While Yala often gets the spotlight for its incredible roller-coaster jeep safaris through luxuriantly verdant colonial stomping grounds, home to pirouetting peacocks, flamboyant flamingos, and gracefully majestic elephants, it’s a mistake to overlook Wilapattu, especially if you want to spot the elusive Asian leopard! Wilpattu National Park is known for its unique terrain bejewelled with ‘villus’ or sand-rimmed rainwater basins, and this national park proffers the most exhilarating encounters with striking leopards in all of Asia, as well as sloth bears, sambar deer, wild buffalos, spotted deer, purple-faced leaf monkeys, and golden palm cats.