Author: Sanjeewa Padmal (Seerendipity)

Sri Lanka camping tours mainly revolve around the Sri Lanka wildlife parks, rainforests and Sri Lanka's hill country. Most camping sites in Sri Lanka belong to private companies and they have their offices in Colombo. Many hotels around the island have also started to offer campsites due to the high demand for camping, as an extension of the existing inventory at the hotel and provide comfortable camping accommodation for the customers. Camping Tours in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is a small island with a 65610 sqkm land area. Sri Lanka is a leading holiday destination in Asia with many cultural, historical, and natural attractions. Some travellers mistakenly think that the island is a small country like the Maldives and has no geographical variation within its borders. But Sri Lanka is a country with a large extent of archaeological sites, forests, mountains, valleys, lakes, and rivers. So on your Sri Lanka trip, you do not need to restrict your trip to a beach holiday but you can actively engage in Sri Lanka wildlife tours, exploring historical places such as temples, and stupas, making boat trips and engaging in adrenaline-pumping adventure activities such as whitewater rafting and many more. Even though Sri Lanka is a small country, it has a large number of wildlife reserves, mountains, tropical rainforests, tropical cloud forests and one of the oldest patches of rainforests in the world, known as the Sinharaja rainforest. The vastness of Sri Lanka's natural wealth is so immense your may not able to explore the Sinharaja rainforest alone for many years. That's why we have meticulously planned your camping tours in Sri Lanka to give you top-notch camping experiences on the island. Take part in a Sri Lanka road trip, that's the best way to get hold of the rich culture and history of Sri Lanka while enjoying the natural beauty of the country. There are few camping tours available to book in the country, offered by several tour operators in Sri Lanka such as seerendipity tours. But most tour operators do not touch this segment of tourism, because they have no experience in this field and there were not many travellers looking for camping tours in Sri Lanka. How to book a camping tour of Sri Lanka Most camping sites belong to private companies and they have their offices in Colombo. Many hotels around the island have also started to offer campsites due to the high demand for camping, as an extension of the existing inventory at the hotel and provide comfortable camping accommodation for the customers. Most camping sites are found in the western and southern parts of the island and it might be difficult to find a campsite in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, due to the unpopularity of north Sri Lanka as a holiday destination on the island. What to expect in a Sri Lanka camping tour? Usually, the camping tours of Sri Lanka evolve around natural resources such as knuckles mountain, Yala wildlife reserve, Udawalawe national park, Nuwara Eliya areas and important places in the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka. Making a camping tour in Sri Lanka allows you to be based in very beautiful scenic surroundings. Our camping tours cover a wide range of areas in central Sri Lanka, western province and southern Sri Lanka. The camping tours in Sri Lanka is a great way to experience the breathtaking scenery and tranquil surrounding to the fullest. Why is Sri Lanka a good place for camping tours? The year-round tropical climate on the island makes Sri Lanka an ideal destination for camping holidays. The campers will not encounter difficulties due to the snowfall, volcanoes or earthquakes, but torrential rainfall during the monsoon can make some difficulties during your camping tour in Sri Lanka, so try to avoid the camping sites located in the monsoon-triggered areas. There can be different weather conditions based on different camping areas, for instance, the temperature in the mountains may drop to around 0 degrees Celsius while the temperature in the lower elevated areas can be as high as 35 Degree Celsius, therefore, camping is difficult and good physical and mental fitness is required to tolerate varying weather conditions and other features. The distance between the low-elevated areas (beaches) and the highest point of the mountain is around 225 km and one can reach the mountains from the lower elevated areas or vice-a-versa within a few hours' time. If you feel that you will not able to cope-up with the huge change in the temperature make an overnight stay at a camping site in between two locations. The nice experience of camping in Sri Lanka gets elaborated with the never-ending green foliage that you encounter during the Sri Lanka trip. Enjoy the touch of fascinating flora that is comprised of huge trees, plants, grass and orchid species. In case you are a diehard adventurer, have camped in Kitulgala (at the foothills of the central mountain range), for a delightful camping experience, Kitulgala is known to travellers as the playground of adventure travellers. What are the best places for camping in Sri Lanka? As the name suggests "the playground of adventure lovers", Kitulgala offers a wide range of adrenaline-pumping activities such as white water rafting, rock climbing, trekking, waterfall abseiling, caving etc. Most camping sites in Kitulgal are permanent establishments providing year-round accommodation for nature lovers as well as adventure enthusiasts. Kitulgala camping The Kelaniya river is one of the most important attractions in Kitulgala and features many activities such as white water rafting, kayaking, bathing, fishing etc. Many camping sites are dotted along the Kelaniya river and they provide comfortable accommodation with meals for foreign as well as local travellers, who wish to have camping tours in Sri Lanka. Kitulgala and the surrounding area is been used as the base for many camping tours, it is easy to reach many important tourist places in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Horton Plains, Sinharaja rainforest, Udawalawe national park and many other sites lying at the foothills of the central mountain range from Kitulgala. Camping in Sigiriya Another place to have an enjoyable camping experience is Sigiriya, where you find many interesting places to explore. Sigiriya is another good place to have a memorable experience during your camping tour in Sri Lanka, where you can connect with the untamed wilderness due to the large extent of natural forest cover. This remote area is heaven for those who looking for a way to get away from the chaos of the busy city. Sigiriya is one of the best places for bird watching in Sri Lanka and Sigiriya is included in every bird watching tour in Sri Lanka. Minneriya safari is one of the very popular activities among travellers who stay in Sigiriya because it enables them to spot a large number of animals such as elephants, wild buffaloes, crocodiles, monkeys, wild boars