In the little village of Kalasirigama, (formerly Henavala) in Menikhinna, in the Dumbara Valley of the Kandy district, a small group of families are engaged in their traditional craft of weaving Dumbara mats and tapestries. This age-old craft has been practised by people from the Kinnara community since the days of the Sri Lankan kings, when they enjoyed royal patronage and the craft flourished.
A British journalist told me that a shortcoming of Sri Lankan tourism is that it has failed to be bold in how it tells its big stories to the world. I am inclined to agree. One of these shortcomings is the failure to educate the world at large that Sri Lanka is the ‘Best for Big Game Safaris’ outside Africa. It is difficult to imagine that the tiny island of Sri Lanka is the next best to the gigantic African continent for Big Game Safaris. But it is so.