Sri Lanka Photo Tour

The Sri Lanka photo tour will start at the Colombo airport, where our local guide will be waiting for us to take us to our hotel. Upon arrival at our hotel and after having rested and acclimatized, we will reach its most emblematic point, such as the Gangaramaya temple.
Later, we will return to the hotel, to continue acclimatization and rest.

After breakfast, we will head towards Habarana, where we will stay tonight after visiting its incredible and historical surroundings.
The first point of interest will be the Dambulla Cave Temple, or also known as the Dambulla Golden Temple. We will visit its set of caves with temples inside, decorated with paintings and statues dedicated to the life of the Buddha. The complex is 2000 years old and is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Later, we will climb the Pidurangala rock from where we will watch the sunset with views of the famous Sigiriya rock. A much easier climb, which offers us better views of the area, and which, being less visited by tourists, will allow us to enjoy nature calmly to take panoramic photographs.
At the end we will return to our accommodation in Habarana.

Today, we will photograph the incredible surroundings of the Polonnaruwa ruins. Ancient capital of the kingdoms of Sri Lanka and in which we can visit ancient temples and palaces decorated with gigantic sculptures of the Buddha, or ruins of carved facades that now survive the jungle.
Afterwards, we will leave for our first safari of the trip in the Minneriya National Park. We will be there until sunset, to photograph the ¨meetings¨ of Indian elephants that live in this park and that can reach up to more than 100 gathered, in addition to other species such as water buffalo, Pelicans or the Monitor Lizard.
When the sun disappears, we will return to our hotel in Habarana to rest and prepare for the next day.

This day we will travel to Kandy, stopping along the way at the amazing Aluvihare rock temple in Matale. A temple surrounded by mountains and that will offer us some spectacular photographs of its architecture.
Once we arrive in Kandy, known as the city of the mountains and capital of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, we will leave our things at the hotel to go visit its colonial streets, as well as approach the Royal Botanical Garden of Peradeniya, which despite the British colonization of the island owes its name to King Wickramabahu III when it was inaugurated in 1371. Considered the best botanical garden in all of Asia, we can photograph countless plants as well as centennial trees, among which the Orchid collection and its outstanding palm tree avenues that decorate its endless paths.

After breakfast, we will head to the Udawattakele Forest Reserve, located near Kandy. In addition to the three Buddhist monasteries, and their houses located in caves in the mountains of the reserve, we will walk among its forests characterized by its giant lianas where an infinity of birds and other species like macaques live, so that our possibilities of photographing will be varied. and spectacular throughout the tour.
At noon, we will go to one of the most spectacular landscapes of our trip: the Adam’s Peak. Along the way we will stop at the Ramboda waterfalls, located in a unique environment and which according to the time we will try to visit from its base since it is not easily accessible. Once our session is over, we will continue to the Adam’s Peak, a conical mountain sacred to both Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim, 2243 meters high that we will ascend the next morning. During this afternoon we will look for an ideal location to photograph it at sunset with some of the many tea plantations that surround this historic place.
After sunset, we will take the opportunity to go to rest early at the foot of the Adam’s Peak.

We will wake up before sunrise, to ascend Adam’s Peak and reach the top at sunrise. The climb is safe, as it is a Hindu tradition to do this climb at night and it is perfectly conditioned with stairs to the very top. Once at the top we will wait as the dawn gives us incredible views of the island, and the shadow of the same mountain is projected on the nearby plain. We will also have the possibility to visit the temple located at the top, where a sacred relic known as the footprint of Adam is kept for the Muslim religion.
Later, after having rested from our excursion we will head towards our next destination Nuwaraeliya. Along the way we will stop to photograph two of the most beautiful waterfalls in Sri Lanka: St. Claire and Devon. The first is the widest in the country, 50 meters and its two pockets of water in addition to the vegetation and nearby tea plantations will offer us wonderful views. The Devon waterfall, on the other hand, thanks to its almost 100 meters of free fall of water is one of the most impressive and where we will wait for the sunset to photograph it when its incredible landscape has the best light.
Once our session is over, we will approach the nearby city of Nuwaraeliya where we will rest and prepare for the next day.

Today we will get up early to visit the Horton Plains National Park, which will offer us different views from what we have seen so far on our trip in the early morning. The Plains of Horton are located on a plateau 2000 meters high and from them we can see the highest mountains on the island, as well as the incredible cliff of the End of the World 870 meters high. We can also enjoy its waterfalls and infinite landscapes on our walk through this incredible national park.
At noon we will approach Nanu Oya to ride the train on the way to Ella, 2 and a half hours long and from which we will have incredible views of the landscapes of the island, its small towns, old bridges or directly photograph the local people who travels on these trains. Traveling by train in Sri Lanka is an authentic adventure that gives us unforgettable images of our visit to the interior of this wonderful island.
Upon arrival at Ella, we can go to rest at the hotel to prepare for the second part of our Sri Lanka photo tour.

