6:20
I'm about to spend two weeks traveling around Sri Lanka. Yeah, I didn't really know what to expect from here, but this is beautiful. It's my first time in the country, and I'm hoping to experience as much of it as possible in the time that I have. This is going to be fun. It's beautiful, but it's sketchy ass. During my two weeks, I'll be checking out some of the country's most iconic sites. It's touristy, but that's not necessarily a bad thing cuz it's super fun.
Got to walk 1,22 steps to get to the top. Just incredible. I'll also be getting off the beaten track and going hiking and camping in the mountains. It's about a kilometer walk to a campsite. Throughout my journey, I'm hoping to see some of Sri Lanka's diverse wildlife. So, just swimming along and then suddenly one swim right back. And I'll also have some time to just wind down at the beach. We just made it to Marissa and it is beautiful. Just what the doctor ordered. And all the time I'll be trying to soak up Sri Lanka's culture and indulge in the delicious local cuisine.
The food here has been the best food we've had on the trip so far. This place has exceeded all expectations. Cheers. I've been planning to go to Sri Lanka for quite a few years now, and I was originally going to go solo backpacking there back in January 2019, but then I had a change of plans and decided to go to somewhere completely different to where I've been before and ended up doing my trip around Egypt and Jordan. And ever since then, it's been very high on my list of places that I wanted to go. And I tried put on a group tour there in 2023 and 2024. But now in 2025,
I'm finally going to get to go to Sri Lanka. So, this is one of my bespoke group tours that I've organized with Intrepid Travel and put on sale to you guys that follow my channel. And this is the only group tour I'm doing this year. All the rest of my trips are going to be with friends, family, or solo. And when I was putting the itinerary together for Sri Lanka, yes, I wanted to see the classic sites, ride the train to Ella, go on some safaris, but I also wanted it to be quite an active trip. So, we're going on a few hikes, we're going biking, we're going to go kayaking, we're going to go snorkeling, just so we can really get amongst the environment rather than just stopping and taking a picture of it.
This is our swimming spot for the morning. And as usual with our group, about half of them I've traveled with before and the other half are meeting for the very first time. Plus, we've got our local guide, Dashana, taking us around to all of the best spots. This is our Sri Lankan Ha Bojun Hala. Authentic local foods. It's got a bit of a kick to it, so it starts building up on your tongue, but it's really tasty. Now, just a couple of things to mention before we get started. I always get asked what time of year the trips are, even though I always put it on screen in giant letters, but this trip was in February. And if you like the look of
any of the accommodation or activities that we're doing, I've put some affiliate links to them in the description of the video. So, if you book using those links, it doesn't cost you any extra, but it does help me out and help support the channel. And whilst we're at it, if you haven't subscribed yet, the buttons right there, just press it. Anyway, enough housekeeping. Let's go on an adventure to Sri Lanka. Traveling from Canada to Sri Lanka means you're basically going halfway around the globe. And thanks to a lastminute flight cancellation, I had to fly to Calgary, then Paris, then London, and then the overnight flight to Columbbo
airport. And with the 11 1/2 hour time difference between Winnipeg and Sri Lanka, it was safe to say I was a bit of a zombie when I arrived. I am so exhausted from the journey out here. It's hard for me to put words together right now cuz my brain's so fried. But the whole group's here. It's a beautiful evening. Very, very excited to finally be in Sri Lanka and really excited for this twoe trip we got lined up right now. I was just saying I'm getting all these shots of everyone hanging out. It looks like an end of trip kind of reflective moment, but actually we've just had the welcome meeting and that's it. So, our time in Sri Lanka was grand. It
feels like it just it went by in a flash, man. Like, we all really bonded. We all really did. We need a moment to reflect in a welcome meeting. And look at this beautiful sunset. We're staying in the town of Nagambo, which is near Columbbo airport and about an hour north of the capital Columbbo itself. And the plan for today is we're going to quickly check out a fish market before heading to Segorea, the famous Lion Rock. Just before we hit the road, I'm going to get some supplies for the trip. And uh here in Sri Lanka, they don't have 7-Eleven, but they do have 911.
