An hour’s drive north of Hambantota is Yala National Park, Sri Lanka’s second-largest nature reserve, where visitors flock to catch a glimpse of one of the elusive leopards that prowl among its jungles, bush and rocky outcrops. Even if you don’t manage to spy a spotted feline, there are more than 40 mammal species here—including elephants, water buffalo and macaque and langur monkeys—as well as two species of crocodile and hundreds of types of birds.