The gathering of elephants playing in Kaudulla National Park.

Playful elephants happily free in Kaudulla National Park@cp wild Lanka

Kaudulla National Park was established on April 1st in 2002 and became the 15th area in the country to hold the title of "National Park". It is located in the North Central province and Polonnaruwa is the nearest city which is one of the ancient Kingdoms in Sri Lanka. Kaudulla was one of the 16 irrigation tanks built by King Mahasen. Kaudulla tank was reconstructed in 1959 and the area is now home to many different plant spieces and animals, specially large mammals, fish and reptiles. It is one of best parks to see elephants, crocodiles, monkeys and even leopards. It is also identified as an Important Bird Area along with Minneriya, Girithale and Yala by the Bird-Life International.
Physical features
The park consists of an area of 6,900 hectares. The park receives an annual rainfall of 1,500-2,000 millimeters (59-79 in). Temperature ranges from 20.6°C to 34.5°C (69.1 °F - 94.1 °F). From April to October, the park usually faces a dry period yet it doesn't fail to attract animals even during that period.
Flora
Kaudulla park falls into the category of dry evergreen forests.
Manilkara hexandra (common name- Ceylon Iron Wood), Chloroxylon swietenia (common names- Ceylon Satinwood, East Indian Satinwood, Buruta) and Vitex altissima (common name- Peacock Chaste Tree, Local name- Milla) are the most seen tree species in the forest surrounding the tank.
Blue green algae, Microcystis spp. and diatoms like Melosira spp. are the most common phytoplankton in the Kaudulla tank.
Bushes like Randia dumetorum and Calotropis gigantea and some grass species like Imperata cylindrica and Panicum maximum can be seen in some areas.
Fauna
The park is home 160 birds species, 25 reptile species, 24 mammal species and 26 species of fish.
Sri Lankan leopard, wild boar, sloth bear, Sri Lankan sambar deer, chevrotain, Sri Lankan axis deer and Sri Lankan elephants are some mammals found in the Kaudulla park. Gray slender loris is also reportedly found in the park. During the drought season elephants move to Minneriya tank in search of food and water and around September they move to the Kaudulla tank area. According to the data collected in 2008, about 211 individual elephants are reported to be found in the dry zone in Kaudulla National Park.
A two months old albino Sri Lankan axis deer calf was found in the park
abandoned by her mother and Kaudulla National Park is supposedly the
only area where a albino axis deer is found in Sri Lanka.
Lesser adjutant and spot-billed pelican are among the large water birds that visit the Kaudulla tank area. Fresh water turtles, Indian black turtle and Indian flap-shelled turtle are some reptiles that inhabits the park. Fresh water Oreochromis mossambicus is a common fish species found
in the Kaudulla tank while Fejervarya pulla is an endemic amphibian of Sri
Lanka found in the park.
Conservation
Just like in many areas, the spreading of invasive alien plant species such as Lantana camara is a threat to the wildlife of the park.
The Kaudulla-Minneriya jungle corridor linking the two national parks was declared as a Wildlife Santuary in 2004.

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