Sorry mate. No more room. Thanks for coming. So our first stop this morning is a local fish market. Smells like fish. Apparently, they go and catch all these the evening before and then bring them here first thing in the morning to be sold. So, it's fresh right out of the sea. And this is the dry fish part of the market where they leave them out for a couple of days to dry out in the sun. Yeah, they remove some digestive organs and some uh grilled sass cell because it's ferishable. trying to. So once they've dried out, they kind of
stack them all up like this, ready to sell. It was going to be a 3-hour drive to see, and we had a little time to chill at the hotel beforehand so we could hike up the rock later in the afternoon when it wasn't as hot. All right, we have made it to Sigura. This is the uh the Lion Rock was a palace that was built, a royal palace that was built in the 4th century AD and then later on became a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century. And
now we're going to climb up to the top. It's like 1,22 steps to get to the top. And it's very hot today. So uh should be good fun. Uh, you see what's in front of you? So high, which is good. Sweet. So, we're about halfway up Oregon. Amazing views of the surroundings. Uh, we did a detour to these 1600-year-old paintings, but you couldn't take any photos of them. I'll hopefully get some stock which I can cut to now.
So, as I said, it was going to be lots of steps. Lots of steps, but not too bad. There's like breaks and there's a bit shades. So, we got the lion's paws here. You can see up there where the head was, but it's just decayed over the year. It would look so cool. It's coming down backwards. Doing that in style, mate. Well, we're nearly at the top. If you're afraid of heights, this might be a tricky one.
Made it. I made it to the top. He said, "Not one." Not quite at the top. There's a few more. Nearly at the top. So, these were the bathing pools there at the top of the palace. Well, we've made it to the top. This is the view we're rewarded with. Absolutely gorgeous. Officially the highest point, Adrian. Yeah, I've got a full 360 view now. Just incredible. It's like green in every single direction.
Like it love it. Watch some more of it. So over there is the other rock we're going to walk up tomorrow afternoon to get a view back to Lion Rock. Got some baby little monkeys right here. So cute. We made it back to our hotel and had some time to just chill in the pool. Cheers. Cheers, mate. Then we went for dinner across the street and the place had incredible food, but it didn't have any beers. So, the owner called me a tuk to go on a beer run, which ended up being a halfhour trip.
Carl just ditched us in the middle of [__] nowhere. We have no idea where we are. Yeah. He said he didn't like us. I don't know what happened. He was like, "I don't like you guys. I'm going to go take a tuk somewhere." And we were like, "Isn't this your tour?" We made it back. What an adventure. Went to the supermarket. Thank you so much, man. Appreciate it. Thank you. Full service. Yeah. And now I need to I really need to pee cuz there's a bumpy road and I've been drinking a couple of beers. I'm just like, "Oh my god."
Mhm. Good, guys. Very good. Happy cold beer and some more content. There you go. And free water. Five stars. And Jack. All right. So this morning, bit of an early start. Bit of a rush start. We've just all been like packing and sorting our bags cuz the next two nights we're going camping. So, um, and lots of like logistics of sorting day packs and things. Uh, but I think we're all good now. We're all good to go. Before we get to the camping, we're going to do our first safari of the trip. And the plan was to do it in Minora National Park, but apparently the elephants are currently roaming in Herulu Eco Park. So, we're going to go there instead.
All right, we're transferring now from the bus to the jeeps to go safari. Oh, we say over or under 10 elephants today. So, you think under 10 elephants? Yeah. No, no, I'm not a part of this. Oh, I said over. Ryan said under. Now he's backing out. Well, maybe I said over 20. Do you think over 20 or uh probably under 20. I got to say over. Over 20. All right. Yeah. And whoever loses buys beers for everyone.
All right. That's fairly good. All right, we're off. We're officially in the park now. We'll find some elephants. Hopefully under 20 for under 20. Aduka. Yes, it's a Sri Lanka big bird. So, in front of us, we have a herd of jeeps. Um, but there's also three elephants here as well. They got a track. He's got a track. 17 18 to go. Tell you what, if it's bang on 20, I'll get the beers. Thought you could be first. We're number one. Yeah. What kind of bird is it? Green be eater.
