About this experience
Your chauffeur guide collects you from your Dikwella hotel by 0730 in an air-conditioned vehicle for the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Bentota — pack a breakfast to eat on the way. First stop is the Lunuganga estate, country home of Sir Geoffrey Bawa from 1947 until his death in 1998, where terraced gardens, courtyards and architectural experiments the architect built as his personal testing ground are now open to visitors; the walk-through takes roughly two hours. From there you continue to the moonstone mines of Meetiyagoda, watching miners wash and sift stone from deep shafts and hearing about the rare blue-flash moonstone mined only in this area, with time to browse pieces for sale.
By early afternoon you reach Balapitiya for a boat safari through the mangrove channels of the Madu River, a high-biodiversity wetland zone. The tour runs six hours in total and is private, so timings flex to suit your group. Hotel pickup and drop-off, transport, your English-speaking chauffeur guide, the river boat safari and a bottled water per person are included; entrance tickets, food, drinks and gratuities are not. Minimum age is five.
