Sri Lanka Wildlife & Whales, 7 Nights

Met at Bandaranaike International on a morning flight and driven straight to the Cultural Triangle, with lunch at Dambulla. The first safari is the same afternoon: a jeep from the hotel to whichever of Minneriya, Kaudulla and Hurulu the elephants are using that week — the Department of Wildlife Conservation follows the water — and three hours on the tank bed as the herds come out of the forest to graze and bathe. In the gathering months of July to October there can be several hundred; in the rest of the year, smaller herds and better light. Back after dark.

The rock at seven, before the heat: the water gardens, the fresco gallery, the mirror wall and the lion's paws, about twelve hundred steps up to Kasyapa's fifth-century palace and the view over the plain you drove through yesterday. Down by ten. After lunch, Polonnaruwa, the medieval capital an hour east: the Gal Vihara with its four Buddhas cut from one granite face, the Vatadage and the palace of Parakramabahu, spread across a park you cover by car and on foot. Macaques and langurs everywhere; the tank at sunset.

A rest from early starts. The Dambulla cave temple in the morning — five caves under one overhang, painted through and lined with Buddha images — and then the drive south through Matale into the hills. Kandy by early afternoon: the lake, the market, and the Temple of the Tooth at the 6:30 puja, with the drummers in the courtyard as the relic chamber is opened. Dinner by the lake and an early night before the long road south.

The transit day, and a scenic one: up through the tea past Ramboda Falls to Nuwara Eliya for a coffee, over the Ella Gap with a stop at Ravana Falls, and down through Wellawaya to the dry south-east and the lodges around Tissamaharama and Kirinda at the edge of Yala. Late afternoon at the Tissa tank, where the birdlife is a preview: painted storks, pelicans, open-bills. Dinner early; the jeep leaves before dawn.

The gate opens at six and the jeep is in the queue before it. Block 1 is scrub, rock outcrops, lagoons and beach, and it holds the densest leopard population known anywhere; the morning drive is the best chance to see one on a rock or a track before the heat, along with sloth bear in season, elephants, crocodiles, water buffalo and the birds of the lagoons. Back to the lodge for the hot hours, then out again from about three until the gate closes at dusk. A sighting is never certain — this is a wild park, not an enclosure — which is why there are two drives. During the 14 September to 15 October 2026 closure both drives run at Udawalawe instead, where elephant sightings are near-daily, with the Elephant Transit Home feeding on the way.

A slow morning, or an optional third drive at Bundala for the flamingos and waders in season, then the coast road west through Hambantota, Tangalle and Matara to Mirissa, a curve of beach with a headland at each end. The afternoon is the sea: a swim, the walk out to the palm-topped Coconut Tree Hill for sunset, and dinner with your feet in the sand. Early night; the boat is at first light.

The boats leave the harbour around half past six and run out to the edge of the continental shelf, which is unusually close to shore here, where blue whales feed from November to April; sperm whales, Bryde's whales and pods of spinner dolphins are seen on the same trips. Three to five hours at sea, breakfast on board, and a naturalist who explains what surfaces. The sea can be lumpy in the morning: take the tablet before you board. The afternoon is free on the beach, or the forty-minute drive to Galle Fort for the ramparts at sunset. Outside the season the day is Galle instead, stated at booking.

Breakfast, a last swim, and the drive north on the Southern and Katunayake expressways to the airport, about two and a half to three hours. With a late flight the car can stop in Galle Fort for lunch inside the walls or in Colombo at Galle Face Green. Flights to Chennai, Kochi and Bengaluru take under two hours.