Sights in Sri Lanka
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Yala National Park
With trumpeting elephants, monkeys crashing through the trees, peacocks in their finest frocks and cunning leopards sliding like shadows through the undergrowth, Yala National Park (also known as Ruhunu) is The Jungle Book brought to glorious life. This vast region of dry woodland and open patches of grasslands is the big draw of this corner of Sri Lanka, and though it’s far from Kenya, a safari here is well worth all the time, effort and cost.
The entrance fees are payable at the main office, which is near the entrance, some 21km from Tissa. There are a few displays here of the pickled and stuffed variety. The road from Tissa is rough but passable, although a 4WD is ne…
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Sri Maha Bodhi
The Sri Maha Bodhi, the sacred bodhi tree, is central to Anuradhapura in both a spiritual and physical sense. The huge tree has grown from a cutting brought from Bodhgaya in India by the Princess Sangamitta, sister of Mahinda (who introduced the Buddha's teachings to Sri Lanka), so it has a connection to the very basis of the Sinhalese religion.
This sacred tree serves as a reminder of the force that inspired the creation of all the great buildings at Anuradhapura, and is within walking distance of many of the most interesting monuments. The whole area around the Sri Maha Bodhi, the Brazen Palace and Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba was once probably part of the Maha Vihara (Great Te…
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World’s End
This is the only national park in Sri Lanka where visitors are permitted to walk on their own (on designated trails only). The walk to World’s End is 4km, but the trail loops back to Baker’s Falls (2km) and continues back to the entrance (another 3.5km). The round trip is 9.5km and takes a leisurely three hours. Note that around 9am to 10am the mist usually comes down. All you can expect to see from World’s End after this time is a swirling white wall. If you aim for a 5.30am departure from Nuwara Eliya or Haputale and get to World’s End around 7am, you’ll have a good chance of spectacular views.
Try to avoid doing this walk on Sundays and public holidays, when …
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Asgiriya Maha Vihara
The principal viharas (Buddhist complexes) in Kandy have considerable importance – the high priests of the two best known, Malwatte and Asgiriya, are the most important in Sri Lanka. This temple is the headquarters of two of the main nikayas (orders of monks). The head monks also administer the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The Asgiriya Maha Vihara is off Wariyapola Sri Sumanga Mawatha northwest of the town centre. It has a large reclining Buddha image.
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Sri Nagavihara International Buddhist Centre
For Buddhists there’s the solitary Sri Nagavihara International Buddhist Centre which was quickly rebuilt after government forces retook Jaffna in 1995.
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Isipathanaramaya Temple
The Isipathanaramaya Temple has particularly beautiful frescoes.
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Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Just north of the lake, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic houses Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - a tooth of the Buddha. The temple sustained damage when a bomb was detonated - by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to the government - near the main entrance in early 1998, but the scars have been repaired.
The tooth is said to have been snatched from the flames of the Buddha's funeral pyre in 543 BC, and was smuggled into Sri Lanka during the 4th century AD, hidden in the hair of a princess. At first it was taken to Anuradhapura, but with the ups and downs of Sri Lankan history it moved from place to place before eventually ending up at Ka…
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Royal Rock Temple
The beautiful Royal Rock Temple sits 100m to 150m above the road in the southern part of Dambulla. The hike up to the temples begins along a vast, sloping rock face with steps in some places. The ticket office is at the gate near the monstrous Golden Temple, and your receipt is checked at the entrance at the base of the hill. Cultural Triangle tickets are not valid here. Photography is allowed inside the caves, but you’re not allowed to photograph people. There are superb views over the surrounding countryside from the level of the caves; Sigiriya is clearly visible.
The caves’ history as a place of worship is thought to date from around the 1st century BC, when King Va…
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Quadrangle
Only a short stroll north of the royal palace ruins, the area known as the quadrangle is literally that - a compact group of fascinating ruins in a raised-up area bounded by a wall. It's the most concentrated collection of buildings you'll find in the ancient cities. As well as the following ruins, there's a recumbent image house, chapter house, Bodhisattva shrine and bodhi tree shrine.
In the southeast of the quadrangle, the vatadage is typical of its kind. Its outermost terrace is 18m in diameter and the second terrace has four entrances flanked by particularly fine guardstones. The moonstone at the northern entrance is reckoned to be the finest in Polonnaruwa, although…
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Horton Plains National Park
The Horton Plains is a beautiful, silent, strange world with some excellent hikes in the shadows of Sri Lanka’s second- and third-highest mountains, Kirigalpotta (2395m) and Totapola (2359m). The ‘plains’ themselves form an undulating plateau over 2000m high, covered by wild grasslands and interspersed with patches of thick forest, rocky outcrops, filigree waterfalls and misty lakes. The surprising diversity of the landscape is matched by the wide variety of wildlife. If you’re lucky enough to have the paths to yourself – get there for a 7am start – it’s a recharging escape from Sri Lanka’s energetic bustle.
