Description
Our last unreleased Sri Lanka episode from early 2019 as we parked the Troopy up in India to a visa run to SR.
2019:Following a couple of weeks chilling out in Midigama doing not much except surfing, we were looking forward to seeing the Sri Lankan sights. We weren't going to be doing it alone though as Mark's parents Anne and Geoff were joining us. As excited as I was to see Sri Lanka I was more excited to see them as it'd been over a year since we'd last seen them!
Over the next 10 days the plan was to do a clockwise loop visiting most of the must-see attractions.
Our first stop was Sri Lanka's biggest national park, Wilpattu. The park is home to 30 species of mammals including the Sri Lankan elephant, leopard, sloth bear, buffalo, and many more, as well as many reptiles and bird life. As the park covers such a large area the chances of spotting some of these, such as the leopard, are slim compared to other national parks in Sri Lanka. Although we were out of luck when it came to spotting a leopard, we did get to see a lot of wildlife including a lonesome elephant!
After our safari finished we drove about an hour east to Anuradhapura to stay the night before visiting the ancient city the following morning.
Dotted around the ancient city you'll see many bell-shaped masses of masonry varying from a few feet to over 340m in circumference known as pagodas. One of these pagodas is estimated to be built of approximately 93 million bricks.
Our next stop was Sigiriya, an area famous for its landmark Sigiriya Rock. Sitting atop this rock, 200 metres above the surrounding farmland and jungle is the remnants of a palace and fort. Access is via approximately 2000 stairs that begin from the well-maintained gardens at the base. We arrived at about 7am as we wanted to try beat the crowds as well as heat. The terraced gardens below are very well kept and the 360 view from the top was beautiful.
Close to Sigiriya is Mineriya National Park, home to the largest Asian elephant gathering in the world. Within about 20 minutes we'd spotted 2 elephants that we could get quite close to, followed by at least another 50 over the next couple of hours.
If you've ever looked into a holiday in Sri Lanka you've probably seen photos of the iconic train trip through the tea plantation lined mountains. That was next on our list, so we began the drive to Kandy from which we would catch the train. On the way to Kandy we stopped by Dambulla Caves, the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka.
We expected the train journey to be very touristic though were pleasantly surprised to have quite the opposite experience which was due to us buying 3rd class tickets. I think if we had of bought 2nd class tickets it would of been a different story as on the platform there was a huge mass of foreign tourists standing in the second class area. There was a bit of push and shove to get onto the train as everyone wanted to get themselves a seat, which luckily we were able to score 4 seats together with a table.
We'd bought tickets to go as far as Nuwara Eliya which took about 3.5 hours of winding through the mountains. The train journey was very beautiful and a great experience for just 90 rupees each!
We stayed just one night in Nuwara Eliya before continuing onto Ella the following morning. Arriving in Ella we were greeted by probably the most touristic place in Sri Lanka, most notably popular for the 9 Arches Bridge and "trek" to Little Adam's Peak. First we visited the bridge, along with a huge crowd of other foreigners all getting their perfect Instagram photo. From a construction perspective the bridge is impressive though the most entertaining aspect of this attraction is watching people getting in some fairly risky positions to get that perfect shot.
The walk up to Little Adam's Peak is more of a leisurely stroll through the tea plantations for about 1.5km followed by a short climb up some stairs to an elevation gain of probably about 50m. I'd read a few blogs about this place and they all referred to it as a hike or a trek, though I'd have to disagree as it was extremely leisurely. I don't think this is a bad thing, I'd just gone there with different expectations because of the information I'd read about it.
Following our visit to Ella we made our way back down to the coast, spending a couple of nights in Weligama before going a little further west to Galle. Originally the plan was to visit Galle Fort for sunset though the afternoon we were there the heavens opened and didn't stop until dark, so instead we went the next morning.
Thanks for watching! In the next episode we're reuniting with the Troopy and hitting the road again, YAY!!!