After Egypt we basically had two travel options: We had to decide between traveling overland southwards towards Kenya, Uganda & Tanzania and spending the rest of the year in Africa or flying to South Asia. We were just about to stick with the Africa plan but then a new very cheap flight from Cairo via Bahrain to Sri Lanka appeared.
In total we spent nearly three months in beautiful Sri Lanka, which easily made it into the top 10 countries I have traveled in so far. The mix of great beaches, dense jungles, beautiful highlands, tea plantations, epic train journeys and friendly relaxed locals made it an amazing destination to travel in. Distances are always short and it was a super cheap country (we just left when the economical and political crisis started) where a budget of 10 euros per day per person was easy to manage.
But Sri Lanka started with serious problems for me: Just before our flight, I got a really weird bite while walking at the riverside of the Nile in Egypt. It was bleeding a little and came with a small pain but I did not have any stronger symptoms. Just at the airport in Cairo I got some crazy symptoms as fainting, nausea and a heavily swollen foot. After surviving the flight somehow we checked into our hotel in Colombo and I was laying in bed dead alive for a week. I visited a hospital there several times and they told me that I got bitten by a poisonous snake. First, it was unbelievable to me that you can get bitten by a dangerous snake without realizing that but the doctors told me that most of the time the bites are happening unnoticed in high grass and the symptoms are joining later. I suffered from heavier symptoms a few months and even now at the time of writing that blog post (nearly one year after) I feel a couple of disabilities as dizziness, paralysis and fatigue.
So after I recovered the worst of the symptoms we started to explore the city of Colombo and Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the capital of the country. In Sri Lanka it was always amazing for me how even the urban areas were full of wildlife. Huge monitor lizards, pelicans, fruit bats and even gigantic crocodiles are roaming within the cities. We also got our first samples of Sri Lankan cuisine which really has a serious level of spices.
Our Sri Lanka itinerary led us first fully along the South Coast where we visited the historical city of Galle, Matara & Tangalle and plenty of tiny villages as Boossa, Talalla or Dondra. The villages were amazing with beatiful beaches, sunsets and a lot of fun in the sometimes really high waves. The Sinhalese people in the south were always very welcoming and friendly. Especially Namali and her family became close friends of us and we stayed with them for 10 days during Christmas time. Greetings and a big thanks, Namali and Hiru :)
After a few more hospital visits Matara we traveled inland and experienced a totally different Sri Lanka. Jungles filled with elephants, water buffaloes and crocodiles, breathtaking beautiful highlands and tea plantations. Our jeep tour in Udawalawe National Park for a long day of elephant spotting, hiking on train treks for a full day from village to village and having a cup of tea after a long time of hiking through tea plantations were among the highlights of the center of Sri Lanka. Especially Haputale is a place I would recommend every Sri Lanka traveler to base in for a while and explore the surroundings. Ella itself is overhyped and westernized as hell and not worth a visit from my humble perspective.
On our way to the north of Sri Lanka we based ourselves in Kandy for 2 weeks, explored the impressive cave temples of Dambulla and attended a religious full moon festival in the ancient important city of Anuradhapura. Sights in Sri Lanka are really impressive and the diversity makes it a country that can make you explore for months.
We finally reached the northern tip of the country then: Jaffna. This region is populated mostly by Tamil people who came from India centuries ago and has a totally different atmosphere than the rest of Sri Lanka. The consequences of the recent civil war (1983 to 2009) are still visible and it's much less developed than all other parts of the country. We rented a motorbike, traveled to some islands by boats and roamed through the huge agricultural areas with super friendly farmers and field workers.
At the end of our time in Sri Lanka we headed back to Colombo and Negombo on the west coast where we met Supun and stayed with him for a while. He was actually the guy who made me more passionate about starting the blog and so I started to celebrate my 1,000th day on the road by launching that blog here in Sri Lanka. Thanks Supun, that was indeed a great idea :D
We enjoyed the last sunsets at the beaches in Negombo and continued our trip with another flight. Unforttuently flying became more of a must in COVID times, normally I tried as hard as possible to skip all flights and only travel by land. You see much more and get a much better understanding of changing landscapes, cultures and distances.
5 Highlights:
- Exploring Haputale and the surroundings highlands
- Staying with Namali and her family in Tangalle
- Elephant spotting in Udawalawe National Park
- Jaffna with its history and countryside
- Beautiful and calm Talalla with stunning beaches and great waves
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| Visited places in Sri Lanka |
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| Colombo |
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| Pelicans in the parks of Colombo |
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| The snake bite a couple of days after the swelling. Significant for a poisonous snake: Two small dots from the snakes' fangs |
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| A crocodile entering a park in Kotte from one of the backwaters |
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| Train from Colombo to Galle along the Southern Coast |
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| Our beach hut in Boossa |
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| Fisher beaches in Boossa |
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| Maritime Museum in Galle |
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| Lighthouse in Galle |
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| Trying to catch a bus to the next village |
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| String hoppers, a typical breakfast choice in Sri Lanka |
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| Traveling by bus is extremely easy in Sri Lanka. Even for the long-distance busses you can hop in off wherever on the highway you want to |
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| Beaches around Talalla |
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| A fisherman beach around Matara |
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| Tropical fruits, always delicious and cheap in Sri Lanka |
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| Scooter trip from Tangalle inside the hills |
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| Starting that blog here on day 1,000 of my trip since I felt I want to celebrate that somehow :D |
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| Luna, the overfriendly dog |
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| One of nearly 100 rice and curries |
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| The famous Blow Hole |
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| Matara |
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| Can you spot the big friend? |
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| Point Dondra, the most southern point of Sri Lanka |
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| Treating my symptoms with mixed success |
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| The biggest monitor lizard I have seen so far. This particular one loved to hunt the cats and dogs of the town. |
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| With Namali, Hiru and Abisha; our Sri Lankan family |
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| Off to Udawalae National Park |
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| A huge herd of water buffaloes |
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| Breakfast in the NP |
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| First elephant sighting in Sri Lanka (it is hard to be in Sri Lanka without seeing one) |
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| The beautiful peacocks, there is no better alarm clock in the morning |
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| One of my favorite wildlife photographs |
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| Entering the central highlands |
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| Tea plantations around Haputale |
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| Starting a hike on the tracks |
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| Nine Arches Bridge next to Ella |
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| Amazing views |
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| Mystical tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya |
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| A village we stayed in for learning more about tea harvest |
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| Kandy |
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| All monitor lizards in Kandy are that bloated with food |
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| Gooses and fishes in the belly |
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| Dambulla cave temples |
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| Monks and monkeys sharing a dinner |
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| One of a dozens of temples in Anuradhapura |
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| The full moon festival |
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| Agricultural lands around Jaffna |
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| Fruits bats hanging in the trees during the days |
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| Train to Jaffna |
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| Hindu temple in Jaffna |
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| Masala Dosas |
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| The famous crab curry in Jaffna |
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| At the beach close to Colombo with Supun |
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| Beach dogs in Negombo |
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| A post office in Sri Lanka (yes, all postcards always arrived and it's cheaper sending from Sri Lanka to Germany than within Germany) |
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| The last sunset in Sri Lanka. Amazing country with great people |
