Sri Lanka offers broad sandy beaches, astounding cultural and historic sites, stunning wildlife refuges, and misty hilltop tea plantations, all within relatively short and smooth-paved driving distances from each other.
Just over 30 miles from the southern tip of India, across the narrow Palk Strait, lies the island nation of Sri Lanka. This small country is similar in size to Ireland, but with delightfully dissimilar weather (temperatures generally between 75 and 80 Fahrenheit year round). Formerly known as Ceylon, the island offers broad sandy beaches, astounding cultural and historic sites, stunning wildlife refuges, and misty hilltop tea plantations, all within relatively short and smooth-paved driving distances from each other.
With its winning combination of ease and exoticism, one might assume you’d find Sri Lanka on any avid traveler’s must-go list, but this is a country that for a quarter century (beginning in 1983) suffered the ravages of a civil war between the island’s two largest ethnic groups, the majority Sinhalese and the Tamils, who represent 15% of the population.
Accusing the national government of discrimination and demanding the establishment of an independent country, the Tamils’ tenacious guerilla-style attacks and bombings kept the nation perpetually on edge.
By Jim Gladstone – Full Story at Passport Magazine
Sri Lanka Gay Travel Resources