Discover south Sri Lanka’s backcountry

There are an unbelievable amount of  eco, physical and cultural activities to keep you busy during your stay. Whatever you would like to do we can bespoke an literary for you and arrange your adventure.

National Park trekking

The Sinharaja Forest Reserve in south-west Sri Lanka is the country’s last viable area of primary tropical rainforest. Meaning Lion (Sinha) King (Raja), Sinharaja is home to a fantastic level of biodiversity. There is a huge selection of Sri Lanka’s endemic species – mammals, birds, butterflies, insects, reptiles and rare amphibians. Of Sri Lanka’s 800+ endemic species, 200+ trees and vines, many plants found in the forest are used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine. Sinharaja forest was declared a biosphere reserve in 1978 and on the World Heritage list in 1988. Protected and well worth a visit.  As you may expect Sri Lanka has it’s share or poisonous plants, snakes, and insects so you will find your guide an invaluable source of information.

In the south-east, from the coast line inland, is Yala National Park. Its a big old space, about a thousand square km and Sri Lanka second largest national park. The weather is dry and in some areas semi arid for much of the year, a completely different micro climate to Sinaraja forest. You will find 400 of Sri Lanka’s wild elephants, water buffalo, leopards, spotted deer, langur and toque monkeys. Safaris can be easily organised.

Visit a festival

You will find that pretty much every month there is at least two festivals, the majority of which coincide with those of Buddhism and a full moon. So who doesn’t enjoy a full moon party? Just ask Mike about the time where he had 200 dancing Sri Lankans, playing OMD to from his iPod at the local Full Moon Beach party. The Buddhist community of Sri Lanka observe the Full Moon or Poya Days and with three other major religions on the island there are no fewer than 25 public holidays. Nice!

Learn Sri Lankan style cooking

Every night is curry night, maybe even for breakfast. You are welcome to join us in the kitchen and learn how to use some of the Sri Lankan spices in different ways although we might get you to do some chopping.