Sights in Sri Lanka
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Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara
Even if the thought of seeing yet another temple sends you reaching for the arrack, this Buddhist temple is worth the effort. The original temple was destroyed by Indian invaders, restored, destroyed again by the Portuguese, and restored again in the 18th and 19th centuries. The dagoba, which (unusually) is hollow, is the focus of the Duruthu Perahera in January each year. To reach the temple take bus 235 from in front of the traffic-police station, which is just northeast of the Bastian Mawatha bus station.
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Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Just north of the lake, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic houses Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - a tooth of the Buddha. The temple sustained damage when a bomb was detonated - by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to the government - near the main entrance in early 1998, but the scars have been repaired.
The tooth is said to have been snatched from the flames of the Buddha's funeral pyre in 543 BC, and was smuggled into Sri Lanka during the 4th century AD, hidden in the hair of a princess. At first it was taken to Anuradhapura, but with the ups and downs of Sri Lankan history it moved from place to place before eventually ending up at…
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Yala National Park
With trumpeting elephants, monkeys crashing through the trees, peacocks in their finest frocks and cunning leopards sliding like shadows through the undergrowth, Yala National Park (also known as Ruhunu) is The Jungle Book brought to glorious life. This vast region of dry woodland and open patches of grasslands is the big draw of this corner of Sri Lanka, and though it’s far from Kenya, a safari here is well worth all the time, effort and cost.
The entrance fees are payable at the main office, which is near the entrance, some 21km from Tissa. There are a few displays here of the pickled and stuffed variety. The road from Tissa is rough but passable, although a 4WD is…
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Sri Maha Bodhi
The Sri Maha Bodhi, the sacred bodhi tree, is central to Anuradhapura in both a spiritual and physical sense. The huge tree has grown from a cutting brought from Bodhgaya in India by the Princess Sangamitta, sister of Mahinda (who introduced the Buddha's teachings to Sri Lanka), so it has a connection to the very basis of the Sinhalese religion.
This sacred tree serves as a reminder of the force that inspired the creation of all the great buildings at Anuradhapura, and is within walking distance of many of the most interesting monuments. The whole area around the Sri Maha Bodhi, the Brazen Palace and Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba was once probably part of the Maha Vihara (Great…
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World’s End
This is the only national park in Sri Lanka where visitors are permitted to walk on their own (on designated trails only). The walk to World’s End is 4km, but the trail loops back to Baker’s Falls (2km) and continues back to the entrance (another 3.5km). The round trip is 9.5km and takes a leisurely three hours. Note that around 9am to 10am the mist usually comes down. All you can expect to see from World’s End after this time is a swirling white wall. If you aim for a 5.30am departure from Nuwara Eliya or Haputale and get to World’s End around 7am, you’ll have a good chance of spectacular views.
Try to avoid doing this walk on Sundays and public holidays, when…
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Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil
Approximately 2km northeast of the centre, the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil is the most impressive religious building in Jaffna and one of the most significant Hindu temple complexes in Sri Lanka. Its sacred deity, Murugan (or Skanda), is central to temple activity, especially during the punctual, cacophonic pujas (5am, 10am, noon, 4pm and 5pm), when offerings are made to his brass-framed image and other Hindu deities like Ganesh, Murugan’s elephant-headed brother, in shrines surrounding the inner sanctum.
The kovil’s 15th-century structure fell victim to Portuguese destructive ruthlessness in the 17th century; the current one dates from 1734. Its beautifully maintained…
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Diyaluma Falls
The 171m-high Diyaluma Falls, Sri Lanka’s third-highest waterfall, is just 5km beyond the town of Koslanda. Cascading down an escarpment of the Koslanda Plateau, the stream is fairly small, but it quickly escalates after a downpour. By bus, take a Wellawaya service from Haputale and get off at Diyaluma (1¼ hours). The falls leap over a cliff face and fall in one clear drop to a pool below.
