Sri Lanka, formally known as Ceylon (and well known for its ‘Ceylon Tea’), lies in the Indische Oceaan and has a polulation of 22.5 million.
The natural diversity, tropical forests and beaches combined with rich cultural history make this country an attractive tourist destination.
In the 16th century parts of Sri Lanka were colonized by Portugal and the Netherlands. In 1815 the entire country became governed by the British Empire and in 1948 the Brits declared the country politically independent.
The Maldives is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean South West of Sri Lanka and has a population of approximately 400,000. The cluster of islands consists of 1190 coral islands grouped into 26 atols, spread over 90,000 km² of ocean. The total land surface however is only 300 km².
The largest island, Kuramathi, is 5 km², and nine islands are larger than 2 km². Of the 1190 islands only 200 are inhabited and of those 88 islands are utilised solily for tourism.
The tourist resorts are fabulous with beaches of pure white sand and gorgeous coral reefs.
