Originally posted on HMWS Blog:
Hasthi Kuchchi in the north-western province of Sri Lanka is one of the oldest temple complexes of the country, built between 307–267 BC as a meditation centre for Buddhist monks. This was the location where King Siri Sangha Bo (251–253 AD) offered his own head to a peasant. Today, the partially…

Originally posted on HMWS Blog:
Yala National Park is the most visited and second largest national park in Sri Lanka. Initially, it was a hunting ground for the elite when the country was under British rule. It was designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1900 and a national park in 1938. Yala has a protected area of nearly 130,000 hectares…

Originally posted on HMWS Blog:
“Nineteen kilometres further inland from Tissa lies the small and remote town of KATARAGAMA, one of the three most venerated religious sites in Sri Lanka (along with Adam’s Peak and the Temple of the Tooth at Kandy), held sacred by Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alike – even Christians sometimes visit in…

Originally posted on HMWS Blog:
After the hot water wells at Madunagala that morning, we drove the fifty odd kilometres to Tissamaharama, or Tissa as the town is commonly called, stopping briefly to taste fresh yoghurt at the state run farm in the village of Wirawila. ? Tissa was the capital of Sri Lanka’s Ruhuna Kingdom in…

Originally posted on HMWS Blog:
? “Elephants, when they were in dotage, went to breathe their last at Madunagala hot springs!” – Dr. R.L. Brohier in Seeing Ceylon ? Nobody in the group was in ‘dotage’ but all were anxious to visit the springs. We drove to Madunagala that morning from Udawalawe. The forty kilometre…

Originally posted on HMWS Blog:
The safari jeeps arrived in the late afternoon. We had travelled from Colombo that morning to the Udawalawe Safari Village Hotel, visiting the Elephant Transit Home en route and were looking forward to the game drive. Udawalawe National Park was established as the fifth national park of Sri Lanka in 1972. The total…