Laying in the Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces, Udawalawe National Park is spread over 30,821 hectares of land area. Udawalawe was established in 1972 to create a sanctuary for displaced animals due to the construction of the Udawalawe reservoir. The majority of its land area is plains and there are mountain areas, and marshes also cover the national park. Udawalawe is a paradise for elephant lovers; because of the Udawalawe reservoir, the park attracts elephants and there are 250 Sri Lankan Elephants permanently resident in Udawalawe National Park. It’s a perfect place for birdwatching; there number of endemic birds like Sri Lanka spurfowl, red-faced malkoha, Sri Lanka grey hornbill, brown-capped babbler, and Sri Lanka junglefowl and also rare migrants such as White wagtails and black-capped kingfisher can be found in this park area. The Udawalawe Elephants Orphanage is not too far away from the park entrance; you can watch their activities and also feed them, most interesting one is feeding elephant calves.