Situated in the east of the island the Gal Oya National Park comprises of the catchment areas of the massive Senenayaka Samudra Reservoir built across the Gal Oya River and is 314km from Colombo. It was designated a National Park on the 12^th February 1954 as part of the Gal Oya development scheme. The park covers an area of 25,900 hectares.

Comprising of dry mixed evergreen forests with a hilly topography, Gal Oya receives an annual rainfall of about 1700mm during the North East Monsoon. About 45% of the park is forest, 33% savanna and 9% grassland with 2% chena, the remaining 10% makes up the water bodies. The vast reservoir with its many islands affords a scenic picture to the wildlife it harbours. The park also contains a wide variety of flora with many medicinal herbs. The park records about 32 species of mammals such as the Elephant, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Water Buffalo, Wild Boar, etc. Its water habitats make it a superb birding location which records of about 150 species of birds including 7 endemics. Amoung the reptiles are the Mugger Crocodile, Cobra, Python, Star tortoise etc.

Gal Oya is also a location of history with many ancient ruins of monasteries scattered about in the Nilgala forest area.

Main attractions:

• The endemic Red faced Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus)
• The endemic Spurfowl (Galloperdix biclcarata)
• The Dry zone painted partridge (Francolinus pictus watsoni)
• Common Langur (Presbytis entellus)
• Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya)

Best Season:

Routes:There is one route to the Park.

• Route  – Colombo -> Ratnapura -> Pelmadulla -> Udawalawe -> Thanamalwila  -> Wellawaya -> Monaragala -> north from Siyambalanduwa -> Inginiyagala – 300 km.