Yala village can also refer to the local community that lives around Yala National Park, just outside the buffer zone of the wildlife sanctuary.The Yala village people are also engaged with various wildlife park activities, such as the Yala Safari. This community is also engaged in fishing and farming outside the Yala Park and get about their daily chores in close contact with the wildlife roaming around.

When the tsunami touched upon the shores of Yala National Park and the surrounding Yala village, it was this very community that was worst hit. There was of course one hotel – the Yala Safari Game Lodge – that was reduced to the ground and to date remains a vacant land, which is now a part of the Yala National Park. If this hotel was still standing, it would have been the closest to the park entrance. Nonetheless, even today visitors have the option of staying at the Yala Village Hotel and enjoying a similar experience.

The Yala village community was re-established with the assistance of foreign aid, directed at the Safari Jeep Drivers, local fisher folk and farmers.