Travel Journal

It had been over 20 years since I was last in Sri Lanka so I was keen to see the changes and explore new destinations since the end of the civil war in 2009.

Our first stop was Negombo, a small fishing village North of Colombo not too far from the Airport. It is often used as a first night stop off the plane and there are lots of nice hotels right on the beach. The next day we headed to Dambulla where we stayed 3 nights, this is a great location and from here it was a short trip to see the amazing Lions rock at Sigiriya for Sunrise. We also visited the cave temples, home to over 150 Buddha statues and Minneriya National Park to do a game drive and see the huge herds of Indian Elephants. The ancient capitals of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa were also quite close by and we visited both of these UNESCO World Heritage sights.

Our next stop was the beach resort of Trincomalee, I took a walk down the beach here to the old Dutch fort dating back to the 1600’s and was lucky enough to see the locals bringing in their nets on the beach in a way that is little changed from hundreds of years ago. From here it was on to Kandy for a couple of nights to visit the famous Temple of the Tooth, another UNESCO world heritage site then on to Nuwara Eliya, a hill station and tea plantation, supplying all that delicious Dilmah tea! We had a go at picking tea on the hillsides before enjoying a tasting session of the many varieties available.

We headed next to Yala National Park and stayed in an African style Game lodge; we took 2 game drives into the park and were rewarded with a sighting of a Leopard, a first for me! From Yala we headed back to the coast for a couple of days in Bentota but enroute we visited the beautiful old city of Galle and had a walk around the old walled city.

Bentota was very relaxing and from there it was back to Colombo for some sightseeing and a farewell dinner before our late flight home.

As you can see, there is so much to do in a relatively small place, we did all of the above in just 2 weeks. If you are looking for a holiday where you can see UNESCO world Heritage sights, snorkel in the warm waters of the Indian ocean, pick tea in a hill station and spot elephants and leopards, look no further than Sri Lanka, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.