Okay. Green be eater. You know, so we just pulled up and there's seven elephants in this bit here. And the reason they have the mud on the backs to throw it on is it acts as their like sun cream. Protects it from the insects as well. But yeah, we're up to 13 now. So, not looking good.
Changeable hawk eagle. Changeable. Oh, How do you like the peacock? The peacock, baby. Got to let me fly. Looks like we got some interesting terrain up ahead. That wasn't too bad. That wasn't too That brings the count to 19. So, oh, 18. Sorry. Yeah, basic math. [__] it up. Uh,
so there's one, possibly three over here, which if it is three, it means it's the same, which means no. out. There's a five over there. These have moved over a bit. These are another three. Ah, I doubt it. No, no, no, no. They're separate. Okay. All right. There we go. It's official. We're now at 21. So, sorry, man. Take yourself to the bar later, mate. Yeah. Pleased with your victory. It's a natural talent of mine, actually. I was passed down by generations. Next up, we saw a male elephant with tusks, which is a very rare sighting in Sri Lanka because only 7% of the male elephants actually have them.
Yeah. So, the last three elephants was the last thing we saw. Like, we've just driven one minute from it. So, I was saying lost in injury time. [__] Thank you very much, man. That was brilliant. Thank you so much. What you got there? It used to be a monkey. Where did you find that? Uh, one of the guys had it. Driver had So, I don't know where he got it from. Don't know how he got it, but listen. You don't ask questions or you end up like the monkey. It's a Sri Lankan. As we got back on the bus, we asked Aana about the elephant that had the GPS tag on.
They select the uh leader, normally elder, female, one is the leader. They tag GPS tag, find the migration patterns. Then they observe when they migrate somewhere repeating, they declare that place as a elephant corridor because normally all other her elephant follow the leader. Next up, we travel back to Sigeria to climb up the adjacent Hidorangler rock. All right, so we're about to hike up Piru Dan Piranganger Pan right about to hike up this rock and um in the fifth century when King Kashappa wanted to build his palace on top of Sigura, he asked the monks living there to move to Pidarangler rock and donated them a temple to live in.
He arranged this place for the monks. He came and arranged the caves and those things. The dwelling monks moved to Purangal. This is one of ancient jungle monastery in Sri Lanka. Okay. How are the stairs? Good. I just bang my head on a shriek cuz I was changing the settings on my camera open. I was so busy looking at the magnificent view. I didn't realize there was a giant lying Buddha right behind me.
Hike's got a bit more interesting. Gone from some dodgy stairs to scrambling in ropes. Yep. Perfect. Don't worry, I'm recording if you fall. You can take the camera. You got it. Yeah. Got it. You got it. Graceful as [__] I It felt like a movie cuz I s grabbed your arm. It's like just sweating like Tim like a rock wall. Oh, I see there's the rock.
It's only a half hour walk to get up here. Bit of scrambling at the end, but fun. It was fun. That bit was fun. Can't even see the cliff face. It's just Well, if you lean over more, that's that's the bodyguard. Well, I'm fine. I'm king of the world. No, they don't ask us. No, you're you're Kate. I'm flying, Jack. I mean, Carl. And of course, I took that all. Of course. Beautiful moment. Top of the world, boys. Yeah. But yeah, coming up here for these extra views, just 100% worth it cuz it's a fantastic 360 view round, plus a view back to the line rock itself.
We're now heading up to the Knuckles Mountain Range where we'll be doing some hiking and camping for the next two nights and it's going to take us about 3 hours to drive up there. We've been driving through pretty level ground above any sort of odd rock peaks, but now we're sort of getting into the mountain ranges winding up and we got this big reservoir right here as well. built in 2015. So Tim's unlocked a new level on the bus. If you take that cover off of that, you get a fold out seat with leg room. Yeah. It's a nice shot of everyone's legs in the air. Not him, though. Tim's got business class, right?
