Sri Lanka Tourism 6

Sri Lanka, in all meanings of the words, is a tropical paradise — a small island that manages to hold within its shores an astonishing variety of landscapes, ecosystems, and cultural legacies. From the dripping canopies of its wet zone rainforests to the ancient ruins rising out of the dry plains of the north centre, the island offers contrasts so sharp that travellers sometimes find it hard to believe they are standing on the same tropical island.

This short film moves through several of those contrasts, offering a visual introduction to the natural and cultural richness that defines Sri Lanka for visitors from around the world.

Forests and Nature Reserves

The lush wet zone greenery and the evergreen wooded forests of the dry zone together form the backbone of Sri Lanka's wildlife parks and nature reserves. Among the most celebrated is the Sinharaja rain forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the southern wet zone. In the Central Highlands, Horton Plains Nature Reserve holds the same UNESCO distinction, yet the two environments could hardly feel more different — dense lowland jungle on one side, open montane plateau on the other.

Coastlines of Two Characters

Sri Lanka's coastline shifts character depending on which shore one visits. Beaches along the south-western coast are backed by thick groves of lush coconut palms, giving them a sheltered, tropical intimacy. On the eastern coast, the shoreline is fringed mostly by Thal palm trees, with coconut palms interspersed between them — a subtly different landscape that signals a different climate and rhythm of life.

The Cultural Heartland of the Dry Plains

The north central dry plains, covered in evergreen wooded jungles, are home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, and Dambulla. Each carries great cultural significance, and each is strikingly different from the others in character, age, and the stories it holds. Together they form one of the most remarkable concentrations of ancient civilisation anywhere in Asia, set against a landscape of scrub forest and ancient reservoirs that has changed little over the centuries.