Our extended tour to Sri Lanka covers the main birding sites in the southern part of the island plus two days of pelagic cruises out of Mirissa at the end to look for Blue Whales, Sperm Whales, other cetaceans, and birds. We expect to see all the endemic birds found in Sri Lanka during the tour. The best time of year for this tour is November-February when Palearctic migrants are present, temperatures are lower, and rainfall is more moderate. We stay in comfortable hotels and lodges throughout the tour. This tour can be combined with our tour to the Western Ghats of southwest India if a longer tour is desired.

The tour begins with arrival in the capital city of Colombo. Depending on your flight schedule, you have an overnight stay in Colombo or depart immediately for our first birding site at Kandy following arrival. We'll have the the rest of the day birding the vicinity outside Kandy followed the next day with a transfer and then birding around Nuwara Eliya in the central highlands. We have an additional full day birding around Nuwara Eliya and then a full day at Horton Plains National Park before moving on to our next destination at Kitulgala. After arrival there we have the afternoon and the next day birding the tropical lowlands in the wet zone of Sri Lanka at Kelani Valley Forest Reserve. Then we drive east into the dry zone for an afternoon and two full day birding the lowland forest at Sinharaja Forest Reserve. That is followed by a transfer to Embilipitiya for an afternoon and morning birding the scrub jungle and very differnt lowland forest at Udawalawe National Park. Next we have most of two days for birding safaris into Yala and Bundala National Parks. Yala has a healthy population of Leopards, which we have a good chance of seeing, while Bundala is a wetland area with a good mix of both aquatic and forest birds. We'll be doing safaris from open-top jeeps in several national national parks and should see a variety of mammals in addition to birds. The tour concludes with a transfer to Mirissa on the southern tip of the island where we'll spend most of two days and go out on a pelagic excursion beyond the edge of the narrow continental shelf to look for whales and pelagic birds each morning of our stay there. The tour ends back in Colombo at the airport after an overnight stay there.

ADDITIONAL INFO
(Not on Menu Above)

• Country Map
• Accommodations
• Photos from Past Tours
• Travel Information

BIRDING LOCALES

• Bundala National Park
• Horton Plains National Park
• Kandy
• Kitulgala-Kelani Valley Forest Reserve
• Mirissa Harbor
• Mirissa Pelagic Cruise
• Nuwara Eliva
• Sinharaja Forest Reserve
• Udawalawe National Park
• Yala National Park