Day-to-day schedule
Day 1: Marawila
Welcome to Sri Lanka! Your tour starts in Marawila, where you can use your hotel room from check in time (12.00 hrs at noon) on day 1. Marawila is situated only 40 km (1 hour drive) from the international airport of Colombo. Your travel companions will also arrive this first day, the exact time will be depending on their flight schedule. You can meet the rest of the group and your tour leader today.
Our first two nights will be spent in Marawila at a seafront hotel with access to a vast sandy beach. During the day we suggest you visit nearby Negombo, with its old Dutch fort gate, churches and fishing villages set at the mouth of the lagoon originally used for shipping cinnamon to the coast. You can hire a bike and follow the canal southwards, or if you don’t fancy pedalling, take an excursion into the “Dutch Channels” on a small motorboat. The Karava fishermen take out their catamarans which are fitted with square sails and large floats on both sides and you can see them setting off for the days fishing and returning with wonderful fresh fish for the market.
Day 2: Marawila
Enjoy another day in and around Marawila.
Day 3: Marawila – Dambulla / Optional excursion Sigiriya
In our private coach, we will drive through tropical plantations to Dambulla.
You can pay an optional visit to the spectacular rock fort of Sigiriya, or ‘Lion’s Rock’ as it is also known. At the foot of the fort, two giant lion’s paws guard the entrance and you can go up a flight of spiral stairs past beautriful frescoes that were commissioned by King Kasyapa to a truly stunning view. This giant fort was built in the fifth century by King Kasyapa to defend himself against the troops of his brother after he had his father murdered to gain power.
Day 4: Dambulla – Polonnaruwa
Today we go to Polonnaruwa where you can choose to take an optional excursion by bicycle to the ruins of this thousand-year old former capital of Sri Lanka. In the 10th and 11th century, the Tamils made Polonnaruwa the most important city on the island and, during this period, many Hindu temples were erected in the new provincial capital, a few of which have been preserved. The monarchs extended Polonnaruwa with palaces and luxurious estates and fortified it with a system of city walls and the remains of this medieval royal city extend over a considerable area. Here are the remnants of a complete city with marketplaces, workshops, stables, roads, garrison buildings and countless tiny temples. The biggest dagoba in the city is 55m high and would have had a golden tip. However, the most beautiful masterpiece is a group of four splendid Buddha statues, Gal Vihare, hewn from one giant piece of granite. The recumbent 15 m. Buddha is the largest of the group.
Day 5: Polonnaruwa/ Optional excursion Anuradhapura and Mihintale
Enjoy a free day to explore with an optional trip to Anuradhapura and Mihintale. Two thousand years ago, Anuradhapura may well have been the most beautiful city in Asia.and is home to the only live shoot of the tree under which the Buddha was enlightened in 544 BC. This has made the tree one of the holiest places of pilgrimage for Buddhists around the world. Apart from the bodhi tree there are immense stupas and remains of palaces that are also well worth visiting. Mihintale is of great importance as a place of pilgrimage for Sri Lankan Buddhists and the religious buildings are sited on and around granite hills, in a very lush green setting that has been protected by law for over a thousand years. To see all there is to see requires a climb of 1840 steps to an enormous white Buddha that overlooks the broad landscape.
Day 6: Polonnaruwa – Dambulla – Spice Garden – Kandy
The ancient cave temples of Dambulla are among the most beautiful Buddhist monuments in the world and the temples were hewn from a large rock that protrudes from the green plain. The fourth cave dates from the first century BC and is said to be the most beautiful. Within its walls there are many sitting, standing and recumbent Buddha figures and bodhisattvas, some Hindu gods, including the god Vishnu. Even now, religious ceremonies attract thousands of islanders to the caves and the journey continues along scenic roads with magnificent views in the direction of the central mountain range. We will stop at one of the many spice plantations, where pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa and ginger are grown where a worker on the plantation will explain the cultivation of these plants. We can also stop at a woodcarving workshop, where statues and dance masks are produced and, if time, we will stop in Matale which is famous for its nearby monastery, Alu Vihare before driving on to Kandy.
Day 7: Kandy
Today you are free to explore the city of Kandy and its lush tropical surroundings. Visit ‘The Temple of the Tooth’ which houses Buddha’s tooth, the central focus of Singhalese religious life for over two thousand years and marvel at the displays of ancient royal regalia, jewellery and historic drawings at Kandys museum. Stroll round the centuries-old garden of Peradeniya, watch a performance by the famous Kandy dancers or visit the elephant bathing site on the Mahaweli River and the elephant orphanage in Pinnawela. Your travel guide will have full details of all that is available on arrival.
Day 8: Kandy - Nuwara Eliya
Our route through the mountains to the next destination is breathtakingly beautiful. Passing waterfalls, tea plantations and visiting a tea-processing site en-route. In the afternoon, we arrive in Nuwara Eliya, the England of the tropics. Victorian cottages that could be in Devonshire, a golf course, gardens full of roses, a lake with rowing boats, mown lawns and cool temperatures.
Day 9: Nuwara Eliya - Bandarawela
After a morning free to explore Nuwara Eliya, we board the train from Nanu Oya and cross the mountains. On this three-hour journey we travel through spectacular mountainous landscapes, interspersed with tea and jungle plantations, through tunnels and along abysses. At the end of the afternoon we reach Bandarawella on the east side of the island.
Day 10: Bandarawela
Enjoy a day at your leisure in the stunning alpine setting of Bandarawella. It is an area rich in fabulous views, mountain tracks along steep abysses, waterfalls and streams rushing down from the central mountain range. You can travel by bus to Badulla and walk to one of the highest waterfalls on the island, the Dunhinda Falls, or you can walk to the Dowa cave temple which has a 4m standing Buddha hewn from the rock. Alternatively you can join a local guide on a beautiful walk to the tea plantations of Haputale.
