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Sri Lanka Click on the pictures to see the videos We came here in April 2011, and did a one week tour with a vehicle and driver, which is the ideal way and remarkably inexpensive, followed by a week in a resort hotel. we found it very enjoyable and will return again another time to see the bits we couldn't fit in to the one week tour. |
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We drove first to Kandy, up in the hills, visiting the famous Pinawala elephant orphanage on the way. This is now more a breeding herd than an orphanage, and we arrived in time to see them bathing in the river before returning across the road to the fields for food.
We stayed 2 nights in a lovely riverside hotel outside town, and did some shopping, visited a theatre to see some Sri Lankan dance, and went to the famous Temple of the Tooth joining locals and visitors in making the offerings.
On our final morning there we went to the botanical gardens, well worth a visit.
Next day we had a hair raising drive downhill over a road being repaired/constructed around us, down to the coast at Yala for our stay in the wildlife reserve. Although not quite in the reserve itself, the lodge is next to a lake and the chalets are 'in the jungle' so you may meet monkeys, monitor lizards, boar and even water buffalo as you walk down to the pool or for meals, and the staff will accompany you after dark. We went on a safari drive for each of the two full days we stayed there (3 nights), and afternoon drive first, where we had a wonderful close encounter with a family of elephants, and a distant one with a female leopard.
On day two, a morning safari, we had a picnic breakfast surrounded by monkeys, and met a whole family of monkeys back at our lodge after the safari.
Eventually we arrived at our beach resort hotel, the Blue Water, just outside the small town of Wadduwa for the relaxing bit of the holiday, although even then, we took a locally booked river safari, on the Bentota river, another enjoyable excursion.
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This is our first visit to Sri Lanka, but probably not our last. We found the place charming, and the people also. We arrived on the day of the 2011 cricket world cup final, which sadly Sri Lanka lost. A large field next to the sea just down the road from our hotel was set up with huge video screens for the locals to come and watch, and they did, in their thousands. We stayed in Colombo just the one night, then headed off inland. We had a vehicle and driver which we booked from the UK, via a London based Sri Lankan holiday company, Sri Lanka Tours, who also sorted all the hotels for us, but the itinerary was our own choice. Our driver Sumith was fantastic, a freelance, and as we subsequently found, will also do hotel bookings etc, and can be contacted by email, srilankatours.sumith@gmail.com
After the gardens we drove higher into the tea plantation area, visiting a tea factory on the way, and arriving at the hotel, a converted factory itself - descriptively called 'the tea factory' - where we explored the immediate area and had a lovely dinner in the railway carriage.
Next day, a long drive around the coast, stopping of at Galle to see the interesting old town, a UNESCO world heritage site.
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