husband, on the other hand, thought a half day would be better for our kids. You guys, he was right.
For our family, this ended up being a fantastic entry-level safari: exciting enough to keep everyone engaged, manageable for younger kids, and packed with incredible wildlife sightings. And for families with younger children, the morning safari was absolutely the right choice.
Book the exact safari we used:
Yala Safari High Luxury Private Tour with Entry Tickets
A Morning Safari in Yala National Park
Our day started early. Really early. We were picked up directly from our hotel at 6:00 a.m., and by around 7:00 a.m. our tickets had been purchased and our jeep was entering Yala National Park.
Here’s one instance where our schedule didn’t exactly align with our booking info though: Our tour booking stated “breakfast included” but after purchasing our tickets, our guide asked if we wanted to go back to our hotel for breakfast. We said no and off we headed into the national park. If breakfast is super important to you I would recommend choosing a later pick up time (the tour we chose had pick up options every hour!) OR asking your hotel to pack you a picnic basket breakfast. This is probably something we could’ve requested but we didn’t think about it. It wasn’t an issue, none of us were starving, but I thought I’d mention that discrepancy.
Can you find the leopard in this photo?
For families, I think the morning option is ideal. Our 11-year-old could easily have handled a full-day safari. But after seeing leopards and elephants within the first hour, our 5-year-old was finished. About halfway through the safari she asked “how much longer do we have to be out here?” That kid is full of sass and was worried about one thing, and one thing only: spending her days in the pool. (In her defense, our spring break trip always aligns with her birthday trip and she’d repeatedly told us all she wanted to do was hang out in a pool and she didn’t care whether or not she went on a safari.)
I’d read that early morning safaris are better as the animals are awake, which was another reason we chose morning instead of afternoon.
We Saw THREE Leopards
We sat here watching him clean himself for a few minutes before moving on and allowing other Jeeps this opportunity
Since I had done my research, I knew Yala was famous for leopard sightings before we arrived. However, I was also aware that the leopards are elusive - there are only estimated 300–350 Sri Lankan leopards on the entire island.
For us, seeing three during one morning safari felt unbelievably lucky!!
Unlike distant wildlife sightings where someone says, “Look over there!” and everyone pretends they can see it, these were real sightings. The first one was the furthest from us, but when he moved his tail, we were able to spot him. Also, thanks to the zoom on our iPhones, we were able to find him easier!
Our booking included a drive who acted as our guide. We would be cruising the national park and he would suddenly accelerate down the park roads like he had received secret wildlife intelligence. A few minutes later we'd arrive and- bam - animals. We raced off to a plain area where buffalo were hanging out and the first leopard of the morning was laying out in the open - far away and blending in with the brush - that it took help from other vehicles for us to learn where to look. Then he got up and walked into the trees to lay down. He didn’t stay long, he headed off into the trees.
A little while later we were zooming backwards on a road because we were told there was a leopard in the brush - London and I just baaaaarely spotted him dart through some trees and further into the brush.
Our third leopard of the day was the best, although it created a major traffic jam and some Jeeps wouldn’t get out of the way. We saw the leoapard up on a cliff, lounging and cleaning himself. He was close enough to see without much searching so both girls were able to spot him too! We watched him for a couple of minutes and moved on so others would have the opportunity.
The cutest baby elephant!
We heard the first set of elephants but there was a ton of congestion that we couldn’t get through and we never saw those. A short while later, after speeding around, we managed to come upon an adult elephant and a baby. I was so happy because my goal on this trip was to see a baby elephant!
During our snack and bathroom stop, we spotted another elephant standing nearby our jeep.
A Bathroom Warning
This is the mid-safari break spot. Really gorgeous spot!
Mid-way through our safari we had a bathroom, coffee shop, snack break. I’m pretty this is also where the 2 hour lunch break occurs so bear that in mind.
This deserves its own section because disgusting is not a strong enough word. If you have young kids, make sure everyone uses the bathroom before entering the park. There was no toilet paper, the floor was disgusting, and one stall was bad I waited it out. There was also an asian-squatty-potty-hole-in-the-floor stall if you can manage that. Maybe we were visiting during rush hour / a day it hadn’t been cleaned yet, but I would avoid this at all costs if I were here again.
Snacks from our driver - delicious all around
Our booking also said it included snacks and water and here at the bathroom stop is where we had time for that. Homemade, local Sri Lankan snacks from our driver and they were delicious!
We had pani pol (crepes with sweet jaggery and coconut filling) and curry. Both were so good so shout out to our driver or whoever cooked this up for us - it was perfect.
While we were hanging around snacking, I thought I heard something and another group of people told me to look this way. To our surprise a lone elephant had wandered up and was eating off the tree by the lake. Such a special moment that my girls loved too!
What Our Private Yala Safari Included
According to our booking, our tour included:
Free hotel pickup and drop-off
National park entrance tickets
Private safari jeep
Driver
Refreshments and water
Breakfast for morning safari guests
Binoculars
Government taxes
I’ve mentioned a few of the things that surprised us along the way, but we also never found the binoculars. We never asked either, so maybe that was our fault. Thankfully, our phone camera zoom worked great.
The breakfast situation was also confusing and strange but wasn’t a deal breaker.
If breakfast matters, I’d recommend either:
booking a slightly later pickup
requesting a takeaway breakfast box from your resort
Many resorts around Yala can arrange picnic breakfasts especially if you let them know you’re headed off on an early morning safari.
Definitely 5 stars to our driver, he absolutely knew what he was doing. He was quick to react, safe and would pop out of his window every now and then to tell us where we were going.
If you're looking for a private safari with tickets included and a guide who somehow always seemed to know where wildlife was appearing, this is the exact experience we booked: Book our Yala safari here.
Just FYI, “tickets included” basically means that you don’t have to get out of the jeep and go purchase the tickets, the driver will do it for you. He doesn’t pre-purchase these, it’ll be on your way into the national park either way.
Our Safari Ended Earlier Than Expected
Also, our safari was booked until noon but we finished about an hour earlier than anticipated.
I started noticing that the area we were cruising through looked familiar, and we were starting to see more deer and crocs again and I looked up to see the gate for the national park. Normally that might bother me, but after seeing three leopards, elephants, a baby elephant, birds, and nearly everything on our wish list, we were ready. Especially Millie
Is Yala National Park Worth Visiting With Kids?
Absolutely. If you're looking for a first safari experience or traveling Sri Lanka with children, I think Yala hits a sweet spot. The wildlife feels exciting, the morning timing works well for families, and the experience gives kids just enough adventure without pushing them too far.
One of the many beautiful peacocks we were able to see.
For serious wildlife photographers, a full-day safari might make sense. I’ve read that this is a great safari for bird watchers as well and we saw countless peacocks!
For our family? Seeing three leopards before breakfast set the bar impossibly high. An African safari is still on my bucket list, but I’m glad we had this first experience as a family.
One More Tip!
Can you spot the crocodile?
If you’re a souvenir collector - there is 1 souvenir shop near where the national park tickets are purchased. If you don’t ask your driver to stop here, you’ll miss it. It’s a small shop, cash only, and a small but decent selection of goods. We grabbed shirts but they also had local snacks, magnets, trinkets and books.
