January 30, 2026 | Colombo Airport – Rambukkana – Sigiriya
After arriving in Sri Lanka, we set out from the airport towards Sigiriya. During the trip, which took about three and a half hours, we stopped by the Elephant Freedom Project in Rambukkana.
This is a small protected area where elephants are not forced to perform and live without chains and in more natural conditions. We had the opportunity to meet the rescued elephants Kumari and Menike closely. We walked with them and observed their life by the river.
Traveling by car in Sri Lanka is like riding bumper cars at an amusement park. Roads going and coming; however, if you want to overtake someone, you use the middle lane and the vehicles on the sides slide left and right. You can come face to face with the car in front of you at any moment. We have no choice but to trust our driver and guide.
There are always two alphabets on the roads: Sinhala and Tamil. I also wondered how my name was written in two languages. Sanem's Sinhala and Tamil:
- Sinhala: සනෙම්
- Tamil: சனெம்
What is the difference between Sinhala and Tamil?
Ethnic identity and language
- Sinhala / Sinhalese: Sri Lanka's largest ethnic group; Their language, Sinhala, belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. Encyclopedia Britannica
- Tamil: There are two main Tamil communities in Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan Tamils and “Up-Country” or plantation Tamils. Their language is Tamil, which belongs to the Dravidian language family. Wikipedia
Religion
- Sinhalese: Mostly Theravada Buddhist.
- Sri Lankan Tamils: Predominantly Hindu; Some of them are Christians.
Geographic concentration
- Sinhalese: Spread throughout the country; they are especially concentrated in the southern and central regions.
- Sri Lankan Tamils: They are mostly concentrated in the northern and eastern regions.
Why did they fight?
When we say "war" here, we usually mean the Sri Lankan Civil War between 1983-2009. There is no active civil war today; the war ended in 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica
Fundamental tension: Equal citizenship and power sharing
After independence, from 1948 onwards, politics increasingly took shape in favor of the Sinhalese majority. On the Tamil side, the idea that they were excluded from state positions, education, language rights and regional administration became stronger.
One of the most symbolic breaking points was the "Sinhala Only" law of 1956**. Sinhala language was made the official language of the state; the Tamil minority found this discriminatory and tensions in the community grew. Encyclopedia Britannica
The road to violence
Over time, ethnic tension turned into street violence. The “Black July”, that is, the anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983, is remembered as the turning point in the start of the civil war on a large scale. Al Jazeera
What was the structure called “Tamil guerrillas”?
This statement does not describe all Tamils, but the armed organizations that emerged from within the Tamil society. The strongest of these was LTTE (Tamil Tigers). Founded in 1976, the organization aimed to establish a separate Tamil state called "Tamil Eelam" in the northeast. Encyclopedia Britannica
The conflict between the state and the LTTE continued for years; the war ended in 2009 when the government militarily defeated the LTTE.
Our first real contact with Sri Lanka was with elephants. Then, we reached Sigiriya by moving through the tropical greenery. Our hotel was a place with peacocks wandering around the garden and was built on water channels like Sigiriya.
Accommodation: Water Garden Sigiriya