Sri Lanka is located in the north of the Indian Ocean – south of India’s coast.
The English name Ceylon was in use until 1972 when officially became Sri Lanka.
Those who travel to India should not miss Sri Lanka – the two countries are very close to each other, the ticket price is very cheap and prices are very similar.
I did not know much about this country, even thought that I eventually would have the opportunity to visit it, but as my visa issued twice entry to India and I knew I would never be that close to Sri Lanka again, so I decided to go.
The route was as follows:
Colombo – Udawalawe- Ella- Nuwara Eliya – Kandy – Colombo
I went to Sri Lanka by myself but I was never alone, I met new people every day. 🙂
I had absolutely no plan, I always booked my next day accomodation on my actual day because I did not know when and where I was going to be.
This journey connected me with great people, great friends- from China, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Thailand .
Unfortunately I did not have much time, but I tried to get the best out of it -to know more and to see more of the country.
When I arrived to Sri Lanka I changed a little amount of money at the airport (currency is Sri Lankan rupees) and I bought a sim card- just in case to make phone calls and to have internet access.
I traveled by bus and train, both are very cheap – a 4-hour train ride was around 1,02 Euro.
Udawalawe
My first stop was at Udawalawe, 170 km from Colombo.
Here I visited an orphanage dedicated to elephants and a famous national park.
There are more national parks in the country – I choose to visit this national park because of its good rewiews.
Unfortunately there are many places where elephants are held on chain which I do not support … so I did not go there ….
The Udawalawei National Park is giving home for elephants, water buffalos, crocodiles, deers, peacocks, monkeys and countless birds.
We started the safari at the early morning and it lasted for 4 hours.
It was impressive to see free, wild animals and the tour guide was really fair to us.
Ella
In Ella I climbed the “Ella Rock”, -a very nice local old man helped me because I started to climb it late so he feared to leave me alone…, and the next day I hiked Little Adam’s Peak- the view was just amazing.
It is a beautiful, green area filled with banana and coconut trees.
In Ella I met a lot of tourists anyway, most of them are backpack travelers from all over the world, open minded, nice and helpful.
Nuwara Eliya
After Ella I went to Nuwara Eliya.
I thought Sri Lanka was such a warm country like India, but I was wrong.
This is the highest city in the country and here the temperature is always cool (10-15 ° C), often foggy and rainy – quite remarkable – famous for its tea plantations and tea factories.
Sri Lanka is ahead of Kenya and India today as the world’s largest tea exporter.
The best tea plantations are located in the 2000-meter mountain range.
Kandy
The next station was Kandy, one of the sacred places of Buddhism, the cultural center of the country. The temple area of the city – The tooth temple (here they guard Buddha’s canine) and its related buildings- is part of UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage.
Colombo
My final stop was Colombo, not having a lot of time I walked a lot on the beach and in the city center.
The beach was full of people and merchants, the picture was really idyllic.
This couple of days in Sri Lanka was really lovely – I was really tired but it was a great experience.
