2019 Sri Lanka

In late March, 2019, we joined a 12-day tour of Sri Lanka with Explore! This was to be a photographic tour in the company of a professional travel photographer. It included a variety of subjects including cultural and wildlife. I, of course, was very interested to see some of Sri Lanka’s rich collection of dragonflies [not included here] but, with a predetermined itinerary and a lot of time travelling, I just had to take my opportunities where I could. Naturally, I was also interested in other wildlife, particularly leopards, which we had missed seeing 23 years earlier in Kenya.

There were just four (fully) paying guests. There was a fifth that was an Explore! employee on holiday. In effect, along with the actual local leader and our pro photographer, this made three tour leaders. Most of our included photographic subjects were successful though some were less so. We spent some time with a couple of Sri Lanka’s iconic subjects: tea-pickers and stilt fishermen. I’m happy to say that we finally saw our leopard in Wilpattu National Park, which was one of our earliest points of call.

We returned home just two weeks before the tragic Easter weekend bombings in Sri Lanka. We feel a great sadness for the Sri Lankan people who were simply delightful, welcoming and friendly. The terror campaign is a cruel blow to a nation doing so well recovering and building a thriving tourist industry just 10 years after a civil war. Sri Lanka is known as the tear drop of India; it’s certainly crying now.