Part 6: Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka

1

Country

650

Kilometers in a rickshaw

104

Overtakings towards oncoming vehicles

4305

Dogs, elephants, monkeys, cows and humans dodged along the road

Trip overview

The world was slowly recovering from Covid-19 and the possibility for new adventures opened up again (yay!). As we had fulfilled one of our lifelong dreams to see Galapagos, we thought, why not continue down that road, so literally and without hesitation we decided to go for it: Drive around by ourselves in a tiny tin can on narrow roads where we were not sure what/who to be most scared of… chaotic streets full of people and animals, blaring buses or wild elephants. We had 2 choices, Rickshaw Run India or Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka edition was quite new compared to the India version which has been run for years, and we chose Sri Lanka for that and the following reasons:

None of us had been to Sri Lanka before
Smaller country with less people, meaning less chaos on the roads
We weren’t on a suicide mission (we know the indian traffic!)

Before we continue… It is very important to emphasize from the start that it is a Rickshaw and not a TukTuk! BIG difference and unnecessary to ask why as it is obvious, right? (not sure if we could answer it either)

The race was for 6 full days and started in Negombo, outside Colombo, and ended in ‘the middle of somewhere’ in the south. It is a small country so if you took the main roads south, you would make it in a day, but where’s the fun in that so the intention of the run was to be as lost as possible and have as many kilometers as possible behind you before you crossed the finish line 6 days later.

The good news

To start with the most exciting news:

WE DID IT AND SURVIVED!!!

Yes, surviving is actually an achievement we are proud of! Firstly learning to ride the rickshaw with it’s moody gears and clutch (they never give you a “good” rickshaw when joining this race), then learning to avoid the crazy overturns, buses, cars, scooters, other rickshaws, humans, cows, dogs and elephants.

Navigating the Sri Lankan traffic reminded us of being in a video game where they throw things at you faster and faster to make it harder….but here you have only 1 life! Did we also mention the rickshaw had no fuel gauge and the speedometer stopped working after 5 kilometers, and that there was a big fuel crisis in Sri Lanka? Well, no problem for us as we brought 20 liter of extra fuel which caused a lot of smiles and interest when checking into hotels underway And the rickshaw never got over 45 kmph anyway…

Eddie had a blast as usual and had the easy job of posing in photos and being a superstar in general, whilst his caretakers did the hard work. Despite the scorching Sri Lankan heat which basically made us all melt and almost loose our minds every day, Eddie was as cool as ever and a slight change to his usual hairstyle was all he had to suffer from. We hope you enjoy all his poses and interactions with the locals – and with his newfound friend Ricky.

We actually managed to drive our dear Ricky for about 650 kilometers without incidents: from Negombo, via Kandy, Dambulla, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Arugam Bay – to the finish line in a remote eco camp in the middle of nowhere in a crocodile infested area in Sri Lankas southeast. It sure felt quite amazing to arrive on the finish line in 4 whole pieces: Ricky, Eddie, Mari and Bente.

Map

Planning

A place in the Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka was booked in March 2021 when nobody knew what the world would look like the next week, next month and definitely not 12 months later. As the Rickshaw Run is a very popular event we had to book well in advance, even though we nor the tour operator or Sri Lanka themselves knew if the country (or world for that matter) would be open for traveling again. The run was planned for mid-March 2022, and in the beginning of January we finally got confirmation that the run would take place, so we jumped on the computer and bought our flight tickets.

Business as usual in terms of online visa and check that our vaccinations were still valid and no need for new ones. Covid-19 restrictions were still in place but as we were fully vaccinated, the only requirements were a health declaration and paying a small Covid-19 insurance fee.

As we were going to be our own drivers in a 3 wheeled not-so-safe-tin-can, we had to make sure that our regular travel insurance would cover accidents or injuries and our International Driving Permit (IDP) had to be stamped with category A. But what is actually a rickshaw…a moped or a motorcycle? After a lot of google-ing «what is the difference between a 2- vs 4-stroke engine», «how many HP does a rickshaw have», «what are we allowed to drive with B certificate» etc. we figured it out and also got a confirmed email that our insurance was valid in tin boxes as well…we suspect that they have noooo clue on what a rickshaw is… 😉

After we had figured out our team name, created a design for a team flag, set up a fundraising page for Cool Earth, ordered t-shirts, stickers and facemasks (of course!) with our team logo and packed our bags we were ready to go…DRIVE!!

Itinerary

Oslo – Colombo

Colombo – Hikkaduwa

Hikkaduwa – Galle – Hikkaduwa

Hikkaduwa – Negombo

Negombo – Kandy

Kandy – Dambulla

Dambulla – Sigiriya

Sigiriya – Polonnaruwa

Polonnaruwa – Habarana Eco Park – Polonnaruwa

Polonnaruwa – Arugam Bay

Arugam Bay – Kingdom Eco Lodge

Kingdom Eco Lodge – Tangalle

Tangalle – Yala NP – Ella

Ella – Negombo

Negombo – Oslo

Social media posts

Below are the photos we posted on Facebook during the journey. Enjoy!

1 thought on “Part 6: Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka”

Fraser Ludlam

14 August 2024 at 09:32

Thanks you for this excellent information, it’s very useful and helpful etc, my wife, Rachel and I are going to Sri Lanka to do the Rickshaw Run this October so we will use your advice, best wishes etc x
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