Outdoor sights in Sri Lanka
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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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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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Viharamahadevi Park
This is Colombo’s biggest park, originally called Victoria Park but renamed in the 1950s after the mother of King Dutugemunu. It’s notable for its superb flowering trees, which bloom in March, April and early May. The broad Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha cuts across the middle of the park, while Colombo’s white-domed Old Town Hall (also called White House) overlooks the park from the northeast. Working elephants sometimes spend the night in the park, happily chomping on palm branches.
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A
Royal Pleasure Gardens
If you start down the Tissa Wewa bund from the Mirisavatiya, you soon come to the extensive royal pleasure gardens. Known as the Park of the Goldfish, the gardens cover 14 hectares and contain two ponds skilfully designed to fit around the huge boulders in the park. The ponds have fine reliefs of elephants on their sides. It was here that Prince Saliya, the son of Dutugemunu, was said to have met a commoner, Asokamala, whom he married, thereby forsaking his right to the throne.
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B
Udawattakelle Sanctuary
This forest has huge trees, good bird-watching and loads of cheeky monkeys. Be careful if you’re visiting alone. Muggers are rare but not unknown; solo women should take extra care.
Enter by turning right after the post office on DS Senanayake Vidiya.
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