Discover wild hotels in the great outdoors in Gal Oya National Park , Sri Lanka

Set in more than 25,000 hectares of unspoilt evergreen forests and open savannahs, Gal Oya National Park is the only place in Sri Lanka where you can take a water safari. Board a boat on the banks of Senanayake Samudra lake, binoculars in hand, and keep your eyes peeled for animals drinking, or diving into, the water. From big beasts like leopards, wild boars and water buffalo, to smaller species such as sloths, and langur and toque macaque monkeys, Gal Oya is home to 150 types of bird and 32 species of mammal. However, one attracts attention more than any other, and not just because of its size; people journey here from all over the world to join a water safari and witness Asian elephants swimming between the islands.