Read Sri Lanka encompassed part one here

Food and Drink

Flavourful and aromatic Sri Lankan food isn’t just curries.

In main areas there are opportunities to get western foodbut outside of Colombo don’t count on seeing anything like McDonalds or KFC.  A wide selection of pescetarians andvegetarians options are available, with many places having at least one veganoption. As always with Asia take caution with cleanliness of the places youeat, and if you buy any fruit wash it before eating it.

The tap water in Sri Lanka is not suitable to drink, howeveris safe to brush your teeth with. Bottled water is readily available. To saveon money and plastic try to buy the larger bottles and refill either a reusablebottle or 1 small plastic one. Most hotels have mini bars with at least onecomplimentary bottle of water and if you ask politely at homestays they willlet you keep items in the fridge.

Cocktails and beer are available, however when somerestaurants out of the cities (Sigirya for example) don’t have an alcohollicense, but will let you bring drinks in from the local wine store. The localgo to beer is Lion which is a good old regular lager. However expect to pay abit more for cocktails, and if you come across Arrack, the spirit produced inSri Lanka, it tastes like scotch and oh boy is it strong so just know yourlimit.

Wildlife

There is an abundance of wildlife in Sri Lanka, from tiny geckos to huge elephants. With several national parks and all of them offering the opportunity for safaris. Minneriya National Park has the highest concentration on elephants on the island, whereas Yala hosts the most Leopards. Just keep an eye on the cheeky monkeys in Kandy as they know how to open balcony doors!

Yala has a strict 6pm policy so even if you enter the parkat 4pm you have to be out of the park by 6pm, if you aren’t your driver will befined and won’t be allowed back in the park for a week.  If you’re lucky enough whilst at Yala notonly will you see Leopards, you may experience seeing Sloth bear and the veryelusive Pangolin!

Moving from the land to the sea – Sri Lanka is known for itsBlue Whale populations, not only this but there is also the chance to spot,whale sharks, Orcas and Fin Whales. Whale watching is a large business andrecently the government have started taxing the ticket (genuinely the daybefore I went!) now making it a slightly more expensive trip (from £21 up to£33). As always with anything that involves animals do your research before yougo to make sure that what you’re being involved in is good for both yourselfand the animals. There are reports of overcrowded boats who go way to close tothe whales.  I can recommend Explorer (who I went with) the team were knowledgeable, spoke English well and made surethat the boat wasn’t overcrowded, offered sea sickness tablets, providedbreakfast boxes (although not veggie ones) and made sure that everyone couldsee. However like all wildlife tours there is no guarantee you will see them (orDolphins) so be prepared to be on the boat a little while, and take extramotion sickness tablets with you.

Sea turtles are also one Sri Lanka’s top five list – with breedsincluding green and loggerhead. Laying mainly across the south coast, nests areoften protected from being trampled on by visitors. The two best ways to sea thesebeautiful creatures is to either snorkel or go diving, there is opportunity tosee them late at night laying but this is very lucky and you need to beextremely careful that you don’t disturb them.

Vaccinations

Like most South Asian countries there are advisedvaccinations for visiting Sri Lanka these include:

Hep A and Hep B

Updated Tetanus(*)

Japanese encephalitis (*)

Rabies (*)

Yellow Fever (if you are coming from a country where it isprominant)

MMR (*)

Typhoid (*)

I was also advised on getting the FLU jab, this was more todo with less risk of myself getting infected whilst I’m away, but with makingsure I didn’t infect locals who may never have encounter that strain before. *all of these vaccines are more for those who plan to visit rural areas, wherewildlife is prominate and sanitation is low – basically if you plan on stayingoutside of a 4/5 star hotel just make sure you look into what you need. Your GPcan advise you on this. Most of these are also available free through you NHSif they have stock, otherwise be prepare to pay privately through places likeyour supermarket/ drugstore (boots for us brits).

Malaria is currently not an issue in Sri Lanka itself butthere is a chance to catch Dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis via mosquitobites, so make sure to keep that bug spray close, especially in the evenings.

Safety

There was never a moment in Sri Lanka that I didn’t feelsafe, however everyone’s level of feeling comfortable is always different. Crimerate is low but when in the larger cities such as Colombo and Kandy be preparedto be approached and talk to more by Tuk Tuk drivers and market stall owner,simply just politely say no thank you and continue to walk or whatever it wasyou were doing.

There are very few scams in Sri Lanka, but always agree your Tuk Tuk/ taxi price up from. Know that at places like Sigirya there are men that automatically try and help you walk up the stairs (near the bottom) and will expect payment after. At places like Mirissa there have been some reports of beach boys asking travellers to come celebrate their birthday with them and disappearing leaving them with the whole bill. So although they are few and far between just make sure to keep you common sense about you, and always feel free to politely decline if you are unsure of the situation.

Not so much safety – plugs! Two pin in both round and long pins are mostly used, however some hotels except the standard UK 3 pin plug so a multi adapter is best.

Last but not least

Enjoy your trip! This is a marvellous country with kind,friendly people, outstanding landscapes and plenty to see and do.