Private Jeep Safari at Minneriya National Park to Visit Elephants
Recommended by 98% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
- 3 to 4 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- English Speaking Driver/Guide
- Hotel Pickup
- Hotel drop-off
- Private tour with Comfortable Vehicle
- Entrance Fees To Minneriya National Park (around $40 per person)
- Entrance Fees To Hurulu Eco Park (around $10 per person)
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Itinerary
1
Minneriya National Park
4 hours • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Most travelers can participate
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
- Max 5 adults per jeep
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Laura_H
Absolutely amazing trip. Just right for the kids. Our guide, Asitha, was excellent. Great with the kids and also very respectful to the animals. We saw so many elephants and they came so close to the jeep. I would highly recommend this trip.
Reviews
4.9
based on 370 reviews
Laura_H, Apr 2026
Absolutely amazing trip. Just right for the kids. Our guide, Asitha, was excellent. Great with the kids and also very respectful to the animals. We saw so many elephants and they came so close to the jeep. I would highly recommend this trip.
Response from Host, Apr 2026
Thank you for your valuable feedback!
Juliana_P, Mar 2026
Really enjoyed the trip
Our Driver Ashitha was very good and helpful
Saw many elephants
Very friendly
Response from Host, Mar 2026
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nesmallfurriesretrea, Feb 2026
Excellent tour to see the elephants. Our tour guide was fantastic and made sure we got to see lots and get great photos. We seen over 50 elephants, juniors and babies
Response from Host, Feb 2026
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ClaireJ, Jan 2026
Excellent tour and very very knowledgeable about the national park. Not only did we come up excitingly close to elephants there were a lot of other amazing wildlife pointed out to us too. Our guide was considerate to the environment and the animals. There was no chasing or hunting out the animals. They either came or they didn't. Lucky for us they did. Our guide was lovely and friendly with excellent knowledge and professionalism shown throughout the trip. We were very happy with Sinhigari tours and would recommend them especially this driver. We did start 40 mins late as pick up was delayed but the rest of the tour soon made up for that.
Response from Host, Jan 2026
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Maegan_B, Dec 2025
Great safari trip. Our driver was the amazing and spent extra time taking us to less busy spots within the park. Highly recommend.
Response from Host, Dec 2025
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Leah_M, Oct 2025
We saw so many elephants, it was amazing! Driver took us all around Kaudulla, which is a really beautiful park, and also pointed out birds, water buffalo, and eagles to us. He had great eyes! The only reason I deducted a star is because the driver did not know good English, and so this made it hard to ask questions during the tour and get answers.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you for your valuable review! We will improve our services.
Daiva_V, Oct 2025
In the morning I received message that due weather conditions, the elephants have moved from Minneriya national park to Hurulu Eco park and Kaudulla national park. And they recommend to change safari location to Hurulu eco park or with extra 4000LKR to Kaudulla national park. I chosed Kaudulla. The driver tried to show everything and be attentive. Just don't imagine that you will see hundreds of elephants. But overall, everything was fine.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hi, thank you for your valuable review, sir. We try to give the best service every time. But sometimes elephants do not come to the open area. It happens rarely. However, you have seen around 50-60 elephants. It is a pleasure for us. Thank you
Nicolas_C, Sep 2025
The tour was magic, lots of elephants and animals, the driver was pretty helpful and gentle, he had good knowledge about all animals around the park
They added a special local coconut water gift at the end , something we didn't expected and added a lot a lot of value to the tour
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
Arianna_A, Aug 2025
Positive first: we saw a lot of elephants and our driver was a nice guy.
Negative: they asked us 3000rupies to get picked up at the hotel (which was fine) and then they asked another 8000 more to return to the hotel.
We had to say yes because there was no phone coverage and could not call a uber or a pick me.
