Yala is undoubtedly the Sri Lanka’s most visited national park and the best in Sri Lanka for viewing a wide diversity of animals. It is one of the largest (2nd largest) in Sri Lanka and renowned for the variety of its wildlife. Situated approximately 300km from the Colombo city, belonging to two districts of Monaragala & Hambantota, Yala has the world's highest concentration of Leopards, although seeing this largely nocturnal carnivore still requires some luck.

Much of the reserve is parkland, but it also contains jungle, beaches, freshwater lakes and rivers and scrubland. The latter zone is punctuated with enormous rocky outcrops. The range of habitats gives rise to a good range of wildlife. The flora is typical dry monsoon forest vegetation in the southern belt and the Plains are interspersed with pocket of forest.

Yala National Park is well recognized as one of the best parks in the world to observe leopards. The leopards at Yala largely considered as having the highest density of leopards in the world. Those are a subspecies of leopard native to Sri Lanka which is known as Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) which is considered to be endangered.

The other biggest draws in Yala are Elephants and sloth bears. A game drive could yield a Black-naped Hare, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Hanuman Langur, Toque Monkey, Stripe-necked and Ruddy Mangooses, Wild Boar, Jackal, Land and Water Monitor and Marsh Crocodiles. At the end of the Northeast Monsoon (February) the park is very good for butterflies.