Our planned route was to explore Southern Sri Lanka: Dambulla, Kandy, Ella, Udawalawe, Mirissa and Galle. For a country the size of Ireland there is so much to see in Sri Lanka from the temples, safaris to the world famous train ride from Kandy to Ella.
Dambulla
We started our adventure in Dambulla by exploring the cave temples that are thought to be 2,000 years old and has a functioning monastery sitting at the top of the mountain. It’s quite a hike especially in the hot weather.
Our favourite part of Dambulla was visiting Sigiriya rock, a 45 min tuk tuk journey away. We decided on a sunrise tour and what most people tend to do is visit the Pidurangala Rock that overlooks Sigiriya rock. We arrived at 5am and started climbing Pidurangala Rock for the sunrise. We didn’t have the most beautiful sunrise but scrambling up the rocks was a fun adventure. The first part is easy to walk, only the last part is a bit of a mission where your hiking up some pretty big rocks in the dark to reach the top before sunrise.
After the sunrise we went down and made our way to Sigiriya rock. It towers 200m above all the greenery. In the 5th century AD a palace used to sit on this huge rock. Nowadays you can view the remains of the fort of the palace. There are 1200 steps to get to the top to view the fort. We would definitely combine this activity with Pidurangala Rock as the views from there are better than when you’re exploring Sigiriya in our opinion.
We then headed back to our tuk tuk. Sri Lanka out of all the destinations we been was a great place to explore via tuk tuk because of its greenery. Our driver convinced us to do a safari at the Minneriya National Park for elephants. We already planned to do safari in Udawele but are so glad we did Minneriya as well.
The herd of elephants in Minneriya was breath taking. I never seen so many elephants and we were so lucky with our sighting. We sat on top of a cliff edge overlooking an elephant herd which is something I will never forget. We were glad we visited here as these herd sightings would be impossible to achieve in Udawalawe. We also did night safaris for loris in the local park and were lucky to see them on our last night before Kandy.
Kandy
After Dambulla, we made our way over to Kandy by car. We started by visiting the Temple of the Tooth, an integral part of Sri Lanka life and saw many Buddhists praying. Whilst there wasn’t much to do in Kandy we did find a beautiful forest called Udawatta Kele Sanctury and explored the Royal Botanical Gardens. The garden is famous for its countless (4000+) species of plants and trees. It is situated a 15-minute drive west of Kandy, and is a great escape from the city.
Ella
We only stayed in Kandy for one day as we were catching our train to Ella. This was our favourite part of Sri Lanka. The train is world renowned for its picturesque views of tea plantations and mountains. It’s an absolute bargain at tickets costings $15 each. This train sells out so we did a lot of planning to ensure we booked in advance. The best view is on the right hand side of the train and what we loved about the train is the doors are nearly always open so you can hang out the train as it’s a slow train journey taking 6.5 hours to reach Ella. Half way through you can stop off to climb Adam’s Peak but we decided to climb Little Adam’s Peak instead in Ella. We didn’t want to be caught out with the trains as they don’t run frequently.
Ella is a beautiful mountain town and we loved the fact you could walk everywhere and explore the trails. The next day we started off by visiting the famous Nine Arch Bridge and were lucky enough to see three trains pass by in the morning. We then did the trail to Little Adam’s Peak through the town and tea plantations. A lovely trail and we chose this one over Ella Rock as the views are much better from the top.
We finished our visit in Ella with a trip to Halpewatte Tea Factory, about 20 minutes tuk-tuk ride out of Ella own centre. Tea is one of the biggest exports in Sri Lanka. We had seen so many tea pluckers out during our time in Ella so was great to experience the tea making process for ourselves. We had a brilliant guide who described the process as a piece of master engineering. Not only can you learn about the entire process of making all the different types of tea leaves, but you can fully explore the working factory. It was fun and we enjoyed tasting the different teas and Nick has even become a fan of tea now. We then started to make our way to Udawalawe National Park famous for its elephants.