Day 11: Bandarawella - Kataragama - Tissamaharama
Today the bus will descend over 1000m to Kataragama, at the foot of the mountains. Kataragama is one of the holiest places in Sri Lanka and a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alike, who all venerate the god Skanda. This god works his wonders through the countless visionaries, oracles and medicine men on the island. Buy some lotus flowers or fruit for an offering in this temple or visit Ganesh, the elephant god of Hinduism who is also well loved by Buddhists.
We spend a night in a hotel in Tissamaharama near the Yala National Park, on the southeast coast of the island where your travel guide will be able to help you with all the possible activities and help organise a safari. Yala, the main nature reserve of Sri Lanka, is dotted with woods, lakes and immense granite rocks, where the shy panthers and bears of Yala live. Wild buffaloes, deer and particularly large herds of elephant can be seen from the jeeps that cross the park. In the ponds, crocodiles lie in wait for prey and there are numerous species of birds such as storks, marabou, spoonbills, peacocks, pelicans, herons, ibises, flamingos and bee-eaters who nest by the lakes and beach. Wirawila Lake is the most unspoilt reserve and offers many species of water bird, spangled leaf monkeys, crocodiles and elephants.
Day 12: Tissamaharama – Hikkaduwa
Today we drive via Hambantota and Weligama, known for the stilt fishermen to the beach of Hikkaduwa.
Day 13: Hikkaduwa
This coastal strip is famous for its coral reef and from November to April, you can go diving and snorkelling or if you’d rather stay out of the water just look at the reef from a glass bottomed boat. A trip through the green lagoons behind the coast is also highly recommended and are particularly special are the giant monitor lizards of over 2m long that walk and swim in that area. Another must see if the former Dutch fortified town of Galle where you can stand overlooking the beautiful, palm-lined bay, and imagine yourself back in the old colonial days. You can also visit the Matara temples, explore by bike, and visit to a snake or turtle farm or explore the river on a cruise. There is also the ‘blowhole’ near Kudawella and the beaches near Unawatuna and Tangalle.
Day 14: Hikkaduwa - Negombo
Today you travel to Negombo where you will stay your last night in a hotel very close to the airport.
Day 15: End of tour in Negombo
The last day of your tour. You can use your hotel room in Negombo until check out time (most times at 12.00 hrs noon). Negombo is situated only 15 km (less than ½ hour drive) from the international airport. We wish you a comfortable journey home and are sure you will take with you some wonderful memories of Sri Lanka.
Your personal ‘my.shoestring’ page on our website is the perfect way to make contact with other travellers before and after your trip. You can read and create journals from trips and upload your photos onto the photo gallery. Visit my shoestring today.
When booking your tour, please check to see whether you need any post-tour nights, bearing in mind that accommodation for the night of the final day of the tour (day 15) is not included.
Festivals
PERAHERA KANDY FESTIVAL (23 JULY - 2 AUGUST 2012)
During July/August, the festival of Esala Perahera takes place in Kandy. It is a spectacle of impressive proportions and for the predominantly Buddhist population is an important festival. This 10-day festival includes a copy of the Tooth of Buddha, safely preserved in the Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth) in Kandy, being carried in one of the five processions on the back of a richly decorated temple elephant. The Esala Perahera consists of several parts. The first six nights the Kumbal Perahera takes place. This part is slightly less impressive than the next, the Randoli Perahera, which culminates on the tenth night. Then all of the elephants gather from miles around, in splendid appearance and together with groups of dancers, acrobats and musicians, participate in the procession. To conclude there is a small ceremony held during the day called Diya Kepeema/the water cutting ceremony of Day Perahera.
Each evening the procession begins at an allotted time. After the hymns and prayers (heard everywhere in Kandy for hours) all is suddenly silent. A thunderous cannon shot from the Temple of the Tooth announces the beginning of the preparations. Only when the second gun shot is fired does the procession start to move. It is already dark and the fire bearers light up the parade. At the forefront are men with long whips. Every ten steps they stand still and make a strike of their whips. The sharp crack reverberates through the night. It is now really beginning. The tension is palpable. Drum roll accompanies the acrobats who spin their heads, necks and limbs. Groups of drummers accompany the dancers. The musicians look fabulous in their long white skirts with red sash draped with jewels over their bare torsos. Several groups of dancers pass by, mostly men and some women. Each dance has its own symbolic meaning. The drum rolls as members from the group of dancers take themselves through the air, making acrobatic somersaults. The ecstatic dancers make rigorous movements. Groups of priests and temple servants in gorgeous outfits are accompanied by large numbers of elephants dressed in rich robes, often illuminated with hundreds of lights, which are kept burning by a battery on wheels behind the elephant. They await the last group to arrive at the Dalada Maligawa. Surrounded by musicians and dancers the beautifully decorated main temple elephant arrives with the silver reliquary containing the copy of the precious relic, the Tooth of Buddha, on his back. He is flanked by two equally richly attired elephants. Finally, there follows a long procession of acrobats, dancers, sword fighters and believers. On the last night it takes three hours for the procession to pass. The curtain falls, the party is over. Only then will the crowds head in droves to the carnival. The timing of the Esala Perahera is determined by the moon. The last night of the Perahera Randoli ties in with the full moon.
TO ENJOY THIS MARVELLOUS FESTIVAL BOOK ONTO THE TRIP DEPARTING ON 22 JULY 2012