Kaudulla or Minneriya for a summer elephant safari?

For a summer elephant safari, Minneriya National Park is usually the better pick from July to September because of the well-known “Elephant Gathering”. Yet by late September or October, the herds often move on to Kaudulla National Park, as the water situation changes.

During the dry season, the water levels at the Minneriya tank drop back, so the ground is left with thick green grass that pulls in hundreds of elephants from nearby forests. This event is among the biggest and also very foreseeable wild elephant congregations in the world. If you are travelling around the shift months of late August or September, check in with your jeep driver on the day of the trip, since local trackers always understand which park the herd is using right then.