15-Day Sri Lanka Eco Adventure, Highlands & Rainforest Escape

Days 1–2 · Anamaduwa · two nights

Out to the paddy country

Met at the airport and driven inland to The Mud House at Anamaduwa - mud walls, no electricity to speak of, and lakes to kayak on at first light. The second day is a cooking lesson, birdwatching from the water, and Kunthaniyagala at dusk: a rock with a view over the whole plain, reached by bicycle or by tractor.

Day 3 · Dambulla

The rock at dusk

East to Sigiriya for the climb - twelve hundred steps, the frescoes and the mirror wall halfway, and the water gardens laid out below when you turn around. Lunch at Hela Bojun Hala if you want the version cooked by the women who run it. On to Dambulla for the night.

Days 4–5 · Riverston · two nights

Into the Knuckles

A slow morning at the natural pool, then the drive up into the Knuckles to Riverston, where the road runs along a ridge with cloud below it on both sides. The second day is a guided trek across the grassland with a naturalist, and rice and curry somewhere with a view.

Days 6–7 · Wattegama · two nights

A morning with the Vedda

Down through Mahiyanganaya to Dambana, where the Vedda - the island’s indigenous people, here long before anyone else - still live at the forest edge. A morning of their language, their dancing, and how the forest is used rather than visited. Then Wattegama. The next day is Kandy: the Tooth Relic during the Thevava, and the markets afterwards.

Day 8 · Kitulgala

The rafting river

West to Kitulgala, where the Kelani comes down out of the hills fast enough to raft and the forest closes over the water. A riverside night, and the rapids in the afternoon if you want them.

Day 9 · Nuwara Eliya

Ten kilometres of the Pekoe Trail

Devon and St Clair’s falls on the road up, then Stage 22 of the Pekoe Trail - Kandapola to the Pedro estate, ten and a half kilometres of tea slopes on foot, about three hours, moderate and one way. A guide walks it with you and the vehicle meets you at the end.

Day 10 · Ella

Four hours on the Nanu Oya line

The train from Nanu Oya to Ella. Four hours through tea slopes and cloud forest with the doors open, and it is the day rather than a way of getting somewhere. First-class seats are limited and go months ahead; we book as early as we can and tell you honestly if we cannot.

Days 11–12 · Sinharaja · two nights

The last primary rainforest

The Demodara Loop by tuk tuk first, with black tea and warm pol roti, then the long drive west to Kalawana at the edge of Sinharaja. The second day is inside it: a guided hike through the last stretch of primary lowland rainforest on the island, with a birding guide who knows where the endemic flocks move. Twenty-six of the island’s thirty-three endemic birds live in there.

Days 13–14 · Hikkaduwa · two nights

The coast, at last

Down to Hikkaduwa for two nights and nothing in particular. The reef is close enough to swim to, and there is coral on it worth the mask if you want one.