Adventure Asia’s first Hot Air Balloon flight in the south, took off, with nine ballooning enthusiasts in the basket. At 1,000 meters above ground level, capturing the picturesque sights of the south of Sri Lanka, the balloon floated over, beautiful tea country to the north with a hazy view of Adam’s Peak, and to the south, the spectacular coast with the World Heritage Site Galle Fort and Buddhist Stupa of Rhumassala was seen shining from a distance.    

Endless paddy fields and jungle hills was viewed as a mass of green and as the balloon was approaching ground level the sighting of exotic birds and raucous monkeys on the trees added to the excitement of a wonderful experience. The feeling is best described by Olivia Richli “I had one of the most magical moments I have ever had in Sri Lanka.” For details contact peter@ad-asia.com or visit www.ad-asia.com.

top

Built within the walls of the 400 year old UNESCO World Heritage site of Galle Fort, the Amangalla Hotel, now hosts free monthly talks at the Zaal – the hotel’s beautiful hall.

On Saturday 1st December 2007 at 7 p.m. photojournalist and Asia expert Juliet Coombe, will speak on ‘The Forbidden Country – Burma’. The talk will be followed by a debate on whether tourists should continue the country’s tourism boycott. Photojournalist Juliet Coombe worked as a foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times in Burma in 1995, produced a Channel Four Documentary on the country in 1997 and recently shot a series of news pieces for ITN looking at the country ten years on from the start of the 1996 tourism boycott.

For more details on this talk and future events write to orichli@amanresorts.com or visit www.amanresorts.com 

top

top

Clear skies on a windy evening saw the most creative kites at the Kite Festival on the Mt Lavinia beach on Sunday the 18th of November. Hundreds of kites of myriad colours and descriptions were seen fluttering in the sky, as the competitors from various suburbs of Colombo mingled in easy camaraderie and vied for the prizes with those who had travelled to the event from far off towns of Trincomalee and Kantalai.  

The passion and commitment of the competitors, has spurred the organizers the Lions Movement and Sri Lanka Tourism, to develop this colourful and engaging event, in to an annual feature to be held in September/October each year, opening the competition to international participants.

Sri Lanka Calling is delighted to announce that, ‘230 Interactive’ has launched, the first online image store which feature a myriad of images of Sri Lanka. To view these lovely descriptions visit www.Zero3images.com

top

The Colombo Jazz Festival will take off next month at the CR and FC grounds Colombo from December 7th to 11th. The participation of UK’s top Saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, currently working with the Ronnie Scots All Stars and the BBC Big Band, is bringing his own quartet to Sri Lanka.  Dave has previously toured Sri Lanka with Martin Taylor and his own group. Joining him will be Andrew McCormack(piano)- winner of Rising Star, British Jazz Awards 2006.  

Alongside the British performers, the best names in the local jazz scene will also be there to entertain visitors. The CR and FC grounds will take on a carnival atmosphere during the five days of the event where music will be complimented by dinner stalls offering select British cuisine along with specially brewed beer.

top

A Romanian fork lore ensemble “Baraganul” will perform at the Galadari Hotel from 30th November to 4th December. This event, organized jointly by the Romanian embassy in Colombo and the Galadari Hotel, is in celebration of 50 years of diplomatic ties between Romania and Sri Lanka.

The visiting performers will offer an opportunity for Colombo audiences to get an insight of the rich culture of Romania and the artistes, will no doubt, carry back happy memories of a delightful stay in Sri Lanka.

top

English Cricket captain Michael Vaughan, and Vice Captain Paul Collinwood joined our own captain Mahela Jayawardena, Vice captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mutthiah Muralidharan to launch the Sri Lanka Tourism / Rotary Movement “Sri Lanka Carbon Offset Programme” prior to the first test match to be played at the Asgiriya Grounds in Kandy.

The programme aims to plant a million more appropriate trees involving expert advice, mobilising thousands of school children and people from all over Sri Lanka over the next five years. The England team captain and the team were keen to participate in the launch initiative to help Sri Lanka Tourism work “Towards being a Carbon Clean Destination: A Tourism Earth Lung”, a programme recognised by the UN World Tourism Organisation as a pioneering and proactive attempt in working towards mitigating the effects of global warming and climate change. Through this programme Sri Lanka Tourism seeks to work with all stakeholders on preventing deforestation, taking on significant efforts at reforestation, mitigating pollution encouraging cleaner production and utilising energy saving resource use.

Our thanks to the England and Sri Lanka cricket teams for their support in working towards making Sri Lanka the greenest destination in Asia, taking off any travel guilt of our visitors. 

top

Dubbed the world’s number one literary festival by Harper’s Bazaar UK, in its inaugural year, the Galle Literary Festival will take place, once again, over five days from 16th to 20th January 2008 with the participation of award winning writers among whom will be Anita and Kiran Desai, Simon Winchester, Gore Vidal, Alexander Mcall Smith, Jacqueline Wilson, Shyam Selvadurai and Sashi Tharoor.
   
The four day programme will be filled with writing workshops, panel discussions, topical debates, gourmet literary lunches and dinners, poetry readings, theatre workshops, a comprehensive children’s program and a host of other activities. For registration and more details visit www.galleliteraryfestival.com   

top