Here are 23 Interesting Facts About Sri Lanka.
1. Sri Lanka was connected to India by a walkable land bridge known as ‘Adams Bridge’ until it was destroyed by a cyclone in 1480CE, leaving a chain of limestone shoals behind. – Source
2. Travelers with a Buddha tattoo will be immediately deported if seen in Sri Lanka. – Source
3. The penalty for killing an elephant in Sri Lanka is death. – Source
4. In 2004, the entire Sri Lankan “national handball team” mysteriously disappeared soon after arriving in Germany for an invitational friendly tour. The formation of a national team was unauthorized and is a mystery according to the sports ministry in Sri Lanka. – Source
5. “Blood rains” mentioned in the Old Testament and throughout religion are a natural phenomenon caused by spores of green microalgae and dust. Sometimes recurring frequently for up to a month, red rains have frequently been recorded in parts of southern India and Sri Lanka. – Source
6-10 Interesting Facts About Sri Lanka
6. The Bodhi fig tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka is the oldest tree on Earth with a known planting date. It was planted in 288 BC by an Indian Princess. The sapling was taken from the original tree where Buddha found enlightenment. The tree is honored every year on December’s full moon. – Source
7. In Sri Lanka, bread is delivered fresh starting at 5:30 AM, in special TukTuks playing Beethoven’s Für Elise loudly. While Für Elise is the song of choice for choon paan sellers, it’s not used exclusively, and some opt for Christmas carols, It’s a Small World, or other equally ubiquitous tunes. – Source
8. A church in Sri Lanka accidentally printed the lyrics to Tupac’s ‘Hail Mary’ Instead of the Prayer. – Source
9. Elephant dung is being converted into odor-free paper to benefit the elephants of Sri Lanka. – Source
10. In ancient Sri Lanka, they used winds driven by the yearly monsoons to power some of the first steel-making furnaces to produce what’s called Wootz Steel. – Source
11-15 Interesting Facts About Sri Lanka
11. In Sri Lanka, reservoirs built more than a thousand years ago are still used today. – Source
12. In 1411, a Chinese army invaded Sri Lanka, defeated and overthrew the king, and brought him back to China as a prisoner to the Ming emperor. – Source
13. Tourists at Yala National Park on Sri Lanka‘s SouthWest coast who fell victim to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami were unable to spot any wildlife on safari because the animals had sensed the tremor vibrations 4 days earlier and fled to higher ground. – Source
14. Filming for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had to move from India to Sri Lanka because the Indian Government found the film’s script to be offensive. – Source
15. The British switched from coffee to tea as a fungus started decimating coffee plants in Sri Lanka in 1869. – Source
16-20 Interesting Facts About Sri Lanka
16. Families who had lost everything due to the tsunami in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, were given sewing machines as part of the relief operations. As a result, now the town has a multitude of tailors who will custom make shirts, pants, and shorts. – Source
17. The deadliest single rail train wreck in history, which killed 1,700+ people in Sri Lanka, was caused by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. – Source
18. Sri Lanka has a Ministry and Minister of Coconut Development. – Source
19. One of Gautama Buddha’s teeth is housed in a temple in Sri Lanka. – Source
20. The first female prime minister was from Sri Lanka. – Source
21-23 Interesting Facts About Sri Lanka
21. “2001: A Space Odyssey” author Arthur C. Clarke discovered the ruins of the ancient Hindu Koneswaram temple while scuba diving in Sri Lanka in 1956. – Source
22. In Sri Lanka in the 1960s, the use of DDT reduced the annual number of malaria cases from 3 million to just 29. The World Health Organization still recommends its use. – Source
23. A colony of Blue whales in Sri Lanka doesn’t migrate, unlike all other colonies of blue whales. – Source
