Sri Lanka bars tourists from heart of drought-hit park as El Niño looms

Sri Lanka is closing the busiest parts of Yala National Park to tourists so animals can reach increasingly scarce water without being disturbed. The rare month-long closure begins next week, just as the country approaches its peak tourism season.

Mugger crocodiles now bask beside the park’s shrinking reservoir while green tankers arrive daily to pump in water. Wildlife ranger Sujeewa Nishantha said the animals needed priority after months without rain. “We have to put the animals first,” he said. The closure will cover the watering hole and other heavily visited areas, where tourists could obstruct animals suffering from heat stress.

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We have to put the animals first.

Nishantha tracks the tankers as they move along dirt roads and refill ponds across the sanctuary. Spotted deer, wild water buffalo, tufted gray langurs and the park’s famous leopards all depend on those water sources.

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The closure is necessary as animals suffering from heat stress need easy access to water and visitors would be in the way.

The decision could hurt foreign-currency earnings during an important tourism period, but authorities have ordered water-management measures across much of the island. Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst dry spell in nearly a decade, and its meteorological department says the country has entered a nine-month cycle associated with El Niño. Heavier rains are expected in November and December, followed by another major drought from February.

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans already rely on emergency drinking-water supplies. Small family farms are struggling to grow vegetables and raise cattle. Yala’s managers said they wanted to reopen the park fully to the jeeploads of visitors who usually arrive, but added that the timing depended largely on the weather. “For now, Yala must be given the time nature asks of us,” they wrote.

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For now, Yala must be given the time nature asks of us.