Srilanka in July

Srilanka is a small island nation, a few nautical miles away from the southern tip of India. For long time, I was possessing lots of interest to visit India’s southern neighbour, especially after the end of their civil war in the year 2009, since when the country has been slowly opening up for world tourists to visit their vibrating country full of nature, wild life, beaches and distinct culture. So this time, when I got a break from my hectic office schedule, I made a quick plan to explore this vibrant nation along with my family. This was in the end of July, tourist season in central Srilanka just begins from here. But when I start firming up my itenary for 6 days, I realized that there are so many travel opportunities in srilanka and it is not possible to cover the whole country in a span of 6 -7 days; so this time I focussed on central srilanka excluding the beaches. The time I have chosen for travel ( July – august) is not the perfect time for srilankan beaches , but could be a perfect time for the jungles and mountains. “Rain in the mountains…” will be a spectacular sight for the nature lovers.

Day 1

We landed at Bandaranaike international airport after a 3 hrs direct flight from Kolkata on Sunday afternoon. There are several daily flights run from various Indian airports like Chennai, tiruchirapalli, Delhi etc. It’s not a big international airport; after a completion of brief immigration procedures we picked up our luggages and came out through the arrival gate outside where we found Andrew from “Come visit Srilanka” group who greeted us with a big smile “ Ayubowan!! Welcome to Srilanka!” “ Come visit Srilanka” is the group that we have contacted before we came here, through which we had made our transportation and other tour arrangements for this trip. They provided us a 7 seater luxury van ( Toyota avis) along with a local driver for the entire trip. Chauffeur Car hiring prices are very reasonable at this part of the world and it gives a special comfort in foreign land when a local is always accompanying you. We took a local SIM card from the kiosk just outside the airport and then proceed to the Car. Our Trip to Srilanka begins as we have started our

journey towards our jungle resort near Sigiriya which is around 158 km away from capital city Colombo.

Car ride was taken much more time than it expected(approx..6 hrs), because of narrow roads and heavy traffic, our vehicle was moving @ 40 – 50 km/hr speed. We had a brief stop at one location for a refreshing tea break. We reached Dambulla town at around 09:30 PM , Dambulla was the last town before our jungle resort “Camellia”. “From here it would take another 20 minutes to reach our destination through the jungle route”—our driver Andrew told. And then we were travelling through the road by the side of the reserve forest, we spotted one big elephant that was ready to cross the road in darkness all around. This part of the highway runs by the side of the reserve forests. We all got excited expecting our thrilling stay in the jungle resort. Finally we reached our destination “Camellia resort and spa” where we would be camping for next 2 days in the midst of nature.

The resort location is surrounded by forest land and agriculture field. Our driver informed that sometimes elephant herds come in the fields near to this resort which is a perfect location for a jungle stay. We were on a half board basis and after checked in, immediately we went for the buffet dinner in the pool side restaurant. We got the first taste of srilankan cuisine in a wide range of buffet.

Day 2

Sigiriya Lion rock fortress entrance

Next day morning, after having nice breakfast at our resort, We started our journey to Sigiriya “Lion Rock”fortress which is just 20 minutes away by car from our resort. It is better to reach the site early in the morning in order to avoid heavy rush as this one is the main tourist attractions in Srilanka. Also, climbing the rock early morning is easier rather climbing it in hot sun.

Lion rock is related with King Kasyap who ruled in (477 - 495 C.E.) and he built a palace on top of the rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes. The column of the Rock is nearly 200 meters high from the ground and there are approx. 1200 steps to climb the rock top. Some remnants of the palace are still can be seen, also there are a few paintings on the ROCK which are still available. On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this Rock, there is a gateway built in the form of an enormous lion.

Breathtaking view from the Lion rock summit

It took almost 2 hours for us to climb the Rock. There is a small pond on the top of the Rock. The view at the summit of the Rock is spectacular. We spent some good time there before we came down. We took a guide at the entrance who explained everything about the history of this Rock fortress and king kasyap. It is worth to take a guide at this place and generally they charge around 2000 Srilankan Rupees for the visit. This is presently a UNESCO listed world heritage site.

View from the Dambulla cave temple

Our next destination for the day was Dambulla cave temple which is another 30 minutes drive from this Lion Rock towards the direction of Dambulla town. We had to climb approx. 500 steps to reach the budhist cave temple on top. We saw the reclining buddha statue inside the temple. This is the largest and the best preserved cave temple complex in Srilanka. The view from the top is really awesome. It is worth visiting this place. After visiting Dambulla temple we returned back to our resort for the Lunch break. Our afternoon program was the wild elephant safari in one of the forest reserves.

Wild elephants at kaudulla national park

For the elephant safari , it is better to reach the reserve gate latest by 03:30 PM so that you can get enough time to spot the animals. Although our initial plan was to visit Minneriya national park, but our guide was having information that majority of elephant herds on that day moved towards Kaudulla national reserve which were interconnected. So we changed our plan and decided to visit kaudulla national reserve for better viewing. There are special 4 x 4 jeeps for this type of safari which was arranged by Andrew. By 04:00 pm, we were inside the reserve and our safari guide was very knowledgeable and he knew the terrain very well. We spotted around 80 wild elephants in the kaudulla. Our guide took us one place to another in the reserve to spot the elephant herds. We managed to see two big elephant herds which are very near to our jeep. We saw some gaming between the male elephants in a close distance. It was really a special experience for all of us and the kids thoroughly enjoyed . we got back to our hotel after a pleasant experience by 06:30 PM.

A good ayurvedic massage at the hotel spa rejuvenates you in the evening after a long field day and we exactly did the same. Children relaxed in the small swimming pool in the evening. Dinner buffet spread was having lots of varieties including local and international cuisines. I preferred to focus on Srilankan delights, especially varieties of vegetable curries of srilankan style were really mouthwatering items. I tried Gata polos, a baby jackfruit curry cooked with traditional spices, which was really tasty.

