A GRAND TOUR OF SRI LANKA

16 October -8 November 2009 with Richard Hunt

"... On leaving the island of Andoman and sailing a thousand miles, a little south of west, the traveller reaches Ceylon, which is undoubtedly the finest Island of its size in all the world."      Marco Polo, 1298 AD

Ceylon, called Sri Lanka since 1970, certainly lives up to Marco Polo's description. The superb beaches are world famous; the hill country offers wonderful and dramatic scenery; and the island has a fascinating culture - both ancient and modern - reflected in dramatic ruined cities with beautiful carved Buddhist images, as well as the life style of people today. There are extensive wild life preserves and lovely botanical gardens. Despite the recent history of communal unrest, the people are exceptionally friendly and hospitable, the food good and varied, and the climate is a wonderful escape from the British winter – although it can rain here too!

A VERY POTTED HISTORY: Sri Lanka is about the size of Ireland, with a population of around 17 millions. The first Sinhalese people (speakers of Sinhala) probably came from North India in the 5th or 6th century BC, settling in the northern plains of Sri Lanka and mostly absorbing the native Veddah peoples of the island. They established a kingdom with its capital at ANURADHAPURA. The kingdom was converted to Buddhism in 237 BC by Mahinda, son of the Indian Emperor Ashoka, who was appropriately accompanied by monks rather than soldiers. ANURADHAPURA remained the most important centre of Sri Lankan culture until the 10th century AD, despite invasions by the Hindus of South India. In the 11th century it was decided to move the capital further south to POLONNARUWA, and this great capital flourished for about 200 years. Renewed Indian invasions caused Sinhala power to move yet further south, but the new capitals were also attacked by Chinese and Malays.  In 1505 the PORTUGUESE were granted a monopoly of the spice trade by the Sinhala King of Kotte (now part of Colombo) who hoped for Portuguese help against his enemies, including a Tamil Kingdom at JAFFNA in the north of the island. Instead, the Portuguese took over the south of the island but could not defeat another Sinhala King at KANDY in the hill country, who enlisted the help of the DUTCH against them. The result was that by 1658 the Portuguese were defeated by the Dutch who in turn ruled most of Sri Lanka. The turmoil of the French wars (in which the Dutch were unable to meet debts to Britain) enabled the BRITISH to take over the island in 1796, first as an adjunct of India, but as a Crown Colony in 1802. British planters developed estates - after the 1870's concentrating on tea - importing Tamil labour from South India in very large numbers. They became known as the ‘hill country’ Tamils, to distinguish them from the more ancient settlers concentrated around Jaffna. INDEPENDENCE came peacefully to Sri Lanka in 1948 in the wake of Indian independence (1947). Opposition to the government came from Tamils mainly in the north and from Communists. There followed a period of dramatic politics, including widespread nationalisation of assets, fluctuations in world commodity prices and rioting. The Tamil population - slighted by anti-Tamil and anti-Hindu legislation - grew more militant, with one branch demanding a separate state. Communal conflict escalated in the 1980s and has been sporadic since then, but almost entirely restricted to the north-east corner of the island. Sri Lanka's strategic position has meant that she has attracted considerable overseas aid. 

Sri Lanka has her own language (Sinhala), spoken by 75% of her people. Tamil - the language of Tamil Nadu in South India - is spoken by a large minority, and English is widely used in commerce and tourism. A very high proportion of people are literate - around 85%. The Sinhala majority is devoutly Buddhist; the Tamil minority (around 18%) is Hindu. There are also about 7% Muslim (some descendants of Arab, Malay or Indian traders) and 7% Christian - Catholic converts from Portuguese times, protestants from the Dutch and British eras. Agriculture and fishing is extremely important. Tea (which replaced coffee), rubber and coconut products remain major exports, but textiles, garments and tourism are now substantial earners of foreign currency and industry is growing rapidly. The island has largely recovered from the terrible tsunami disaster of 2004.

ARRIVAL: Our journey is planned on Air Lanka, depart Heathrow 13.45, arrive Colombo 05.00 am. After immigration and customs clearance we will transfer the short distance (30 minutes) for an early check in to the
RANWELI ECO LODGE, a charming hotel located between a river and the beach.
This is our base for the next three nights to recover from the flight, enjoy the beach or choose from a variety of interesting wild life excursions: bird watching and nature walks or boat rides, the Anavilundawa wild life sanctuary or perhaps special archaeological visits to Yapahuwa and Panduwasnuwara. Nearby (10 kms ) is the popular fishing town of Negombo with colonial architecture and the ruins of the Dutch Fort.

THE ANCIENT CITIES:  This part of our tour explores the ancient Buddhist and Hindu cities in the centre of the Island, many of which are World Heritage sites. For comfort and convenience we will use the very pleasant PALM GARDEN HOTEL at ANURADAPURA as our base for 2 nights to explore the largest of the ancient cities, and then move to THE PALM GARDEN VILLAGE at HABARANA for 4 more nights, for visiting the remaining cities and sites. The distances are not great and this centrally located hotel is better than those located closer to individual sites. It has a swimming pool, garden, good restaurant and comfortable rooms

ANURADHAPURA was the first capital of the Sinhala Kings, and is the largest of the ruined Ancient Cities. The cities were all built largely of wood but only the stonework in important buildings survives: fine statues and carving decorate the ruins of palaces, temples and dagobas (or stupas - large votive mounds), which are spread out around the sacred Bo-Tree. From Anuradhapura we visit the beautiful monastery site of Mihintale where the king of Lanka was converted to Buddhism by Prince Mahinda in 237B.C. On our return we will visit Aukana, to view the famous standing Buddha statue.

