Wonders and walking in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is one of the world's active holiday hotspots, offering adventures on the water, diving, cycling and walking holidays and more, with a unique combination of natural beauty and ancient cultural sites.

One of the best of these is Sigiriya, also known as the Lion Rock, which can be visited as part of a walking holiday in Sri Lanka.

Considered by some as an eighth world wonder, Sigiriya sits on top of a huge 600 foot high rock surrounded by jungle, and offers holidaymakers an amazing combination of views, rock paintings, unique sculptures and gardens.

The structure was built as a fortress around 500 AD by King Kashyapa, and close to its top is an enormous sculpture of a lion, of which now just two impressive paws remain.

Another major attraction for visitors is a series of murals of 21 be-jewelled women carrying flowers, by which there are also stones inscribed with poems.

There are also the remains of formal water gardens to see, the linked squares and rectangular pools of which have survived 15 centuries.

The best times to climb Sigiriya, which can take up to three hours, is early in the morning before 10:00.

Sigiriya is located in the centre of Sri Lanka, and is one of Sri Lanka's seven World Heritage Sites, which also include the royal city of Kandy and the Sinharaja Forest Reserve - a tropical rainforest with many varieties of rare trees, flora and fauna that supports half of the island's species of mammals and butterflies.

Among the tour operators with walking holidays in Sri Lanka are Real Holidays, Exodus and Dream Sri Lanka.

For more information on Sigiriya in Sri Lanka see whc.unesco.org/en/list/202/ and www.srilanka.travel