December 2011
Sri Lanka is a tropical island of 430km long and 230 km wide at its widest, situated just north of the Equator. Most coastal and northern areas are low lying, with the centre of the island being very mountainous.
The ‘wet zone’ of the south-west and hills area has monsoon season in May-September, while the eastern and northern ‘dry zone’ has rain from November to February.
With over 400 bird species and 33 endemics, plus large numbers of mammals and reptiles, it is a fabulous, bio-diverse, small and easy destination for wildlife viewing.
After picking up a brochure at the British Birdfair from a small company called ‘Walk with Jith’, and hearing some great stories about birding in Sri Lanka, we took on an 11 day ‘Birding and Wildlife Budget Tour’. www.walkwithjith.com walkwithjith@hotmail.comMuch discussion with Prasanjith (Jith) Caldera, the owner, by both email and phone made us very confident that the tour would suit our needs.
At £900pp for 11 days – transport, driver and guide, dinner, bed and breakfast, all jeep safaris and park entries – the tour is excellent value and as a private tour (2 pax) had the flexibility we wanted.
