After 3 years of postponements, we finally made it to Sri Lanka in September (2023) for a wonderful Grand Tour of this beautiful country. We followed a classic route and packed a lot in for 2.5 weeks – it truly was a smorgasbord of activities, sights, wonderful hotels and superb food. We will talk more about the food and hotels in subsequent blogs so this is just a flavour of what we saw….part 1
Our flights were with Emirates with a slick connection in Dubai. The aircraft were excellent and the service OK, although perhaps not as good as on previous flights a few years back. The timings do work well with an afternoon departure out of London and morning arrival in Sri Lanka – not too early.
We were met at Colombo by our chauffeur/guide Sudarshan who was to be with us for the next couple of weeks. He really did help make the holiday a huge success bringing the country to life and guiding us along at a perfect pace. We were never rushed, he was great to travel with and was as flexible as we liked – just as well. ‘Sudi’ had an encyclopaedic knowledge of birds and was always happy to talk, history, politics or cricket!
Within a minute or two of leaving Colombo airport we were in lush green countryside – welcome to the tropics! On a touring holiday we usually suggest a first night in the region of the airport as a way of getting into the country and decompressing. I am often in two minds about it, thinking it is often best to push on, however this is what we did and yes, it definitely worked. Within an hour we were relaxing at the lovely Notary’s House – a spacious manor house with expansive gardens and looking out over a lake. It worked really well and, if time permits, I would strongly recommend it.
We drank tea, explore the garden (and kitchen garden) relaxed and later set off on a leisurely bike-ride through the local village and forest sanctuary. The roads were easy and empty with the exception of the bread-delivery rickshaw patrolling the area to the Godfather theme tune – something we came across all over the country. We ended up lazing by the pool and starting to identify some of the wonderful birdlife. Dinner was a feast and welcome introduction to rice and curry – it is amazing how something that sounds so simple can be so elaborate, local and varied. The first of a series of wonderful feasts right across the country.
Setting off early our next stop was in the north-west, just into the dry-zone. It was noticeable how quickly the vegetation changed from the constant green to a drier environment – fields drier and lakes emptier. We stayed a couple of nights at the unique Mudhouse, a really special place. Built in a forest zone, just outside Anamaduwa, this eco-lodge gives a real insight into a rural area without any tourists. The lodge is made up of different villas, all built using local materials and open sided, and a central base with deck over-looking the lake. While not fully off-grid, power is minimal and everything is grown on the farm so local and seasonal. It is safe to say we ate magnificently, fed by Guna and his team, and joining in for cooking was fascinating.
We walked the locale, explored the site and went birdwatching in the area. The lake (and others around) was a magnet for birds from hordes of kingfishers through to eagles and kites. There were mongoose throughout the property and the lake bed was full of peackcocks/hens. We spent hours on the deck, relaxing and watching the lake – as well as the birds the villagers came down to fish and collect lily roots to cook. There was not enough water to go swimming but any visits from November through to June can swim off the deck.
We cycled out through the fields to a nearby rock massif to watch sunset go down over the forest and another evening drove to one of the longest rock-inscriptions in Asia, carved in another rock monolith – again a spectacular sunset greeted us. The stay was simply a wonderful experience, led by the constant enthusiasm of Kumar, as a place to relax and soak up rural Sri Lankan life and the noise of the forests.
Our next stop was the Cultural Triangle and having not seen a tourist since we left the airport, we were now in the area which most visitors to Sri Lanka will head. It is central-north on the edge of the wet/dry zones and contains a wealth of historic sights as well as wildlife parks and tanks (man-made reservoirs). Our base was the wonderfully relaxing Water Garden Sigirya with the eponymous rock rising majestically in the distance over the lakes and ponds. Our first day was exploring the Giritale area where we started with a great bike ride through the villages and fields (rice harvesting underway) and along the waterways and canals. It was easy going and great to be out in the countryside again albeit much more developed and built up than around the Mudhouse.
We ended up at Polonnaruwa where we spent a few hours exploring the museum and site. This ancient city, capital from 11th to 13th centuries AD, is on the UNESCO world heritage list and is one of the must-see sights in Sri Lanka. It has a spectacular location along the edge of a huge lake with pavilions, water features and really impressive irrigation, enormous palace and beautiful temples in a parkland setting. It’s a huge area but with our bikes it was easy to get around. The main brick stupa, Rankot Vihara and beautiful carved Buddhas at the Gal Vihara are not to be missed.
We rounded off the day with a safari in the Minneriya National Park, best known for its ‘Gatherings’ of elephants where dozens are known to be found together. Heading there mid-afternoon and were not disappointed with a constant stream of small elephant herds in the forest and around the lake. Luckily we also saw a rare Golden Jackal and such a great variety of birdlife including the White Bellied Sea-eagle, the largest in the country. Having such good guides, Sudarshan and the local expert, made a huge difference to our visit – it was a brilliant few hours which left us buzzing. We do warn people that there can be lot of visitors/jeeps however on this occasion this was not the case.
If you want to climb up Sigirya Rock Palace you need to get up early to beat the heat and crowds. It was light by the time we walked through the wonderful palace gardens at the foot of the rock – with its working water features it must have been truly stunning. The climb up the rock face is short and steep, and felt safer than on my last visit, and the view from the top is simply stunning. It is amazing to the see the audience rooms, gardens and swimming pool on the summit however it is the view which kept drawing my eyes. Hill country to the south and endless forests in all other directions – the palace gardens now looking tiny below us.
Descending back down we headed on to Kandalama and a unique farm experience designed by our local partners, Experience Travel. We swapped the car for a rickshaw and then a tractor/cart before we reached the farm. Here we walked through the different crop types, before stopping at a smallholding to taste the freshest coconut, sweet potato and beans. We got to climb up an elephant shelter, a platform up in the trees to keep an eye on marauding elephants at night, ground coconut, tried out a mattock and hoe before tucking into a delicious vegetable curry feast – all grown within yards of where we were. It was a wonderful experience and brief insight into the rural farming life.
The next day, as we headed south towards the Hills, our first stop was the atmospheric caves temples of Dambulla. This wonderful collection of 5 caves, set high up amidst enormous rocks, includes numerous carved sitting and reclining buddhas and stunning murals, the earliest from 2000 years ago. It’s a good climb up (and down) but absolutely worth seeing. From this point it is about 2 hours into the hills and the ‘capital’ Kandy. The road is not great and is extremely busy however the views are fascinating and there’s plenty to see.
Kandy itself is built around a lake surrounded by forested hills and while it is a big sprawling city the centre is small and compact, easily walkable, so you do not get the sense of a large urban area. The centre-piece is the wonderful Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. This is the most important Buddhist relic in Sri Lanka, and a major pilgrimage centre from across Asia. We went along for the evening puja ceremony where to the accompaniment of drums and pipes the main shrine and side shrines/temples can be opened up. You cannot see the Tooth, it is never shown, however the casket it is in can be glimpsed as you file past the ornate chamber. It is a huge complex and well with spending time at with museums and also the chance to see some of the temple elephants that reside there.
There are not a huge number of things to see in Kandy and other than the temple the main sight is probably the nearby Peradeniya Botanic Gardens with its superb collection. Walk around the lake, go walking in the hills around, see a display of the dramatic Kandyan drummers or just stroll around a good-sized Sri Lankan town with all the hustle and bustle that entails. A hotel with a lovely view, as we did, is a treat. We could see the lake and temple in one direction and the Knuckles Mountain range in the other – what a great place to relax.
This is the first part of the Sri Lanka Grand Tour. The second part into the Hill Country, wildlife, Galle Coast and Colombo can be found here.
by TMS