Serendib Magazine - February 2014

In this issue

Every year in the month of February, Nawam Maha Perehera depicting Sri Lanka’s age old religious and cultural traditions are revived in Colombo. This year the cultural pageant is scheduled for the 14th Friday and 15th Saturday of February.
The indigenous flute of Sri Lanka is the Bata Nalawa. The word Bata connotes the type of plant used for the instrument and Nalawa is the Sinhala term for flute. This side-blown flute is made of a particular bamboo found in the jungles of Sri Lanka.
Located at Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner Mawatha in Colombo, the Colombo Rowing club or the CRC has built its reputation as Sri Lanka’s premier boat club. This year the club celebrates 150 years.
Declared a national park in 1993, Bundala was the first site in Sri Lanka to be declared a Ramsar Site—a protected wetland of ecological importance—in 1991.
Reminiscing about the past is habitual in the frenzied present. If you were able to travel back in time, where would you go in Colombo?
Driving through the Pattipola entrance of Horton Plains, the Thotupola Kanda nature trail is almost hidden—a small path with a not-too-significant name board. Many travellers tend to miss the location and on reaching the plains, further away, realise they may have passed the spot and turn back.
The refreshing taste of thambili or king coconut is the preferred beverage of many Sri Lankans. And as such wayside boutiques laden with thambili is a common sight throughout the Island and has become an integral part of the culture.
Eulogised as the ‘Green City in the Sun’, the ‘Safari Capital of the World’ and the ‘City of Flowers’ , Nairobi is many alluring things to many people.