Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is heady and intoxicating, an experience surpassed only by its warm and friendly inhabitants! Like India, Sri Lanka has a great diversity of landscape ranging from lush, dazzling, paddy fields to its renowned tea plantations; from hill stations such as Nuwara Eliya to fascinating villages; from semi-desert to rainforest. Its diversity is only matched by its beauty. Ancient cities such as Galle, where there is a beautiful 17th century Dutch boutique hotel which has been beautifully renovated or one can stay at the chic Illuketia villa, vie with excellent wildlife sanctuaries such as Yala National Park.

Perhaps have a luxury mobile tented camp set up in either Uda Walalwe, Wilpattu or Yala National Park. Be escorted by your excellent guide, Javanah Fernando, who is very willing to focus on any particular interests you may have, as you search for leopard, birdlife and bees. Sinharaja is an absolute must and will appeal to any wildlife lover or bird watcher. Situated on 19,000 hectares of natural rainforest, this lowland forest is considered to be one of Sri Lanka's very best birding areas. The heart of the Bogawantalawa Valley is home to Ceylon Tea Trails, which consist of colonial cottages built over a hundred years ago for the British tea estate managers. Sri Lanka also has a burgeoning clutch of luxury, boutique, hotels; the Aman group are evident as well as, of course, privately owned examples. In Kandy there is a wonderful manor house dating back to 1804, it has been fully restored and is a lovely place to stay.

For the more downto-earth there's the eco-lodge of Buttala where there are just four "mud huts" perched on the rocks. Open sided, with clay and rock floors, driftwood furniture and lots of matting, one sleeps virtually as a part of one's surroundings! The village of Sigiriya, considered one of the most impressive sites in Sri Lanka as it sits on its huge granite outcropping, has magnificent frescoes of Celestial Maidens and took King Kasyapa seven years to build in the 5th Century. And then, of course, there is the hedonistic coast where there are hotels and villas such as Lansiya and Bentota. If one requires personal exclusivity why not take a private villa at Lake Bolgoda, which is rich in birdlife? Otherwise stay at the Kanda Kahanda in Galle which, perched on a hill in the middle of a tea plantation, overlooks surrounding tea gardens and jungle running down to the nearby lake and the sea beyond.