Looking to see the real Sri Lanka? Explore by train

From Balapitiya beach resorts to the bustle of Colombo, this country is best traversed by rail, finds Alex Robinson

Travel by train: see more of Sri Lanka (Photos Alex Robinson )

Trust a cat to trivialise your dreams. I’d longed to see a leopard for decades – picturing green eyes peering mysteriously through undergrowth, a flash of claw and maw, deer dragged up trees. And here he finally was – as fearsome as Bagpuss, legs in the air rolling and drooling on a flower-filled summer lawn like a big, spotted moggy basking in the warm sun. Contemptuously content and oblivious of my presence.

And I never imagined I’d see my first leopard in Sri Lanka; I thought it would be in the wilds of Namibia or Kruger National park. But Sri Lanka had defied my expectations since I’d arrived a week previously.

I’d imagined the country to be much like India: colourful, crowded chaos, spicy food, a scattering of temples and beaches busy with people who couldn’t quite afford the Maldives. How wrong I was. Sri Lanka was a revelation, teeming with wildlife unperturbed by humans, fringed with gorgeous beaches and dotted with lovely boutiquey hotels.