 GEOGRAPHY |
Sri Lanka is shaped like a teardrop that falls from
the southern end of India. It's just 353km long
from North to South, and only 183km at its widest
point. Its area of 66,000 sq km is about the same
as that of Ireland or Tasmania, in Australia.
The central hill country rises a little south of
the centre of the island and is surrounded by a
coastal plain. The flat north central and northern
plain extends from the hill country all the way
to the northern tip of the island; this region is
much drier than the rest of the island. The best
beaches are on the southwest, south and east coasts.
The highest point in the island is in the spectacularly
beautiful hill country region, named Piduratalagala
it rises (2524m) above sea level and tops Nuwara
Eliya. Adam's Peak, at 2224m, is far better known
and much more spectacular. The Mahaweli Ganga, Sri
Lanka's longest river has its source close to Adam's
Peak and runs into the sea at Trincomalee. In the
northwest of the country Mannar Island, joined to
the mainland by a bridge, is almost connected to
Rameswaram in southern India by the long chain of
sandbanks and islets called Adam's Bridge.
| CLIMATE |
Sri Lanka is a typically tropical country in the
sense that there are distinct dry and wet seasons,
but the picture is somewhat complicated by the fact
that it is subject to two monsoons. From May to
August the southwest monsoon brings rain to the
southern and western coastal regions and the central
hill country.
This season is called Yala. The dry season in these
regions is from December to March. The northeast
monsoon blows from October to January - the Maha
season - bringing rain to the north and east of
the island.
|
This peculiar monsoon pattern means
that it is always the 'right' season somewhere on
the island - though that advantage has been undermined
by the troubles in the east for much of the past
few years.Don't count on the weather following the
rules though - it often seems to be raining where
it should be sunny and sunny where it should be
raining, and like many other parts of the world
Sri Lanka has suffered some unusual weather conditions
in recent years, with serious drought in 1992 and
another in 1996.
In the low-lying coastal regions the temperature
is uniformly high year round - Colombo averages
27C. The temperatures rapidly fall with altitude,
so if you don't feel monsoon period when it can
be choppy and murky.
There is also an inter-monsoon period in October
and November when rains and thunderstorms can occur
in many parts of the island. The South, southwest
and central highlands are much wetter than the northern
and north-central regions. In the latter area annual
rainfall averages only 100cm and the many tanks,
built over 1000 years ago to provide irrigation
water, indicate that this is by no means a new problem.
In the wetter part of the country annual rainfall
reaches 400cm or more.
|
