Opened to visitors in 1998, Minneriya has been mostly visited by tourists for its elephants. Elephants are known to come to Minneriya from the surrounding national parks of Wasgomuwa, Somawathie, Maduru Oya and the Galoya sanctuary.
When you enter the park, the driver of the Jeep provided by a nearby hotel will assure you that elephants here are quite docile, contrary to hearsay. But remember, a wild elephant always has to be treated with caution. In any event you are not allowed to get out of your vehicle in the park.
Your jeep will trundle along dusty tracks, hemmed in on either side by maana (a grass 30cm tall) or other vegetation, sometimes dense, sometimes patchy. Weera, palu, milla, halmilla and kalumediriya are varieties of trees to be seen in this park, where the vegetation is a mix of forest, grassland and scrubland, giving shelter to the toque monkey and the purple-faced leaf monkey.
If you are with a trained eye, you would spot a wasp’s nest, shell-shaped and dangling from the branch of a tree. But, never approach or disturb the residents if you don’t want to get stung.
Now you can head for the 2,500-year-old Minneriya tank, which has become a source of life for both man and animal living in the park and surrounding areas. The park is home to many species of amphibians, mammals and birds. Many species of fish and butterfly are also said to be found here.
In the middle of the dried up tank bed you could see large herd of Sri Lanka elephants of all shapes and sizes. It is known reportedly to take place, between May and October, celebrated elephant gatherings near Minneriya tank bed as they come for tender green grass and water.
When the tank would become flooded, the elephants would start migrating to the nearby Kaudulla tank in the Kaudulla National Park - also in the same district, 6km off the Habarana-Trincomalee road.
They start returning to Minneriya when the monsoon is over. Elephants are great walkers, covering as much as 32km a day. It can be difficult to spot elephants during the monsoon as they tend to restrict their movements to the forested area where food and water is readily available.
