Sri Lanka travel information
Sri Lanka has had many names in its long and colourful history – words deriving from Greek and Roman, Pali, Sanskrit and English – each reflecting the island's prominent position on the Indian Ocean's trade routes. Serendip is just one of these names, from which we take the word 'serendipity' coined by Horace Walpole to describe the gift of making happy and unexpected discoveries purely by accident. The island's central mountains block the monsoon winds and create two quite different regions – low-lying coastal plains running inland from the northern and eastern shores, and sloping hills climbing to the mountains from the south.
The island's architectural and artistic heritage has much in common with Indian Hindu and Buddhist tradition, yet its relative isolation has resulted in some unique distinctive features. This isolation is also evident in Sri Lankan wildlife, much of which is unique to the island, and includes elephant, a variety of deer and reptiles, 240 indigenous species of butterfly, and no less than 250 resident bird species.
Country facts for Sri Lanka holidays
Weather
Sri Lanka has a tropical monsoon climate. The northeast monsoon (December to March) only affects east coast, while the southwest monsoon (June to October) affects mostly the west coast and mountains.
Languages
The official languages in Sri Lanka are Sinhala and Tamil, although English (spoken by around 10% of the population) is used for inter-ethnic communication.
Money
The currency in Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan rupee (LKR).
Time zone
GMT+5.5 (UTC+5.5).
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