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The Kalutara Vihara

To guard the spice trade the Portuguese built a fort on the site of the Buddhist temple at Kalutara. The Dutch took it over and later a British agent converted it into his residence during the colonial era. The modern temple, built in the 1960s, is located just south of the Kalutara Bridge and is the only dagoba (Buddhist shrine) in the world that is hollow. Inside, the cool, echoing walls are lined with a sequence of 74 murals depicting various scenes from the Buddhist Jataka (the legendary 550 previous births of the Buddha) tales. The remainder of the temple buildings are situated in a compound on the other side of the road, featuring the unusual Bo Tree enclosures and Buddha shrines. It is a lively complex, and a good place to watch the daily rituals of Sri Lankan Buddhism: the offerings to Buddha images are made three times a day. Devotees place food and flowers in front of the images, lighting coconut-oil lamps, tying prayers written on scraps of cloth to one of the Bo trees or pouring water into conduits which run down to water the Bo tree's roots. Outside, a series of donation boxes line the roadside, popular with local motorists, who frequently stop here to offer a few coins and say a prayer for a safe journey.

The Kalutara Basket Centre

Kalutara is famous for its colourful, soft basketry. At the Basket Centre in the middle of the village, the local weavers tame the unyielding palm fronds, turning them into purses, coasters, hats and other items. The unyielding and stubborn thorny Watekeiyya palm leaves are skillfully transformed into patterned mats, purses, lampshades and linen baskets. Many other wares are woven from coconut fibre.

Richmond Castle

At Palatota, a little inland, is located Richmond Castle, a fine country house in a 42-acre fruit garden estate. Richmond Castle is a beautiful example of Indian and British colonial period architecture. Originally a spice plantation mansion, the house is now open to the public. Built in 1896, it originally belonged to landowner turned philanthropist NDA Silva Wijayasinghe, the local Padikara Mudaliyar and was used during the British period as a circuit bungalow for officials. Wijayasinghe copied the plans of an Indian Maharaja's palace designed by a London architect. The audience hall has intricately carved pillars and beams (two shiploads of teak were brought from Burma for its construction), and a spiral staircase leading to a gallery of some fascinating photographs from the time. The house and grounds are open to the public. It makes a good canoeing or bike track with a riverside picnic.

Sinharaja Forest

The Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a national park in Sri Lanka. The hilly virgin rainforest, part of the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests eco-region, was saved from the worst of commercial logging by its inaccessibility, and was designated a World Biosphere Reserve in 1978 and a World Heritage Site in 1988. The reserve's name translates as Kingdom of the Lions. The reserve is only 21 km from east to west, and a maximum of 7 km from north to south, but it is a treasure trove of endemic species, including trees, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Because of the dense vegetation, wildlife is not as easily seen as at dry-zone national parks such as Yala. There are no elephants here and the fifteen or so leopards are rarely seen. The most common larger mammal is the endemic Purple-faced Langur. An interesting phenomenon is that birds tend to move in mixed feeding flocks, invariably led by the fearless Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and the noisy Orange-billed Babbler. Of Sri Lanka's 26 endemic birds, the 20 rainforest species all occur here, including the elusive Red-faced Malkoha, Green-billed Coucal and Sri Lanka Blue Magpie. Reptiles include the endemic Green Pit Viper and Hump-nosed Vipers, and there are a large variety of amphibians, especially tree frogs. Invertebrates include the endemic Common Birdwing Butterfly and the inevitable leeches.