Sri Lanka: Arugam Bay > Kumana National Park

Mar 29 2025 |

Here's a brief on how I did a "self-safari" to Kumana, an awesome, action-packed afternoon ride.

Going on safari is a big thing to do in Arugam. About 1 hour south, Kumana is the eastern area of Yala National Park, a marquee tourist site in Sri Lanka. Due to its fairly remote location on the east coast, mass tourism doesn't occur here, most people visit Yala from the west side of the park.

I looked into doing a safari, but due to it being low-season and with barely any tourists around, I would have needed to hire a jeep myself, rather than split the cost amongst riders. Anyways, I am not big on organised anything. And after having done a safari in East Africa, I have mixed emotions about that kind of tourism. So that plan got nixed.

But there was a plan B. After 2 days of R&R in Arugam, I decided I'd extend my stay for another day. And then it dawned on me: why not just ride down to the park? So I did. T

Riding south from Arugam, the road winds through rice fields and nice views. I got close-up views of the amazing bird life on offer in Sri Lanka: huge storks, ibis, herons, pelicans, as well as kingfishers and other colorful birds. I also saw groups of langur monkeys, a real treat as you usually see macaques in Asia.

The real highlights kicked in as neared the park, starting from about 5 km away. There, I saw numerous individual elephants. One was stepping out of the bush onto the road as I came around the corner, about 30 meters in front of me; we stopped and looked at each other, and I slowly turned my bike around - it was a bit too close for comfort. I also saw crocodiles sunning themselves on rocks, a big herd of deer, mongoose, and many more birds.

This was all before I arrived at the park entrance. And it was just a gate with no guard or entry booth. I thought about riding further in, but that didn't seem like the right thing to do. So I rode up to the village on the coast beside the entrance, about 1 km away. It's home to some domesticated deer looking for handouts. Also ride down to the beach, where the fishermen live like years gone by (hundreds of years). Then it was back to Arugam.

The whole trip took me about 3 hours. Was it as good as an organised safari? Well, it certainly was for me.