Travel
to Sri Lanka and make your dream Holiday come true!
Holiday in Sri Lanka is ideal if you're looking
forward to have fun, enjoy the sunshine and frolic
in white sandy beaches. If you want to do bird
watching, see wildlife paying a visit to Ceylon will
be a holiday you'll never forget. If you want to try
out eco tourism, Sri Lanka is a marvelous place to
spend your vacation. Sri Lanka is one place where
you could be in harmony with nature like in no other
place. By spending your holiday in Sri Lanka you'll
get so much of entertainment.
A Holiday in Sri Lanka means that you'll have loads
of fun, experience a unique culture
& heritage at www.lanka-travel.info
Lanka Travel Directory is the web site giving the
most comprehensive information on Ceylon. So if you
are thinking of a Vacation in Sri Lanka you have
come to the right place!
From time immemorial Sri
Lanka has had a sparkling reputation for highly
treasured gems. Nature in her bounty has chosen the
bosom of Sri Lanka to enshrine some of her rarest
treasures. Blue Sapphires, Cat's Eyes, Alexandrites,
Rubies, Star stones found embedded in layer of gravel
and sand, in river beds, marshes, fields or accumulated
at the foot of hills have made Sri Lanka the renowned
island for gems. These precious stones perfected in the
laboratory of nature lay hidden of countless ages, their
luster undimmed, their value unrecognized. And led by
Dame Fortune, the rare gem emerges genuine and unequaled
by any artifice of man. Perhaps nowhere in the world are
so many minerals of the gem variety concentrated in so
compact an area in such abundance as in Sri Lanka.
Though Sri Lanka's gem trade dates back in to hoary
historical times our gem supplies are almost in
exhaustible for the gem bearing pre-Cambrian Stratum
forms 9/10ths of Sri Lanka's earth Geologists aver.
The Blue Sapphire is Sri Lanka's Gem Supreme. And Sri
Lanka's Blue Sapphires are the finest in the world.
Sapphires of the finest quality have what is called the
experts 'a corn flower blue' or a royal blue tint. The
highly priced of all gems, the Blue Sapphire is second
only to the diamond in hardness. The largest known
Sapphires in the world weighing 42 pounds was found in
the gem gravels of Sri Lanka. The Blue Giant of the
Orient weighing nearly 500 carats and the 400 carat Blue
Belle of Asia was purchased by a British
multi-millionaire was also from Sri Lanka. A perfect
corn flower blue 92 carat specimen is now on display at
the State Gem Corporation. The world jewelry market
demands Blue Sapphires of 5-15 carats. Sri Lanka can
supply these in very large quantities.
Sri Lanka's Star Sapphires is the star beauty among
Earth's precious stones. The radiant snowy streaks that
gleam in her azure heart are perhaps the solidified
version of a colourful dream the world has had long ago
of the glory of the universe. The 362 carat Star now
with the State Gem Corporation is considered the third
largest stone of comparable quality and colour in the
world. But the most celebrated Sri Lanka's star Sapphire
is on permanent display at the Smithsonian museum of
Natural History in New York. However, Sri Lanka has not
gotten the recognition it deserves as the stone is named
(Probably through an oversight) the Star of Bombay.
Arthur C. Clarke the famous Space Scientist and
Futurologist in his epilogue of Rolof Beny's Island
Ceylon comments.......... "and by some distressing
impertinence the splendid Star Sapphire which is one of
the glories of American Museum of Natural History's gem
collection is called the Star of Bombay - not as it
should be - the Star of Ceylon."
Moonstone the only gem that is found in situ in Sri
Lanka displays a milky bluish sheen similar to that of
the moon beams, and hence the name moonstone. Trough
some quirk of nature, moonstones are found only in a
solitary quarter acre block of land in the village of
Meetiyagoda to the South of Sri Lanka. The world's
moonstone market is dominated by Sri Lanka.
Ratnapura
(meaning city of Gems) in luxuriantly verdant, gently
hilly landscapeA replica of Aukana Buddha statue, Maha
Sumana Saman Dewale, Trekking and Bird Watching
Ceylon Sapphires, Rubies, Moonstones, Beryl, Zircon,
Garnet & Quartz. Gem pits, Gem market, Tea & Rubber
plantations in the hills, Paddy fields in the plains
Location
City of Ratnapura, Ratnapura district, Sabaragamuwa
province, South western zone (wet zone), Sri Lanka.
Ratnapura, the ancient "city of gems", Sri Lanka's
gemstone capital is located 101 km (63 miles) from
Colombo in the south-western part of Sri Lanka's wet
zone, on the outskirts of the hill country, in the
valley of the Kalu Ganga. A hill topped by a Portuguese
fort dominates the town. Ratnapura district is the
centre of a number of richly watered valleys between
Adam's Peak & Lion King (Sinharaja) Tropical Rain
Forest.
The name of the city
Ratnapura is best known for its gemstones that are
washed down the river bed. Ratnapura literally means
"City of the Gems" in Sinhalese. It has been a legendary
city since the days of the Alexander the Great or
perhaps the Pharaohs times. The magnificent Ruby gifted
to Queen Sheba by King Solomon is said have been
extracted from a gem pit in Ratnapura.
1.
BLUE SAPPHIRE: Sri lanka's Gem supreme,
of corn flower blue, is the favorite of fashionable women the world
over.
2.CAT'S
EYE: The honey yellow and apple green Cat's Eye of lustrous
smoothness is extolled for the protection she yields to the wearer.
3.
ALEXANDRITE: If you are a connoisseur of the rarest yields
from the mysterious depths of earth you will need to possess an
Alexandrite.
4.STAR
RUBY: The scarlet perfection and it's scintillating beauty
adopt to the dream come true in gems.
5.YELLOW
SAPPHIRE: Pollen of flowers is her lyrical name is Sinhala.
Her delicate yellow makes this description apt.
6.STAR
SAPPHIRE: With her azure heart a-gleam with radiant snowy
streaks, the star sapphires sparkle brings her owner good luck.
7.AMETHYST:
Burnished by nature into a high purplish polish, the Amethyst is a
beauty among gems.
