An island country located south of India, Sri Lanka became populated through the Aryan settlers from North India since 8th century B.C., thus commencing the Sinhalese race. Because of its advantageous strategic position, Sri Lanka was later colonized by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British.
After several unsuccessful attempts to become independent from the British in the 1800s, Sri Lanka eventually became independent in 1948 – The British flag was brought down and the Lion flag of Sri Lanka was raised. Due to previous colonial domination, Sri Lankans still had no real economic, cultural, social, and political freedom until the country became a republic in 1972.
Nowadays, the 21 million people in Sri Lanka are mostly Sinhalese, Tamils, and Moors.
Sri Lanka railway is diesel-powered, with its entire coastal line built next to the Indian Ocean. The coastal line connects the capital Colombo (west) to the city of Matara (south).
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To visit Yala National Park, I took the coastal line railway from Colombo to Matara (5 hours), then a local bus from Matara to Tissamaharama (3 hours) – Neither option is air-conditioned, but both are very inexpensive: The 3-hour bus ride costs $150 Rupees ($1 USD), and the 5-hour train ride costs anything from $150-1,000 Rupees ($1.00-6.50 USD) depending which class you choose (1st / 2nd / 3rd).
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The doors of the train are always open, and people are accustomed to standing at or even outside the doors while the train is moving.
@Colombo
Sri Lanka railway is diesel-powered, with its entire coastal line built next to the Indian Ocean. The coastal line connects the capital Colombo (west) to the city of Matara (south).
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To visit Yala National Park, I took the coastal line railway from Colombo to Matara (5 hours), then a local bus from Matara to Tissamaharama (3 hours) – Neither option is air-conditioned, but both are very inexpensive: The 3-hour bus ride costs $150 Rupees ($1 USD), and the 5-hour train ride costs anything from $150-1,000 Rupees ($1.00-6.50 USD) depending which class you choose (1st / 2nd / 3rd).
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The doors of the train are always open, and people are accustomed to standing at or even outside the doors while the train is moving.
@Colombo
Sri Lanka railway is diesel-powered, with its entire coastal line built next to the Indian Ocean. The coastal line connects the capital Colombo (west) to the city of Matara (south).
\\
To visit Yala National Park, I took the coastal line railway from Colombo to Matara (5 hours), then a local bus from Matara to Tissamaharama (3 hours) – Neither option is air-conditioned, but both are very inexpensive: The 3-hour bus ride costs $150 Rupees ($1 USD), and the 5-hour train ride costs anything from $150-1,000 Rupees ($1.00-6.50 USD) depending which class you choose (1st / 2nd / 3rd).
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The doors of the train are always open, and people are accustomed to standing at or even outside the doors while the train is moving.
@Colombo
Me being the only non-SriLankan in the entire train – Been in this kind of situation many times and it’s not a thing anymore.
@Colombo
Since trains connect all the big cities along the coast line and buses cover everything within individual cities, these two options can pretty much take you everywhere you want to go at least in the southwestern Sri Lanka. But once in a while I had to take tuk-tuk when I couldn’t figure out the buses (Google Maps doesn’t work quite well in Sri Lanka – it gives you current location but doesn’t tell you how to go places).
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Tuk-tuk is quite a ripoff: The same 20-minute ride that costs $10 Rupees ($0.06 USD) for a train/bus now costs $600 Rupees ($3.90 USD) for a tuk-tuk – Still cheap compared to tuk-tuk/taxi in many other countries, but a clear indication of what locals pay vs. what tourists pay.
@Colombo
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Whale-watching.
@Mirissa
Whale-watching.
@Mirissa
Whale-watching.
@Mirissa
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
Early morning 7-hour jeep safari (4:30-11:30am) at Yala National Park. I was with a group of 4 German tourists, and the driver was a local Sri Lankan (who drove WAY Too Fast Too Furious-ly).
@Tissamaharama
I stay in hostels when I travel. But in Sri Lanka once you go outside Colombo, there aren’t many hostels out there. For the price of a hostel dorm bed, I stayed at my own tree house with private bathroom and kitchen for 2 nights in the city of Tissamaharama near Yala National Park.
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Still not sure why they call it a tree house though – More like a wooden house next to a tree.
@Tissamaharama
Kollupitiya station, where I began my 5-hour train journey to the south.
@Colombo
Kollupitiya station, where I began my 5-hour train journey to the south.
@Colombo
National Museum of Sri Lanka.
@Colombo
Buddhist statues and stupas at Gangaramaya Temple. Buddhism has a significant influence in Sri Lanka. 70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhist.
@Colombo
Yatala Vehera, an ancient Buddhist stupa.
@Tissamaharama
Independence Square.
@Colombo
National flag of Sri Lanka: Lion = independent country of Ceylon. Sword = authority. Leaves = Buddhists. Green = Muslims. Orange = Hindus.
@Colombo
