Hi knitter

It will depend on where the problems are when you go. The FCO don't normally restrict travel to an entire country, just to certain areas. Whereabouts are you going to be staying?

Hi Corinne
We are going to the Browns Beach Hotel in Negombo.

Do not let the trobles put you off we went twice and both times there had been fighting, no troble what so ever i felt very safe including on the trips, the tour guides are very trustworthy and know where to go and where not to go. you will have the trip of your life we did. we also did the five day tour the first time and used beach boys the next visit and found it to be just fab.

Very long flight check to see if you have to land in the maldives as this adds another hour or more, get extra leg room seats well worth the extra money. take small gifts for the local children, pens, felt tips ect as you will be asked for things such as 'school pens' give the kids a few rubies 50p worth can feed a family all day and watch thier faces they beam and it is so worth it.
Go to the elephant sanctuary do not miss it, take your camara and tissues, the sight of seeing over 50 elephants bathing in the river a few feet away brings on the tears or pure joy. ps you also need them for the loos.
have a great time i will be going back myself in the near future.

Hi again Knitter

Obviously you can never guarantee that anywhere will be safe, but Negombo should be ok - the main problem areas are in the North and East of the island. There are occasionally incidents in Colombo, but the same could be said about London after the tube bombings last year.

In Negombo, you will be well placed for visiting the elephant sanctuary that suebrack1 mentions - it is well worth seeing - the babies are particulary cute.

I would be a bit more cautious about taking presents to give direct to the local children though, as it encourages begging and truancy. If you do want to do something to help, it is better to try and find a local charity or school to give things to as they will distribute things more equally. We have been to places where the tour guides told us that the local rich children would dress in rags and go begging to earn extra pocket money etc, so it is no always the case that those who approach you are the ones in greatest need of help.

Thanks Corinne and Suebrack
Thanks for your replys I am looking forward to going to going to the elephant sanctuary Went to kenya at Xmas which included a 3 day safari I absolutely fell in love with the elephants. One night we were sat up most of the night watching about 200 of them at the water hole. So the Santuary will be top on the list of trips in sri lanka . Do you remember how much the trip roughly costs?
We we took pens and children undies to kenya (though because of the drought at the time the thing they seemed to beg for most was our bottles of water we had with us it was so sad)
Roll on December 16th

Hi again
I cannot remember how much exactly but four of us used a taxi from the hotel when we stayed at the Dolphin Resort, it set out early as all trips do and it takes about an hour or so we also had other stops included i do know it was about a £1.50 to get in so i think all to gether it was less then £15.00 each. you could use the tour reps but they are expensive and time bound so if you see something you want to see you cannot stop.

Just down the road from the sanctury is something called the elephant wash, here for a pound or so you can go in and get in the shallow river with a couple of working elephants which lay down and allow you to scrub them with coconut husks then you climb on thier backs and they will take you for a little walk, great fun, great photos and not to be missed. just ask the taxi driver or guide.