The gardens are situated 6km from Kandy next to Mahaweli Ganga, the longest river in Sri Lanka. Set over 60 hectares, the gardens were once reserved for Kandyan Royalty. It is very well maintained and home to thousands of (loud) fruit bats, hundreds of monkeys and also courting couples, even at 9am !

Kandy was the capital of the last Sinhalese Kingdom and due to the natural defences of river and hills remained independent from1505 until its capture by the British in1815. The historic centre, on one side of the manmade Kandy lake, includes; the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the former Royal Palace and Audience Hall and St Paul’s church. Nearby is also the Kandy Garrison Cemetery, containing graves from colonial times.

The Sacred Tooth of the Buddha is said to have been removed from his funeral pyre, eventually being smuggled to Sri Lanka in the hair of a princess. In the 16th century, the Portuguese tried to destroy it, however it survived, was transported to Kandy, and the temple was built to house it. It is kept is a series of seven gold caskets; three times a day worshipers can see a glimpse of the exterior casket. Sri Lankan Buddhist believe that they must complete at least one pilgrimage to see the ceremony – for our guide it was approximately his 500th visit.

There are still signs of Kandy’s colonial past with buildings being protected by heritage status. The cost of renovation is such that many are falling into disrepair, however the pub remains in working order !

Dambulla is a large, well preserved temple cave complex. The caves are reached up a steep staircase of just under 400 steps. The complex consists of five caves which it is believed were first used as a place of worship in the first century BC. They have been added to throughout the years with the fifth cave being created in the 1930s. The caves contain approximately 150 Buddhas.

Polonnaruwa was the capital of Sri Lanka’s 2nd Kingdom, which lasted from 1056 to 1232. It was a large city with a Royal Palace and extensive elaborate temples, statues and stupas. The city was burnt by invaders from India.

The most sacred part of the site is four Buddha images carved from one long slab of granite; the largest being a 14m reclining Buddha which depicts him entering parinirvana (nirvana after death). The statues were prevented from destruction by covering with clay and were not rediscovered until the 19th century by HCP Bell.

The Sri Lankan elephant is one of three subspecies of Asian elephant. It is endangered as a result of habitation loss created by growth in human population leading to the expansion of the rice paddy fields. With human encroachment elephants have been killed to protect property, in road and rail accidents and in the civil war by land mines. Sri Lankan elephants are smaller than African elephants but can still grow to 3.5m and 5,500 kg. Only 7% of males grow trusts; referred to locally as tuskers.

We left Jaffna in the same manner as our arrival; with farewell committee, same plane and same pilots all treating us like long lost friends. We flew into a RAF base close to at Sigiriya.

Sigiriya is a world heritage site rediscovered at the end of the 19th century by British archaeologist HCP Bell. Its centre piece is a 180m high rock which is a manga plug from a long eroded volcano. The peak can be attained in 1,222 steps, some very narrow, steep and clinging to the edge of the vertical face. We were grateful for our early start avoiding the crowds of predominantly locals on these paths.

The building works at the site were developed in the 5th Century on the top of the rock (Kings Palace), on the rock face (frescos of half naked women) and at the base of the rock (water gardens). The water gardens include underground conduits transporting water around the site for lily ponds, fountains and a moat inhabited by crocodiles for added defence.

Jaffna sits at the northern point of Sri Lanka, approx 40km from India. The Northern region was off limits to visitors during the civil war (1983-2009) and for a period after, only beginning to open to travellers shortly before the pandemic. It has taken many years to clear the land mines, work which remains on-going and is heavily militarised.

Colombo to Jaffna takes at least nine hours by car or 70 minutes by internal flight. We chose to fly not realising that we would be on one of the first flights since early 2020 and the only passengers. On arrival at Jaffna we were met by 20 people including the airport director and treated as celebrities.

The north of the island is mainly Hindu and is still recovering from the effects of the 2004 Tsunami as well as the civil war. The pandemic has hampered the recovery and many capital projects have been put on hold due to the resulting economic issues.

We visited the Dutch Fort (built in 1680), the Public Library (burnt down in the lead up to the civil war and a catalyst for violence), Hindu and Buddhist temples and the northern coast.