Posted 03 Sep 2010

A visit to the Sinharaja Rainforest in Sri Lanka is an experience that gap year travellers will not forget in a hurry, the country’s tourism body has claimed.

According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the area is “teeming” with diverse forms of life, making it one of the best places in the world to “be at one with nature”.

The rainforest was saved from a government-sponsored logging operation in the 1970s and in 1978 it was recognised by UNESCO as an international Man and Biosphere Reserve.

It was subsequently included in the organisation’s list of World Heritage Sites thanks to its fantastic array of flora and fauna, as well as its numerous species of wildlife.

While leopards have been spotted in the Sinharaja, gap year travellers are more likely to come across reptiles and amphibians, as the area is home to half the total frog species in Sri Lanka and over 20 species of snake.

Conservationist and television personality Bill Oddie is among those to have been impressed by Sri Lanka’s wildlife, having come face to face with elephants in the Uda Walawe National Park and sloth bears in Yala.

Category: Asia