29/08/2025
✨ Sri Lankan Adventures Part II
Our morning in Kandy began among the lush paths of the Royal Botanical Gardens which was a kaleidoscope of blooms unique to Sri Lanka and others collected from around the world. Including some plants that are better known for making drinks and drugs than for their beauty 🤪
After what we now consider the standard Sri Lankan train delay experience, we finally boarded the famous train through the tea plantations, winding higher and higher until we reached 1900m above sea level. The views? Absolutely breathtaking. This journey isn’t just transport it is a bucket list experience.
Our reward that evening was a stay at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya. Built in 1892, this grand old lady is a destination in herself; high tea served with pomp, creaking floorboards full of history, and a 180 year old bar that could tell a thousand stories. Kylie was in seventh heaven with a Ceylon tea tasting, sampling the purest brews while watching tea pluckers at work.
On the road again, we stopped at a Hindu temple where we received a blessing steeped in legend. This temple honours the epic Ramayana and its heroic monkey king Hanuman, who famously leapt across the ocean to Lanka to help Prince Rama rescue Sita from the demon king Ravana. Standing in a place tied to such a powerful story and feeling that blessing was a goosebump moment.
Next up: Ella. Of course we had to do the Nine Arch Bridge walk, because let’s be honest, can you really say you have been to Sri Lanka if you haven’t walked along tracks like a local?
Then it was time for wild adventures at Yala National Park. An afternoon safari brought elephant roadblocks and a leopard sighting so good our guide got a stern warning for staying out too long… totally worth it! 🐆 The next morning, staying inside the park paid off; a tusker charge, a mother leopard with two cubs (camera shy, sadly), and the most magical moment: a whole family of elephants crossing the road right in front of us. Add crocodiles, buffalo, spotted deer, eagles, storks, and countless elephants and we had ourselves a safari we will never forget.
Next stop: Galle for our final two days by the coast
