Sri Lanka - Just Nature Expeditions

Lying off the southern tip of India, this tropical island has attracted visitors for centuries with its natural beauty. Sri Lanka, an island country, located in the Indian Ocean is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal to the southwest and the Arabian Sea to the southeast. The island is home to many cultures, languages and ethnicities while being one of 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world.

With 24 declared wildlife reserves, which are home to a wide range of native species, Sri Lanka is a hotspot for thriving wildlife. The majority of the population are from the Sinhalese ethnicity, while a large minority of Tamils have also played an influential role in the island's history. Wilpattu National Park is among the oldest and most important of protected areas that are home to a range of wildlife. Each place, each animal and each smile of a native have a story to tell in these lands of nature’s bounty.

Why we love Sri Lanka?

Leopards, Whales, Asian Elephants, Jungle Cats, Hornbills, Pelicans, Terns, Acacias, Sloth Bears and a huge list of flora and fauna flourish in this biodiverse island. The treasures of this tropical paradise promises an experience worth discovery.

Animals

With high levels of species endemism, the island holds some of the most remarkable animals that are hard to find elsewhere. From predators like leopards and jungle cats to the hunted like spotted deer and Indian hares, and Sloth Bears the food chain completes full circle within their forests.

Birds

Home to over 250 species of resident birds, Sri Lanka has declared several bird sanctuaries in the last few years. Witness majestic peacocks, different kinds of terns, babblers, silverbills and the list keeps on going.

Plants

Sri Lanka has different terrestrial ecoregions of rain forests, evergreen forests and thorn scrub forests that are home to a variety of flora. Flourishing flowering acacias and marvellous wood bearing trees like tinwood, ebony, teak and many others, thrive within this tropical haven.

Whales

Meet the biggest mammal in the world, the whale, weighing up to 200 tons and reaching more than 100 feet in length. Whales breathe air even though they are aquatic animals and warm-blooded mammals, just like humans, and nurse their young ones. These endangered marine mammals are found in the waters off the coast of Mirissa and are one of the best places in the world to see Blue whales, Sperm whales and Humpback whales.

Being at the top of the food chain, whales are crucial to the health of the marine environment as a whole. Blue whales are the largest animals to have ever existed, and their tongue alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Blue whales have a diet composed nearly exclusively of krill and consume about 4 tons of krill a day during certain times of the year. Their calls reach 188 decibels, and these low-frequency whistles can be heard for hundreds of miles and are one of the iconic noises you tend to hear while on the waters around the island.