Madu River Boat Safari with a turtle hatchery visit

Highlights:

• Mangroves and coastal eco systems
• Island exploration
• Scenic boat ride
• Turtle conservation.

Madu river is a complex coastal ecosystem of mangroves and islands. A boat tour is an ideal way to experience hundreds of species of plants and animals in their natural habitat. There are around 64 islands in the river and lagoon, from a tiny speck housing, a deserted shrine to one housing 250 families, connected to the mainland via a long footbridge.

You can visit an island with a Buddhist monastery, where the friendly young monks will show you a 150-year-old book made of palm leaves and how they cook on cinnamon wood on an open fire. You will proceed to witness how cinnamon is cultivated in one of the local industries of Colombo.

Enjoy lunch (included) and thereafter you will be taken to Kosgoda Beach which is one of Sri Lanka’s most important nesting grounds for marine turtles. As many as five out of the world’s seven species of marine turtle visit and lay their eggs on Sri Lankan shores yet all of these species are considered to be either threatened or endangered. Female turtles come ashore and lay their eggs on the very same beach they were born. Once their eggs are buried, they return to the sea leaving their eggs unattended, to mature and hatch.

What's included

• Boat tour
• Lunch