For a country with one of the highest population densities in the world (304 people per square miles), the island is also remarkable in that 13% of its land area is designated for wildlife & nature conservation.

The Sinhalese chronicles suggest the annual pageant was held in the 3rd century BC in the hills as a rainmaking event: pay tribute for the harvest & prey to the gods for rain in time for the next crop. However the general belief is that the pageant commenced with the arrival of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Sri Lanka in the fourth century AD,

The government-run Orphanage was set up in 1975 to rescue four orphaned baby elephants when they could no longer be looked after at Dehiwala (Colombo south) Zoo. Today with 70 elephants herein, it has become the home to the largest captive group of elephants in the world.

The tropical island of Sri Lanka is well forested, with more than 18899 acres of hilly virgin, uninhabited woodland in the Sinharaja Forest alone. Pocketed between two sizeable rivers, namely river Kalu Ganga from the north & river Gin ganga from the south of the numerous rivers of this paradise like tropical island of Sri Lanka, no larger than state of Virginia, is a virgin tropical rainforest of enormous ecological significance, a treasure trove of biodiversity.

Interesting as the ascent is, & beautiful as the dawn is, Adam's peak saves its mesmerising paramount show time for a few minutes after dawn. As the sun rises, the shadow of the Peak seems to be projected in from the air without lying upon the forest below as one's eyes expect: a perfect shadow of the peak onto the misty clouds in the direction of far coast.

Perched on the southern edge of the Central highlands, midway between Nuwara Eliya & Haputale is Horton Plains Nation Park (7200 ft). The Park (10,000 ha), named after British governor Sir Robert Horton is a world apart from rest of the tropical island. This is the island's highest & most isolated plain, a result of millions of years of erosion.