Tika Traveller

Discover Sri Lanka & Maldives From Those Who Know It Best

Blogs from Tikalanka are designed to enhance your knowledge of Sri Lanka and Maldives and keep you up to date with recent developments. We intend to post regular features on travel, news, lifestyle and accommodation as well as guest articles from current and past customers, which will give you first-hand experience of Tikalanka, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Category: News

Papare - a lively genre of Sri Lankan music - goes hand in hand with cricket (courtesy of Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera)

TikaWeeks #40/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 3rd October 2023

Despite Sri Lanka’s crushing defeat at the hands of arch rivals India in front of a capacity home crowd in last month’s Asia Cup final, there were still plenty of smiling faces, dancing in the aisles and party music resounding around Colombo’s R. Premadasa cricket stadium. Even at the height of the island’s civil war and during the recent political and economic chaos, cricket has been a unifying force, a soothing balm at the time of crisis.

Lighthouse and mosque within the Dutch colonial era fort, Galle, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #39/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 27th September 2023

Sri Lanka is definitely making a comeback. With confidence building, 2024 should be a very positive year. Where better to start than the revitalised Galle Literary Festival, which runs from 25 to 28 January 2024. This now fabled event last ran in 2020 and has been attracting authors and visitors from across the world since the inaugural festival in 2015, which takes place in the vicinity of Galle's historic 17th century Dutch colonial era fort.

Leopard prowling in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka (courtesy of Laurence Pordes)

TikaWeeks #33/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 14th August 2023

With the sighting of a melanistic (black) leopard cub in Yala National Park in March this year, interest in Sri Lanka’s apex predator has surged once more. Also in March, the inaugural Global Leopard Conference was hosted in South Africa. Leopards may be the most adaptable of the big cats, however the leopard’s global population and distribution are in decline. Many of the threats to leopard survival occur commonly across the world where leopards are found, and those protecting them are seeking better conservation solutions.

TikaWeeks #23/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 6th June 2023

As another sign of Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, the central bank cut interest rates for the first time in three years last week, while in May, India extended the US$1bn credit line by a year, further easing the financial burden on the country. Inflation is coming down, government revenues are looking up and pressure on the island's balance of payments is diminishing. "This can possibly be seen as an end to the crisis.”

TikaWeeks #20/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 19th May 2023

Sri Lanka is definitely top of the wish list for travellers with bookings for this and next year returning to pre-COVID levels. This is fantastic news for the island and its people who rely heavily on tourism for their livelihoods and wellbeing. However, many hotels are realising that next year may be a bonanza for them and room rates are beginning to return to 2019 prices in 2024. This means that 2023 may be the end of the discounted period post-COVID so you had better hurry to take advantage of this year’s bargains!

TikaWeeks #18/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 2nd May 2023

The financial crisis in Sri Lanka is still on many potential visitors’ minds. The political and economic mire that left Sri Lanka in a parlous state last year has passed, thankfully, and a much needed IMF intervention has boosted the island’s economy. The Government took the unprecedented step of slashing fuel prices at the end of March this year, and an international consortium of Sri Lanka’s creditors recently launched an initiative to restructure the country’s debt. Things are definitely looking up…

A train negotiating the tortuous railway line through the Hill Country in Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #14/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 3rd April 2023

Trains are now part of everyday life in Sri Lanka but the railway has had a tumultuous time ever since British colonists first explored its possibilities for transporting coffee, coconut, rubber and tea from the plantations around Kandy to Colombo on the coast for export back in 1842. Today the railways are fundamental to the public transport network around the island as well as a popular tourist attraction. Here are five of the best rail journeys in Sri Lanka.

TikaWeeks #13/2023: Sri Lanka & Maldives update

Posted by John on 27th March 2023

BREAKING NEWS. We are now collaborating with Tropic Breeze on our Sri Lanka and Maldives holidays. Tropic Breeze is a UK-based travel specialist to Maldives, the Caribbean, Seychelles and Mauritius, and we have been working with them in Maldives for the last nine years. We believe that this is the best way forward for Tikalanka and our valued customers after a few very difficult years. We are now in a strong position to look to the future with renewed confidence.

Family group of Asian Elephants, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #12/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 23rd March 2023

Rewilding is a relatively new endeavour in Sri Lanka, although some schemes have been active for years. Jetwing Vil Uyana began an ambitious project back in 2005, converting abandoned paddy fields into a wetland mosaic fed by irrigation channels from the surrounding farmland, and planting thousands of indigenous trees. Today it is enjoying the fruits of an enlightened and welcome rewilding initiative.

A deserted east coast beach of Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #11/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 18th March 2023

Earlier this year The Independent’s travel desk published their dream destinations for 2023 and Sri Lanka topped the wish list. After years of pandemic-related restrictions, this is the first year that travel has the opportunity to return to “normal”, with most countries having opened back up to tourists, without the need for extra testing and paperwork. Previously on the up as a seemingly universally loved travel destination and with so much pent-up demand, Sri Lanka is the place to visit in 2023.

Independent Tailor-made Holidays to Sri Lanka & Maldives