What Is the B35?
The B35 is a public road that runs through the buffer zone between Yala National Park's blocks. It is not inside the park itself. It is a government road, open to all traffic, connecting the town of Buttala in the north to Kirinda on the southern coast.
The stretch that has become famous runs for approximately 25 kilometres through dry scrub and open grassland where elephants, wild boar, peacocks, and occasionally leopards cross freely. There are no fences. There are no barriers. The road passes through their territory, not the other way around.
For decades, this was a quiet rural route used by locals, farmers, and the occasional safari vehicle transferring between blocks. Then TikTok happened.
The TikTok Problem
In the last two years, the B35 has gone viral. Videos of elephants approaching vehicles, crossing the road, and even touching cars have accumulated millions of views. The content is dramatic, shareable, and almost entirely devoid of context.
What the videos do not show:
- The elephant in that video may be in musth, a hormonal state that makes males highly aggressive and unpredictable.
- An elephant that approaches a vehicle is not being friendly. It is investigating a potential threat or has been conditioned by previous encounters where drivers fed it or failed to yield.
- Several vehicles have been damaged on the B35 in recent years. At least one was overturned. Injuries have been reported.
- Feeding elephants from vehicles, which several viral videos appear to show, is illegal under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and punishable by fine or imprisonment.
- The increased traffic on the B35, driven partly by social media tourism, is changing elephant behaviour in ways that conservation biologists are increasingly concerned about.
The B35 is not a safari route. It is not a tourist attraction. It is a public road through a wildlife corridor, and treating it as content-creation opportunity puts both people and elephants at risk.
How to Drive the B35 Responsibly
If you are driving the B35, whether by choice or because it is part of your route, here are the guidelines that matter.
Drive during daylight only. Elephants are harder to see after dark, and the road has no street lighting. Most incidents occur in low-light conditions. Plan your timing so you complete the B35 stretch well before sunset.
Keep your speed below 45 km/h. The road is straight and tempting to drive fast, but elephants can appear from the scrub with no warning. At 45 km/h, you have time to stop. At 80 km/h, you do not.
Stay in your vehicle. Do not get out to photograph elephants. Do not get out to film them. Do not get out for any reason while elephants are visible. Your car is your protection. Outside it, you are a soft, slow animal in elephant territory.
Do not feed elephants. This is illegal and genuinely dangerous. Elephants that have been fed by vehicles begin to associate cars with food. They approach more aggressively. They block roads intentionally. They become what rangers call "problem elephants," and problem elephants often end up being relocated or worse. Every banana thrown from a car window makes the next encounter more dangerous for the next driver.
Do not approach elephants on foot. This sounds obvious, but it happens regularly. Tourists park their cars and walk towards elephants for a closer photograph. An adult Asian elephant can charge at 35 km/h. You cannot outrun it. You cannot outmanoeuvre it. Do not try.
If an elephant blocks the road, wait. Turn off your engine. Stay calm. Do not honk. Do not rev. Do not try to drive around it. Elephants will move when they are ready. If an elephant displays signs of agitation, spread ears, trunk raised, head shaking, foot stomping, put your vehicle in reverse slowly and increase the distance. Do not turn around, as this exposes the side of your vehicle.
The Bigger Picture
The B35 corridor is one of the most important wildlife movement paths in southern Sri Lanka. Elephants use it to travel between Yala's blocks, between the park and Lunugamvehera National Park, and between seasonal feeding grounds and water sources. It has been an elephant highway for centuries.
The health of this corridor depends on responsible human behaviour. Every driver who speeds through scatters herds. Every tourist who feeds an elephant changes its behaviour. Every social media post that glamorises close encounters encourages the next visitor to push the boundary further.
We are not against people driving the B35. It is a public road and a beautiful drive. But we are asking that you drive it with respect for the animals whose home you are passing through. Slow down. Stay in your vehicle. Keep your distance. And please, do not feed the elephants.
Or Better Yet, Book a Safari
If you want to see elephants up close and safely, book a guided safari in Yala National Park with trained rangers who know how to read elephant behaviour, maintain safe distances, and give you a better experience than anything you will get from a car window on the B35. The elephants inside the park are habituated to safari vehicles and behave naturally. The experience is incomparable.