All right, we're in the Knuckles Mountain Range now. Um, it's about a kilometer walk to our campsite. So, the bus is parked up. Can't go any further. And I'm guessing we're somewhere over here. This might be the mountain we'll walk up tomorrow. Lots of definitive information right now. But yeah, I think this is what we're doing. Name of that one. Manala. Manala mountain. One of the knuckles rain. This is a central highland of Sri Lanka and one of UNESCO World Heritage site.
Looks amazing though. Like it's so like winding up these mountains. Come up so much higher than we were before. Uh it's a little bit cooler which is nice. Yeah, I was going to get to camp and get settled in. Yeah. Okay. So, the track we're doing tomorrow is we're hiking up here along the top down the other side here, then back up the valley. Looks all right. Ah, this is our home for the next two nights. All right, let's see what the tent's like for the next two nights.
Little cozy little single mattress. To be fair, we're going to know which ones ours. That'll do. These are the showers and bathrooms. We got three bathrooms, two showers with an amazing view of the mountain and rice patties. Yeah, I didn't really know what to expect from here, but this is just beautiful. And now we're just going to go for a little swim, little bathing in the river down here. It's a long way down to this river. Pretty steep down. And it's going to be fun getting back up afterwards. it's nice, actually.
Yeah, it's quite refreshing. Yeah. Not bad at all. All right. Go for a little explore. Wow. This is cool. Yeah, it's really nice. where it gets narrow is very deep. You got it, mate. Got it. What a beautiful spot. So nice swimming around in that, but it's going to be even nicer tomorrow after doing an 18k hike. Getting to jump in here.
Anyway, back up to the camp. That evening, you were treated to an absolutely delicious dinner. And then we all try to get some good sleep before the big hike tomorrow. Well, good morning. It's an absolutely stunning morning here this morning. Um, with the tents rustling, I thought it was like pouring with rain, but actually it's just a light breeze and gorgeous sunshine. Um, didn't sleep that great. The mattress is super thin. So, uh, yeah, it was a bit of like hard night on the back and the hips, but very excited for today. Very excited just to get amongst this like walking through the rice patty fields up into the peak
here. I think this is going to be it's going to be a good one. So, yes, once I've sort of got my body able to move again after that rough night's sleep, it's going to be great. But yeah, breakfast isn't for like another half an hour and we don't start hiking for another hour and a half, but pretty much everyone's up. Sun's come up. It's beautiful place. Uh people just like, let's get on with it. Oh, love.
Well, we just had our breakfast. The uh food here has been the best food we've had on the trip so far. Like often when you're camping the food's okay, but it's like it'll do considering where you are. But here it's been phenomenal. And yeah, people are getting ready. Last minute preparations. Some are wearing leech socks. Um I'm just wearing trousers instead. Fab's going for long socks with the trousers. Oh yeah, Dom's Wait, you were wearing them properly before. There we go. Tim's just going in her flip flops. All right, 18k roundtrip hike up to Manala. Busted my knee two weeks ago. So hopefully it's going to be all right
today, but we'll see how we do. I think it's going to be a really fun day. Beautiful hike. Note that our hiking guide is wearing flip flops for this entire trick. You're going to look at this footage and think I've just boosted the greens, but no, it's that bright. So, we're all just getting the anti-leache spray on, which is why some of us are wearing trousers and just sweating like crazy already.
Put your foot next to it. Looks so alien like working so far. My face is full right now. Oh, what a view. Yeah. Well, just come up to this clearing for an amazing view down to the valley. Come a decent way. Is that the top or is that near the top? Is that the top? That's the top. Sweet. That's where we're going. Yeah. Not too far to go.
Got some buffalo hiding in the forest. This dog is still following us. We got three dogs with us on the trip. Uh the hiking trip to talk. Oh yeah, maybe they'll follow us the whole way. Hopefully they don't expect us to feed them at the end. Makes me miss Rosie. No. Yep. Well, we just made it out the jungle to the clearing. So, we're kind of on the top of it now, I think. By the way, the dogs belong to the guide. Comes with them every hike.
