Hill country adventure

If white-water rafting is your thing, then the Kelani River, Sri Lanka’s fourth longest river, is one of the most scenic spots to do this. Meet your specialist guides at the banks for a briefing and an introduction to your kit. Then hop onto an inflatable raft to whizz down a series of grade two and three rapids. Hurtle through picturesque canyons, a real GoPro moment. At other times you’ll glide through calm stretches, taking in the lush scenery. 

Up in the central highlands, Horton Plains National Park would not go amiss in a fairy tale. A carpet of montane grassland interspersed with thick cloud forest and gnarled trees, its landscapes are so ravishingly diverse that the park was awarded a UNESCO World Heritage status. Watch the terrain unfold as you hike across exotic moorland, rocky hilltops and past mist-shrouded lakes and picturesque waterfalls. Make sure you stop at the park’s key attraction, World’s End, given its name due to a plunging 900-metre drop. The panoramas are worth the vertigo.

From Nuwara Eliya City, hop on a bike into the vivid green hill country scented with mint and eucalyptus. Your specialist guide will lead you to a leafy tea plantation where you can see local farmers painstakingly picking the precious leaves in the waist-high shrubs. Stop at a factory for a look into the production process with a tea tasting of its finest blends. Pause at Lover’s Leap waterfall, a scenic photo-stop before continuing cross country passing rural villages along the way. You’ll be back in time for lunch.