Udawalawe National Park

If you want elephants without timing a migration, come here. A herd of about 250 is believed to live in the park year-round, around the reservoir whose construction displaced the wildlife the park was created to protect in 1972, and sightings on a single drive are about as dependable as Asian elephants get. Drives run early morning and late afternoon, when the animals are most active. Next to the park, the Elephant Transit Home has cared for orphaned and abandoned calves since 1995, raising them for release back into the wild; watching from its viewing area at feeding time involves no touching or riding.