Giants of the ocean
Such are the wonders of Sri Lanka that if you were game, you could see both land and ocean behemoths on the same day. Just two-and-a-half hours from Yala is the port town of Mirissa, from where whale watching excursions take place almost year-round.
The big draw are the south coast’s enormous blue whales, which unlike most blue whale populations in the world, are non-migratory, and spend the year feeding and breeding in the same waters.
As the continental shelf drops off several kilometres from the southern coast, waters in this area are extremely deep, despite being relatively close to land. This has allowed all manner of marine megafauna to congregate, many of them seasonally. In addition to blue whales, humpback whales, sperm whales, Bryde’s whales and even orcas are frequently seen in these waters, in addition to various species of dolphin.
Aside from the mammals, the world’s largest fish – whale sharks – have also been known to frequent these waters. Aside from the south, whales are also seasonally found off Kalpitiya, towards the northwest of the island, and off Trincomalee, off the northeast.