Udawalawe National Park
Sri Lanka has the highest density of wild Asian elephants in the world. The Sri Lankan government has banned the use of domesticated elephants and the country does an incredible job of protecting its wildlife, although they should work on overcrowding in national parks.
We were in the South it Sri Lanka and chose to do Udawalawe National Park over Yala as it’s a 1/3 of the size, so your chances of seeing elephants are much higher. It is also less crowded then Yala, and cheaper. Win-win!
No surprise that the elephants were our favourite part of the Udawalawe safari. But there were also so many other beautiful animals we encountered along the way that deserve the spotlight too!
We saw tons of giant water buffalo bathing in small marshes and lakes, sometime in small groups but often in gatherings of 10 or more. Eagles, hornbills, monkeys, wild boar, jackals, and mongoose also inhabit Udawalawe, and there’s a good chance you’ll see some (if not all) of them on your safari.
Udawalawe is home to one of the best wild animal rehabilitation centres into he world. We visited the Elephant Transit Home that cares for orphaned elephant calves with the goal to return them to the wild once healthy. Since it’s opening in 1995, 250 elephants have found refuge and been released into the wild at the age of five, when they’re able to care for themselves.
We visited there feeding time at 12pm and was the most adorable experience. Seeing the baby elephants run as fast as their feet can take them to get bottle fed, throwing tantrums if they want more milk and spraying each other was such a fun experience. We couldn’t help but smile and the Elephant Transit Home does a fantastic job looking after the elephants and it’s obvious to see how loved and cared for they’re by the local people.
Mirissa
Our next stop was Mirissa as we wanted to do some whale watching. We were in Sri Lanka when the blue whales were in season. We had researched snorkelling with whales but discovered it’s an illegal practice. Despite that, you will find tour operators offering snorklling tours with whales for extortionate prices used to pay bribes to the coast guard on the day. Don’t fall in tot the tourist trap!
We decided to do our whale watching tour with Raja and the Whales, who we found on Trip Advisor and they follow the rules of the Whales and Dolphin Conservation Committee. We left early at 5am and I wasn’t expecting the Indian Ocean to be so rough. Luckily, we both had taken sea sick tablets. Searching for the whales is tough and we were in the midst of a storm at some point – we never seen so many people be sick. Luckily, we didn’t need a sick bag.
We were lucky to spot 4 blue whales, 2 killer whales and many dolphins. The way to spot the whales was through their breathing at the surfaceand the guides were very skilled at spotting them!
Blue whales can hold their breath underwater for an average 30 minutes before they have to surface for air. They don’t have a nose and can’t breath through their mouth so rely on their blow-holes. When they surface, they spout the air (and lots of water with it) out of their blow-hole.
Along the way we also saw many Bottle-nose and Spinner Dolphins swimming along with us.
It was a great experience and I would say be prepared for the choppy oceans and it’s definitely not something for kids as one family brought along their babies then regretted it as the boat can’t turn back. We had never experienced whale watching before and learnt so much about these creatures.
After whale watching, we headed over to Coconut Hill, famous for its palm trees to see the sunrise before heading to Galle the next day.
Galle
We were in Galle for a couple of days and decided to visit a turtle sanctuary. Sri Lanka is famous for its turtles so wanted to see the work they’re doing and got more than we bargained for visiting the Mahamodara Sea Turtle Hatchery Centre, Galle. Here they help hatch turtles and care for those injured in the ocean, usually by plastic or boat propellers . As soon as we walked in we saw three German students volunteering at the centre. We were then greeted by the owner who didn’t waste any time in getting Nick to work with moving the massive turtles who weighed 15-20kg.
They were going crazy flapping their fins as they were moved from one place to the next and luckily were safe in Nick’s hands. We then cleaned their watering pools and fed the turtles it was such a special experience. We never expected the owner to create such an immersive experience but you could see conserving the turtles was her passion as she wanted others to spread the story.
We left Sri Lanka loving the experience of seeing the South and letting two baby turtles free into the ocean (fingers crossed they survived!). This was our last stop in Asia and now we head to Jordon in the Middle East.