Day 3

Nice outdoor pool in the midst of nature

I wanted to visit the resort surroundings at early morning, the morning walk was very refreshing. I just sat by the side of the open pool. Chirping of the birds around were filling my mind and giving special mental peace. You need to give your mind this sort of break, an offset from your daily routine life.

Today we are going to Kandy, our next srilankan destination. Kandy is the second biggest city after capital Colombo, which is having the British colonial touch. Kandy was the last capital of the Srilankan Kings. It took 3 hours to reach Kandy from sigiriya.

Inside the temple corridor of the sacred tooth relic

Our first stop at kandy is the famous “Temple of the Sacred tooth relic”. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former kingdom of Kandy. I was told that Princess Hemamali had carried the tooth of buddha hidden in her hair to Srilanka from India. By the time we reached kandy temple at 11:30 AM, it started raining. We took a guide along with us to visit the temple. During the civil war time, suicide car bomber tried to blow up the temple. However, his attempt was failed , although a major front portion of the temple was badly damaged. But you cannot make out now as it is perfectly restored; our guide shown us up to

which location the car bomber approached. This is definitely a dark memory of the past which this beautiful country is now desperately wanting to come out of it. From here we straight went to our hotel “ OZO kandy”.

View of kandy lake from hotel balcony

We had a light lunch at hotel’s roof top pool bar. The hotel OZO Kandy is at magnificent location overlooking the kandy lake and surrounding hills. Our hotel is only 300 meters walking distance from the famous Kandy Lake on the hill side. After taking brief rest, we have proceeded towards the Kandy Botanical garden which is just 30 minutes away by car. We took a cart to move around the vast botanical garden established during British era. They charge around 1000 srilankan rupees for a trip of one hour. One should not miss this botanical garden in Kandy as it is having wide varieties of plants, orchids and some rare plants and trees. The serpentine trees, double seed coconut trees are really worth to see.There is a nice souvenir shop at the gate from where you can buy some good items at a reasonable rate.

We were back to hotel by 06:00 pm. It was drizzling outside; we had a good time at the roof top swimming pool by the side of cocktail bar. View from this stylish pool bar is absolutely stunning and it’s a nice evening hangout place. The cocktail bar serves some good cocktails prepared with traditional srilankan arrack. I also had Lion draught beer which was the speciality of this bar. We also relished some traditional snacks along with it. The service at the pool bar is great.

Day 4

Rain in the mountain…on the way to Nuwara eliya

I woke up very early in the morning and headed towards the kandy lake alone for a nice morning walk around the lake. I found a group of locals and tourists walking around the lake and the view of the lake was really nice. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant “EAT” . After that, we have started our journey towards Nuwara eliya, which is a small town in the tea country hills of Central srilanka. It is at an altitude of 1,868 meter and is famous for its picturesque landscape and is considered to be one of the most important location for Tea production in Central Srilanka. The landscape becomes more mystique in the rain. The town is overlooked by the tallest mountain of Srilanka, the Pidurutalagala. On our way to Nuwara eliya, we had made couple of brief stops to capture some breathtaking views. We visited the biggest tea estate and tea factory of Damuro Tea on our way to Nuwara eliya. In the factory outlet, they first show you how tea leaves are processed and its packaging and they offer you varieties of Tea sampling for free in the outlet. You can buy some special srilankan tea from the outlet. We have purchased some varieties from the outlet, one of them is silver tea.

Gregory Lake view

We have visited the Gregory lake in Nuwara eliya and spent some good time there as the lake is having some breathtaking views.It was 02:00 PM and we were feeling very hungry; our driver friend took us to a famous Indian restaurant of the town, “ the Grand Indian” which is operated adjacent to the Grand hotel . There was really a great variety of authentic Indian food and everything we tried was very tasty. I would definitely recommend this restaurant for everyone who visit Nuwara eliya.

Ramboda falls

After a sumptuous lunch, we started our return to Kandy. On the way down, we took diversion to visit the ramboda falls, view here in the afternoon was really stunning. Finally we returned back to hotel at 07:00 PM. We had a nice dinner at ‘EAT’. Spicy traditional srilanakan chicken curry was the speciality of this restaurant. Don’t miss it whenever you are in OZO Kandy.

Day 5

Kandy Lake

On the last leg of the tour , we were returning to capital Colombo. On our way we had a brief stop at pinnawala elephant orphanage which is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants. Pinnawala is around 40 km away from kandy on

the way to Colombo. It took us 1 hour to reach this place. We saw bathing of the elephants from a close distance. We reached Colombo by 03:00 pm.

We visited some attractions in Colombo in a short time in the afternoon like Galle face green, dutch hospital area, independendence sqare and Gangaramaya buddhist temple. We decided to taste traditional srilankan cuisine for the last time in this tour at the famous restaurant in Colombo, “ Upali’s by Nawaloka” , which serves only traditional srilankan delicacies.We had tried varieties of traditional srilnankan dishes like Kottu roti, mutton varuwal ( Jaffna style mutton delicacy), Kukul mas mirisata ( a srilankan village style chicken curry)elu mas soup etc. Finally we drove near to airport in Negombo area and checked into Leighton hotel for our last night stay. This area is around 20 minutes drive from the airport and ideal place to stay when you have to catch an early morning flight.

Colombo galle sea face

Day 6

Our flight was at 08:30 AM in the morning and so we came out of the hotel at around 05:00 AM morning.

We left srilanka finally with so many beautiful memories behind with a strong hope to come back again to explore its beaches and yala national park which we could not cover this time.