20 years since the Boxing Day tsunami: How Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park has recovered – and thrived
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Two decades after the 2004 tsunami devastated coastal regions around Asia, Tamara Davison travels to one of the areas that was worst hit to speak to the people who were impacted and learn how tourism has made a comeback. It was like any other day for Sri Lankan safari guide Priyantha (Pusa) Hettiarachige as he prepared to welcome guests to Yala National Park on 26 December 2004. The famed natural site was brimming with people eager to spot leopards, elephants and crocodiles in the warm Asian sun just after the Christmas holidays.
![[The forest, grassland and lagoons border the Indian Ocean]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/16/DSC04919.jpg)
That morning a fateful decision to cut the tour short for a sick guest may have saved Pusa’s life. Just before 8am, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered what would become known as the Boxing Day tsunami. Considered one of the largest natural disasters in modern history, waves as high as 30m swept across dozens of countries including Indonesia, Thailand, India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
![[The elusive leopard can be hard to spot on a safari]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/16/DSC04777.jpg)
The disaster claimed the lives of at least 228,000 people in total, including over 30,000 people in Sri Lanka alone. It devastated vast swathes of coastal regions around southeast Asia, reducing many homes to rubble and destroying livelihoods. Located on Sri Lanka’s southeast coast, Yala National Park was one of the worst hit areas of the country, with waves surging over a kilometre from the shore and reshaping the landscape forever. Pusa’s tour was further inland and had found safety in a tree. Unfortunately, other tours that day weren’t so lucky.
![[The tsunami carved out new valleys and wiped out trees]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/16/newFile.jpg)
