CHOGM Srilanka 2013 November

The parameters for the live telecast of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 taking place at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Nov. 15 are now available online.

Srilanka Airlines

Colombo: Responding to SriLankan Airlines' consistent overseas promotional drive to promote leisure golf combined with family holidays, over 170 amateur golfers from 15 nations across the globe have flown into Sri Lanka, to participate in the 14th SriLankan Airlines' Golf Classic on Victoria Golf and Country Resort course in Digana, Kandy, from 23- 27 October.

The international line-up of golfers will be joined by over 50 of local golfers that will increase the total number of participants to around 220 players, creating a great challenge and an opportunity to enjoy 4 consecutive days of leisure golf on the par 73, 18 hole course overlooking the picturesque Victoria Reservoir.

The tournament will be played on two consecutive days by each player and points will be allocated for a player's Gross and Nett Stableford scores over their two rounds.
"We are pleased with the very positive response from players in our online as well as offline destinations who are discovering Sri Lanka's potential as a leisure golf destination which offers a range of options for combined family holidays as well," said SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe.

The tournament is supported by the main international aviation industry sponsor, Airbus Industries. Two other industry sponsors are Lufthansa Technik and Rolls Royce who have supported SriLankan's Golf Classic many times before. The airline's Communications Partner is Mobitel while all ground handling for the tournament and tours are entrusted to LankaSportReisen (LSR). Other sponsors are Premadasa Jewellers and Lion Breweries (Carlsberg).

Spread over 200 hectares with Knuckles Range as the backdrop, the Victoria course is among the best in the Indian sub-continent with a fairly challenging turf, as described by many who have played there.
"As the flag carrier, SriLankan Airlines has been actively promoting sports tourism to attract holidaymakers to the country," said the Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena. " We are encouraged to enhance and make the Golf Classic grow, as it is drawing a lot of interest from golfers all over the world, who are always looking out for new challenging courses."
This year the airline has attracted golfers from the US, Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Malaysia, the UK, France, Germany, Japan, China, India, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Dubai, Pakistan, Italy and our own players in Sri Lanka.
Apart from the Golf Tournament Package which was on offer for the players, several excursions and tours to places such as Nuwara Eliya, Pinnawala, Kandy, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kitulgala, Horton Plains, Minneriya and Uda Walawe were also available for accompanying families and friends on holiday.
SriLankan Airlines flies to 64 cities in 34 countries covering South Asia, South East Asia, the Far East, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and Canada.

Sri Lanka with nature

 

Tea plantations extend as far as the eye can see. This is Nuwara Eliya (pronounced nur-e-liya), an idyllic town in upcountry Sri Lanka, nestled amid lush tea gardens. After having spent two fantastic days in Kandy, we took off by a private coaster organized by Sri Lankan Airlines who sponsored our Sri Lanka tour. The route from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya threads through the breathtakingly beautiful hills, dense valleys, negotiating endless hairpins, passing the magnificent waterfalls at the village of Ramboda, tea factories rustling up fresh brews, roadside fruits stalls selling avocados, papayas and pineapple. Though the road is narrow throughout, the riot of green and pretty villages soothe your senses. The town can also be reached by train from Colombo and Kandy.

Our first stop is to relish the fresh bright orange-colored king coconut water called temboli, and a quick bite of ripe jackfruit bits. Both were so sweet that we craved something savory after that. I also ate for the first time a fruit known for its nasty odor, the durian. This oblong, brownish green fruit is covered with sharp spines and is similar to jackfruit.

As we moved farther the distant sight of a waterfall cascading down a mountain slope made us stop to record some memories in our cameras. After some time, we sighted the Ramboda Holiday Resort from where you can literally feel the dew released from the picturesque Ramboda falls.
At our next we watched the processing of tea produced from leaves. At Glen Loch Tea Factory in Katukithula hamlet a variety of orange pekoe teas, green teas and flavored teas are available for sale. Inside the factory we got a first-hand experience of tea processing and the operations that go into the making of different varieties of tea. We sipped freshly brewed tea and some of us purchased different varieties of tea to take back home.

Women laborers plucking leaves at tea plantations became a regular sight. Today more than 200,000 hectares in highlands and other areas are under tea cultivation and around 300 million kilograms, with a 25 percent of world tea exports are done by Sri Lanka as the world’s largest tea exporter. Tea was first planted in Sri Lanka in 1824 at the Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, when a few plants were brought from China. More were introduced from Assam (India) in 1839. In 1867, a Scottish planter named James Taylor planted tea seedlings in a eight hectares of forestland, in the Loolkondura Estate. Since then Sri Lanka is famous for tea.