Climb up to some beautiful pools – ideal for swimming – and a series of minifalls at the top of the main fall. Walk about 500m down the road from the bottom of the falls and take the estate track that turns sharply back up to the left. From there it’s about 20 minutes’ walk to a…
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Adisham Monastery
This Benedictine monastery is about 3km west of Haputale. Follow Temple Rd along the ridge until you reach the sign at the Adisham turn-off. The elegant stone-block monastery once belonged to tea planter Sir Thomas Lester Villiers. To recreate his English lifestyle, he developed beautiful gardens and lawns amid the tropical surroundings and even had a Daimler car for transport, complete with an English chauffuer. Adisham is one of only 18 monasteries in the world belonging to the Sylvestrine Congregation, a suborder of the Benedictine fraternity founded in the 13th century. Inside, visitors are allowed to see the living room and library, and occasionally a couple more…
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Hakgala Gardens
The Hakgala Gardens, 10km southeast of Nuwara Eliya (and about 200m lower), was originally a plantation of cinchona, the plant from which the antimalarial drug quinine is extracted. Later, the gardens were used for experiments in acclimatising temperate-zone plants to life in the tropics. The gardens were run by the same family for three generations until the 1940s. Today Hakgala sprawls across 27 hectares and is famed for its roses, ferns and medicinal plants.
Legend has it that Hanuman, the monkey god, was sent by Rama to the Himalayas to find a particular medicinal herb. He forgot which herb he was looking for and decided to bring a chunk of the Himalayas back in his…
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Lipton’s Seat
Near the Dambatenne tea factory, the Lipton’s Seat lookout rivals the views from World’s End (and it’s free). The Scottish tea baron Sir Thomas Lipton used to survey his burgeoning empire from here.
Take the signed narrow paved road from the tea factory and climb about 7km through lush tea plantations to the lookout. From the tea factory the ascent should take about 2½ hours. The earliest bus leaves Haputale at 6.30am. Look forward to the company of Tamil tea pickers going off to work as you walk uphill to Lipton’s Seat.
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Asgiriya Maha Vihara
The principal viharas (Buddhist complexes) in Kandy have considerable importance – the high priests of the two best known, Malwatte and Asgiriya, are the most important in Sri Lanka. This temple is the headquarters of two of the main nikayas (orders of monks). The head monks also administer the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The Asgiriya Maha Vihara is off Wariyapola Sri Sumanga Mawatha northwest of the town centre. It has a large reclining Buddha image.
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Seetha Amman Temple
On the way to the Hakgala Gardens, near the 83km post, stop at the colourful Hindu Seetha Amman Temple at Sita Eliya. It’s said to mark the spot where Sita was held captive by the demon king Rawana, and where she prayed daily for Rama to come and rescue her. On the rock face across the stream are circular depressions said to be the footprints of Rawana’s elephant. Tamil wedding parties make it a point to stop here for pujas.
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Malwatte Maha Vihara
The principal viharas (Buddhist complexes) in Kandy have considerable importance – the high priests of the two best known, Malwatte and Asgiriya, are the most important in Sri Lanka. This temple is also the headquarters of two of the main nikayas (orders of monks). The head monks also administer the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The Malwatte Maha Vihara is across the lake from the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.
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Victoria Park
The lovely Victoria Park at the centre of town comes alive with flowers around March to May, and August and September. It’s also home to quite a number of Hill Country bird species, including the Kashmir flycatcher, Indian pitta and grey tit.
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Sri Nagavihara International Buddhist Centre
For Buddhists there’s the solitary Sri Nagavihara International Buddhist Centre which was quickly rebuilt after government forces retook Jaffna in 1995.
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Isipathanaramaya Temple
The Isipathanaramaya Temple has particularly beautiful frescoes.
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Jaffna Public Library
Symbolically, one of the first major public buildings to be rebuilt after the 2002 ceasefire was the Jaffna Public Library. Architects kept true to the original neo-Mughal design and books were donated from around the world. The earlier library (inaugurated 1841) had been lost in a fiery blaze set by pro-government mobs after the violent Jaffna District Council elections of July 1981. Few acts were more significant in the build-up to full-scale civil war. The world-renowned collection had included more than 90,000 volumes, including irreplaceable Tamil documents such as the one surviving copy of Yalpanam Vaipavama,a history of Jaffna.
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Royal Rock Temple
The beautiful Royal Rock Temple sits 100m to 150m above the road in the southern part of Dambulla. The hike up to the temples begins along a vast, sloping rock face with steps in some places. The ticket office is at the gate near the monstrous Golden Temple, and your receipt is checked at the entrance at the base of the hill. Cultural Triangle tickets are not valid here. Photography is allowed inside the caves, but you’re not allowed to photograph people. There are superb views over the surrounding countryside from the level of the caves; Sigiriya is clearly visible.
