Hi there....

Weather quite likely to be "fairly unsettled", some nice sunnier times but to be honest there will be a fair amount of the wet stuff.., certainly the case last 2 or 3 years...

Whale watching?, not sure if the season for this will be quite right, all depends on sea conditons, Yala should be no problem, athough maybe best to stop overnight there for an early morning/late afternoon safari.....

Regards

Dave

it's really hard to predict, the weather patterns have changed over the years due to climate change. even if it rained it would only be a couple of hours, so you won't be stuck in the hotel room all day.

Whale watching in Mirissa starts in November and goes till late April. the peak time is from December to March. since it's the last week on Nov, I don't see why you wont spot any whales.

from my personal experiences, Yala is the best national park in Sri Lanka, and you will spot lots of animals anytime of the year, even during the dry season. camping inside Yala is another amazing experience all together.

cheers,

Umeshf

Thanks for all the advice

Hi,

November is in the 2nd inter monsoon season with quite unsettled weather.

You may experience 3 types of days:

- Fully clouded with the odd shower, light or heavy

- 3-4 hours sunshine after 8 am and clouds building up in the afternoon with hefty thundershowers late afternoon, evening and night

- sun-clouds-rain-sun again and so on with the sunny spells lasting at least an hour and minimum4 hours per day.

Having spent November-January on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka for the past close to 20 years I have not noticed any dramatic change in the weather in late November-early December. Maybe a slight increase in the number of type 1 days.

Hans

Dear hans

What kind of weather shall we expect end of Dec in south? We will stay few days in mirissa. We will travel with children age 11,8,5 and 10 months. So i also would like to ask you - is it realistic to do 1 day return trip from mirissa to sinharaja forest?

Hiw does it work there- we go around by ourselves or are there guides?

Thank you:-)

Darina

Hi Darina,

1] SHOULD be quite good, usually it improves a lot from mid Dec onwards. In 2010 however there was about 2 weeks delay in that, no guarantee

2] Yes, that's realistic - from Deniyaya entrance, about 2-2.5 hours drive one-way. Be sure to start trekking 9 AM at last, mornings have the most wildlife before they hide for the midday heat. I'd try to get a babysit for the youngest ~(if unavoidable even at park entrance while you go in) but the others will enjoy it a lot!

3] Selfdrive is suicidal in Lanka and for many other reasons not recommended, get a car-driver for the day.

All the best,

<Erik> & [Sandya]

Hey Erik :-)

Thank you very much

We will than plan the Sinharaja walk, the youngest is ok, usually sleeping in the baby carrier around my vaist ...

I have read a lot about driving in sri lanka, is it really that bad that you recommend not even trying ? We thought to get drivet negombo-mirissa and back and negombo- dambulla and back and to drive ourselves the ond day trips from mirissa / dambulla

So it seems from your comment not very good idea?

Thanks

Darina

Hi again Darina,

Indeed a VERY bad idea. Search the forum for the discussions. One 'killing' factor is the risk for trouble - with any small collision/accident, even caused by the other driver and only giving a scratch on their car, the locals will try to extort huge amounts from you aided by the corrupt police...

All the best,

<Erik> & [Sandya]

Hi,

Is the first week of May a good time to visit Galle.I am unable to figure out how much it rains as each weather site says somehting different.

Is it very hot and humid at that time?

Also where would you siuggest a group of 10 stay?

Thanks for any advice,

Deccanhp