In this episode of Wildest Islands the focus is Sri Lanka, the documentary captures the Bio-diversity of Sri Lanka. It covers all the different areas of the country and the animals that inhabit these areas. For the wildlife enthusiast this is a must see documentary.
Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts
Thursday, December 04, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Made in Sri Lanka Webisodes - Heritance Tea Factory
Located in the cool climes of Nuwara-Eliya surrounded with mountains and estates of Sri Lanka. Heritance Tea Factory Hotel is one of the most unique hotels in the country. It is based on a modernized old rundown tea factory used under the British rule, this hotel offers guests the ambiance of the Colonial times.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Kandy to Nuwaraeliya Fun Ride [HD]
A short video showing the sights of the road to Nuwaraeliya, the hill top tea capital.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
SRI LANKA Travel Video
Another wonderful travel video, taken by a couple who visited Sri Lanka. The video captures the sights and their experiences around southern Sri Lanka.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Sample Itinerary for Nuwara Eliya
Nuwara Eliya is one of my favourite spots in Sri Lanka, mainly due to the scenic beauty in that region. Secondly the climate is very cool and relaxing. The typical weather in Nuwara Eliya is similar to that of the weather in late summer / early autumn in the west.
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| Nuwara Eliya |
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, November 04, 2013
Safari in sri lanka
When you hear the words Safari, one would automatically think Africa, more specifically Kenya or South Africa. Sri Lanka just happens to also be a biodiversity hot spots. Sri Lanka is one of 25 Biodiversity hot spots around the world.
Don't get me wrong, you wont see any giraffes or lions in Sri Lanka, however what you will see are, Elephants, leopards, bears, hundreds of species of birds, and reptiles and your usual herbivorous animals such as buffalo, deer etc.
Sri Lanka is a bird watchers paradise, with a large number of nature reserves dedicated to birds. The island is at various points in the year home to many species of migratory birds too. I will cover this in another post later.
The below map shows the locations of the safari destinations I would recommend, I will look at each of these in brief detail in this article.
Friday, November 01, 2013
Amazing Leopard and Wildlife Encounters in Sri Lanka
Another amazing video to give the would be traveller some good idea of what to expect in Yala National Park.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Swimming with whales in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is said to be the best place in the world for whale watching, and the town of Mirissa in the South of Sri Lanka, around 20KM from the city of Galle is supposed to be the best place in the country to see them. That said whale watching is a seasonal activity. However there is something special about the whales of the Sri Lankan territorial seas. These whales tend to stick around the island nation all year round.
Great video I found recently... well for those of you who would like to experience this here is what to expect!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Getting visa to travel to Sri Lanka
Do I need VISA to travel to Sri Lanka?
So you want to travel to Sri Lanka and are wondering what you need to do to get the visa sorted. Up until 2012, most people did not need to get a visa to travel to Sri Lanka, they used to have what is known as visa on entry. This was valid for 30 days from the point of entry and was free for everyone.In Jan 2012, the Govt introduced new visa regulations for anyone who wishes to enter the country. Under this new law, with the exception of Maldivians, Singaporeans and residents of the Seychelles all nationalities require ETA visa before entering Sri Lanka. Please also note that children under 12 years old are also exempt from the ETA processing fee. ETA stands for Electronic Travel Authorization.
How can I apply for VISA to travel to Sri Lanka?
Visa applications can be done online. The process is fast and user friendly. The website for online visa applications for visiting Sri Lanka is - http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/. An ETA is issued only for Short Visits to Sri Lanka for Business, Tourism and Transit purposes only. The ETA Visa is granted online and is valid for a period of 30 days from the point which you stated you will arrive in Sri Lanka.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Whale Watching in Mirissa
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| Whales seen on our Trip - Thank you Amy Hong - For more amazing Amy Shots - http://www.flickr.com/photos/25838550@N04/ |
Sri Lanka is said to be the best place in the world for whale watching, and the town of Mirissa in the South of Sri Lanka, around 20KM from the city of Galle is supposed to be the best place in the country to see them. That said whale watching is a seasonal activity. However there is something special about the whales of the Sri Lankan territorial seas. These whales tend to stick around the island nation all year round. I found this rather interesting blog regarding the study of these whales, which can be found here. The blog is written by a Sri Lankan born Marine Biologist called Asha de Vos. Asha is doing a great job with the research and for those of you who are interested in knowing more visit her blog . There is also this amazing documentary which features Asha, see below.
Whale watching did not quite kick off till after the end of the civil war in 2009. That all said our Journey started on the 2nd Jan 2012, a giant start to the new year. We joined a group in Mirissa called Club Mirissa. The guys had a lot of bad luck on the day, starting with a dead boat and plastic stuck in the second boats engine. There are many operators in Mirissa however and prices range from around Rs 5000 to Rs 8000. We noticed that the Paradise Club Mirissa boat was much bigger and much more comfortable.
Club Mirissa charged us Rs 5000 for the half day whale watching trip. Which is roughly $50 US per person. The tours generally start around 7AM, and you need to be at the hotel (or pickup points) by around 6 30 AM, that said we did not get to the boat till 6 50 AM as we were travelling from Colombo that morning. Thanks to the new Southern Expressway our journey from Colombo to Mirissa took us around 1 hour 30 Mins. Our scheduled time to leave was 4:30 AM however due to tiredness and lack of sleep we did not quite get up till 4:30 and thus only left home at 5:20AM roughly.
