Kaudulla National Park is a 6,656ha section of dry evergreen monsoonal forest centered on the Kaudulla tank in the Polonnaruwa District.  Opened on September 21, 2002, it is one of Sri Lanka’s newest parks and forms the central link in the chain of protected elephant (Elephas maximus) habitat that extends from the long, western arm of Somawathie Chaitiya National Park in the north to Minneriya National Park in the south. 

 
September and October are the best times to visit Kaudulla for it is then, at the end of the dry season, when the forest has been forced to shed its verdant cloak and stands naked and emaciated, and water sources have become concentrated into fewer and deeper depressions, that the elephants congregate. The numerous small herds that inhabit the surrounding region for most of the year gather together on the open bed of the main tank to graze, drink, bathe and socialize. When the numbers have swelled and the evening sun filters through the cloud-flecked sky, glinting off the surface of the wewa and bathing the assembled herds in its gentle glow, it is a heart-swelling, dizzying sight like no other.  At other times of the year Kaudulla offers different wilderness experiences to savour.  Always an excellent area for bird-watching, the usual dry zone denizens of forest, field and stream are to be seen. 
 
(Content Source : Travel Sri Lanka Magazine)
(Image Source   : mysrilankaholidays.com)