Today we will spend the whole day enjoying the surroundings of this small city surrounded by incredible mountains. We will get up early to visit the small mountain of Adam, from which we can photograph the incredible landscapes that surround this city as well as see one of our next stops: the Ravana waterfall.
When descending, we will stop at the most famous train bridge on the island: the 9-arched bridge. An old stone bridge where the local trains still pass and we will wait for the arrival of one of them from one of the viewpoints to capture one of the most typical images of the island. We will continue our journey to photograph the Ravana waterfall, a series of 25-meter waterfalls where we can photograph it from different angles, achieving spectacular compositions or photographing the locals who visit it to cool off. We will also have the possibility of entering the magnificent Ravana Ella cave, located near the waterfall.
In the afternoon, we will explore the Lipton Company’s historic tea plantations, famous on the island for being one of the first plantations to introduce this plant on the island and which has now become one of the largest producers in the world. Touring their fields, we will be able to photograph the local workers collecting their leaves and at dusk we will approach the Lipton seat, the place from where Thomas Lipton, founder of the company, observed his plantations and from where we will have spectacular views of these landscapes.
At the end, we will return to Ella for dinner and if the forces accompany walking around the city to take photographs of the nightlife and its most emblematic buildings.

We will get up early to continue our journey to the south of the island, where we will stop at the Buduruwagala temple, a quite special temple and that its name indicates what we will find Budu (Buddha), ruva (image), gala (stone) = Buduruwagala, that is, an image of the Buddha sculpted in stone. The temple is dated more than 1000 years old, and although the site is not large, its sculptures will surprise us and will serve as a rest on our route to our next destination: Yala National Park.
This National park is the one with the largest number of Ceylon leopard and Indian elephants, so the possibilities of photographing the latter are almost guaranteed. In addition to these two spectacular species, we will be able to photograph countless animals of all kinds: from crocodiles to wild boars, pelicans, the bear bear, turtles, cobras and vipers and countless water birds.
At the end of our sunset safari, we will go to rest at our hotel near the Yala reserve.

In the morning we will approach the Yala National Park reserve as early as possible, to continue contemplating its fauna in a different area than the one from the previous day. The reserve is divided into three blocks due to its large size, so today it will give us the feeling of visiting a different reserve.
At noon we will arrive at the coastal area of ​​Sri Lanka, we will leave behind its jungles and mountains to know its paradisiacal beaches where in addition to being able to take incredible photographs of its landscapes, we will have the possibility of capturing the famous stilt fishermen who crowd its coasts following the ancestral customs of this island. After 10 days on the route in this Sri Lanka photo tour, we will appreciate being able to rest watching the sunset from one of the beaches that we will visit during the day until we reach the hotel in Myrissa that will be our base for the next 2 nights, and that located on the beach will be a perfect place to photograph both at dusk and dawn without moving much.

We will get up early to approach the beach to photograph the sunrise from the incredible beach of Mirissa. Its beaches surrounded by jungle and its rocks will allow us to make dream compositions in this paradise. When we finish, we will have breakfast and we will set off for a sea route in search of the blue whale, the largest animal in the world, and that we can photograph on our trip. In addition we will also have the possibility of catching other species such as dolphins or flying fish, so our boat trip will be an excellent time to enjoy the marine fauna that lives near the shores of Sri Lanka.
In the afternoon, and after having rested from our boat trip, we will return to the beach to look for new locations and to photograph the long-legged fishermen again, who will wait for the sunset like us to finish the day and return to our rooms.

In the morning we will have the opportunity to photograph another beautiful sunrise on the beach with the fishermen, of whom we will say goodbye after breakfast to start our trip to Galle. This city is full of history, since from 1500 it was colonized by Portuguese and later it was also passed by Dutch and English, so its architecture will remind us of old European cities that we can photograph throughout the morning while walking and photographing its fort and its old town.
After eating we will go to a turtle hatchery, on a more than photographic visit where we can collaborate in the conservation of this species and see how the association takes care of the eggs and the turtle hatchlings before releasing them to the sea, trying to preserve them from poaching and the black market for eggs. In the afternoon we will approach Unawatuna beach where we will look for locations for our session at sunset.

We will get up early to approach the Galle lighthouse, from where we can photograph this beautiful lighthouse with the first light of day. After having breakfast and recharging our strength, we headed to the last safari of our trip, this time by boat through the mangroves of the Madu river. We will visit its narrow mangroves where we will have the perfect opportunity to photograph crocodiles, wild boars or snakes, both water and land, as well as cormorants and pelicans among other species. We will also arrive on our tour to an ancient Buddhist monastery on one of the islands that form in this river. This last safari will complete all the previous ones, offering us impressive photographs of the mangroves and their fauna.
In the afternoon we will head north to the beaches of Hikkaduwa and Bentota, where we will rest and relax before our last photo shoot at sunset on these paradisiacal beaches.

On our last day of the trip, we will transfer to the Colombo airport, where we will finish this incredible Sri Lanka photo tour.