Colombo Trip Overview
Five hours away from the hustle-bustle of Colombo lays a little town of Dambulla, home to one of the world’s famous cave temple complex – Dambulla Cave Temple. This golden cave temple complex is the largest and well-preserved structure in the island. Declared as an UNESCO World Heritage City in 1991, the cave temple complex has five magical dimly lit caves filled with statues and walls painted with beautiful secular murals reflecting the Sinhalese Buddhist culture. Marvel at this largest preserved cave temple and proceed to Kaudulla National Park. A safari around the national park of Kaudulla will give you an opportunity to witness a compilation of different features found in different national parks of Sri Lanka at a comparatively smaller area. In terms of elephants, around 211 individual elephants were identified within the park in the year of 2008. Other wild animals such as Sambar Deer, Sri Lankan Axis Deer, Chevrotain, Wild boar, Leopard, and Sloth Bear can also be spotted.
Additional Info
Duration: 11 to 12 hours
Starts: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Historical & Heritage Tours
Explore Colombo Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka
Five hours away from the hustle-bustle of Colombo lays a little town of Dambulla, home to one of the world’s famous cave temple complex – Dambulla Cave Temple. This golden cave temple complex is the largest and well-preserved structure in the island. Declared as an UNESCO World Heritage City in 1991, the cave temple complex has five magical dimly lit caves filled with statues and walls painted with beautiful secular murals reflecting the Sinhalese Buddhist culture. Marvel at this largest preserved cave temple and proceed to Kaudulla National Park. A safari around the national park of Kaudulla will give you an opportunity to witness a compilation of different features found in different national parks of Sri Lanka at a comparatively smaller area. In terms of elephants, around 211 individual elephants were identified within the park in the year of 2008. Other wild animals such as Sambar Deer, Sri Lankan Axis Deer, Chevrotain, Wild boar, Leopard, and Sloth Bear can also be spotted.
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Dambulla Cave Temple, Jaffna Hwy, Habarana 50150 Sri Lanka
Dambulla cave temple or Dambulla golden cave temple is one of the most precious ancient sites on the island of Sri Lanka (about Sri Lanka). This ancient temple harbours a large number of murals and sculptures originated many thousands of years ago. Today Dambulla cave temple is an important world heritage site located within the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka and included in most Sri Lanka tour itineraries. The temple was providing shelter to the King Walagambahu in the 1st century BC, during the troubled period, in which the King lost his throne, due to the South Indian invasions. Later, King regained his throne, and the king had developed the caves into an impressive Buddhist temple complex.
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Kaudulla National Park, Galoya Road, Habarana 51375 Sri Lanka
Located 190 kilometres away from Colombo, the Kaudulla National Park spreads out over an expanse of 6900 hectares. This national park is connected to three other national parks as it borders the Minneriya and Wasgamuwa national parks to the south and Somawathiya National park to the east. In the year 2002, this park was declared as a national park. Approximately two-thirds of the park is covered by water during most of the months and this water is collected in the Kaudulla Tank which is an important attraction within the park. The remaining part of land comprises of grasslands and scrubby forest areas. While this park is mostly famous for elephants, it is home to many other species such as the Sambar Deer, Sri Lankan Axis Deer, Chevrotain, Wild Boar, Leopard and Sloth Bear. 23 species of mammals and 160 species of birds such as the Peacock, Eafle, Giant Eagle, Spot-billed Pelican, Lesser Adjutant also reside at the park. The Kaudulla National Park, along with the Minneriya National Park and Hurulu Eco Park makes up the elephant corridor which is another prominent feature.
Duration: 4 hours
