His first port of call is the fortress town of Galle built by the Portuguese in 1588. Later, he finds out about captive elephants at a foundation where he meets a majestic elephant that has been rescued.

Alexander feeds the cutest orphaned baby elephants in a sanctuary and ventures to a traditional spa where his entire body is covered in what looks like humous.

On the last leg of his journey around the spectacular island of Sri Lanka, Alexander Armstrong moves north into Tamil country. But first he has a nail-biting close-up encounter with a cobra as he meets a snake expert called Sampath who is always on call to rescue the deadly but endangered reptiles who inadvertently find their way into peoples' homes.