8-Day Sri Lanka Nature and Wildlife Tour with Ella Train Ride

• On arrival, meet & greet at the airport and transfer to hotel in Kandy.

• Check in to the hotel and relax to recover from the jet lag.

Dinner and overnight stay at hotel in Kandy.

• Eat breakfast at the hotel.

• Proceed to the Knuckles Mountain Range, one of the best bio-diversity hot spots, a water catchment and a wildlife reserve, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mountain range is a hotspot among nature and adventure enthusiasts. The climate here is unpredictable and constantly changing,

• Visit Corbett’s Gap, which is a noteworthy attraction. Sitting at an elevation of 1,216 metres, it offers spectacular panoramic views of the mountain range, making for perfect Instagram shots.

• Head to Meemure Village, one of the remotest villages in Sri Lanka, situated deep in the Knuckles Wilderness. The local people have maintained their traditional and cultural attitudes towards the forest. The village area is surrounded by small hills, natural pools, caves, waterfalls and lots of vegetation, and most of flora and fauna is unique to Sri Lanka.

• In the evening, return to Kandy.

Dinner and overnight stay at hotel in Kandy.

• Savour breakfast at the hotel.

• Leave for Nuwara Eliya, also known as Sri Lanka’s “Little England”, the prime hill resort of the country. At approximately 2000m above sea level, the city has an abundance of lush tea plantations and jaw-dropping scenery. Its nickname comes from the many English style bungalows and buildings still in existence today.

• Visit the tea plantation and a tea factory on the island where the best tea in the world is produced. Watch the tea pluckers pick two leaves and a bud with deft hands.

• Then to the factory, where the all-important conversion to “make” black tea happens. The machinery used is a traditional British design, some as old as 100 years, and the process is very artisanal, unchanged for a century. Observe the method of manufacturing tea, tea grading and taste a cup of pure Ceylon tea.

Dinner and overnight stay at hotel in Nuwara Eliya.

• Early breakfast at the hotel.

• Leave for visiting the Horton Plains. The Horton Plains National Park is the highest plateau in Sri Lanka and hosts a unique eco-system, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park views are dominated by panoramic rolling grass plains, with occasional peaks topped by patches of montane forests. Most of its flora and fauna are endemic to Sri Lanka. Among many unique wildlife, dusky striped squirrel, giant squirrel, brown mongoose, rhino-horned lizard, pygmy lizard and the black cheeked lizard are a few. The park has a healthy population of sambar deers frequently spotted grazing. The most popular and accessible foot trail is called the World’s End & Baker’s Falls Round Trail.

• Transfer to Nanu Oya Railway Station.

• Make a scenic train trip to Ella. Ella is a small, laid-back town with amazing landscapes consisting of mountains, hilltops and luscious green tea estates. The meaning of “Ella” is a waterfall, and the city stands up to its name due to the many waterfalls found in and around the area.

• The train journey weaving through the scenic hill country is one of the most beautiful explorations in Sri Lanka. From the edge of soaring mountains, you will oversee the branching valleys from the mist capped mountains, sloping lush green tea plantations, villages dotted with houses, thick forests and whooshing waterfalls.

Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel in Ella.

• Early breakfast at the hotel.

• Leave to visit Little Adams Peak. The climb is relatively easy for any age.

• Begin the climb with a gentle stroll through a sloping tea field, passing endless neat rows of terraced tea plants, before ascending a short stretch of winding steps up to the top. From the top, there is a spectacular panorama featuring Ella Rock, rolling tea fields and the Ella gap, a deep gorge that leads down to the southern valleys. On a clear day, you can see the south coast with the ocean glimmering on the horizon.

• Visit the glorious Nine Arch Bridge between Ella and Demodara station, one of the engineering marvels of the early 20th century. The bridge, which is almost 100 years old, was built with stone and cement blocks without any strengthening iron or concrete. The giant arches take the bridge on a curved path to link to the mountains.

• See the Diyaluma Waterfall, Sri Lanka's second tallest waterfall. The top part of the waterfall comprises small pools, and you can enjoy breathtaking views from 220m up.

Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel in Ella.

• Get up for breakfast at the hotel.

• Visit the spectacular Ella gap in the southern mountain wall where the land falls away in a dizzy drop of 3000 ft (915m), to the southern plains and the sea, which is visible in the far distance on a clear day.

• Leave for Uda Walawe.

• In the afternoon, go on a jeep safari at Uda Walawe National Park. The Park is a mixture of abandoned Teak plantations, grassland, scrub jungle and riverine ‘gallery forest’ along the Walawe Ganga and Mau Ara. Uda Walawe is probably the best place to see wild herds of elephants, consisting of tightly-knit family groups of up to four generations of related adult and sub-adult females and young. The Park is also home to spotted deer, monitor lizards, Sambar Deer, wild boar, the common langur, jackal, Toddy Cat and the endemic Toque Macaque. The Sri Lankan Leopard has also been sighted here.

Dinner and overnight stay at hotel in Uda Walawe.

• Get up for breakfast at the hotel.

• Visit the Elephant Transit Home. Human-elephant conflict is a significant threat to the survival of elephants in Sri Lanka, with many elephants being orphaned or lost: this is where Elephant Transit Home comes in. The elephant calves are taken in, nurtured and cared for back to health. The elephants are free to roam around and are never chained – Elephant Transit Home ensures that human contact is kept to a minimum to maximize their chance of survival when they are returned to the wild.

• Leave for Sinharaja. Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a national park and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka named World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Sinharaja Rain Forest has a fantastic variety of flora and fauna. The vegetation of Sinharaja forest is an evergreen forest type with a high degree of endemism. The untapped genetic potential of Sinharaja flora is enormous. The average height of the trees varies between 35m – 40m; some individuals rise even up to 50m. The fauna of Sinharaja has revealed a high degree of endemism among the butterflies, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. The most common deer species is the Sambhur. The Monk deer and Barking deer are also found within the reserve. Leopards are seldom sighted, but tracks and other signs have confirmed their frequent presence. The rare endemic birds in Sinharaja are the Red-faced Malkoha, the Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, the Ashy-headed Babbler, the White-headed Starling and the Green-billed Coucal, the rarest of Sri Lankan birds.

• Late afternoon, trek in Singharaja Rain Forest.

Dinner and overnight stay at hotel in Sinharaja.

• Eat breakfast at the hotel.

• Leave for the Airport or beach hotel.

• See the stilt fishers on poles in Koggala, a traditional fishing method practised by most fishermen along the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

• Visit the Galle Fort. Galle Fort is the finest and most intact fortified city built by the former European colonial powers in Asia. The narrow streets of Galle Fort are lined with Dutch merchant villas, pillared verandas, carved doors and windows. British and Dutch period offices are still in use. This is a living world heritage city with residents walking the 300-year-old ramparts at sunset.

• Strolling along the high rampart walls, you will see the Old Dutch and English churches, the Governor's house, the massive VOC warehouses, the Square of Courts, the elegant pillared facade of the Old Dutch hospital, the Portuguese Black Fort, the lighthouse, the Clock Tower and much more.

• Visit a turtle hatchery.

• Transfer to the Airport for an onward flight or select a beach hotel for a continued beach holiday.