Bundala with a private driver

Bundala National Park is a 6,200-hectare Ramsar wetland on the south-eastern coast, sandwiched between the sea and a chain of shallow saline lagoons that fill with migratory birds from the Palearctic and Indian subcontinent between September and March. Up to 5,000 greater flamingos winter here — the largest flamingo congregation in Sri Lanka — alongside painted storks, spot-billed pelicans, black-tailed godwits and dozens of wader species. The park is also home to all five Sri Lankan sea turtle species, which nest on the coastal beach, and there is a resident elephant population and scattered crocodiles in the lagoons. Bundala is on the coastal road between Hambantota and Tissamaharama, making it a natural add-on to a Yala circuit without any detour, and the birding is done in open jeeps along the lagoon tracks.