The wild beauty of southeast Sri Lanka

The journey from Sri Lanka's central highlands to its southeast coast takes you through some of the island nation's most beautiful and untamed places, said Lorna Parkes in National Geographic Traveller .

There's plenty of wildlife to see – as well as "surf-lashed" beaches – but fewer tourists than in many parts of the country. The region has long been the heartland of Sri Lanka's indigenous people, the Vedda, who now comprise roughly 1% of the island's population but whose ancestors lived here long before other groups arrived from the Indian mainland.

On forest walks guided by Vedda elders, visitors can learn about their traditional hunter-gatherer culture and syncretic belief system, in which folk and animist ideas mingle with those of Sri Lanka's younger religions.

You might start out in the city of Kandy, which sits 1,600ft above sea level in the heart of the island. Its Temple of the Sacred Tooth is one of the world's holiest Buddhist sites, owing to the relic it holds – supposedly a tooth of the Buddha himself.

From Kandy, the train journey eastwards on a colonial-era railway to the hilltown of Ella is one of the world's most scenic, winding among tea plantations, over deep ravines and past brightly-painted temples. And set among rice paddies near Ella, there's a lovely farm hotel, Kaduruketha, which makes a good base for birdwatching walks in the surrounding jungle.

Next comes Gal Oya National Park, where elephants swim amid the islands of the vast Senanayake Samudra reservoir. Gal Oya Lodge offers several activities guided by local Vedda elders, including camping expeditions on which you might, among other things, try "citrussy-sweet" jackal jujube fruit or learn how to make bow strings with aralu creepers.

The park is also rich in wildlife, including leopards and thick-tailed pangolins, although you might spot more as you head towards the region's wild coast, where the forest cover is not so thick. Among the best places to stay there is Kottukal Beach House, a small hotel in the Tamil town of Pottuvil.