What makes Yala Leopard Trails, Sri Lanka different from other hotels?

Yala Leopard Trails places only canvas between you and Sri Lanka's Yala National Park wilderness. Evening sundowners at the jungle bar and morning safaris in search of leopards create a symphony of nature where luxury serves the wild.

Sri Lanka, Asia

Yala Leopard Trails

Escape to Sri Lanka for a luxurious tented safari under the stars, where evenings bring soothing comfort, jungle symphonies and good company by the fire

We aim to provide a unique Sri Lankan safari experience in spectacular solitude and soothing comfort – with only the canvas walls of your tent separating you from the wonders of our remarkable biodiversity. At dusk, return from your evening safari and make your way to our jungle bar.

Fill your heart and soul with good drink and good company while you bear witness to Mother Nature’s masterpiece – the jungle orchestra!

Yala National Park has one of the highest densities of wildlife per square kilometre on the island; it is often described as the finest safari destination in Sri Lanka (a country of immense biodiversity). The park is home to a vast variety of wildlife that each and every day presents new and exciting interactions.

The game viewing is consistently good all year round and the only change in seasons is the arrival of the monsoon rains. They bring about their own unique and special sightings within the park; spectacular green landscapes, cooler temperatures and a lease of new life for grazing herds of herbivores.

Leopard Trails practices Responsible Tourism. Everything that comes with us leaves with us. We aim to minimise our impact on the environment whilst retaining guest comfort. From working hand-in-hand with our local community to sourcing provisions & fresh ingredients from local suppliers and responsibly disposing of waste, we are here to showcase a true wilderness experience and prioritise above all else, the protection of nature.

THE HIGHEST QUALITY INTERPERATIVE GUIDING

Our internationally qualified & locally experienced safari guides specialise in adapting to your needs and tailoring your Safari experience accordingly

LEARN TO COOK
LIKE A LOCAL

Aspiring chefs or lovers of exotic cuisine can learn how to prepare their favourite local Sri Lankan dishes

ENJOY A UNIQUE RIDE ON A TRADITIONAL “ORUWA”

Ideal for those that enjoy birding as the lake and its surroundings are teeming with avifauna

A CULTURE OF STORYTELLING

Around the campfire, guides recite stories involving individual character traits, lineages and unique sightings of the leopards of Yala

Our Journey

Radheesh, who heads up Leopard Trails, had a plan to draw his closest jungle-loving comrades together to launch a sustainable safari business in Sri Lanka. He was armed with enthusiasm, energy, and an extreme passion for wildlife. Today, Leopard Trails is thriving on an innovation-based ethos, constantly improving its offering in line with global safari trends, albeit with a unique Sri Lankan touch.

The team has expanded to include internationally qualified game rangers and camp managers, with a passion for hosting, tracking, and guiding their guests across multiple national parks in Sri Lanka. The guides and owners travel regularly to Africa on guide exchange programs, improving their knowledge and evolving their techniques.

It is their wish that each and every guest that passes through their camps, leaves with a newfound or rekindled appreciation to conserve the remaining wilderness regions on our planet, for future generations to come.

Your Hosts - The Team at Yala Leopard Trails

Meet the dream team; we believe that any safari experience is greatly enhanced by high quality guiding. The Game Rangers at Leopard Trails are employed for their knowledge of Sri Lanka’s jungles and their ability to communicate with people from all over the world.

These passionate and qualified individuals are fascinating company, and are the ideal ambassadors to teach you the seemingly invisible language of the bush.

Apart from conducting informative game drives, the ranger also acts as a host within camp, discreetly reading the needs of our guests whilst at the same time sharing their stories, knowledge and passion for the wild.

We believe that our game rangers play a massive role in enhancing the guest experience at Leopard Trails.

Our insights..

Transparency is essential if we are all going to grow and improve together and this is why we have dedicated this section to sharing what we love about each place and its hosts. We work with each of our hosts to improve their guest experiences, sustainability practices and local impact, this is where you can learn more about that along with what still needs to be improved, the measures being taken to ensure our hosts continue to move forward and every now and then we’ll come back to update you on their progress.