Our Journey to Mirissa from Colombo can be seen in the below video,
As we were travelling just before sun rise, we got to see the full beauty of the land scape around the southern express way, shrouded in mist, with the back drop of an orangy red sky, the sight was rather surreal. As we drove on and exited the highway we could see the sun popping its head out through the distant trees and buildings, and by this point we also had a view of the indian ocean to our right hand side. All in all this drive was one of the most scenic.
Following reaching club mirissa for which the turn off point from the main Colombo Hambantota highway (A2) is very easy to miss. We were swiftly taken to the boat, where before boarding were given sea sickness tablets as many people do get sick due to the constant bobbing of the boat. As this was my first time out to sea I decided not to take any risks with being sea sick.
Our boat like most boats in the harbour was full loaded, we had to provide the Ports Authority with information for insurance purposes (Name, Passport number etc).
Once the engine trouble which I mentioned previously was resolved (which took the men a good 25 - 30 mins) we finally set off into the deep seas.
One thing I could say is that the men of the boat were very friendly and were telling me a lot of stories about their whale experiences. They were rather pleased to have a local tourist on board and which made it easier for them to communicate, and in turn I translated a lot of stuff for Amy, the journey out to sea took a good 2 hours, as we travelled around 18 Nautical miles out into the indian ocean.
The trip lasted a good 6 hours, and we did get to see 2 whales, which was to some degree a bit dissapointing given the fact that only the day before the guys had encountered a group of 40 whales, However there are many species of whales in the waters off the coast of Sri Lanka, and as the Blue Whale is an endagered species I think I should be grateful to have witnessed at least two of these magnificent creatures. The boat we set off with joined a group of about 10-15 other boats which were following a pair of whales, as such I think the poor animals may have gotten rather intimidated by all the engine noise.
I found the below video recorded by another tourist, which captures the same journey we took from mirissa into the sea. unfortunately I was not able to record any video due to the lack of battery on my phone ( I have been using my Nokia N8 as my video source for the entire journey).
It is highly recommended to carry sufficient amount of water, any snacks that you may wish and enough sun cream, a set of binoculars a decent camera with a lot of zoom as the whales may not always pop up beside the boat.
You may find the below websites of interest when planning your whale watching activities
We passed many massive cargo vessels, as for those of you who do not know, the southern tip of sri lanka is the worlds busiest shipping route, where every ship that travels from east to west and vice versa travels through.
Whale and Dolphin Watching Mirissa Sri Lanka
Great pictures I found of whale and dolphin watching in Mirissa Sri Lanka
Whale & Dolphin Watching Mirissa, a set by iris0327 on Flickr.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Wilpattu National Park
Wilpattu National Park is the largest and oldest national park in Sri Lanka, situated in the North Western coast of Sri Lanka, roughly equidistant from both the towns of Anuradhapura and Puttalam. The park is well known for its leopards, sloth bears among other animals, but also for the lush dry zone jungles and nearly sixty lakes or tanks.
Wilpattu is a great park to explore and is certainly off the beaten path. Which means you are not likely to see many other tourist or locals in the park.
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| Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka |
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Wilpattu National Park - Photos
Wilpattu National Park is the largest and oldest national park in Sri Lanka, situated in the North Western coast of Sri Lanka, roughly equidistant from both the towns of Anuradhapura and Puttalam. The park is well known for its leopards, sloth bears among other animals, but also for the lush dry zone jungles and nearly sixty lakes or tanks.
Below are some pictures that I took on one of my Visits to the park in 2011.
Below are some pictures that I took on one of my Visits to the park in 2011.
Willpattu National Park, a set on Flickr.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Paradise Ceylon - YouTube video
Great video that I found on YouTube that has some amazing footage of the sights and sounds of Sri Lanka.
You may need to watch this on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCBeIlV7E1Q
You may need to watch this on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCBeIlV7E1Q
You may need to watch this on YouTube - Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Sri Lanka 2013 - Udawalawe National Park / Hikkaduwa / Colombo
A great video that I came accross recently on some of the jewels of Southern Sri Lanka, around 165KM from the capital Colombo.
Udawalawe National park covers an area of around 119SQ Miles, and lies surrounded by mountains, which makes the area quite dry. However this makes for a great view, specially on the route to the national park.
The National park is home to some 400 wild elephants, and other mamals such as water buffalo and deer, the occasional leopard as well as many species of birds. It is however not as bio diverse as Yala or Bundala.
Udawalawe is also related to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, as it acts as transit point for elephants from pinnawala to be released into the wild.
Enjoy the video, and thank you to the original uploader. I will soon make a post with more details on Udawalawe National Park.
Udawalawe National park covers an area of around 119SQ Miles, and lies surrounded by mountains, which makes the area quite dry. However this makes for a great view, specially on the route to the national park.
The National park is home to some 400 wild elephants, and other mamals such as water buffalo and deer, the occasional leopard as well as many species of birds. It is however not as bio diverse as Yala or Bundala.
Udawalawe is also related to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, as it acts as transit point for elephants from pinnawala to be released into the wild.
Enjoy the video, and thank you to the original uploader. I will soon make a post with more details on Udawalawe National Park.
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