Tropical island wanderer family holiday

Depart from Colombo next you visit the Elephant Foundation and spend a few hours with an expert to learn, care for and walk with its residents.

The elephant foundation's aim is to constantly develop the care, safeguarding and treatment of captive elephants in Sri Lanka by providing a refuge with appropriate amenities and facilities. In the on-site museum realise the complex history between Sri Lanka and its elephants. Many still live in captivity in poor conditions, however, the foundation’s elephants are well provided for. Help prepare and administer fruit, vitamins and medicines and, under the watchful eye of its mahout, walk through the grounds alongside a majestic resident. To chat more about the foundation’s project work and elephant behaviour, opt for a traditional lunch and visit the paper factory!

On completion proceed to Sigiriya.

Breakfast at the hotel & next you will be transferred to Kandy.

Stopping en-route to visit spice garden in Matale. Visit a spice garden in Matale to see many different types of spices Sri Lanka is famous for. Just 65 km from the Sigiriya, the Matale spice gardens are among the best on the island. You will be introduced to different spices and shown how some of these spices are grown and processed. A processing and training unit has been set up in the area and farmers are grouped in a cooperative to ensure fair prices and you will also be able to purchase spices. Gardens are open to visitors, a delightful place to stroll in fragrant greenery and learn about nutmeg, pepper vines, clove trees and curry, cinnamon and the precious cardamom, a relative of ginger. It grows in the shade of high jungle trees and can only be harvested by hand.

On arrival in Kandy, you visit Temple of tooth relic in Kandy. The golden-roofed Temple of the Sacred Tooth houses Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha. During puja (offerings or prayers), the heavily guarded room housing the tooth is open to devotees and tourists. However, you don’t actually see the tooth. It’s kept in a gold casket shaped like a dagoba (stupa), which contains a series of six dagoba caskets of diminishing size.

Evening Kandyan Dance performance; the traditional Sri Lankan dance which flourished in the hill country during ancient times. The dancers, who are attired in frilled costumes with glistening head-dresses and breastplates, skip and whirl to the beat of drums executing astonishing acrobatics in mid-air; the highlight is the fire walking at the end of the performance.

Proceed to Peradeniya, Visit Royal Botanical Garden. First developed as a pleasure garden under royalty and later harmonized by the British, the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya - today bundled with the most welcoming facilities located just 4 miles off Kandy - is a flourishing national asset in the Wonder of Asia. Walk into this 147-acre bliss of an experience, passing well-tended lawns, pavilions & an octagon conservatory to be greeted by the vast expanse of a magnificently landscaped lush green turf which will encourage you for an exhilarating break. Towards the north of the entrance rests a cafeteria that one might come across before stepping into some of the highlights - the orchid house & giant Javan fig tree - of this place which overflow in grace.

After Breakfast you may drop at the Peradeniya station, after you proceed to Nanuoya by Train, driver will pick you up from the Peradeniya station.
Next you visit Ambewela farm which made as two farms, Ambewela Farm and New Zealand Farm. Blessed with the cool climes and pristine environment of the hill country, Ambewela Farm boasts superior breeds of cattle, modern technology and top-quality pastures where cattle graze freely. The result is an organisation of international standards in a local setting, producing the best quality milk and milk products. The Ambewela Farm has purebred Ayrshire cattle and the New Zealand Farm in Ambewela rears purebred Friesian cows, with both farms maintaining a pure line of cattle. These pedigree cows require a great deal of attention, and in order to maintain the quality of the milk, the farm management takes great care to provide them with a balanced diet and sterilized drinking water. In addition, the cattle are given excellent healthcare by two resident veterinary surgeons at the farm that tend to the animals on a 24-hour basis. The farm also produces yoghurt and cheese. The largest grass lands of Sri Lanka are also a part of the Ambewela farms.

Depart from Nuwara Eliya, proceed to Udawalawa. En-route you stop at Ravana Falls. In the misty mountains of tropical Sri Lanka, the wide Ravana falls gushes down a height of 82 feet falling from an oval concave rock. It takes the form of a drooping areca flower during the peak season of its water flow, but its size is reduced dramatically during the dry season. Located in the Ravana Ella Wildlife Sanctuary in Ella, this waterfall is the source of many legends and secrets.

On completion visit the Nine Arch Bridge, also called as the Bridge in the Sky, is a bridge in Sri Lanka Locally it is known as ‘Ahas Namaye Palama’ meaning nine Skies Bridge in Sinhala. The name derives from the visual experience. . It is one of the best examples of colonial-era railway construction in the country.The construction of the bridge is generally attributed to a local Ceylonese builder, P. K. Appuhami, in consultation with British engineers.

Breakfast at the hotel & enjoy the safari trip in Udawalawa National park. Be ready to witness trumpets across the border as you approach elephant country around the corner! Udawalawe truly is a sanctuary for the big footed & tusked. Marked by relatively large herds of elephants, the national park proves to be one of the best places one could observe them in their natural habitat. Hop into a safari jeep and head into the park, you are most likely to drive into your first herd of giants within the maiden hundred meters. Turn on your radar into other species - such as potted deer, sambur, barking deer, water buffalo and jackal - found within the park.

Breakfast at the hotel & next you will be collected & transfer to Beruwala via Galle.
En-route stop at Koggala Stilt fisherman. Stilt Fishing is one of the most interesting traditional fishing methods of Sri Lanka. Records indicate that it came into being just after World War II. This mode of fishing was more widely used all along the coast until the tsunami in 2004 which caused such activities to cease temporarily until recent years. The beautiful sight of fishermen perched branched poles as they fish skilfully during dawn, noon and dusk; can now be commonly along the southern coast in towns such as Koggala.

It is the best time to explore the Galle Heritage site after lunch time. Galle, the epic Southern capital, is the intersection where classic Dutch architecture meets a tropical setting creating a vivid atmosphere in beauty. Walk the Dutch-haunted streets listening to the creaks of wooden saloon doors and observe how European architecture mingles with South Asian traditions today flooding cultural enthusiasts on a global scale. Its original ramparts and bastions preserved up to date showcase evidences of a heritage preserved for more than 3 1/2 centuries. Walk clockwise within the fort to observe the 'old gate' carrying the British coat of arms. Flanking the old gate is the Zwart bastion - the oldest of all - and the lighthouse standing 18 feet in its glory next to the Point Utretcht Bastion. This Dutch bliss is painted with streets that spread in a rectangular grid pattern pierced with houses carrying Dutch colonial style verandas.

Next you visit Mask Museum in Ambalangoda.

Evening you visit Turtle Hatchery in Kosgoda. Turtles are reptiles of the order Chelonii. Therefore, they are also called chelonians by researchers and conservationists. Chelonians are charaterized by the special bony shell or carapace, which is developed from their ribs and acts as a shield. They are an old group with the very first proto-turtles having evolved over 220 milliom years ago in the Triassic Era. The order of Chelonii, also known as the Testudines, have three members in the group; turtles, tortoises and terrapins.

Breakfast at the hotel & next you will be transferred to enjoy the Madu Ganga Safari. In the Southern region of Sri Lanka lies the Galle district. Balpitiya is a little town in the district and would be quite unimportant; except for the location of a river. The Madu River is very rich in biodivesity. It passes through the wet zone of Sri Lanka opening up into the large Madu Lagoon on its way to the Indian Ocean.

This morning after breakfast and hotel check out, you will be transferred to the airport.

... Welcome Home!