Marjorie Yue
Enjoy a five-night city break in Singapore, staying room only at the four-star Parc Sovereign Tyrwhitt Hotel with rooftop pool. Includes return flights from Gatwick for £633 or Birmingham for £637, departing March 20. travelrepublic.co.uk, 020 8974 7200
Standing by the roadside, trunk waving in the air as if trying to thumb a lift, the elephant appeared just as surprised as we were to see him as we sped by. More than likely it was the vehicle we were driving in. Our rented motorhome had certainly been the unexpected star of our Sri Lanka road trip. Passing locals would turn their heads in wonderment and wherever we parked a little crowd would materialise, to peer inquisitively through the windows.
In Britain, camping and caravanning has long been a popular choice for a staycation, although I have to confess it’s a holiday that’s never appealed to me.
But when Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays launched tours to the sunny exotic Indian Ocean isle last year, it was easy to persuade my friend, Wendy, to come along for the ride, especially when I told her neither of us would be stuck behind the wheel as the tour package came with a chauffeur.
Parvit, our driver, greeted us at Colombo Airport along with Kapila, our tour escort, before introducing us to our home on wheels. We had a brief taste of our compact abode on our motorhome as he drove us to straight to the seaside town of Chilaw, checking into Anataya Beach Resort. A restful night at the five-star hotel was just the ticket after our 12-hour flight from Heathrow.
So when Parvit and Kapila collected us the following morning we were ready to hit the road, heading north to the country’s biggest National Park, Wilpattu. On arrival we parked up at the campsite, transferring to a jeep for our afternoon safari.
Our adventure kicked off within moments of passing through the gates when a cobra slithered into view, rearing up to display its fearsome hood before disappearing down into a trench – a rare sighting apparently.
We were on a roll as went on to see elephants, buffalos, sambar deer, jackals, lively langur monkeys, along with tiny bee-eater birds, brightly coloured jungle fowl and plenty of peacocks.
That evening we dined al fresco on a tasty barbeque feast of prawns, seer fish steaks and cuttlefish accompanied by a feta cheese and pineapple salad, all washed down with a bottle of the national brew, Lion Beer.
Culture was high on the agenda for the next day as we set off for World Heritage city, Anuradhapura. Dating back to 380BC, the country’s first capital ruled Sri Lanka for over