In the twelfth century, the explorer Marco Polo wrote that Sri Lanka was the finest island in the whole world while successive waves of Indian, Arab and European traders and adventurers flocked to its palm-fringed shores, attracted by reports of rare spices, precious stones and magnificent elephants. It has more than 2,550 years of continuous written history by means of the Mahawansha, and was also mentioned in several ancient Indian texts.

One of the most famous is the Ramayana, in which the island, which was referred to as Lanka, was the island fortress of the king Ravana. It is not a mere tropical isle known for sun, sea and sands, although it has all this in plenty. In fact the island has over 1400km of sulkiness beach. The warm waters of the Indian ocean that offers attractions for surfing, undersea diving, the fascination of coral reefs, and also for the more adventurous, the chance of exploring the wrecks from Portuguese galleons to British warships of World War 2. But its attractions are not limited to those of the sea and sunny beaches fringed by coconut palms. Despite its small size Sri Lanka boasts of one of the highest rates of biological endemism in the world whether in plants or animals and is included among the top five biodiversity hotspots in the world.

Of the ninety-one species of mammals found in Sri Lanka Asian elephants, sloth bear, leopards, sambar and wild buffaloes engages the majority of the attention of wildlife enthusiast. Yet the rarest mammals of Sri Lanka are the red slender Loris, Toque Macaque, and Purple-faced Langur, who according to IUCN clarifications are endangered due to habitat loss.