A phased program is to be introduced to gradually limit the number of vehicles entering Yala Block 1 in conjunction with the improvement of wildlife sightings in Yala Blocks 3, 4, 5 and other developments in adjacent national parks.

Yala, as an internationally renowned wildlife park, has attracted a large number of international and national visitors annually. The majestic leopard endemic to Sri Lanka is one of the main tourist attractions of this wild life park.

While this interest in wildlife is remarkable and certainly positive for revenue collection, the increasing effects of over-visitation is posing a great threat of damage to the park and to its wildlife, the Policy Development Office said in a statement.

Numerically, visitation has increased from 43,368 visitors in 2008 to 545,007 visitors in 2015. This is an increase of over 1000% in 7 years. This has resulted in an average of 250 vehicles entering Yala Block 1 per day with increased numbers during holiday seasons, often exceeding 700 vehicles per day.

To curb this over visitation, the “Yala Sub-committee” of the Prime Minister’s office was formulated to create a path towards a more sustainable management of the Yala national park.

Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and the Tourist Board are the main stake holders of this sub-committee while the Policy Development Office (PDO) of the Prime Minister’s Office act as the monitoring organization of this Sub- committee.

“An action plan for improving the overall wildlife tourism experience in Yala national park” was initially compiled by the Department of Wildlife Conservation in March, 2017. The progress of the above report for the period from January to June 2018 has been recently sent to the PDO by the DWC.

The action plan is divided into three sections namely, Short-term, Medium- term and Long-term actions. As for the progress report of the action plan, the following actions have been already implemented/partially implemented so far.

Short-term actions - Patrolling of at least 2 DWC vehicles in the park between 6am-10am and 2pm-6pm daily; DWC to permit entry and exit times to be decided on dawn and dusk timing; introducing rotational closure of Yala Block 1,3,4 and 5 for 3 months periods beginning with Yala block 1.

Medium-term actions - Yet to be implemented.

Long-term actions – Introducing a phased program to gradually limit the number of vehicles entering Yala Block 1 in conjunction with the improvement of wildlife sightings in Yala Blocks 3,4,5 and other developments in adjacent national parks.