Sri Lanka’s relationship with travel is legendary. As an island, we are immensely blessed in that every journey we take can show us something remarkable. Travel enthusiasts and content creators Shenelle Rodrigo and Shehaan Thahir – best known for their popular video series ‘This Is Sri Lanka’ presented under their collective digital content creation brand ‘Sheneller,’ recently highlighted the beauty of Sri Lanka through the third iteration of their ‘This Is Sri Lanka’ series when they set out to travel the circumference of Sri Lanka amidst the ongoing socioeconomic crisis, travelling around the country entirely on electric bikes.
Many of you are likely to have seen Shenelle and Shehaan’s two-minute intro to this ongoing series. The video, which featured snippets from their 43-day long journey around the island, went instantly viral. It captured what Shenelle and Shehaan do best – showcasing hidden destinations, unique experiences, the path less travelled, and most importantly, igniting a spark in anyone who watches it to simply go out and experience Sri Lanka.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Brunch, the two creators shared some background to their journey of travelling 1,350 kilometres on electric bikes during what is arguably one of Sri Lanka’s most difficult times in recent memory.
The idea for this landmark trip came to them at the height of the fuel crisis. As they were travelling through Thailand, they began to receive many messages from people around the world wondering what it was really like in Sri Lanka, which was when they realised that there was so much to be done on their part to create visibility for tourists about the ground realities of a country in a time of crisis.
“When we decided to do this, we literally plotted out the worst-case scenario,” Shenelle and Shehaan said, sharing that while they had travelled around Sri Lanka before for their previous campaigns, they had realised that if they were to do this now, they would be tackling an entirely different beast – coupled with the fuel crisis, the collapse of our economy had brought our country and its people to their knees.
Considering the lack of petrol, they decided to cycle around the island. However, Shenelle noted that they soon realised it would be physically very demanding and thankfully they came across electric bikes (e-bikes), and after getting some very thorough lessons on bicycle care, maintenance, and training for just over a month, they were ready to go.
Shenelle and Shehaan also said that while originally they had planned to upload daily content – much like their inspiration Ryan Trahan’s penny series – it soon proved to be too taxing of a task: “Even though we had a team back in Colombo, we couldn’t provide for a backup vehicle due to the lack of petrol, so we had to really limit what we were taking with us. It was down to the bare bones; just what we could carry.”
However, despite the change of plans, the journey soon took on a life of its own and became its own entity, and the end result, they shared, was something far more in line with what Sri Lanka actually needed right now.
E-bikes and sustainable tourism
The duo noted how the electric bike soon transformed their trip, providing them with incredible insight into a whole new genre of tourism that Sri Lanka could explore: “This is a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka. We could be the first to do it – to transform entire cities to be zero emission and educate the locals on how to simply maintain their already existing local practices in the most sustainable way possible,” they said.
The two also shared that the further they got from the city, the more they saw how good Sri Lankans were at adapting: “Less people were affected by the fuel crisis as we got further from the city and many had simply just gone back to their farms and sourced their own food.”
This sparked the train of thought that if Sri Lanka was to look at going green and demarking designated green cities, it would be an easier transition than one would imagine, as we already live quite sustainably. It would only be a matter of learning to avoid outside pollutants and harmful practices.
A particular moment from their travels that sticks out in Shenelle and Shehaan’s minds that illustrates this is from their visit to Negombo, where they saw fishermen fishing on sailboats using the same methods used in their parent’s generation, which they too had now adopted and were using to carry out their livelihoods without adding a single litre of kerosene into our oceans.
On sustainable tourism and how e-bikes fit in as an alternative means of transport, Shenelle and Shehaan said: “E-bikes are a great mode of transport that we can look into, because if you take tourist hotspots like Galle, where people take on the Fort on foot, there’s a limit to how much people can explore. However, with an e-bike, it is far less effort and they will be able to cover more ground, which will only help the growth of the local economy – tourists will have the opportunity to see more attractions and patronise more businesses.”
Shehaan also noted that the entirety of their journey, in terms of electricity, cost them only Rs. 1,030, which could really be incentive enough for people to pick up e-biking everywhere they go.
Most notably, the duo highlighted that the way that we think at present was very city-centric and there was much that could be done if we were to remove ourselves from this mindset and look at things from a different lens.
Unlike other tourism industries around the world, Sri Lankan tourism is not so resource-heavy. “Given the current situation, we are lucky that we have only yet developed the western and southern coasts in terms of a tourism product, so the east is still untouched and beautiful. We also don’t want to draw too much attention to these places until we know there is a proper mechanism in place to ensure that these areas are well looked after,” they said.
The duo added that the essence of Sri Lanka – the Sri Lanka of 30-40 years ago – was still preserved in some areas and also made for a unique experience that we could work towards supporting and sustaining.
Another key takeaway from Shenelle and Shehaan’s trip and something the duo has been sure to highlight is the safety element of their travels.
Many often express concerns about travelling around Sri Lanka, especially with the current crisis, as there exists a fear of getting robbed, assaulted, or any number of terrible things. However, the duo noted that while one must certainly be cautious, especially when travelling alone or in small groups, in their experience as outsiders taking a dip in someone’s village, the locals had almost always been welcoming.
“It has been a question that we get asked often, especially by foreigners, on whether it is safe to travel in Sri Lanka. What better way to show how safe Sri Lanka is than to see Shenelle, a girl, cycling around Sri Lanka? It was just the two of us on a bike,” said Shehaan, with Shenelle adding: “There were plenty of times when there was like a kilometre gap between us, and it looked like I was alone.”
Despite the hardships Lankans are currently facing, Shenelle and Shehaan happily shared that the Lankan people remain welcoming. There was a sense of “‘Oh, there is an outsider in our town,’ so they will come over to you, smile, speak, and attempt to help you out,” they said, noting that for tourists it was undoubtedly a safe place to travel.
What’s next?
So far, the series has garnered a total of two million views across Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, and is fast gaining popularity due to its high shareability.
Shenelle and Shehaan’s content, while showcasing tourist destinations around the island, will also feature lesser-known stories of Sri Lanka’s export industries and NGOs through which expats can support Sri Lanka through this time. Having partnered with ChildFund Sri Lanka, ADRA Sri Lanka, and UNDP Sri Lanka for the campaign, they have been able to create awareness of community development initiatives whilst showcasing the grassroots of the country.
Having just returned from their journey, the two will be taking a much-deserved break before they embark on their next project, but there’s plenty of content available on their channel to keep us occupied.
Team Sheneller has made us fall deeply in love with our country all over again. How can you not, when a story is told with so much love, care, and attention to detail that wonder seeps through every frame? Whether you are a travel enthusiast or simply wish to consume an entertaining piece of content, we implore that you go check out ‘This Is Sri Lanka’ and we guarantee that you’ll fall in love too.
Check out the ‘This Is Sri Lanka’ series on Sheneller: https://youtube.com/c/Sheneller