etc. Minneriya is one of the best places for spotting wild elephants and large gatherings of wild elephants are very common in the park. A large number of foreign travellers are choosing Sigiriya, which is one of the most popular cultural places in Sri Lanka, as the base, while they explore the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka. Sigiriya provides easy access to many important sites such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Dambulla of the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka. Every cultural tour to Sri Lanka includes cultural triage usually Camping in Udawalawe national park Udawalawe is an isolated remote village in the dry zone of southern Sri Lanka and it is ranked among the best places for camping. There are many camping sites along the border of Udawalawe national park and they are managed by private companies. Udawalawe is popular for nature holidays and it provides patches of forests, rivers, lakes, rice paddy and wetlands useful for Faun and Flora exploration. The accommodation of camping is offered as a combination of meals, accommodation and safari. Several campsites can be seen around Udawalawe national park and all of them are managed by local companies. Camping Nuwara Eliya In the camping sites, in the mountains (high altitude areas) such as Nuwara Eliya offers you hotels as well as camping sites for an overnight stay. The green-capped mountains in the backyard add to the tranquillity of the area and enable visitors to bask in the picturesque surrounding while experiencing the camping tours in Sri Lanka to a new level. The temperature in the high-altitude area can drop sharply after the sunset making it cold for the campers. Idalgashinna camping site Idalgashinna is a quite popular camping site among local travellers, it ranks among the best camping sites in the hill country of Sri Lanka, and most importantly this is a free camping site. However, you may not see many foreign travellers here. Idalgashinna camping site is one of the most beautiful camping sites on the island and is located 1600 meters above sea level. The beautiful views from the summit could be the reason for its popularity among local travellers. The travellers need to take a hike from the railway station of Idalgashinna to reach the first summit of the Idalgashinna mountain, where the hikers see a spacious flat area, where they can set up camps. The hiking trail rises even beyond this point and the trail gets steeper and more difficult after this point. The land falls steeply on one side of the camping site and creates a beautiful view over the low land area. The camping site is very beautiful and surrounded by a lot of trees, plants, flowering plants, veins and tea bushes. You can bring your own equipment required for your camping holiday and find an appropriate and safe place to set up it. If you do not have a camp with you, then you can even hire all the things required for a camping holiday here. It is quite convenient and saves you time. If you book the campsite from an outsider they will find a suitable place for your camping and set up all things required for the camping holiday. Camping in Yala The apt location of Yala in the southern province of Sri Lanka has also become a popular place for camping tours in Sri Lanka, due to the Yala national park. A large number of wildlife explorers, who are visiting the park, are demanding accommodation near the parks and it has been difficult to accommodate travellers near the national park due to a lack of hotels because most hotels in Yala are located at least 20 km away from the national parks. Therefore the demand for camping accommodation is on the rise and owing to that several new camping sites were started along the border of Yala national park. Yala is a very remote area on the island that offers a wide range of faun Flora to explore. Not only wildlife exploration here you can have enjoyable trekking, exploration of archaeological sites and beach hopping. The camping tours in Sri Lanka crafted by Seerendipity tours provide you with the ability to escape the monotony of life and expose you to the mesmerising surrounding of the alluring places. If you wish to have a relaxing tour still these camping tours in Sri Lanka are a great way to indulge yourself in a peaceful holiday. Can the new rules of the government make a bad impact on nature tourism The Sri Lankan government is planning to change the existing fauna and flora act, in order to enable the use of buffer zones of nature reserves of Sri Lanka in future projects. The naturalist has seen the danger of the upcoming changes in rules and regulations and has protested against the proposed change of regulations. As per the regulation that prevails at the moment construction of any kind is not allowed within 500 meters of the buffer zone. Deforestation is a serious threat to the environment in the country. Therefore what authorities need to do is strengthen the existing rules and regulations to protect the environment. Recently a proposed road, which was going through the Sinharaja was stopped by court order after complaints lodged by naturalists in the country. The proposed road was planned to be constructed through the Last remaining primaeval rain forest in the southern part of the island. Earlier in a rural road development project funded by ADB, a new road was constructed through a secondary forest in the Galle district, which resulted in removing 26 valuable trees. Similar road construction was undertaken by the Samurdhi Authority of Sri Lanka, through another portion of the same forest was stopped with the intervention of Police and people in the village. A rural electrification project with the help of ADB was initially planned through a forest in southern Sri Lanka. If it was implemented a large number of valuable trees could have been removed from the forest. But the environmental authority intervened and diverted the cause of the line to an alternative route rescuing the part of the valuable forest. Legal action against encroaches Meanwhile, environmentalists in Sri Lanka are accusing several people, who are actively engaged in clearing the protected forest within the Ruhunu National Park, Sri Lanka. According to the information of The Nations, a local news portal, as many as 20,000 acres have been cleared so far and surprisingly the Department of Forest Conservation (DFC) is not taking any action against it. The areas encroached so far are located in Niyadella, Demodara, Upaliya, Kaludiyaella, Thenagallanda, Bopitiya, Ethimale, and Kotiyagala areas. Land clearing is believed to be of very high value since its proximity to Buttala international airport is due to complete in November 2012. Cleared land is in the Buttala Divisional Secretariat in the Monaragala District. According to the Environment Conservation Trust, the cleared area is divided into separate blocks of 10 to 300 acres. Cleared areas are already being used in gem mining and Chena cultivation according to The Nations.