Kandy Day Tour

Pick up from the Negombo drive to Kandy.

On the way visit Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was started in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife on a twenty five acre coconut property on the Maha Oya River at Rambukkana. The orphanage was primarily designed to afford care and protection to the many baby elephants found in the jungle without their mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been killed. In some instances the baby had fallen into a pit and in others the mother had fallen in and died. Initially this orphanage was at the Wilpattu National Park, then shifted to the tourist complex at Bentota and then to the Dehiwala Zoo.

Pinnawala is the most popular and accessible place to see large numbers of these lovable animals in a natural habitat. It is the most popular elephant ‘attraction’ with tourists because nowhere else, except at the splendid ‘perehera’ will you see so many elephants at such close quarters.

The Temple of Tooth at Kandy is the final location of the sacred tooth of the lord Buddha which was brought to Sri Lanka during the reign of king “keerthi sri Megawarna” by prince “Dantha” and Princess “Hemamala” from the kingdom of Kalinga India. It became the palladium of Sri Lankan kings and was preciously guarded in a special shrine built within precincts of royal palace where the capital was located.

The Temple of the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, sri Dalada Maligawa is in the center of the city, the highest venerated religious place with steeped in cultural heritage attracting the highest respect of the Buddhists as well as the other religions all over the world. The beautiful magnificent temple was built by late king Vimaladharmasooriya 1st in 1592 AD.

Peradeniya Botanical gardens, the finest of its kind in Asia, the largest of the three botanical gardens in the island, couldn't be better located. In the Mediterranean climate of Kandy, the gateway to the central highlands, the Gardens were bounded on three sides by a loop of river Mahaweli.

Sri Lanka is one of the most startling and beautiful island countries in the world. It has a very rich and diverse culture, something that dates back to centuries.