Kandy City Tour

Dominating the town is Kandy Lake. A leisurely stroll around it, with a few stops on the lakeside seats, is a pleasant way to spend a few hours, although diesel-spurting buses careening around the southern edge of the lake can mar the peace somewhat. The nicest part to walk along is the area around the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Due to some past cases of harassment, single women should not walk here alone after dark.

These stunning gardens were once reserved exclusively for Kandyan royalty. Today, even commoners are allowed in to enjoy the most impressive and largest (60 hectares) botanic gardens in Sri Lanka.

Highlights include a fine collection of orchids, a stately avenue of royal palms, the extraordinary, aptly named cannonball fruit tree and 40m-high Burma bamboo. Another big hit is the giant Javan fig tree on the great lawn, with its colossal central trunk and umbrella-like canopy of branches. Peradeniya is 6km from central Kandy.

There are six war cemeteries in Sri Lanka, four in Colombo, one in the hill capital Kandy and one in the Trincomale.Kandy War Cemetery is a British military cemetery in Kandy, Sri Lanka, for soldiers of the British Empire who were killed during World War II as well as a soldier who died during War I. There are 203 buried consisting of: 107 British, 35 East Africans, 26 Sri Lankans, 23 Indians, 6 Canadians, 3 Italians, 1 Frenchman and 2 unidentified persons, Of the 203 dead, 151 were army, 32 were air force, 16 were navy, 2 were unidentified, 1 was merchant navy and 1 was from the national fire service.

Rising from a hill adjoining the holy city of Kandy is the giant Buddha statue of Bahirawa Kanda. The statue is a mere 2km from the Temple of The Tooth Relic and was built in 1972. The Bahirawakanda Buddha Statue is located alongside the Sri Maha Bodhi Temple which is on the top of the Bahirawa Kanda hill. This beautifully sculpted white statue displays Buddha in the seated Nirvana pose and can be seen from the entire city of Kandy that sprawls out before it. It stands at 88 feet in height and is one of the biggest Buddha statues in Sri Lanka

Majestic Mahaweli River that girdles Kandy. As the mist begins to rise from the waters of the Mahaweli, embark on a boat ride accompanied by our naturalist who will assist you in spotting the various bio-diversity alongside the boat. Spot a wide array of exotic birds, amphibians and a few reptiles while you absorb the scenic beauty of Kandy. If you wish to start off your day surrounded by the mystics of the Mahaweli, the longest river in the country, this boat ride is what you’re looking for.

Sri Lanka, a country rich with culture & tradition offers a very vibrant and unique show of Sri Lankan traditional dances, in the form of Kandy cultural show. The beat a dancing from ”Salupliya” depicting several demons, ”Thelme” vibrant expression of low country rhythm, Fire and Harvest dances accompanied by Ceremonial Drums and the Drum Orchestra rising and falling to the lively tempo.

Udawattakele Forest Reserve, often spelled as Udawatta Kele, is a historic forest reserve on a hill-ridge in the city of Kandy. It is 104 hectares (257 acres) large. During the days of the Kandyan kingdom, Udawattakele was known as ”Uda Wasala Watta” in Sinhalese meaning ”the garden above the royal palace”. The sanctuary is famous for its extensive avifauna. The reserve also contains a great variety of plant species, especially lianas, shrubs and small trees. There are several giant lianas. Many of small and medium size mammals that inhabit Sri Lanka can be seen here. Several kinds of snakes and other reptiles might be seen. Udawattakele was designated as a forest reserve in 1856, and it became a sanctuary in 1938.

Giragama Tea Factory is one of the oldest in Sri Lanka. The eponymous English ”cuppa” might have been somewhat stronger if not for the 1865 coffee blight. Old Ceylon’s up-country plantations were devastated – but not so the spirits of the pioneering planters. They threw in a crop of tea and never looked back. You will visit a tea plantation and observe how the plant is grown and harvested. From here you will travel to a factory and learn about the whole processing procedure and how different types of teas are created

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was started in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife on a twenty five acre coconut property on the Maha Oya River at Rambukkana. The orphanage was primarily designed to afford care and protection to the many baby Elephants found in the jungle without their mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been killed. In some instances the baby had fallen
into a pit and in others the mother had fallen in and died.

In 1978 the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife and a captive breeding program launched in 1982.