HABARANA is located in the centre of the cultural triangle, close to many of the remaining sites and also a number of wild life sanctuaries.

POLONNARUWA was a capital of the Chola dynasty from South India, who invaded in the late 10th century and built Hindu temples in the South Indian style. The city was taken by the Buddhist Sinhala King Vijayabahu in 1070, who made it his capital. A succession of kings built magnificent palaces, relic houses, temples and dagobas (pagodas), including perhaps the most beautiful enormous statues of the Buddha.

SIGIRIYA. We drive to Sigiriya for the climb to the top of the spectacular rock fortress, built about 480 AD, 200 metres above the surrounding plain. The climb is thrilling, passing the famous frescoes of young girls painted on the rock face, the Lion Platform and finally reaching the summit where a huge palace once stood. The climb itself is easier today (than even a few years ago) as a staircase with handrail has replaced the irregular footsteps carved in the rock! However, it is quite strenuous and those not wanting to climb all the way can return to rest in the garden!

THE HILL COUNTRY:  We set off into the Hill Country for KANDY stopping at a spice garden and handicraft complex en route [Batik is a speciality of the Island]. At Kandy we stay at the SUISSE HOTEL for two nights. This is a pleasant colonial building, recently refurbished, overlooking the lake in the town center. It has a large garden, pool and a snooker room with helpful attendants to guide the angle of the cue! We take a guided tour of Kandy, including the market, Art Association and Royal Botanical Gardens. In the evening we visit the famous Temple of the Sacred Tooth, attend a "pooja", and a classical dance performance. A wonderful drive to Pinnawela takes us to the elephant orphanage, where we were able to see very young babies bottle-fed and the large herd bathing in the river!

The road climbs steeply to NUWARA ELIYA where we can visit a tea estate and factory. However, we plan to make part of the journey BY TRAIN – a slightly uncertain train service that can only be confirmed on arrival at the station! We stay at the GRAND HOTEL for two nights. This Edwardian building is precisely what the name suggests, and was built as a governor’s residence and converted to a hotel for visitors to this lovely hill station. It is next door to the Hill Club [whose members were mainly tea planters] where women are now admitted through the front door (except to one bar)! We may decide to visit here for a candlelit dinner - a proper dinner of 5 courses (soup and fish) is served to guests who are properly dressed (ties and jackets which can be borrowed from a rather ancient wardrobe – I last wore a moth-eaten huge tweed jacket from the ‘50’s!).
While in Nuwara Eliya we visit the Hakgala Botanical Garden, and also travel by jeep to HORTON PLAINS, a wild and exhilarating grassland at 7000 feet! At WORLD'S END is an astonishing view (dependent on weather), where the escarpment drops vertically 1000 feet and then descends very steeply for another 4000 feet. On a good day the Indian Ocean, 50 miles away, can be seen.

YALA NATIONAL PARK & KATARAGAMA SACRED AREA
From Nuwara Eliya we descend on a most beautiful drive towards the south coast and the Yala National Park. Here we spend 2 nights at YALA VILLAGE, a wild life lodge, from where we take jeep excursions – early morning and afternoons – to explore the wild life of the area. The park is mainly thorny scrubland, inhabited by elephants, bear and leopards, varieties of deer, monkey, jungle cat, squirrel - including the flying squirrel – crocodiles and a wide variety of birds. Shall we be lucky?
Yala is close to the KATARAGAMA SACRED AREA, which includes the ancient capital of the province of Ruhuna - the last refuge of Buddhists escaping Indian Hindu invasions in the north. Excavated relics in this area date from the 2nd century BC and Kataragama is considered the holiest place in Sri Lanka, where Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim devotees flock to make offerings at the shrines. The principal shrine is, in fact, Hindu, whereas there is a Buddhist stupa and a mosque nearby. We plan to visit in the evening (late supper that day).

GALLE From we drive along the south coast to Galle, at one time the largest port of the island. The Portuguese built a fort in Galle in 1589, which was destroyed by the Dutch who largely replaced it with an enormous new fort in 1663. The small defended town remains little changed and is one of the most interesting towns in Sri Lanka. We propose a sight-seeing tour of the town and the opportunity for relaxing in and around the small town of Galle (excellent fish restaurants), where we stay for 2 nights at the modest but charming CLOSENBERG HOTEL (originally a house built by a sea captain directly overlooking the bay).

From Galle we travel the very short distance to the HOTEL ADITYA, RATHGAMA for a few days relaxation at the BEACH. This is a charming small boutique resort with only 12 rooms. There are other sightseeing possibilities, including more free time in Galle, or other villages and beaches which offer beautiful corals and tropical fish, which can be seen either through glass bottomed boats or with snorkelling equipment. (4 nights at the beach resort).
On our last day we depart along the coast after a leisurely morning, arriving at the Galle Face Hotel (an old colonial style hotel) for a GRAND FAREWELL SEAFOOD & BARBECUE DINNER on the terrace looking out to sea, followed by  our departure to the airport.
RETURN: After dinner we plan to drive directly to the airport. We check in at the airport for departure by Air Lanka at 11.30 for our flight at 02.15, arriving at Heathrow at 08.45 on the same day.