Yala National Park is only a 2 hour drive from the Sunshine Café. I have a very good friend also called Shantha, who has a beautiful guest house with two cabanas near the entrance of the park at Karinda. It is called the Suduweli Guest House. It's in the Lonely Planet Guide.  He is also an official park guide and can take you for a tour of the park in his jeep. He knows the park intimately. He is fascinated by the animals and birdlife and never tires of showing people around. You can find out more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yala_National_Park, http://padayatra.org/yala and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yala_National_Park