Wender·Vista
Yala National Park
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileSri Lanka
in the dry southeast of Sri Lanka, on the Indian Ocean

Yala National Park

— — the hour the scrub holds its breath.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The park sits where the dry zone meets the sea, all thorn scrub and tank-fed waterholes the elephants and leopards share without ceremony. Jeeps move at a crawl through Block 1 before first light, then again at the long slant of late afternoon. The air smells of dust and salt. Nobody promises a sighting. The park gives what it gives. — from the studio

from the studio
Yala National Park
— bring it home

Yala National Park, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Yala National Park

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Yala National Park covers roughly 979 square kilometres along Sri Lanka's southeast coast, where the dry monsoon belt meets the Indian Ocean. Established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1900 and gazetted as a national park in 1938, it spans Hambantota and Monaragala Districts and is the country's second-largest park after Wilpattu. The terrain runs from open grassland and thorn scrub to brackish lagoons and rocky outcrops left by ancient monastic settlements at Sithulpawwa.

— the air

The park sits in the dry zone, with annual rainfall around 900 to 1,300 millimetres falling almost entirely in the northeast monsoon between September and December. From February the tanks shrink, the scrub turns the colour of straw, and the animals concentrate at the remaining waterholes. The afternoon air carries dust from the jeep tracks of Block 1 and the salt of the Palatupana lagoon to the south. Heat builds into a stillness the birds break first.

— the visit

Block 1, the original public zone, opens daily from 6:00 to 18:00 with a closure usually running through September for the dry-season recovery. Entry is through the Palatupana gate near Tissamaharama, and most visitors book a licensed jeep with a tracker through a Tissa guesthouse. Yala holds one of the highest leopard densities recorded anywhere, alongside sloth bears, elephants, and the open lagoons that draw painted storks and pelicans through the dry months.

— where
Sri Lanka · Hambantota and Monaragala Districts
— within
Yala National Park
— position
6.3725° N · 81.5185° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
20 km W
Tissamaharama
temple town
25 km NW
Kataragama
pilgrimage town
35 km W
Bundala National Park
wetland park
12 km N
Sithulpawwa
rock monastery
N
Yala National Park
Tissamaharama
Kataragama
Bundala National Park
Sithulpawwa
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Yala National Park — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Yala lies in the southeast of Sri Lanka, straddling Hambantota and Monaragala Districts along the Indian Ocean. The main public entrance at Palatupana is about 20 kilometres from the town of Tissamaharama.

The park covers roughly 979 square kilometres, divided into five blocks. Block 1, opened in 1938, is the smallest and the only one most visitors enter, which is why it sees the heaviest jeep traffic.

Yala holds one of the highest recorded densities of leopards anywhere in the world, alongside Sri Lankan elephants, sloth bears, mugger crocodiles, and around 215 bird species drawn to the lagoons and tanks.

Block 1 is open daily from 6:00 to 18:00, with safaris booked as morning or afternoon drives. The park typically closes for part of September each year to let the dry-season landscape recover.

February through July, the dry months, concentrate wildlife at the remaining waterholes and give the best sighting odds. The northeast monsoon from October through January brings rain, green scrub, and quieter tracks.

Almost all entry is by licensed jeep with a tracker, arranged through a guesthouse in Tissamaharama or Kataragama. Self-drive is not permitted, and tickets are sold at the Palatupana gate.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. For a traveller who took the morning drive out of Tissa or stayed at one of the Yala camps, the tile carries the dust-and-light feeling of the dry zone. The Small or Medium works well as a returning-home gift.

The warm scrub palette and stained-glass linework settle into earth-tone, safari-modern, and warm-minimalist rooms. It also reads well against natural rattan, teak, and unbleached linen.

Yes. Safari-modern leans on warm browns, ochres, and grounded greens with one piece of art that names the place. The Yala tile does that without leaning on stock-photo wildlife imagery.

Above a standard sofa or console, a single Large reads cleanly from across the room. For a wider wall, a 4-tile Mural anchors the space, and a 9-tile Mural turns it into the room's centre.

Yes, in either the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and handle humidity, which makes them appropriate for backsplashes, shower surrounds, and powder rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth with plain water is all that is needed. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so the image will not fade or wipe off with normal household cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. The work is not licensed from a stock library and is not reproduced for any other brand.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.