In this and the next blog post, I’ll be detailing the amazing 9 days we had in Sri Lanka.
On our first day, we visited the Dambulla Caves, before climbing Pidurangala in the evening. The views of Sigiriya Rock (which we climbed the following morning) were absolutely spectacular and great for getting the ‘perfect Instagram shot’.
We woke at 05:15 AM the next day in order to hike to the summit of Sigiriya Rock for sunrise. This was more challenging than our previous hike because of the number of steps, but the views were definitely worth it from the top.
In the afternoon, we then all went on an Elephant safari in Hurulu Eco Park.
This was an offroading safari and therefore completely different from the game drives that we had previously been on in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. Nonetheless, we still managed to elephants in close proximity.
The next day, we made our way to Kandy, where we stayed in a hostel overnight.
On the way, we stopped off at a spice garden where we learned about where Sri Lanka’s favourite spices came from.
We also had a Sri Lankan cookery class with a local chef where we learned how to make dhal and chicken curry, as well as fried cashew coconut sambal and poppadoms.
This was the day of the tour that I was most nervous about because I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat any of the food (with my dodgy tastebuds). However, I still joined in and had a laugh in doing so.
After what was already a busy day, we then took a Tuk Tuk tour to take in the sights and sounds of Sri Lanka’s second-biggest city – Kandy, before finishing at the Bahirawakanda Temple.
To be continued…