Perched at a height of some 1,880 meters above sea level, Nuwara Eliya was discovered by the British in 1818 who converted this picture-postcard town into a summer retreat in the late 1820s.
Before we checked in at our hotel we feasted on an a la carte lunch at Jetwings’ St. Andrews hotel, built around an old Tudor country house, which served as a grand colonial residence during the days of British rule. Nuwara Eliya is very pretty with old English cottages dotting an area of the landscape called, ‘Little England’. The town is replete with centenarian heritage buildings as we got to see the Grand Hotel, the exclusive Hill Club, the Post Office, and many others. We quickly passed the golf course and headed toward Gregory Lake. As we got down to amble along the lake road, we sighted a seaplane floating on two giant pontoons on the waters. Our guide told us that the air taxi service between Peliyagoda near Colombo and Lake Gregory takes only 30 minutes to fly 15 persons.
After sipping Ceylon tea at a local café, we proceeded to our hotel Langdale by Amaya about 12 kilometers from the center of the town. Though the road is not in good shape, the idyllic scenery made the journey worthwhile. The new boutique hotel is stunningly beautiful. At the height of a resonating calmness, Langdale by Amaya stands with conventional colonial charm and sits pretty with spectacular views around. After a night’s stay we left the hotel just after dawn. As zephyr coddled us, the area looked like it was partially dipped in fog. En route to Colombo, we had lunch at Kitulgala Rest House, which overlooks the site where the award-winning movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai” was shot. The view from the rest house is spectacular, overlooking the Kelani River and a lush forest reserve on the other side of the river. Here, we gorged on Sri Lankan delicacies. On our journey to Nuwara Eliya and the town itself, we discovered a green gem with excellent views. It was not just the beauty of nature that fascinated us, but the raw and yet unexploited character of the place.

Visit Beautiful Places

 Beautiful Places

Ramboda road – Stone Drilled place

Once you go about 52 km along the Kandy – Nuwara Eliya road you will get to this place. The road goes through a rock. The rock is cut to built the road and it is about 4 meters in height. The narrow road of this place will definitely make you uncomfortable.

Toppass Gap
Toppass gap is located at Kandy – Nuwara Eliya road near 71 km post. This is located about 2200 meters above the sea level and it is then highest gap from all in Sri Lanka. The Kandy – Nuwara Eliya road is built thourigh this.

Boat safaris on Madu River (Madu Ganga)
Madu ganga is a beautiful place to do boat safaris. This is because not only the scenic beauty of the Madu ganga the echo systems and the diversity is very high.Once you travel upstream of Madu ganga about 1 km it comes to a huge water body like a tank which as about 64 small islands.

Rumassala Mountain
Rumassala Mountain is a very special place as the echo system of Rumassala is totally different from other areas of Sri Lanka. Most of the plants of Rumassala can only be found here.
There is a legend associated to this mountain in the epic story “Ramayanaya” when “ Lakshman” was injured in the battle and “Hanuman” was sent to Himalaya rejon to bring a herbal plant. “Hanuman” forgot the name of the plant so he brought a piece of Himalaya to this location. As for Dr Arthur C. Clerk this place is formed from a meteoroid long time ago. And it is found that the gravitational force of Rumassala is different from other land mass as well.Enjoy the spectacular view of the Ocean and the Galle fort from the Rumassala Mountain. Contact Golden Sri Lanka.

Other Beautiful Places Ramboda road – Stone Drilled place Once you go about 52 km along the Kandy – Nuwara Eliya road you will get to this place. The road goes through a rock. The rock is cut to built the road and it is about 4 meters in height. The narrow road of this place will definitely make you uncomfortable. Toppass Gap Toppass gap is located at Kandy – Nuwara Eliya road near 71 km post. This is located about 2200 meters above the sea level and it is then highest gap from all in Sri Lanka. The Kandy – Nuwara Eliya road is built thourigh this. Boat safaris on Madu River (Madu Ganga) Madu ganga is a beautiful place to do boat safaris. This is because not only the scenic beauty of the Madu ganga the echo systems and the diversity is very high.Once you travel upstream of Madu ganga about 1 km it comes to a huge water body like a tank which as about 64 small islands. Rumassala Mountain Rumassala Mountain is a very special place as the echo system of Rumassala is totally different from other areas of Sri Lanka. Most of the plants of Rumassala can only be found here. There is a legend associated to this mountain in the epic story “Ramayanaya” when “ Lakshman” was injured in the battle and “Hanuman” was sent to Himalaya rejon to bring a herbal plant. “Hanuman” forgot the name of the plant so he brought a piece of Himalaya to this location. As for Dr Arthur C. Clerk this place is formed from a meteoroid long time ago. And it is found that the gravitational force of Rumassala is different from other land mass as well.Enjoy the spectacular view of the Ocean and the Galle fort from the Rumassala Mountain. Contact Golden Sri Lanka.

Boost Suit

Endemic Birds of Sri Lanka

Giramaliththa - Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot (Loriculus beryllinus)

Identification

This is a small, mainly green hanging parrot, only 14 cm long with a short tail. The adult has a red crown, rump and bill, and an orange tint to its back. Immature birds lack the orange hue to the back, have a duller rump, and have only a hint of orange on the crown.

Behavior

Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is less gregarious than some of its relatives, and is usually alone or in small groups outside the breeding season. Its flight is swift and direct, and the call is a sharp whistled twiwittwit..twitwitwit. The lorikeet is a convivial little bird, delighting in juicy fruits, the nectar of flowers (especially red cotton), and the juice of palms collected in toddy-drawers’ pots. Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is a bird of open forest. It is strictly arboreal, never descending to the ground. It nests in holes in trees, laying 2-3 white eggs in the first half of the year, and sometimes again in July-September. Its breeding habits are highly remarkable.

Location

This brilliantly-coloured little parrot is found everywhere in the hills up to 4,000 feet, and in the north-east monsoon it ascends a thousand feet higher; it also inhabits the low-country wet zone and parts of the dry zone to the south of the Northern Province