Sri Lanka compresses an astonishing diversity of landscape and culture into a landmass smaller than Ireland. Within a few hours’ drive you can move from ancient kingdoms carved in stone to rainforests dripping with endemic birdlife, from surf towns to elephant corridors, from colonial forts to cloud-wrapped tea estates. Each region holds its own character, rhythm and reason to arrive slowly.
The Kelani River at Kithulgala drops through a series of rapids graded from II to IV – making it the undisputed white-water rafting destination of Sri Lanka and the site of the National Rafting Championship. The surrounding rainforest is a location that will be familiar to film scholars as the principal setting for David Lean’s 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai.