Sri Lanka: As Green as it Gets

Posted on August 12, 2008

The video takes you from the sea at Negombo to Vil Ulyana , a stunning eco-friendly resort on the plain near the rock fortress Sigiria, with its lusty lady cave paintings, the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Polonnaruwa, the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, the Temple of the Tooth at Kandy, a look at ficus the size of a house, then up into the mountains at Hunas Falls and the tea plantatons of Nuwara Eliya.

Our driver pulls the car to the side of the road to let a convoy pass. “A minister,” he says, “best to keep our distance.”

This is Sri Lanka. A twenty year old civil war has taught its citizens to stay clear of government officials who might be targets of suicide bombs, and has scared travelers away. A real pity as tourists have never been targets.

Not much has changed since I last visited some fourteen year ago: the “lush green dream” I described in a story then or the little towns where a Christian Church, a Mosque and Tamil and Buddhist temples might share a city block. Nor the police barricades along the road except that they now have become so ubiquitous that they carry advertising. More on The Connected Traveler