Dubai airport is really, really nice, but if you’re flying Emirates expect a really, really long walk to the gate. Our 4:10pm flight – which by the way was in the wonderful Emirates business class section – got us into steamy Colombo, Sri Lanka at around 10pm so we were very happy to have Anthony – our driver and tour guide for the next week – waiting to pick us up.
It’s about a 90 minute drive in pouring rain to the Jetwing Lake Hotel where we were very happy to get a great night’s sleep – despite the deafening sounds of bugs all around.
Our travel wizard, Tammy Cane (theartoftravelbytammycane.com) had us fully booked for the next several days. One thing to know about touring Sri Lanka is that there is a lot of driving involved. Also, the driving is pretty crazy – I’d recommend a local, experienced driver. Anthony was pretty great at high speed navigating through traffic by honking “please let me pass” and “thank you” every few seconds. It seems that everyone lives and works on the main roads which are very busy with pedestrians, bikes, motorcycles, tuk-tuk’s and all kinds of items for sale.
Our first stop was at the Polonnaruwa ancient city (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/201). This was once the capital of Sri Lanka and has some cool buddha images, but the highlight of this morning was a huge elephant that appeared out of the jungle on the side of the road. Super cool!
Later that day we went to an incredible place – the elephant preserve at the Minneriya National Park (http://www.srilankaecotourism.com/minneriya_national_park.htm). This is a truly amazing park. Tourists load into separate jeeps – with drivers – and cruise about a mile through the jungle to a lake where we saw 50-60 elephants. The females and children huddle together in big groups while the males live alone. Really spectacular. We also saw a herd of water buffalo. Apparently there are also leopards here, but extremely rare to see.
Sigiriya (https://sigiriyatourism.com) is another must see in Sri Lanka. Sometimes referred to as the “8th wonder of the world, it’s an amazing site where a 5th century ruler built his home/fortress on top of “lion rock”, a massive rocky plateau about 200 meters above the surrounding plains. The fortress complex includes remnants of a ruined palace, surrounded by an extensive network of fortifications, vast gardens, ponds, canals, alleys and fountains. Also, some ancient frescos of topless women and a the remains of a giant carving of a lion. It’s very cool. Apparently, the king that built it was trying to make a safe place for himself and his family. As it turns out, as soon as it was built, he was murdered by his brother. Gotta love family.
Sri Lanka is one of the most important sources of gems in the world. After Sigiriya, Anthony took us to a store in one of the main gem centers – the city of Kandy. We watched a cool documentary on the sourcing of gemstones – and then did a bit of damage to the bank account. I think Shawn would wholeheartedly recommend a stop for gems if you happen to be in Sri Lanka!
Our next stop was another several hour drive away – Sri Lanka’s tea growing area. We’re told that some of the finest tea in the world – Ceylon Tea – is grown exclusively in Sri Lanka. We were booked at the Araliya Green City Hotel in Nuwara Eliya (https://www.araliyagreencity.com). This is a very nice hotel – across the street from a golf course and around the corner from the Nuwara Eliya Horse Race Course. Looks like a great vacation spot in summer.
We went to the tea plantation at the highest – and best – location called Damro Tea. It was really beautiful. I bought some gold tip Ceylon tea for an exorbitant price. It came with a cool teapot, but it better be really good!
Afterwards, we took another long drive – finally to the coast and the Viventa by Taj Hotel in Bentota (https://www.tajhotels.com/en-in/taj/taj-bentota-sri-lanka/). Our room had a beautiful ocean view – very different from the past few nights in Sri Lanka. This is a really nice hotel. We had some great meals at the on-property S.H.A.C.K. sea food restaurant.
The Madu River is an incredibly bio-diverse nature area. We took a boat ride and saw huge bats hanging from trees, monitor lizards that look like crocs, an island dedicated to cinnamon and another with a bunch of buddha statues (https://www.srilankatravelandtourism.com/activities-sri-lanka/boat-safari-madu-river/sri-lanka-madu-river-boat-ride.php). We stopped at a hut built over the water for a drink of coconut water directly out of some fresh golden coconuts. Was pretty amazing. Afterwards we stopped at a small turtle hatchery called Balapitya and saw how they hatch the turtles and ultimately bring them to the ocean. Then a trip to the town of Galle which is quite quaint and houses a fort and impressive sea wall.
All in all, Sri Lanka was an interesting place to see. Definitely a developing country – but not sure I’ll be going back. But very excited for our next destination – The Maldives!