Sri Lanka: Many in the travel industry have told me they think this will be one of the next big “it” destinations, driven by a unique hybrid of the best land animals and largest sea creatures. The nation has one of the planet’s densest populations of leopards and is arguably the best place to reliably see these magnificent cats, even more so than most of Africa.
There are also Asian elephants, peacocks, water buffalo, monkeys, and sloth bears. Whale watching is hugely popular around the globe, from Cape Cod to the Dominican Republic, but Sri Lanka is one of the only places to easily see the world’s largest living creatures, blue whales. Mark Lakin, CEO of luxury boutique travel agency The Legacy Untold and one of Travel + Leisure Magazine’s “A-List” Travel Advisory Board members, told me that, “People see humpbacks and Southern Right whales, but the blues are the Holy Grail. They also have a true classic safari product, and the combination of leopards and blue whales is totally unique.”
Sri Lanka offers a variety of whale-watching trips and guided visits to several top National Parks acclaimed for viewing leopards and other highlights, and many visitors combine these two into one trip, with a few nights at each.
Source: Forbes
