Excursions

The pleasure of flying in a private helicopter in Sri Lanka with a charter service is a captivating experience. Choose an itinerary matched to your preference with trained, professional staff offering friendly advice on a personalised flying route.

Look down on stunning landscape as you discover the island from the serenity of the skies above. Private and infinitely enjoyable, this superlative way of travel leaves traffic, queues, crowds, waiting times and geographical limitations behind as you soar to different heights. Reliable, on time, private, quiet, and just for you.

An abundance of bird life exists on Sri Lanka with many endemic species. Tropical calm embraces the island and nearly 200 migrant species fly south for the winter, some flying from the arctic tundra to make Sri Lanka their seasonal home. With a variety of landscapes and magnificent biodiversity, it is a birdwatcher’s paradise.

With itineraries designed specifically for visitors, look out for sandpipers, storks, cormorants, kingfishers, and plovers. Watching hundreds of flamingos flying into the waterholes and lagoons is a marvel of nature. With a good guidebook by your side, all you need is a pair of binoculars and a notebook.

Yoga is an ancient tradition in South Asia, dating back 5000 years and is still widely practiced. There are numerous designated yoga retreats and increasingly hotels, holiday villas and guest houses now offer meditation sessions, Ayurveda therapies and yoga classes.

Holistic healing, focused on care of the mind and body in connection with good health is a strong tradition. The concept is derived from the notion that physical and mental wellbeing, breathing and energy are rooted in maintenance of health, together with spiritual and cultural alignment. Visit a yoga retreat and benefit from linking body with mind and breath.

Local fishing boats leave the shore a few steps from the villa; guests can enjoy an experience tour as well as participate in net fishing without straying far from the water close to the villa.

Net fishing along stretches of beach is a well-known practice in Sri Lanka. The fishermen leave early in the morning to cast their nets, creating a large crescent shape, hauling the net in later from each end with their catch as the waves roll.

Water sports are exhilarating, adventurous and fun. Featuring an array of diverse water activities, including kayaking, canoeing, jet skis, sailing, yachting, or catamaran. From a daytime – or overnight – cruise, to water skiing, banana, tube and speedboat rides, wind surfing, snorkelling and scuba diving. The choice is yours…

The inland river, Madu Ganga, which is surrounded by natural mangroves and 64 islands is a raw coastal ecosystem. Take a daytime boat safari to view hundreds of species of plants and animals.

Watch monkeys in the trees, eating fruit as a water monitor lizard glides through the water below. Cormorants, egrets, and kingfishers wait on the banks, looking out for prey.

In the evening, fishermen light lanterns in their canoes, enticing shellfish into their traps, a key occupation along with production of cinnamon.

A three-hour boat journey from Mirrissa is worth the effort to watch Spinner Dolphins spin and swim alongside the boat in playful harmony. Sometimes giant sperm and blue whales can be seen, depending on sea constraints. Monsoon conditions restrict this activity from mid-November to mid-April.

Sailfish, wahoo, tuna, giant trevally fish (GT), barracuda, king mackerel and the occasional marlin, Sri Lanka has them all. In a fibreglass game fishing boat, heading out to see is a joy. The elegant coastline is a wonderful stretch of serenity, offering a haven for a day of sightseeing, fishing or just simply relaxing and letting the water float by. Monsoon conditions restrict game fishing from mid-November to mid-April.

Visit the Kosgoda sea turtle conservation project, which was founded in 1988 to protect the turtle population in Sri Lanka from extinction. Since then, 3.5 million baby turtles have been released into the wild and the hatchery pays local fishermen to go onto the sandy beach at night to collect the eggs. The main laying season is October to April, although the eggs from mainly green turtles can be found throughout the year.

Once collected, the hatchery buries the eggs in the sand as a mother turtle would do. After about 50 days’ incubation, the baby turtles hatch and are released into the sea at night. Kosgoda turtle hatchery has tanks for injured, disabled or albino turtles which would otherwise have died left alone in the wild.

This temple is a celebrated holy site. The sacred fig, Kalutara Bodhiya, is an ancient Bodhi tree, reputed to be one of the 32 saplings of Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, planted in 2BC at Anuradhapura. The Gautama Buddha statue is well-known, and the Gangatilake Stupa is a historic fascination, the only one which is entirely hollow with the inside walls lined with paintings, depicting scenes from Buddhist Jataka tales.