Qualla: Bundala National Park

Bundala National Park: Introduction

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Colby Otero from Brooklyn, USA, CC BY 2.0. Every winter, the lagoons at Bundala turn pink. Greater flamingos arrive in flocks numbering over a thousand, their long legs folding beneath them as they settle onto the shallow waters of Sri Lanka's dry southeast coast. They have flown from the Rann of Kutch in northwestern India, crossing hundreds of kilometers of open ocean to reach these brackish lagoons where brine shrimp concentrate in the evaporating shallows. The flamingos are the headline act, but Bundala's 197 recorded bird species ensure that the spectacle never depends on a single performer.

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Image: Colby Otero from Brooklyn, USA | CC BY 2.0

Bundala National Park: A Wetland of International Standing

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sham11as, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bundala holds a rare double distinction. In 1991, it became the first wetland in Sri Lanka designated under the Ramsar Convention, the international treaty that protects wetlands of global importance. Fourteen years later, in 2005, UNESCO added Bundala to its Man and the Biospher...

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Image: Sham11as | CC BY-SA 4.0

Bundala National Park: Wings Over the Lagoons

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. The birdlife at Bundala reads like a catalog of South Asian waterbirds. Lesser whistling ducks congregate on open water while garganeys, migratory visitors from Central Asia, dabble in the shallows. Grey herons stand motionless at the lagoon edges. Eurasian spoonbills sweep their...

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Image: A.Savin | FAL

Bundala National Park: Between Sand and Salt

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. The park owes much of its resilience to geography. Sand dunes along the coast act as natural barriers, shielding the interior lagoons from storm surges and, during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, limiting the damage that reached Bundala's core wetlands. Behind these dunes, the lan...

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Image: A.Savin | FAL

Bundala National Park: Guardianship and Growing Pains

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nipuna Gamage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bundala's history as a protected area stretches back to 1969, when it was first declared a wildlife sanctuary. The upgrade to national park status came on January 4, 1993, bringing stricter protections but also new management challenges. Families living within the park boundaries...

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Image: Nipuna Gamage | CC BY-SA 4.0