Katherine McHugh Lichliter – February, 2017

We will return!

Luxurious Sri Lanka provided us with an unforgettable three weeks in this wonderful country! We appreciated so much working together with Jagath in carefully planning our trip in advance and being met by him personally at the airport in Colombo in middle of the night. Much appreciation is also due to our wonderful driver and guide Basil, who awed us by mastering a variety of strenuous roads and terrain. But even greater thanks to Basil for sharing so much of his love and knowledge about the wildlife, flora and fauna of his country, as well as it history and culture. We learned so much from you, Basil, and you certainly enriched our whole Sri Lankan experience. We spent over two weeks touring Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, Kandy and Ella and the National Parks Mihintale and Yala, among many other places. We were so impressed by great diversity of this impressive landscapes from jungles, to mountains to pristine seashore. We loved the elephants in Mihintale, the archeology and history of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, the fresco paintings at Dambulla and Sigiriya. Additional high points were the the visit to Thiriyaya and the oldest Buddhist stupa Girihandu Sera, the various ruins in the cultural triangle , the mountain views outside of Ella, and the impressive expanse of unbuilt beaches. We concluded our trip with a relaxing five days at the beach and a final tour tour through Colombo with Jagath before heading to the airport and home.