The Madhu River estuary system in northwestern Sri Lanka is one of the island’s most significant mangrove ecosystems – a network of waterways threading through forest canopy alive with kingfishers, herons, monitor lizards and cinnamon bark drifting in the current. Boat safaris move slowly through channels where the trees form tunnel-like enclosures, the water so still it reflects the canopy perfectly.

Ritigala is one of the most archaeologically and atmospherically unusual sites in Sri Lanka – a forest monastery complex built between the 1st and 10th centuries into a mountain ecosystem so biologically distinct it was designated a strict nature reserve. The ruins are unrestored, unguided by signboards and approached through a forest trail where monkeys watch from above. The deliberate strangeness of the architecture, built for solitude rather than display, creates a singular experience.