Sri Lanka Adventures
We flew with Qatar Airways from Edinburgh, which was a great experience, and upgraded our flights on the way home to Business Class, which was a treat for us all.
We arrived around 9.30am and I had booked a boutique colonial style property for the first night. I had heard great things about this property - and it did not disappoint. he Wallawwa is only 15 minutes from the airport, but it's set in 5 acres of tropical jungle and is a world away from the hustle and bustle of Colombo. I had arranged the airport pick up and our driver was waiting for us - with lovely cool bottles of water (in their own reusable bottles as they have a no-single-use-plastic policy) and a nice air-con 4x4. Our first sight of Sri Lanka on the short drive to the hotel and it made us all smile - cows in the road, colourful tuk-tuks and friendly people. It was great to drive through the smaller back roads.
And then the hotel - wow! The bathrooms are huge. The 2 bedroom family suite we had was amazing; the grounds, gardens, pool and restaurant were amazing. Unfortunately we crashed out for the whole afternoon which felt like a waste, but it was infinitely better than having to travel a long distance straight after the flight. I will definitely be including at least 1 night at this property for all my clients in future. After waking up, we had a lovely shower and headed for a drink on the terrace and the stunning sunset - accompanied by lots of fruit bats. The waiters showed us how to play the traditional board game of carrom before a really enjoyable dinner. We then had a look round the hotel and off to bed, such a comfortable bed ensured that we all slept well, despite the good sleep in the afternoon too. My first taste of a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast the following day was a highlight! And before we knew it, it was time to leave.
We were met at the hotel by our chauffeur guide for the next week - the lovely Ananda has been working in the Sri Lankan tourism industry for 30 years. A source of really interesting facts and great fun! Ananda set up an initiative where he asks his guests to help plant trees for local families and schools in the rural region of Habarana and we were delighted to do this, and to sponsor the next few trees that he plants.
Our tour over the next week took us to Habarana, where we took a jeep safari to Minneriya National Park and saw scores of elephants - it was so lovely to see them in the wild - there are elephant "sanctuaries" in Sri Lanka but as a company we have taken the decision not to promote these as there are questions over their treatment of the elephants. We also took a "village tour" where we travelled by bullock cart and traditional boat to reach a rural village where a local woman showed us how to get all the meat from a coconut as well as make spicy chilli sambal and delicious okra curry cooked over a wood fire. The food was delicious and some of the best we had all holiday!
After 2 nights in Habarana we drove past the famous Sigariya Rock (it was wet on the afternoon we had planned to climb it, so we swam in the pool instead!) and headed off to Kandy, stopping to visit the Dambulla fruit and vegetable market and the cave temples. An evening swim in the rain (this was becoming a habit!) and the following day we left Kandy and headed up through tea plantations and beautiful scenery to the town of Nuwara Eliya, which is at an altitude of nearly 2,000m. There were amazing waterfalls, people selling all kinds of fruit by the roadside, zig zag roads and impatient buses - all a feature of travelling through this beautiful countryside. Sri Lanka is the world's fourth-largest producer of tea, and it was really interesting having a tour of one of the factories.
The following day was very exciting – we were off for a glamping experience at Noel Rodrigues Leopard Safaris in Yala National Park! I stayed in the family tent which was great as we all had enough space, and were spoiled with the air con. We had electricity to charge phones and cameras, but we loved leaving the tent after dark with just our torches. The walkways are lit by lantern and you eat by candlelight (torches attract the moths and insects so they are switched off). Looking at the stars was amazing.
The team could not do enough for us, the food was all fresh, home cooked, and something different to try every meal.
We went on 2 safaris, one on the afternoon we arrived, and the other the following morning to get a different experience. We were lucky enough to watch a leopard for about 20 minutes the first afternoon, and while other jeeps came and went, the location of our camp meant we had accessed Yala by the "back door" - the other jeeps all left to get back to their entrance before 6pm, and we could wait for the leopard to come down the tree... lovely.
One of the main attractions to me of staying at Noel's was the location so close to the entrance of the park, but I soon realised there were more advantages - we had drinks and snacks in the jeep, binoculars, rain ponchos, bird books, and as well as the driver, we had our knowledgeable guide to explain everything to us. It really was the highlight of our Sri Lanka holiday.
Finally, we had 3 nights’ relaxation on the beach at the gorgeous Fortress hotel just outside Galle. A lovely chilled out property, and similarly to every person we came across, the staff were so helpful and friendly.