The Home of Wild Elephants – Minneriya National Park

Minneriya can be called a very famous home for wild elephants. It will be more useful for you to read this article before going to see the beauty of the Minneriya National Park, which was created based on the Minneriya Lake and its watershed.

History of Minneriya National Park

King Mahasen, who ruled the Rajarata region, which is considered a city surrounded by lakes, can be named as a king who did a great job in making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in rice. His unique creation, the Minneriya Lake, nourishes a large amount of agricultural land in ancient times as well as in the present.

The Minneriya Lake is spread over 249 square kilometers. The watershed surrounding it is what is now called the park. This area, which was once very protected, began to be destroyed by various human activities at the dawn of the 20th century.

As a solution, the then British government designated this area, which had an area of ​​6,693.5 hectares, as the 13th sanctuary of Sri Lanka on 29 July 1938. Minneriya can be called the second largest sanctuary of all the sanctuaries that had been designated at that time.

At that time, the first sanctuary of Sri Lanka, Chundikulam bird Sanctuary, which had an area of ​​11,149.1 hectares, also ranked first in terms of size. Since there was a loose legal system in the sanctuary that allowed for human activities while protecting wild animals and their natural environment, some protection was provided to wild animals and flora.

Over time, with the increasing population, the pace of deforestation increased. Due to this, the Minneriya Sanctuary also faced a great threat and as a response to that threat, the Department of Wildlife Conservation, under the Fauna and Flora Ordinance, on 12 August 1997, designated the area around the Minneriya Reservoir, which was 8,889.4 hectares in size, as the 14th National Park in Sri Lanka. It ranks 11th in terms of size among the national parks. The Minneriya National Park was opened to the public in 1998.

A prominent place in the Asian Wetlands Directory

Minneriya National Park, located in the Polonnaruwa District of the North Central Province, is a national park with hills, dense forests and grasslands that extend from 60 to 500 meters above sea level.

The park is best known as a wetland. Due to its role as a wetland reserve, it has been designated as a park of international importance in the Asian Wetlands Register. The annual rainfall is between 15,000-2,000 mm. The temperature range in the area is recorded as 20.6-34.5 degrees Celsius, and the soil of the park can be identified as a reddish-brown silty soil type.

Minneriya is mainly watered by the giant canal that flows from the Mahaweli River. In addition, the Minneriya Reservoir is fed to a small extent by waterways such as Batu Oya, Eerige Oya, Thal Kote Oya, Kiri Oya and Vadampala Oya.

The road to Minneriya National Park

The park is bounded on the north by the Habarana-Polonnaruwa road, on the south by the Polonnaruwa district boundary, on the east by the Katukeliyawa-Diyabeduma road and on the west by the Sigiriya-Moragaswewa road.

A tourist coming from Colombo can reach the park entrance office near the 182nd kilometer post on the Colombo-Polonnaruwa road (A 011). A tourist coming from Polonnaruwa can reach it via the A011 road.

Wild Elephants in Minneriya

Among the mammals living in the Minneriya National Park, wild elephants hold a prominent place. According to the data of the Wildlife Department, an average of 150 to 200 wild elephants live here. However, during the dry season from April to October, when this region experiences a drought, you can also watch a herd of more than 300 elephants enter the Minneriya tank grounds from the Polonnaruwa-Colombo road.

During that time, herds of elephants can also be seen blocking the A11 road and obstructing vehicles moving there. The reason for this is that wild elephants living in the forest reserves of Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa and Matale districts come to the Minneriya National Park in search of water and food due to the prevailing drought.

It is a common practice for wild elephants to stay near the Minneriya Devalaya grounds and extend their trunks to vehicles passing by to beg for food. When feeding them, it is imperative not to give them polythene and to ensure their own safety.

Several plant systems can be identified here, the main plant systems can be classified as low-canopy mountain forests with compact vegetation, secondary forests with medium canopy, thorny forests, grasslands and wetlands. In addition, teak and eucalyptus plantations cultivated by the Forest Conservation Department in the Ambagaswewa and Kahatiwemulla areas can also be seen.

In the above-mentioned ecosystems, plants such as palu, burutha, milla, katumediriya, halmilla and weera as well as plants unique to the dry zone such as katuna and wild eddi plants increase the plant diversity of the park.

Other animals in Minneriya

Apart from wild elephants, 23 other species of mammals can be seen in the park. The deer that live in the mountain ranges, the spotted deer in the grasslands, the rare leopards and bears bring great value to the Minneriya National Park. Monkeys and sloths that are endemic to Sri Lanka can be seen on the high peaks.

Birds such as the national bird of our country, the wild cuckoo, the Sri Lankan red-crowned crane, the grey-headed grebe, the red-headed grebe and the black-headed grebe, can often be seen. This area is also home to a large number of migratory birds due to its wetlands. The most important of them are the Pashtuns and the Laths.

The Minneriya Lake has become a habitat for a number of fish species. Four of these species are endemic to Sri Lanka. In addition, the “Tilapia” fish species introduced to Sri Lanka can also be seen. Among the amphibians found, the endemic to the country, the common tree frog, and the common tree frog, occupy a prominent place. Among the reptiles that bring high value to the park, the Halakimbula, the spotted viper, the python, the thalagoya and the kabaragoya are able to increase the animal diversity.