You were just giving them names and he's like, "No, no, they're mine." So, we come to pretty much the highest point. Sitting right on the cliff. I'm just sitting just one back from it given my history with cliffs. Anyway, means got to have a beer. What time is it? Beer time. 21. That's right. Beer clock. Cheers.
Reminds me a little bit of uh Venezuela actually. Rama mountain sitting on the edge. After spending a good half hour chilling and enjoying the views, we carried on working our way along the top of the mountain, gradually making our way towards the peak. We're in this weird bit of the hike now. sort of working our way up to the actual peak. But because we're closing the forest, you got no sense of bearings of where we are and how much further we got to go. You wouldn't have thought, would you in that? Yeah, we came all the way. Yeah. All right. So, now we're at the top maybe. But that's where we were before hanging out down there.
Is this the top? Top. Yeah. No, this is the top. Well, just there that direction. Well, we were doing one last little up bit through the trees and suddenly just started going down. So, we might have just very unceremoniously done the summit of the mountain. Watching Lucy. She's making sure I get down nice and safe. Just come to a little clearing. You can see where we've come down from already. Still quite a ways down to the valley. This has been such a great hike so far, though. Like the views from the top were just unreal.
Once we reached the base of the mountain, we stopped by the river to recharge with a little picnic. So, we just been slogging our way back towards the camp, just walking on roads and stuff. Not too exciting. But now we've come out into the rice patty field, which is beautiful. You know, I've been feeling pretty tired with this long walk. You know, it's been a great walk, but pretty exhausted now. But then you come to this bit here and just gives you a new lease of life.
Oh, we've made it the right cool box. Well, after a long, long hike, we've come to a different bit of the river to cool off with a drink. That evening you were treated once again to an absolutely delicious banquet dinner. Sri Lankan authentic rice and curry experience with more native vegetables and curry and spices as well. As a vegetarian, 10 out of 11 dishes are vegetarian. A+ A+. Not just cuz they're vegetarian, they're actually tasty. Oh, they're actually really good. Great. Then after the meal, there was entertainment provided by the guys who worked at the camp.
All right, it's another beautiful morning here in the Knuckles Mountain Range. Uh mixed feelings really cuz it's sort of I'm looking forward to having a comfy bed again after two whole nights of camping. But very sad to leave this place cuz it exceeded all expectations. It's so beautiful. Everyone appreciate what you did for Stop being so goddamn polite. No, no, no, no. Just for context, we've handed out tips to all the workers, but the main guys not accepting. Run, Tom, run. So, thank you very much. So, this one I gave to the disabled person who like to play fruit and that they have difficult uh person
accepting like an Oscar award. the last one. Got a short stroll. Anyway, thank you very much and I have a nice journey for you and uh I like to see you again. Thank you very much. As we began driving out of the Knuckles Mountain Range, we stopped to do one last short hike to a place called Mini World's End. Now we are in Pawala Patana. Pawala mean the village name. Patana mean hill summit. In Singal we call Patana Hill summit. Ready? I don't know. Is this it? Cool. All right. we've made it to mini world's end. Uh, just walk along the sun like cliff. So, I think so.
Yeah. And your world could end pretty quickly here. I'd say it's at least like a 10-second. Yeah. Getting a bit of jelly bug standing here. Yeah. That's an amazing view though. Nice and safe back here. Yeah. We've had an incredible time experiencing the beauty of the Knuckles Mountain Range, but now it's time to head back to civilization. In the next episode, we'll get to explore the city of Candi, Sri Lanka's last royal capital. It's nice to
appreciate the history, the architecture, and just the general vibe of the place. Then we'll take the iconic train through the hills to Ella. That was brilliant. Stood in the door the whole time. Raw dogged it. And once we arrive in Ella, we'll have three nights to enjoy this lively little town in the mountains. Today is one of the days on the trip I've been most looking forward to because got a bit of an action-packed morning. Go.
Johnny. Hey.
