Target Travels blog

One of the best news to come out of Asia in the recent past was the end of the long-running civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009. Sri Lanka is one of the loveliest islands in the region, it was known to Arab traders as ‘Serendip’, then fell under Portuguese and later Dutch and British rule, before attaining independence in 1948. In the current peace-driven renaissance the tourism sector is evolving from parochial to professional; though the journey has come way to go, levels of service are improving at an agreeable pace.

In the past, visitors to Sri Lanka have tended to keep to the south, mainly due to the aforementioned problems but also because many of the island’s finest attractions are concentrated there. The chief delight of Sri Lanka is its variety, from the beaches along the coast to the rolling Hill Country around Kandy, whose main temple is home to a sacred tooth venerated by Buddhists (who make up 70% of the country’s inhabitants) and the focus of a spectacular procession of drummers, dancers and elephants every July. Galle, built around a beautifully preserved 17^th century Dutch Fort, resonates with history; and it’s along the coast from Bentota through Hikkaduwa on the west and Unawatuna, Koggala (with its serene lagoon) and the newest hot beach destination, Tangalle in the South that is still oozing in popularity.

Albatross Golfing Resort Digana

Unique accommodation options have sprung out to meet the ever increasing need for more and more hotel beds. In the South you will find most of Sri Lanka’s private villas. Some almost rival the fort in antiquity; others are of more recent – but no less intriguing – construction, ranging from beachside cottages to highly superior residences.

Up country there are fewer but a growing number of private villas to cater to the tourists to the region; many are beautifully restored tea planters’ bungalows, remnants of the colonial era: Nuwara Eliya is popular hill station for being known as ‘Little England’; for the great outdoors and eco treks there is Bandarawela; Ratnapura forms the heart of the country’s gem industry; Arugam Bay on the East Coast enjoys a top ranking among the world’s surfing community and Kataragama hosts annual fire-walking ceremony which is vibrant Hindu festival. Wild elephants roam around Uda Walawe and the rainforest is practically untouched in the Sinharaja Reserve are more splendours Sri Lanka has to offer to visitors.

Further north, culture vultures can hop between the millennia-old ruins of

Sri Lanka Festivals

Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura and climb the famed rock fortress at Sigiriya. The ceasefire has seen other parts of Sri Lanka reawakening again, in particular beyond Trincomalee on the northeast coast. Jaffna another contrastingly different landscape was the worst hit by the conflict. It is today attracting a vast number of travelers but the infrastructure and accommodation options may still be limited. Remarkably just 3 years after the end of the war, the Jaffna peninsula contributes to 10% of the national GDP with the people of the region showing great resilience and drive towards economical prosperity.

The special joy of traveling throughout Sri Lanka is that its relatively small size allows visitors to take the best of its attractions within a couple of weeks, perhaps starting in the capital, Colombo, venturing into the interior to explore the tea country and the historical sites, and then ending with a couple of days kicking back at a beach resort.

Colombo

Sri Lanka is at its most climatically hospitable between December and March, which is when it sees the majority of visitors, especially Europeans on packages, escaping the northern winter. Incidentally, every full moon in Sri Lanka is marked by a public holiday (poya), when alcohol is not supposed to be sold in hotels, restaurants or shops.

Both the island’s geography and its multi-ethnic community are reflected in the national cuisine. Spices, in particular cinnamon, initially drew traders from overseas, and they feature strongly in curries, which tend to be rather hotter than their Indian counterparts. ‘Hoppers’, a delicious crispy pancake , make a welcome appearance at breakfast buffets and an abundance of locally grown fruit – papaya, pineapple, mango among them – make refreshing juices or can be eaten at any time of day. Culinary diversity is best in Colombo: there tends to be less experience and confident with western dishes as you get further from the capital. Again though, this is beginning to change, and whatever the food, it is always serviced with Sri Lanka’s renowned charming and friendly hospitality.

Marco Polo waxed lyrical about Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then known, describing the island as the finest in the world. Its even more ancient – Serendip – has come to imply making fortunate discoveries by accident, and now that Sri Lanka is once more fully open for business – and even more importantly, for pleasure – its fortunate discovery as an ideal holiday destination needs no longer be an accident.

About 6 km (or 4 miles) from Kandy are the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens (open daily, 7.30am to 4.30pm with an entrance charge), the largest and finest in Sri Lanka. Enclosed in a loop of the Mahaweli Ganga river, the lush 60-hectare (147-acre) gardens are stuffed with a baffling array of Sri Lankan, Asian and international flora.

From the entrance the stately, much-photographed Royal Palm Avenue leads down to the Great Circle at the centre of the gardens. On your left is a handy cafeteria and the Great Lawn, home to a famous giant Javan fig tree, which covers an impressive 1,600 sq. metres (17,222 sq. ft) and is sometimes claimed to be the largest tree in the world. North of here, the gardens become wilder, with troupes of macaque monkeys foraging in the bushes and huge clusters of flying foxes dangling from the trees overhead.

In the ancient times this sprawling landscaped garden was used by the kings as their private pleasure garden. During the WWII  Lord Mountbatten, who was the supreme commander of the allied forces based in South Asia, used this as their headquarters for the South East Asia Command.

The Botanic Gardens date as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu III became King and established his court in Peradeniya adjoining the Mahaweli river. King Kirti Sri and King Rajadhi Rajasinghe followed in his footsteps thereafter. A temple was built on this location by King Wimala Dharma, but was later destroyed by the British when they were given control over the Kingdom of Kandy in the early 1800s, the foundation for a botanical garden was formed by Alexandar Moon in 1821. The Botanical Garden at Peradeniya was officially established in 1843 with plants brought from Kew Garden, Slave Island, in Colombo and the Kalutara Garden in. The Royal Botanic Garden, Peradeniya was made more independent and expanded under George Gardner who was the superintendent in 1844. The Garden finally came under the administration of the Department of Agriculture when it was established in 1912.

Today this is a popular stop for all visitors to the city of Kandy and is well worth a visit.

Temple of the Tooth

Although Kandy is now Sri Lanka’s second-largest city, it retains a surprisingly quaint small-town feel, its modest grid of low-rise streets are lined with characterful mix of both Kandyan and colonial-era buildings and preserve a certain old-fashioned, rustic charm which even the often dense throngs of traffic and pedestrians can’t entirely obscure.

At the west end of the center the serene Kandy Lake offers the city’s scenic and romantic centerpiece. This fine expanse of water is bounded with elegant white balustrades and backed by the buildings of the Temple of the Tooth and the Royal Palace complex – particularly striking when seen from the south, with the neat white buildings framed against the rich green backdrop of the Udawatakelle Sanctuary behind and prettily reflected in the waters of the lake in

Kandy

front.