What there is to do

Hummanaya is said to be the second-largest blowhole in the world. Swell pushes into a channel in the rock and the pressure sends a column of seawater up through a gap in the cliff — sometimes a few metres, sometimes a great deal more.

Go on a day with some sea running, or you will be looking at a hole in a rock. Stand back from the edge and expect to get wet.

Yala has the higher density of leopards and the higher density of jeeps to go with it. Udawalawe is the more reliable day out if what you want is elephants — herds of them, often close to the track, with none of the scrum around a leopard sighting.

Either is a long day: you leave the villa around 4am to be at the gate for opening, and you are back mid-afternoon. We will arrange the jeep and a packed breakfast.

Kalametiya is a coastal lagoon and mangrove sanctuary — herons, egrets, kingfishers, and a long list of migratory waders in season. Best seen from a small boat at first light, with a guide who knows the birds.

Ussangoda is a short drive on: an odd plateau of red earth above the sea where very little grows, wrapped in a Ramayana legend about a crashed flying chariot. Worth the detour for the strangeness of it.

Red Beach is the closest, about four hundred and fifty metres down a quiet road. Marakkalagoda follows at six hundred, then Goyambokka at a little over a kilometre — small and sheltered between headlands — then Paravi Wella and the long open sweep of Tangalle Beach, both about two kilometres out. Rekawa, where the turtles nest, is twelve.

For surfing, the horseshoe bay at Hiriketiya about 13 km west is the friendliest place on this coast to learn, with board hire and instructors on the sand. We can arrange a lesson and the drive.

A word of caution worth taking seriously: several of these beaches have strong currents and none are patrolled by lifeguards. Ask us before you swim somewhere new.