Sri Lanka is an Island famous for its 1,600 km of unspoilt, golden beaches. It's a paradise Island shaped like a tear drop in the Indian Ocean. Formerly known as Ceylon and famous for its wonderful Tea, Sri Lanka is a vibrant country with an incredible history. It's a country of 20 million people; rich in its diversity of culture, race, language and religion.
The island has an abundance of natural resources, fauna and flora, mountains, rivers and beautiful beaches with excellent scuba diving, snorkelling,sailing and surfing. It is located at the crossroads where East meets West and is regarded as the gateway to South Asia. The hill country has gorgeous rolling hills and tea plantations. The entire island is teeming with bird life and exotics like elephants and leopards.
The people are friendly, food delicious and costs low. A stunning island filled with beaches and wild life sanctuaries like the Elephant Orphanage, ancient cities, hills, beaches - and most of all, it's incredible beauty.
Animal life is profuse and includes the ubiquitous elephant, as well as leopards, deer, monkeys, sloth bears, wild boar, cobras, crocodiles, dugong and turtles. The island is an important seasonal home to migrating birds, including flamingoes, who flock to the lagoons, wetlands and bird sanctuaries for respite from the northern winter.
Sri Lanka (Map of Sri Lanka)
65,525 sq km
An island off the south-eastern cost shores of India, 880 km north of the equator, in the Indian Ocean.
Colombo
Sri Lanka is a free, independent and sovereign nation with a population of 20,926,315 million (July 2007 est.). Legislative power is exercised by a Parliament, elected by universal franchise on proportional representation basis. A President, who is also elected by the people, exercises executive power inclusive of defence. Sri Lanka enjoys a multi party system, and the people vote to elect a new government every six years.
74 female, 64 male
91.8%
Sinhala, Tamil and English are widely spoken throughout Sri Lanka, with the exception of remote villages where it might be Sinhala only or Tamil only.
Sinhalese- 74 per cent; Tamil- 18 per cent; Muslim -7 per cent; Burgher (descendants of Dutch and Portuguese colonist) and others- 1 per cent
Buddhism- 70 per cent; Hinduism- 16 per cent; Christianity- 7 per cent; Islam-7 per cent
Low Lands – tropical, average 27C
Central Hills – cooler, with temperatures dropping to 10C. The south-west monsoon brings rain to the western, southern and central regions from May to July, while the north-eastern monsoon is from December t0 January. Sri Lanka climate is ideal for holiday-makers throughout the year.
US$ 4100
Processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, and other agricultural commodities; clothing, cement, petroleum refining, textiles, tobacco.
Rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, roots, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts, milk, eggs, hides, meat.
Sri Lankan Rupee. Current Exchange Rate against leading currencies:Click Here
Sri Lanka is 5 hrs. ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
0900 hrs. to 1500 hrs., Mon-Fri.
All the major credit and charge cards are widely accepted.
Voltage : 230 – 240 volts 50 Cycles A.C.
Many races have contributed to Sri Lanka's culinary diversity - Indians, Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch, British Malays, Chinese ..... as you can imagine the range of foods is immense!
All-year-round wear should be light cotton, drip-dry dresses and light-weight suits, Comfortable shoes or sandals, a wide-brimmed beach hat and sun glasses. However, in the hill country temperatures can drop to as low as 10’C.