Pay attention to this as soon as they see you are a tourist they will try and get more money out of you
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Hello, thank you for your review! Yes, we charge an additional 3,000 LKR for both pickup and drop-off if your hotel is not within the selected area. I have checked what happened and directly contacted the driver. You have requested an additional transfer to Sigiriya from the driver without contacting or informing our company. ( which is not included in the agreement of Safari). The driver has offered a price and you have agreed. We are doing this business very responsibly, but if we get any other service without informing the company, we cannot take action for that. When you write feedback, write what actually happened. The driver has charged an additional fee for the additional transfer you requested, not back to the hotel we picked up. Thank you.
Aleksandar_B, Jul 2025
A lot of elephants, few other animals. We went to an afternoon half-day safari and it was too hot. Due to the heat, most of the animals except elephants were hiding in the trees.
For that reason, our advice for others is to pick a morning tour. That way you'll be able to see also crocodiles chilling in the sun, we didn't see them.
Our driver was a great young man, he knew the park well and gave us plenty of information about the animals, especially elephants.
Interesting part is that the owners in Dew Ashe Homestay in Sigiriya also gave us a late safari offer valued at 100$ for 2 adults, including their brand new jeep, a driver and 2 tickets for entering Minneriya national park. By the way, we stayed in their place. The entrance tickets for the park cost around 40$ per person. Our 3-year old child went for free.
So, even though Sinhagiri Tours did a good job for 150$ for 2 adults, we feel that the price difference of 50$ was too much given the 2nd offer we got from our accommodation owners.
After already paying the 70$ via Viator to Sinhagiri Tours we realized that their online price for the safari was too high compared to the prices we could get in person. For this reason, we advise everyone to get in touch with a few local tour operators or their accommodation owners and ask for safari tour prices in advance. This way you can get a better deal than we got, although at the end of the day we did have a good experience.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you for your valuable review. You said you got driver who knows park very well and gave you plenty of information. we give service with knowledge guides who couldn’t get from another, that’s why we are top rated on TripAdvisor. We spend more than 4 hours and do great job. We charge for the service what we offer. If you want cheapest option… yes, you can find safari drivers $50 upwards. If you want unforgettable experience with great service… Choose us. Thank you for your valuable review again.
Karen_W, Jul 2025
It was definitely a memorable experience and one well worth doing. We saw dozens of elephants and lots of babies too. Whilst there are many safari jeeps there it was orderly and respectful to the elephants. Just be prepared to wait awhile when you pay for your entry into the park. The wait is worth it though.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
Matthew_C, May 2025
Great tour. Great guide. Heaps of Elephants up close. Can recommend booking. We had a great time. Elephants
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
Matthew_M, May 2025
This was an unforgettable experience. We managed to see plenty of elephants and get very close without being an inconvenience for them. I didn’t expect to see them as close as we did.
Response from Host, May 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
Heather_M, May 2025
Excellent tour to Hurulu, we saw so many elephants including babies! Our guide Bhashi had an eagle eye and spotted so much wildlife as well as the elephants and water buffalo. He obviously cared a lot about elephants and shared his knowledge with us. Thank you for a great afternoon.
Response from Host, May 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
DAVID_S, Apr 2025
Our guide rolled up, spot on time!
It was just us on a private tour
He was an extremely capable driver and could spot wildlife that we would never have seen.
This is a great trip I highly recommend it!
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Thank you for your valuable review
Benjamin_Z, Jan 2025
Everything was perfect. Our guide was both lovely and efficient. The trip was very smooth, we really liked the fact that they adapt which park to go to according to where elephants are depending on the weather. We saw a lot of them, quite closely and had a great time. Thank you to the team
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
Benjamin_L, Jan 2025
Breathtaking experience to watch these magnificent animals in the wild. The Jeep tool guides were very respectful of the elephants and gave them space to be in their natural surrounds. Our tour guide, Pradeep was exceptional. He had superb driving skills, manage to secure the Best views of the elephants And was exceptionally respectful. He had a natural intuition for finding the elephants.
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Thank you for your valuable review!
Sarah_B, Jan 2025
This was a great experience, great guide that knew where to go and park so we could see lots of elephants!
