An interesting occurrence when I visited Bundala National Park in Sri Lanka was the presence of farming and fishing activities.

After visiting a number of other National Parks, which seemed strictly patrolled and protected, Bundala was more open and accessible.

Nearby villagers have easy access to the park, which is not fenced in, so they are able to bring their livestock into the park for grazing. It’s a bit controversial as on one side conservationists want to stop the cattle from entering the park as they can bring in invasive species and graze on land that the wild animals will no longer use. On the other side, there is no space or public land for many of the farmers to bring their cattle outside of the park, so they need either a new source of income or more public land.

I didn’t notice any ill-effects from the cattle grazing, but I only visited for one day.