HabitualTraveler

Traveling around Sri Lanka with Ceylon Expeditions

November, 2023

After a couple day trips from a cruise ship, we knew we wanted to see much more of Sri Lanka. So, we worked with a local tour company to do our travels around this island nation. Everyone warned us that driving was not advisable and we are certainly glad we took their advice and hired an experienced driver.

Ceylon Expeditions was wonderful as they helped us plan an action packed two week adventure. Our goal was to see National Parks, wild animals and birds. We didn’t go too heavily on cultural experiences as we would be seeing lots of temples in other countries.

Once we landed, we met our trusty driver and guide, Nadeera, and we were off running. Yes, his driving made me very nervous, he was on the phone more than I liked, but that seems to be the norm in this country. Sometimes you just have to click your seatbelt, suck it up and try to enjoy the ride.

Since we visited so many locations, this post will be mostly a picture show of some of our highlights.

Wilpattu National Park is home to many leopards. We were lucky enough to see this momma and two cubs relaxing on the road.
A frequent sighting in Sri Lanka – the Asian Green Bee-eater.
Anuradhapura Sacred City is the cradle of the Sinhalese Buddhist civilization. The stupas were built around 993 and then vacated and reclaimed from the jungle about 1500 years later.
Golden Cave Temple of Dambulla was ornately decorated with many Buddha statues and paintings.
Our visit to Eco Park in Kandy yielded us the unusual sighting of an Asian Elephant with a tusk. This is rare as most elephants in Asia don’t grow tusks.
A yummy traditional lunch of chicken curry and potatoes on a banana leaf.
After lunch, we were took the train from Kandy to Ella to check out some tea plantations.
When you are in the highlands of Sri Lanka, you must stop at a tea plantation for tea and cake. Cheers!
The Red-faced Malkoha put on quite a show at Uda Walawe National Park. This endemic bird was a new addition to our life list.
These frogmouths were another wonderful sighting at Uda Walawe National Park.
Our guide Gayan at Uda Walawe National Park also removes cobras from gardens in this area. He shared this pic with us. Oh my, no way!
Checking out the town of Galle and all of its cute little accoutrements.

If we were doing Sri Lanka again, we would take it a bit slower. We covered so much ground and were exhausted when we left. It was a fantastic experience and we are so thankful to Nadeera for all of his wisdom and love for his country. It certainly made our stay quite enjoyable.

Travel Company

Ceylon Expeditions

https://www.ceylonexpeditions.com/

One comment

  1. Hello ,

    Love to see this great note about Ceylon Expeditions.

    Will meet again not as a client but as a good old friend. Bless you for healthy life ahead.

    Lalith from Ceylon Expeditions

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