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The blue hill-country train curving through tea plantations

Gallery

Photographs from real trips, not stock images. Tap any picture to see it larger.

Palm-lined sand and calm sea on the west coast

Empty sand and small surf early in the morning

Sun loungers under the palms at a beachfront guesthouse

Two green fishing boats pulled up on the beach at Bentota

A turquoise cove between rocky headlands on the south coast

A palm branch framing the open sea

Sunset behind palm silhouettes over the surf

Negombo beach at sunset, boats and stalls in silhouette

The twin spires of St Sebastian's church in Negombo

Fishing boats moored in the lagoon at Negombo, an outrigger canoe heading out

Speedboats and an old wooden outrigger tied up on the Bentota river

A stilt fisherman sitting on his pole in the shallows

Guests on a towed inflatable ring on the Bentota river

A diver above a dense school of yellow snapper over the reef

Sunset over the river, palms in silhouette on the bank

Tea plantations covering the slopes near Nuwara Eliya

A train crossing the Nine Arch Bridge in the jungle near Ella

Tea bushes and shade trees on a hillside

Hill country under morning mist, a waterfall on the far slope

A tea picker holding the leaves she has just picked

A tasting flight of tea grades above the plantation

Withering troughs full of green tea leaf inside a tea factory

The red-brick colonial post office at Nuwara Eliya at dusk

Little Adam's Peak wrapped in morning mist

A walker on the ridge above the valley near Ella

The view from World's End on the Horton Plains plateau

A guest sitting on a rock ledge above a wide valley of forested hills

Diyaluma Falls dropping down a rock face

The lip of a waterfall dropping away into the valley below

A tall waterfall falling in stages down a jungle cliff

Two thin ribbons of Ramboda Falls in the forest

Baker's Falls spreading over black rock on the Horton Plains

Thambadola Ella running between granite boulders into its pool

A guest jumping from a rock ledge into the pool below Polgampola waterfall

Swimming in the lagoon below a waterfall

Mangrove roots arching over the water on the Bentota river

A young crocodile among mangrove roots on the Bentota river

First light on the river, palms and hills behind

An elephant beside the safari jeep in Udawalawe national park

An elephant feeding in flowering scrub in the national park

The elephant herd bathing in the river at Pinnawala, water flying

The herd walked down the rock to the river, a keeper hosing one of them

A small boy face to face with an elephant

A guest sitting on an elephant in the river, arms out, as it showers him with water

A man and a small boy scrubbing a bathing elephant in the river

Young turtles in a tank at a hatchery near Bentota

Guests on the whale-watching boat out of Mirissa

A blue and orange kingfisher perched on a bleached branch

A green bee-eater with a long tail streamer on a thin branch

A green garden lizard with a red-rimmed eye among glossy leaves

Two macaques grooming on a railing above the plain

A grey langur with a black face sitting on a boulder

Sigiriya rock rising above the jungle on a clear day

Sigiriya rock in mist, seen across the old water gardens

The metal stairway bolted to the cliff face on the climb up Sigiriya

Jungle stretching to the horizon, seen from the top of Sigiriya

The plain and the neighbouring rock seen from high on Sigiriya

The golden facade of the Dambulla cave temple

Buddha statues and a painted ceiling inside a rock cave temple

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy reflected in the lake at dusk

Rows of Buddha statues in an ornate shrine chamber

Temple drummers in white playing under a painted ceiling

A white stupa and an open pavilion with a golden Buddha at a hill-country temple

A large golden reclining Buddha in a temple garden

An all-white temple with carved balustrades and gilded figures

The tall standing Buddha of the tsunami monument at Peraliya, beside the lagoon

The rampart and lighthouse of Galle fort

The white Meeran Jumma mosque inside the walls of Galle fort

Two masked Kandyan dancers on stage

A wall of hand-carved and painted masks at a carving workshop

Two monks in orange robes walking along the roadside

Two women cooking over the wood-fired hearth of a village kitchen

Grating fresh coconut by hand at a village house

A rice and curry spread with a dozen small dishes

Roti with freshly grated coconut and onion sambol on a village table

A plate of traditional Sri Lankan sweets

Papaya, pineapple and banana laid out for breakfast

A rice and curry meal served in clay bowls in a roadside shelter

Dried spices laid out in clay dishes at a spice garden

A woman holding two halves of a freshly opened coconut

Latex dripping from a tapped rubber tree into a coconut shell

The pulp beater machine at an elephant-dung paper workshop

Rice paddies seen from above

Tuk-tuks lined up outside the shops on the main road through town

A red tuk-tuk with the driver's name painted across the windscreen

A local bus painted from bumper to roof on the coast road

A blue and red bullock cart parked under the palms

A hotel room with local artwork above the bed

A low guesthouse building among trees and garden

A white house on the riverbank among coconut palms

A hotel terrace above the river with jungle on the far bank

The royal palm avenue in the Peradeniya botanic garden

Every photograph here was taken by us on our own trips to Sri Lanka, which is why there are no glossy resort brochures among them.

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