Yala Block 5 Safari

When people hear about Yala National Park, they're usually talking about Block 1. It's the most famous part of the park because it has one of the highest leopard densities in the world.

What many visitors don't realise is that Yala wasn't always the vast protected landscape it is today.

When Yala National Park was first established in 1938, it consisted only of what we now know as Block 1, covering just over 14,000 hectares. As additional forests and wildlife habitats around Yala came under protection over the following decades, they were gradually incorporated into the national park. Rather than managing nearly 1,000 square kilometres of wilderness as one enormous area, each new section became a separate block. This allows the Department of Wildlife Conservation to manage tourism, anti-poaching patrols, habitat restoration, fire management and conservation programmes more effectively, while still protecting one connected ecosystem where wildlife can move freely.

Block 5 was officially added to Yala National Park in 1973. Covering 6,656 hectares, it lies on the western side of the greater Yala ecosystem, surrounding the Weheragala area and bordering Lunugamwehera National Park (Block 6). Although these are managed as separate protected areas, there are no fences between them, allowing elephants, leopards and other wildlife to move naturally across both landscapes.

One of the defining features of Block 5 today is the Weheragala Reservoir.

Although the reservoir wasn't built until 2005–2009, long after Block 5 became part of Yala National Park, it has become an important feature of the landscape. Built by damming the Menik Ganga as part of the Lunugamwehera irrigation scheme, it now provides a permanent source of water for both wildlife and surrounding habitats, particularly during the dry season. The flooded forest, standing dead trees and open water have also created a unique landscape that looks quite different from other parts of Yala.

The first thing most visitors notice, however, isn't the history.

It's the pace.

Compared to Block 1, there are generally far fewer safari vehicles, the roads feel quieter and there's much less pressure to rush from one sighting to the next. Instead, there's more time to stop, observe and enjoy whatever nature decides to offer.

That doesn't mean Block 5 is empty.

Yala is still Sri Lanka's most visited national park, so you'll certainly see other safari vehicles throughout the day. The difference is simply one of scale. On an average day, around 200 to 400 safari jeeps enter Yala Block 1, while during busy holiday periods that number can increase to well over 600 jeeps in a single day. In comparison, Block 5 typically sees around 20 safari vehicles, sometimes increasing to around 50 during particularly busy periods.

For many travellers, that difference alone completely changes the experience.

Wildlife is also a little different here.

Block 5 offers a small chance of seeing a leopard or even a sloth bear. However, those opportunities are still considerably lower than in Block 1, so it's important to arrive with realistic expectations rather than expecting the same level of sightings.

Along with that, it's common to encounter spotted deer, sambar deer, wild boar, crocodiles, golden jackals, monkeys and a wonderful variety of resident and migratory birds. Elephants also move through Block 5, although sightings are generally less frequent than in neighbouring Block 6.

As with every national park, wildlife is always unpredictable.

No ethical safari operator can honestly promise sightings of a particular species. Some days are incredibly active, while others are much quieter. That's simply part of spending time in a truly wild environment.