Places to visit in Sri Lanka

Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara -eliya is situated at around 2000m above sea level and surrounded by lush tea plantations. Nuwara Eliya is the main hill resort of Sri Lanka and the heart of the tea industry. This city with an elevation of 6200 meters is the highest in Sri Lanka. The city pretends to be particularly well kept and neat, and the always green grass gives to the locality an aspect of "colonial British style".

Nuwara -eliya blessed with salubrious climate, breathtaking views of valleys, meadows, mountains and greenery; it's hard to imagine that Nuwara Eliya is only 180 Km from the hot and humid Colombo. Temperatures are in Nuwara -eliya 14C-21C (Jan- April) 16C-18C (May-Aug) 15C- 18C (Sept-Dec).

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Pinnawela orphanage is situated in northwest of the town Kegalle, main Colombo-Kandy Road 90km from Colombo. It was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Wildlife department. 

Animals are allowed to roam freely during the day and a herd structure allowed to form 08.00 The babies are fed on milk in the mornings and allowed to range freely on the 12 acres large grassland. 10.00 Each morning and afternoon 14.00 the animals are walked 400 meters to the river Maha Oya for a two-hour bath. Beteween 16.30 and 1800 in the evening the animals are taken to their stalls and tethered for the night. They are then given their evening feed which is milk again for the babies and leaves for the older ones.

Plenty of food and water are available.The leaves are mainy Cocunut leaves (Cocos nucifera), but also branches from Jackfruit (Artocarpus integra), leaves, branches and logs of Kitul palm tree (Caryoty urens), from There is no stress or threat to the animals.

Bentota Beach

Bentota is located 64km south of Colombo  in the South-western coastal belt of Sri Lanka. Bentota is a very pretty rural area: the greenery of the landscape is especially striking. Most of the areas are well shaded and sheltered by tall trees with the coconut palm tress dominating the landscape.

Trincomalee
Trincomalee is one of the finest natural deep water harbors in the world. It's located 257 km north-east of Colombo. Trincomalee is home to fine beaches of Nilaveli, Uppaveli and off-shore Pigeon Island. 

Recently Trincomalee has become popular as a Whale Watching destination too. The Dive centers at Nilaveli, Uppaveli it support the tourists to enjoy their holidays in diving, snorkeling and swimming. The seven hot springs at Kanniyai located just 8km from Trincomalee attract regular crowds throughout the year in view of the therapeutic properties of water therein varying in temperature from one well to the other.

The Trincomalee Harbor is a large natural harbor in Sri Lanka. Located in Trincomalee, in the heart of the Indian Ocean, its strategic importance has shaped its recent history. There had been many sea battles to conquer the harbor. The Portuguese, Dutch, French, and the English, each held it in turn. The Trincomalee, the second largest natural harbor in the world, is overlooked by terraced highlands, and its entrance is guarded by two headlands.  The harbor has 1630 hectares of water, while the entrance channel is 500 meters wide.

Yala National Park

Yala National Park is located in the south eastern region of Sri Lanka and Tissamaharama is the gateway to Yala National Park. 

The park provides jeeps with soft –tops which affords better opportunities in viewing wild life. Dawn and dusk bring about the best timing for safari tours in the Yala National Park. 

The Yala National Park affords the greatest opportunities to sight the Sri Lanka’s broad variety of wildlife. such as stocks, lagoons, crocodiles,peacocks, monkeys,elephants,leopards. A total of 32 species of mammals have been recorded bird life at yala national park.

Yala National Park is rich in bird life and around 130 species have been recorded. Raptors include crested serpent eagle and white bellied sea eagle. Among the water birds attracted to the lagoons are Lesser Flamingo, Pelicon, Spoonbill, painted stork, rare black necked Stork, grey heron, purple heron, night heron and Darter.