From screen to living landscape.
From screen to living landscape.
17–28 April 2028
Created to celebrate the relationships that have made &Beyond’s first 20 years in Asia so rich, this journey returns to a natural-history story shaped by years of patient fieldwork and collaboration. Between 2012 and 2016, &Beyond Private Guide and Historian Toby Sinclair worked on Disneynature’s Monkey Kingdom, supporting the planning, permissions, government liaison and logistics required to bring the lives of Polonnaruwa’s toque macaques to the screen.
Guests can now enter that story alongside one of the people who helped make it possible. In Polonnaruwa, time with the long-running primate research team connects the animals seen on screen to individual histories and relationships still unfolding among the ruins. The itinerary extends beyond the film’s central location to the wider island that surrounds it. With Toby hosting throughout, Wilpattu, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, elephant country and Kandy become part of one connected Sri Lankan story, offering the chance to explore for a few days what took years to understand.
Walk through Polonnaruwa’s research landscape with people who have followed its toque macaques and langurs for decades, connecting the animals seen on screen to the lives still unfolding among the ruins.
Toby Sinclair draws on five decades in South Asia and years spent working on Monkey Kingdom. His interpretation reveals the research, relationships and decisions behind a celebrated natural-history story.
Spend two full days exploring Wilpattu National Park and search for Asian elephants in the central plains, placing Polonnaruwa’s primates within Sri Lanka’s much wider natural story.
Explore Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya and Kandy, where reservoirs, forests, rock formations and sacred sites reveal how nature, belief and political power have shaped one another.
Time with researchers, local guides and Toby turns a sighting into something deeper: an opportunity to understand individual histories, interpret behaviour and discover what sustained attention can reveal.
Beginning in the tropical gardens outside Colombo, travel to Wilpattu National Park before turning inland through Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya and the elephant country surrounding Habarana. The journey culminates in Kandy, where the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and the Royal Botanic Gardens reveal another meeting of nature, belief and history.
Hosted by historian, field producer and &Beyond Private Guide Toby Sinclair, you’ll spend a day in Polonnaruwa’s long-running primate research landscape, observing toque macaques and langurs alongside people who have followed their lives for decades. Toby worked on Disneynature’s Monkey Kingdom from 2012 to 2016 and has returned to Sri Lanka several times each year since then to lead natural-history journeys. His interpretation connects the world seen on screen to the research, relationships and patient fieldwork behind it.
Toby accompanies the group throughout, leading excursions alongside local guides, researchers and the expedition team. His briefings, daily reflections, selected shared meals and ongoing conversations give you time to ask questions, follow unexpected threads and spend a few days seeing what took years to understand.
2 nights Kotugoda | 3 nights Wilpattu | 4 nights Habarana | 2 nights Kandy
Stay: Wallawwa
Highlights: Airport welcome, private transfer, tropical gardens, time at leisure
Arrive at Bandaranaike International Airport, where an &Beyond representative will welcome you and arrange your private transfer to Wallawwa in Kotugoda.
Spend the remainder of the day at leisure, settle in and explore the hotel’s tropical gardens after your journey.
Stay: Wallawwa
Highlights: Day at leisure, optional Colombo city walk, introductory briefing with Toby
Spend the day relaxing at Wallawwa or join an optional guided walk through Colombo’s Fort and Pettah districts, exploring market streets, colonial buildings and the restored Dutch Hospital precinct.
That evening, meet your fellow travellers and join Toby and a local guide for an introductory briefing on the route and the natural-history and cultural themes that will connect the journey.
Stay: Taru Villas Villu – Wilpattu
Highlights: Kala Oya River, Dutch Bay Lagoon, two full-day safaris, villus, wildlife
Travel north to Wilpattu and explore the Kala Oya River and Dutch Bay Lagoon by boat, passing the fishing village of Gangewadiya, mangrove habitat and an unusual baobab tree near the river.
Spend the next two days on full-day safaris in Wilpattu National Park. Sandy tracks wind through dry evergreen forest and open towards the natural lakes known as villus. Search for leopards, sloth bears, Asian elephants, deer, buffalo, crocodiles and endemic birdlife while Toby and the safari team interpret the tracks, calls and changing habitats that reveal the park as a connected ecosystem.
Stay: Taru Villas Maia
Highlights: Anuradhapura, primate research walk, Sigiriya, optional Ritigala, elephant safari
Travel through Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka’s first great capital. Visit the Sri Maha Bodhi and monumental stupas before continuing to Habarana. In Polonnaruwa, enter the ancient city with a researcher and observe one of the world’s longest-running primate study sites. Toby connects the animals and researchers encountered here to his work on Disneynature’s Monkey Kingdom and the years of observation behind the film.
Climb Sigiriya Rock Fortress, then spend the afternoon at leisure. The following day, choose an optional visit to the forest monastery of Ritigala before setting out in search of wild Asian elephants in Minneriya or Kaudulla National Park.
Stay: Adigar’s Manor
Highlights: Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kandy city
Travel into the central highlands and visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, a shrine whose religious and political importance connects it to the ancient capitals encountered earlier in the journey.
The following day, explore the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya before discovering more of Kandy with the local guide. Depending on the group’s interests, visit the Commonwealth War Cemetery or spend time among the city’s historic streets and lakefront.
Return to Adigar’s Manor for a final evening and closing reflection with Toby.
Stay: Adigar’s Manor (day use)
Highlights: Final farewell breakfast, private airport transfer, onward travel
Check out according to your international flight schedule and transfer privately to Bandaranaike International Airport for your onward journey.
Toby Sinclair has spent five decades living, working and learning across South Asia. A director of &Beyond Asia since 2006, he is an experienced private guide, guest lecturer and expedition leader whose career spans travel, conservation, photography, publishing and documentary production. Toby first worked on a wildlife film in Sri Lanka in 1980 and has since supported productions including National Geographic’s Wild Sri Lanka, the BBC’s The Last Tusker and Elephant Island, and Disneynature’s Monkey Kingdom. He also served as associate producer and location manager across the BBC’s three-part Ganges series and co-author and contributing photographer for A New History of India.
On &Beyond’s limited edition journeys through Sri Lanka and along the Upper Ganges, Toby shares far more than facts about the places encountered. Drawing on decades spent guiding, filming and exploring the region, he reveals how wildlife, people, place and history continually shape one another—sharing a lifetime of knowledge with generosity, wit and infectious curiosity.
Rates are per person sharing, based on double or twin occupancy, with 4–8 guests travelling.
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