Yala National Park is the second largest national park in the country and the number-one most visited. Its immense area, nearly 400 square miles, and is designation as a wildlife reserve make it one of the country's foremost destinations for safaris.

Yala National Park is situated in the Arid Zone of Sri Lanka’s South East region. Comprising of five blocks, this National Park covers an area of 151,778 hectares. Currently only Block I, covering 14,100 hectares, is open to the public. Yala’s historical significance dates back to 500 B.C and evidence shows that the park was inhabited in the past. The area remained a free hunting area for sport until the 1900s, when it was declared a Game Reserve. In 1938 a section of the park was declared a National Park. Yala National Park comprises of several major habitat types including dunes, scrub plains, jungles, rocky outcrops, fresh water lakes, rivers and beaches, coastal lagoons with mangrove forests. The diverse collection of vegetation has resulted in many species of animals and birds being recorded in Yala National Park such as sloth bear, elephants, buffalos, monkeys, sambar, deer, crocodiles and the endangered leopard sub-species, Panthera pardus kotiya, which is found only in Sri Lanka. Yala Block 1 is known to have the highest density of Leopards in the world. ​Yala

was once a center of learning that hosted 12,000 monks. Situlpahuwa Rock Temple has been reinvented and rebuilt, and is now a place where pilgrimages are carried out. Nearby is the Magul Maha Vihara, a Buddhist cave complex that dates back to the time of Christ.