Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Veddah People of Sri Lanka

They were here before the Aryan's landed more than 3000 years ago. Their Ancestors lived mostly in caves around the island and wore the bark of trees, small branches of trees or animal skins.
Then they hunted with sharp rocks and pointed sticks, later on using bows and wooden tipped arrows ( sometimes poison was and is still used for big animals), and spears. Finally they hunted as they still do, using spears, bows and metal tipped arrows and the ever present short axe.















When the meat was plentiful, they would preserve it with bees honey and store it in the hollow of a large tree.

Until the early 60's, they had no use for money as we know of it. Then they would only venture only to the village shop, to get some spices or rice. And sometimes a few trips a year to the village Blacksmith, to get the tools they wanted. In return for these goods they would bring bees Honey and Preserved meat and on occasion Fresh meat too.

They were experts in harvesting Honey, and they still are, though they still have competition in the form of the Sloth Bear !

Civilization has made them prey to diseases which were virtually unknown to them and also lured many of their people with the promise of the "good life" outside.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Welcome to Sri Lanka ! A Land Like No Other !



























A Land like no other ! That is the best short discription that can be given of Sri Lanka. A Hybid mix of people, from the Native Veddah people, the Sinhala, Tamil, Moor, Malay, Java, Arab, the invading Europeans from Portugal, Holland and England, the influx of South Indians, all giving rise to the Proud nation state of Sri Lanka.

And, as I write today, it is a nation, a country that has got rid of the dreaded terrorists, which brainwashed the Tamil people and forced the ones that did not believe into fighting a separatist war that lasted for three very long decades.

It is the land where one can still see the Giant Squirrel, Giant Moths, Majestic Elephants, Boa Constrictors, Huge Crocodiles, Exquisite Peacocks and Painted Storks. It is the land where one is able to see the Flowers that Bloom at Midnight (Kadupul), flowers that resemble the Famous Kandyan Dancers, flowers that enshrine a Buddhist Pagoda (Sal Mal) and flowers that trap insects (Bandura).

It is the land where there are almost 200 waterfalls, ranging from 265 meters to just a few meters, leaping from their rocky mountains, the many rivers large and small flowing outwards to the ocean. The land of a Thousand and more man made lakes, used to irrigate the land and also to quench the thirst of the people, made more than Two Thousand Years ago and still being used today.

The Following articles have been written and submitted , some by visitors to our beautiful land and traveled in Sri Lanka using the services of Sri Lanka Tours and some by myself.
To see these beautiful places and events in Sri Lanka , visit
http://www.srilankatours.webs.com
or, you can write directly to cananil@yahoo.com
For more information about Sri Lanka, visit
http://www.toursrilanka.webs.com

1. The Veddah People
2. Ahuguntikayo -- The Gypsies of Sri Lanka
3. Devol Maduwa - Gam Maduwa
4.Festival of Kandy - The Esala Perahera
5.Cascading Diamonds - The Waterfalls of Sri Lanka