Lars von der Wettern

Visited the property in November 2023

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A CULTURE OF STORYTELLING

Around the campfire, guides recite stories involving individual character traits, lineages and unique sightings of the leopards of Yala

THE HIGHEST QUALITY INTERPERATIVE GUIDING

Our internationally qualified & locally experienced safari guides specialise in adapting to your needs and tailoring your Safari experience accordingly

ENJOY A UNIQUE RIDE ON A TRADITIONAL “ORUWA”

Ideal for those that enjoy birding as the lake and its surroundings are teeming with avifauna

LEARN TO COOK LIKE A LOCAL

Aspiring chefs or lovers of exotic cuisine can learn how to prepare their favourite local Sri Lankan dishes

Our Journey

Your Hosts - The Team at Yala Leopard Trails

These passionate and qualified individuals are fascinating company, and are the ideal ambassadors to teach you the seemingly invisible language of the bush.

We believe that our game rangers play a massive role in enhancing the guest experience at Leopard Trails.

Our insights..

–

Lars von der Wettern

Visited the property in November 2023

Community & Sustainability Commitment

Here are some key sustainability & community practices that these hosts are committed to. Please use the key below the icons for reference. You might see that some measurements are not currently in place and that’s okay, we choose to support our hosts on their imperfect road towards a better world and we understand that that takes time.

Sustainability Practices

Community Commitments

Not in Place

Eco Certifications & Efforts

Just as we admire each of our hosts for their singularity, we appreciate that their sustainability journeys are also unique. Because of this, we do not require our hosts to have an eco certification or two under their belt, we simply guide them on improving their sustainable business practices one imperfect – but positive – step at a time. If a host has eco certifications they will be shown below, if not, then know we are working towards this together.

Monitoring & recording local leopards

Behavioural studies that focus on the differences between individual leopards rely on the recognition of individuals and the ability to follow them through time. Variation in natural markings has been valuable to field biologists and others for the identification of individual animals. Knowing where to look and how to identify an animal is very helpful as it allows us to monitor the movement of individuals within a population and better understand the behaviour of that animal. It also helps to understand the life history of an animal and to determine other ecological data such as abundance, range or territory, and the structure of populations which are the essential elements for the study, conservation, and protection of a species.

After an insightful time spent learning from safari guides in South Africa, Radheesh returned to Sri Lanka and began searching through thousands of leopard images in our internal records and sorting them into individuals, with the vision of sharing the data in the public domain. The team of guides at Leopard Trails were trained to identify individuals and soon they all started contributing images to a meticulously managed database.

Leopard Trails will continue to document the behaviour of leopards using photography and videography to expand this publicly available database showing territorial, mating and feeding behaviour as well as the family lineages of the leopards of Yala and Wilpattu (our other camp). This is made possible due to the passionate efforts of our team who manage the website and also due to all the contributing photographers that we liaise with to expand the database. We encourage those in both tourism and wildlife conservation to use this database and engage with us.

Protecting the environment

To reduce our dependency on plastics we discourage the use of plastic water bottles unless specifically requested by guests. We use reusable stainless steel thermos flasks filled from reusable American Water 5 gallon containers. American Premium is a purified bottled-water company in Sri Lanka with ABWA certification. ABWA (Asian and Middle East Bottled-Water Association) is an adjunct to the world-renowned IBWA.
All garbage is removed and disposed of outside the National park through the local council. Garbage is locked and sealed at camp each night.
We encourage guests to help us conserve water by reusing towels and bedsheets should they choose to do so.

How can you be a responsible traveller?

Avoid speeding to sightings after a tip off. Cases of safari vehicles colliding with wildlife are on the rise. It is far more rewarding to track wildlife in the lesser traveled parts of the park.
Be conscious of wrappers and other litter flying out of your vehicle.
Do not lean out of vehicles or alight from the vehicle except at designated get off points where it is permitted to do so.
Avoid wearing white and other bright colors while on safari.
Whisper at sightings. A loud human voice may disturb animals and cause them to change their behavior and movements.
Arrive on time. Vehicles are not permitted to enter through the park entrance after 4pm so please arrive well in advance to avoid disappointment.
Use water sparingly
Reuse towels and bed sheets wherever possible.

NGOs & Local Impact Projects Supported

Each of our hosts strive to have a positive impact on their local communities. Some of our hosts already have established connections with local partners to enrich the lives and wellbeing of their communities, others are in the process of creating these long term relationships. If a host has local NGO connections they will be shown below, if not, then know we are working towards this together.

Supporting the local community

We work hand-in-hand with the local community.
Our campsite staff and drivers have been handpicked from the local community.
Fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood and other provisions are sourced from local suppliers.
Transportation and logistics providers are from the area
Where possible equipment is manufactured and maintained within the local area including the use of local welders, carpenters, plumbers, and garages.

The Four Cs

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Conservation

72%

Highlights:

Community

43%