Farr Inn, a local landmark, and the nearby natio…
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National Museum
This museum once housed Kandyan royal concubines and now features royal regalia and reminders of pre-European Sinhalese life. On display is a copy of the 1815 agreement that handed over the Kandyan provinces to British rule. This document announces a major reason for the event …the cruelties and oppressions of the Malabar ruler, in the arbitrary and unjust infliction of bodily tortures and pains of death without trial, and sometimes without accusation or the possibility of a crime, and in the general contempt and contravention of all civil rights, have become flagrant, enormous and intolerable. Sri Wickrama Rajasinha was declared, ‘by the habitual violation of the chief…
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Aluvihara
If the idea of a monastery built from a sheer rock wall sounds intriguing, make sure to pull off the road 3km north of Matale for a look at Aluvihara. This unique series of monastic caves are picturesquely situated among rocks that have fallen from the mountains high above the valley. Legend has it that a giant used three of the rocks as a base for his cooking pot, and the name Aluvihara (Ash Monastery) refers to the ashes from the cooking fire.
The first cave you come to contains a 10m reclining Buddha and impressive lotus-pattern murals on the ceiling. Another is filled with cartoon-like murals of the realms of hell – if you’re considering straying from the straight and…
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The Fort Walls
One of the most pleasant strolls you can take in town is the circuit of the Fort walls at dusk. As the daytime heat fades away, you can walk almost the complete circuit of the Fort along the top of the wall in an easy hour or two. You’ll be in the company of lots of locals, shyly courting couples and plenty of kids diving into the protected waters.
The Main Gate in the northern stretch of the wall is a comparatively recent addition – it was built by the British in 1873 to handle the heavier flow of traffic into the old town. This part of the wall, the most heavily fortified because it faced the land, was originally built with a moat by the Portuguese, and was then subst…
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Ridi Vihara
Literally the ‘Silver Temple’, Ridi Vihara is so named because it was here that silver ore was discovered in the 2nd century BC. Although not on the beaten track, it’s well worth a visit to see its wonderful frescoes and the unusual Dutch (Delft) tiles in the main cave.
The main attraction here is the golden statue in the main cave, called the Pahala Vihara (Lower Temple). Also within the Pahala Vihara is a 9m recumbent Buddha that rests on a platform decorated with a series of blue-and-white tiles, which were a gift from the Dutch consul. The tiles depict scenes from the Bible, including Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden and the transfiguration of…
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Uda Walawe National Park
With herds of elephants, wild buffalo, sambar deer and leopards, Uda Walawe is the Sri Lankan national park that best rivals the savannah reserves of Africa. The park’s 30,821 hectares centre on the large Uda Walawe Reservoir, fed by the Walawe Ganga.
The entrance to the park is 12km from the Ratnapura–Hambantota road turn-off and 21km from Embilipitiya. Visitors buy tickets in a new building a further 2km on. Most people take a tour organised by their guest house or hotel, but a trip with one of the 4WDs waiting outside the gate should be around Rs 3000 for a half-day for up to eight people with driver. Last tickets are usually sold at 5pm.
Apart from stands of teak …
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Yapahuwa
This rock fortress rising 100m from the surrounding plain is quite impressive in its own right. The granite outcropping of Yapahuwa (pronounced yaa-pow-a), also known as Fire Rock, was used in the early 13th century as a defensible refuge against the invading South Indian armies. Between 1272 and 1284, King Bhuvanekabahu I used the rock as his capital and kept Sri Lanka’s sacred Buddha tooth relic here. Indian invaders from the Pandavan dynasty captured Yapahuwa in 1284 and carried the tooth relic to South India, only for it to be recovered in 1288 by King Parakramabahu I.