Response from Host, Jan 2025
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Ellen_C, Dec 2024
A good introduction to Sri Lanka’s elephants. Our guide was patient and worked hard to find us the elephant sightings. He understood our requirement for an ethical experience and kept his distance from the elephants which we appreciated as this was not the case for many drivers in the National Parks. Many of our sightings required patience, but we were rewarded with several excellent sightings where we were the only vehicle as a result.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Thank you for your valuable review
Danielle_R, Dec 2024
We felt very lucky to have chosen this tour. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and experienced and we saw an amazing array of animals.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Thank you for your valuable review
Clyde_W, Sep 2024
Really good guide. They suggested we switched national parks, to see more elephants. It was good advice, as we saw lots of elephant herds, some very big. Nice long time in the park - 3 hours. Also saw a crocodile basking, mongoose, peacocks, eagles, reptiles, kingfisher. Great service, very flexible.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Thank you for your valuable review!
Mark_W, Aug 2024
Great tour, great driver, fantastic park with lots of elephants and other wildlife, driver gets to park at good time in early afternoon with just a few jeeps around, by the time we were leaving the park nearly 100 other tours arrived, had a great time, thanks
Response from Host, Aug 2024
Thank you for your valuable review!
Jonathan_H, Jul 2024
Went with Sinhagiri Tours - very well organised. Good communication and v friendly guides. Would recommend.
Response from Host, Jul 2024
Thank you for your valuable review!
Chris, Jul 2024
Loved this tour. My wife and I had two young guides that never seemed in a rush or exploitative of the wildlife. We saw a lot of animals - elephants, birds, lizards, and jackals.
Both guides were polite and did well to spot animals. Despite knowing elephants were up ahead, they took their time and pointed out other animals to see along the way. This was very much appreciated because they weren't scaring animals or racing to see the elephants. It never felt intrusive.
The driver did well to stop when asked and reposition for better viewing. They were early to pick us up, got us back in time, and even stopped along the way to buy us a refreshing drink. They provided us with a guide (book) to help id animals and see some of the other possible wildlife. The driver was also the only one (from what I could tell) that invited me into the park office to see the cost of the ticket (every other driver just took money or the ticket was prepaid).
I would definitely book through them again. Also, most elephants I've ever seen in one place (one herd of about 12 and another of 30).
Response from Host, Jul 2024
Thank you for your valuable review!
meliaamy, Apr 2024
Our guide/driver was fantastic. Very knowledgable about the area and was very attentive throughout the whole experience. Saw lots of elephants, some close, some far away. One elephant walk towards us and walked straight past the vehicle. We even got coconuts on the way back. I would definitely recommend.
Response from Host, Apr 2024
Thank you for your valuable review!
Scott_O, Mar 2024
Our guide was great! Very friendly and knowledgeable about the animals. He was also flexible with pick up and drop off being two different places.
Response from Host, Apr 2024
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Dipesh_K, Nov 2023
Excellent communication and superb service. Timely pick up and great customer care during the safari. Really would recommend to anyone wanting to book a safari in the habarana area!
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your valuable review.
Donna_M, Oct 2023
Amazing safari! Saw lot's of Elephants, monkeys and much more in their beautiful natural surroundings. Our driver was excellent, he was thoughtful of the animals. Turning off his engine when close to the animals. I would highly recommend doing this when visiting the area.
Response from Host, Oct 2023
Thank you for your valuable review.
Michelle_P, Mar 2026
Happy 😊 Here is a suitable review in English for Viator:
⸻
The safari was truly an unforgettable experience! We saw an incredible number of animals, especially a lot of elephants – that was just impressive. Our guide was super friendly, attentive and very knowledgeable. You could tell that he knows his way around and does his work with passion.
We found it particularly noticeable that he even bought us a coconut after the tour – an incredibly nice gesture! A thousand thanks for this great experience. We can absolutely recommend the tour!
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Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thank you for your valuable feedback!
Estela_L, Jan 2026
We really enjoyed the safari. It was quite an adventure and we were very close to the elephants. Recommended.
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Response from Host, Jan 2026
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Private Jeep Safari at Minneriya National Park to Visit Elephants
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