HORSE RIDING TOUR

After breakfast, courtesy of the Heritance Kandalama stable in Kandalama, ride to this ancient capital region along the shore of the Kandalama Lake, and take a jungle trail towards Kaldiya Pokuna, an ancient Buddhist meditation site. Spend the evening at leisure, or visit the Sigiriya Rock Fortress atop a massive column of stone nearly 200 meters high. Guarded by an enormous lion’s-head gateway, hence the name Lion Mountain, this magical and mysterious complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing a fantastic collection of painted frescos on a ‘mirror wall’ of polished granite.

After breakfast, reunite with the horses at the Alkins Adventure resort and ride through villages, banana plantations and vegetable fields along rural paths through Sigiriya. Lunch at the Sigiriya Rest House before transfering to Kandy, with a visit to the Spice Gardens en route.This evening, witness cultural dances of Sri Lanka, and visit the Temple of the Tooth, where Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth taken from the Buddha after his death—is kept in a golden casket. Tourists and devotees and tourists are free to visit the heavily guarded relic room during puja (offerings or prayers). Many other temples and museums are housed within the temple complex, including the three-storey Alut Maligawa hall displaying dozens of sitting Buddhas donated by Thai devotees.

After breakfast, you will discover the last kingdom of Sri Lanka – Kandy. A World Heritage Site, Kandy is often termed the most beautiful city of Sri Lanka. Later, depart for Nuwara Eliya, arriving in time for lunch. After lunch at the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, ride from the racecourse on a route along winding paths of tea estates to Gregory Lake and back through an old cemetery steeped in the colonial past of Sri Lanka.