Extended Lockdown in Sri Lanka, what to do now?
The lockdown in Sri Lanka — with all its restrictions — has been extended once again, now until 21.09.2021.
I must honestly admit, I didn’t expect it any other way. Covid numbers in Sri Lanka haven’t gotten much better in the last few days, the health system is still overloaded, and vaccination progress is slow. Another extension of the lockdown was therefore predictable, at least in my opinion. Yesterday came the official announcement of the lockdown until probably 21.09.2021.
With this we are then exactly one month in Sri Lanka in the lockdown. Since our arrival, the restrictions exist and have been extended again and again by one week each time. So although we are already almost a month in Sri Lanka and it is actually a comparatively small country, we could unfortunately look at nothing so far. We have changed accommodation twice and spend our day in the apartment in Mount Lavinia near Colombo and venture to the beach for a walk.
With the lockdown extended again, we have to think about what we are going to do. Our visas expire at the same time as the date set for the end of the lockdown and we have to decide whether to extend them or not. The question here, of course, is what other options we have. An extended visa is not expensive in Sri Lanka but do we want to extend the visas if we are only allowed to be in the apartment? After all, it is not impossible that the lockdown restrictions will be extended and prolonged again.
Sri Lanka, Bali or maybe America and Canada?
Since the lockdown in Sri Lanka has lasted for over a month now and may well last even longer, we have been thinking about what to do next. Do we stay in Sri Lanka and hope for improvement with the risk of spending another month in lockdown or do we travel to another country? And if so, which countries would we even be able to enter? What are the entry and quarantine regulations there and of course, what is the situation with Covid-19 there? Questions over questions…
Should the nationwide lockdown in Sri Lanka end on 21.09, we definitely want to extend our visas and then finally travel the country. I am very sure that there are some cool, interesting and great places to discover here. Sri Lanka has an impressive nature, breathtaking waterfalls and also some national parks with exotic animals that you can observe there in the wild. Not to mention the diverse culture, the brilliant landscapes and and and….
We have been planning to visit Bali for a long time. There is currently also an entry ban, but according to rumors, it will be lifted in September. Should this be the case, it would also be an option to travel to Bali. Should the lockdown in Sri Lanka be extended and Bali open the borders — both of which we unfortunately don’t know yet — we are considering traveling on to Bali then. Should this possibility arise, we will of course have to take a closer look at the entry requirements, but in general Bali would then be an option.
The other countries around Sri Lanka, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore or India are currently out of the question. In most countries there is still an entry ban. Going back to Dubai would actually be possible but we are only considering that if there is no other option. European countries are currently also open again and largely without strong restrictions. However, we would then move away from our actual destination (Southeast Asia) again, so this is also more of an emergency solution.
Purely out of interest, I have once again informed myself about the entry requirements for Canada and America. It has always been a dream of mine to travel there one day. In Dubai, we have already noticed that some have flown from there to Canada. And in fact it is possible to enter Canada or America again under certain conditions. But since we are currently on the other side of the world, the flights from here to America or Canada are very expensive. Therefore, a trip there probably falls more under the category of emergency solutions.
Our plan, if you can call it a plan…
Since there are not exactly many opportunities to travel to other countries or it is associated with very high costs, we want and probably have to wait a bit until we make concrete plans. It is not yet clear if Bali will open and if so, when this might be the case. Since we have booked our apartment here anyway until shortly before the end of the lockdown, we want to wait and see. The last times it was announced on Fridays whether the lockdown will be extended again.
Therefore, we want to wait until next Friday and then decide whether we stay in Sri Lanka or travel somewhere else. Until then there should hopefully be news about Bali. Other countries around here unfortunately fall away, respectively it is really very unlikely that an entry is possible again so suddenly without any announcement or rumors. But basically you never know.
We are also considering whether we will possibly stay in Sri Lanka anyway and travel south here first. As tourists it is allowed to leave the provinces to move to another accommodation. Should Bali not open, it would at least be the cheapest way to travel a little. Even if you still can’t do anything there, it would be a little change and at least a change of scenery.
But as I said, right now we don’t have a concrete plan yet but are just playing through all possible options and possibilities. It remains to be seen how the situation develops and then we just have to decide spontaneously how to deal with it. Whether it will be a trip to Bali or a trip through Sri Lanka is not foreseeable. As so often, it remains exciting :-D
