Sri Lanka the Miracle of Asia….

The island of Sri Lanka is located in the Indian Ocean. This island of Sri Lanka is the 25th largest island the world and the second largest island in the Indian Ocean after Madagascar discounting Java and Sumatra islands of Indonesia.

If you see the world map Sri Lanka Island is only a small speck south of Indian peninsula in Asia. But this tiny island nation is home to 20 million people! That is as much as there are Australians in the world there are an equal number of Sri Lanka people or Sri Lankans.

This country was formerly known as Ceylon and you guessed right if you it has to do something with Ceylon Tea. This is the island from which you get the famous and best brands of tea collectively called Ceylon tea. World famous tea companies such as Lipton Tea, Dilmah Tea all made their name from this small almost unknown island in the Indian Ocean.

But the island is not as small as you might think. It is 25,600 square kilometers large. That is more than double the size of the state of Israel we hear so often in media. The island resembles the shape of a pear or mango fruit with the a small peninsular tips called Jaffna making the north. From north to south the Sri Lanka island measures more than 400 Km and from east to Colombo in the west coast it measures 230 odd kilometers.

This Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka is blessed with natural beauty of every kind. The only thing we don’t have is snow and winter seasons, what with it being a tropical island near the equator does not allow snow to fall in the island. The country is surrounded by the water so it has many beautiful beaches and in the center of the country you find mountains double the height of the tallest mountains of its former colonial master’s mountains in Great Britain.

The island has a rich written history spanning more than 2500 years. So there are many heritage cities and historical monuments in this island. The commercial capital of Colombo boasts of every luxury and modern amenity found in the world and you find all people of every major world religions living in harmony in this paradise isle on earth.

Major tourist attractions in this island country are important historical and tourist cities like Dambulla, Hikkaduwa, Galle, Kandy, Kitugala , Karunegala, Matara, Mt Lavinia, Negombo, Nuwara Eliya Polonnaruwa, Ratnapura, Trincomalee and Sigiriya. The tourist attractions, Buddhist sites, the beaches and the landscapes makes Sri Lanka a sheer delight for tourists. Sri Lanka is also popular for its cricket stadiums and sports complexes. You could shop for tea and handicrafts here.

The Island has an unbroken expanse of beautiful golden beaches from the soft brown sands and warm blue waters of the Indian Ocean on its South and West Coast, to the world renowned beauty of its UN spoilt expanses of beach on the East Coast.

No less than seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in Sri Lanka. They include the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, the cave temples at Dambulla dating back to the 1st Century, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy and Sigiriya - the rock fortress in the sky said to be the 8th Wonder of the World.

The Sinharaja tropical rain forest is designated a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site and the white-washed seaport of Galle with its impressive Fort is declared the only Living World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka.

Lahiru Attanayake CC