Crowning a titanic granite column, the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya surveys the rainforest of Sri Lanka. These are the fifth-century ruins of King Kasyapa’s home and palace, with superb water gardens and paintings. And the location is truly incredible… Lion Mountain is a vast 200m-high monolithic rock pillar that juts from the middle of a plain. Reaching the summit is tricky enough now, with its steep steps and gangways; building a huge fort there 1,500 years ago, must have been near impossible.
From the top, there are breathtaking countryside views. There’s a certain sense of foreboding as you step between the paws of a huge lion carved into the rock to enter the site. And under the deep green and red leaves of the Indian rose chestnut trees below, giant golden Buddhas gleam, peacefully guarding colourful cave temples.
Alison Blackie Best of Sri LankaIt exceeded our expectations.
The tour was fantastic, great group of people. The tour guide Mak went above and beyond our expectations. He was informative, fun, caring and gave us a real insight into the culture, people and had a vast knowledge of each place we visited. He went out of his way to make my birthday special whilst we were on the trip, and always ensured we were organised and happy. Fantastic trip all round.
Mary Whitehouse Best of Sri LankaA lovely week with good hotels – my first ‘adventure’ holiday and as a solo traveller. The cycling day is great for viewing the countryside and getting nearer to rural communities, elephants in the wild (and sometimes on the main roads) including a rarer tusker and a baby, temples enriched by insightul explanations of customs from our guide, climbing the Sigiriya rock was strenuous but paced with good railings for support, interesting tea-growing and processing, The Grade 3 white-water rafting is definitely worth doing and not that scary though you need to be mobile to descend the steps to the river. Good food, if spicy, though Sanjeewa was a helpful guide on how spicy!
Very straightforward booking, direct communication by phone and email, easy arrangement of pre-tour hotel to fit with my prior commitments in Sri Lanka. Very interesting tour, nicely challenging for my inexperience of such trips, helped by being in a small and friendly group. Our guide, Sanjeewa, was a really great guide – very knowledgeable and professional but always there to support us with a good sense of humour too. Felt very safe throughout and very careful driving from Donald.
Sarah Gardner Best of Sri LankaThe whole holiday was incredible and jam packed we didn’t stop and that’s why we love travelling with Exodus
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