The caves’ history as a place of worship is thought to date from around the 1st century BC, when King…
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Quadrangle
Only a short stroll north of the royal palace ruins, the area known as the quadrangle is literally that - a compact group of fascinating ruins in a raised-up area bounded by a wall. It's the most concentrated collection of buildings you'll find in the ancient cities. As well as the following ruins, there's a recumbent image house, chapter house, Bodhisattva shrine and bodhi tree shrine.
In the southeast of the quadrangle, the vatadage is typical of its kind. Its outermost terrace is 18m in diameter and the second terrace has four entrances flanked by particularly fine guardstones. The moonstone at the northern entrance is reckoned to be the finest in Polonnaruwa, although…
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Horton Plains National Park
The Horton Plains is a beautiful, silent, strange world with some excellent hikes in the shadows of Sri Lanka’s second- and third-highest mountains, Kirigalpotta (2395m) and Totapola (2359m). The ‘plains’ themselves form an undulating plateau over 2000m high, covered by wild grasslands and interspersed with patches of thick forest, rocky outcrops, filigree waterfalls and misty lakes. The surprising diversity of the landscape is matched by the wide variety of wildlife. If you’re lucky enough to have the paths to yourself – get there for a 7am start – it’s a recharging escape from Sri Lanka’s energetic bustle.
Farr Inn, a local landmark, and the nearby…
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National Museum
This museum once housed Kandyan royal concubines and now features royal regalia and reminders of pre-European Sinhalese life. On display is a copy of the 1815 agreement that handed over the Kandyan provinces to British rule. This document announces a major reason for the event …the cruelties and oppressions of the Malabar ruler, in the arbitrary and unjust infliction of bodily tortures and pains of death without trial, and sometimes without accusation or the possibility of a crime, and in the general contempt and contravention of all civil rights, have become flagrant, enormous and intolerable. Sri Wickrama Rajasinha was declared, ‘by the habitual violation of the chief…
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Aluvihara
If the idea of a monastery built from a sheer rock wall sounds intriguing, make sure to pull off the road 3km north of Matale for a look at Aluvihara. This unique series of monastic caves are picturesquely situated among rocks that have fallen from the mountains high above the valley. Legend has it that a giant used three of the rocks as a base for his cooking pot, and the name Aluvihara (Ash Monastery) refers to the ashes from the cooking fire.
The first cave you come to contains a 10m reclining Buddha and impressive lotus-pattern murals on the ceiling. Another is filled with cartoon-like murals of the realms of hell – if you’re considering straying from the straight and…
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The Fort Walls
One of the most pleasant strolls you can take in town is the circuit of the Fort walls at dusk. As the daytime heat fades away, you can walk almost the complete circuit of the Fort along the top of the wall in an easy hour or two. You’ll be in the company of lots of locals, shyly courting couples and plenty of kids diving into the protected waters.
The Main Gate in the northern stretch of the wall is a comparatively recent addition – it was built by the British in 1873 to handle the heavier flow of traffic into the old town. This part of the wall, the most heavily fortified because it faced the land, was originally built with a moat by the Portuguese, and was then…
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Ridi Vihara
Literally the ‘Silver Temple’, Ridi Vihara is so named because it was here that silver ore was discovered in the 2nd century BC. Although not on the beaten track, it’s well worth a visit to see its wonderful frescoes and the unusual Dutch (Delft) tiles in the main cave.
The main attraction here is the golden statue in the main cave, called the Pahala Vihara (Lower Temple). Also within the Pahala Vihara is a 9m recumbent Buddha that rests on a platform decorated with a series of blue-and-white tiles, which were a gift from the Dutch consul. The tiles depict scenes from the Bible, including Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden and the transfiguration of…
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Uda Walawe National Park
With herds of elephants, wild buffalo, sambar deer and leopards, Uda Walawe is the Sri Lankan national park that best rivals the savannah reserves of Africa. The park’s 30,821 hectares centre on the large Uda Walawe Reservoir, fed by the Walawe Ganga.
The entrance to the park is 12km from the Ratnapura–Hambantota road turn-off and 21km from Embilipitiya. Visitors buy tickets in a new building a further 2km on. Most people take a tour organised by their guest house or hotel, but a trip with one of the 4WDs waiting outside the gate should be around Rs 3000 for a half-day for up to eight people with driver. Last tickets are usually sold at 5pm.
Apart from stands of teak…
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