Yapahuwa’s steep ornamental staircase, which led up to the ledge holding the tooth temple, is one …
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Old Batti
Wandering around Old Batti is particularly atmospheric late at night: cicadas call and water drips, but not a soul stirs on the eerily empty streets. Dim street lamps give lugubrious form to shadows around the various colonial edifices like the pompous sky-blue St Joseph’s Convent (St Mary’s St), St Michael’s College (Central Rd), which is so drenched in vines and creepers that the brickwork is starting to be broken away, and the sturdy 1838 Methodist Church (Post Office Rd). Of the dozens of churches, the most eye-catching is the huge blue, eight-sided, unfinished Our Lady of Sorrows (Trinco Rd), the vaguely Mexican, earth-toned St Anthony’s (St Anthony’s St) and the gra…
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Ritigala
Deep inside the Ritigala Strict Nature Reserve, off the Anuradhapura–Habarana road, are the partially restored ruinsof an extensive monastic and cave complex. The ruins lie on a hill, which at 766m isn’t exactly high, but is nevertheless a striking feature in the flat, dry landscape surrounding it. The 24-hectare site is isolated and almost deserted. The site is included in the Cultural Triangle round ticket; otherwise, individual tickets cost Rs 1800/1000 (adult/child).
The true meaning of the name Ritigala remains unclear – gala means ‘rock’ in Sinhala, but riti may come from the Pali arittha, meaning ‘safety’. Thus Ritigala was probably a place of refuge, inc…
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Buduruwagala
About 5km south of Wellawaya, a side road branches west off the Tissa road to the rock-cut Buddha figures of Buduruwagala. A small signpost points the way along a 4km road that crosses a series of delicate lakes. Keep an eye out for local birdlife, including many egrets and herons.
The name Buduruwagala is derived from the words for Buddha (Budu), images (ruva) and stone (gala). The figures are thought to date from around the 10th century and belong to the Mahayana Buddhist school, which enjoyed a brief heyday in Sri Lanka during this time. The gigantic standing Buddha – at 15m, it is the tallest on the island – in the centre still bears traces of its original stuccoed ro…
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Gal Vihara
Gal Vihara is a group of beautiful Buddha images that probably marks the high point of Sinhalese rock carving. They are part of Parakramabahu's northern monastery. The Gal Vihara consists of four separate images, all cut from one long slab of granite. At one time each was enshrined within a separate enclosure. You can clearly see the sockets cut into the rock behind the standing image, into which wooden beams would have been inserted.
The standing Buddha is 7m tall and is said to be the finest of the series. The unusual position of the arms and sorrowful facial expression led to the theory that it was an image of the Buddha's disciple Ananda, grieving for his master's dep…
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Bundala National Park
Bundala National Park is a fantastic maze of waterways, lagoons and dunes that glitter like gold in the dying evening sun. This wonderland provides a home to thousands of colourful birds ranging from diminutive little bee-eaters to grotesque open-billed stalks. It is a wetland sanctuary of such importance that it has been recognised under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. It shelters some 150 species of birds within its 62-sq-km area, with many journeying from Siberia and the Rann of Kutch in India to winter here, arriving between August and April. It’s also a winter home to the greater flamingo, and up to 2000 have been recorded here at one time. If you’re a birder, you…
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Ratnaprasada
Follow the loop road above Vata Mandana Rd and you will find the finest guardstones in Anuradhapura. Dating from the 8th century, they depict a cobra king, and demonstrate the final refinement of guardstone design. You can see examples of much earlier guardstone design at the Mirisavatiya Dagoba.
In the 8th century a new order of tapovana (ascetic) monks settled in these western fringes of the city, among the lowest castes, the rubbish dumps and the burial places. These western monasteries were simple but grand structures of stone. Ornamentation was saved for toilets and urinals, now displayed at the Archaeology Museum. The monks of Ratnaprasada (Gem Palace) monastery gav…
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Kantaka Chetiya
At the first landing of the Stairway, on Mihintale, a small flight of steps leads to this partly ruined dagoba off to the right. It is 12m high (originally it was higher than 30m) and 130m around at its base. A Brahmi inscription found nearby records donations for the dagoba. While exactly who built it is open to conjecture, Devanampiya Tissa (r 247–207 BC) had 68 cave monasteries built, and the dagoba would have been constructed near these. King Laji Tissa (r 59–50 BC) enlarged it. So the dagoba was built sometime in between, and is certainly one of the oldest at Mihintale. It is noteworthy for its friezes. Four stone flower altars stand at each of the cardinal points, a…
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Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil
Approximately 2km northeast of the centre, the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil is the most impressive religious building in Jaffna and one of the most significant Hindu temple complexes in Sri Lanka. Its sacred deity, Murugan (or Skanda), is central to temple activity, especially during the punctual, cacophonic pujas (5am, 10am, noon, 4pm and 5pm), when offerings are made to his brass-framed image and other Hindu deities like Ganesh, Murugan’s elephant-headed brother, in shrines surrounding the inner sanctum.
The kovil’s 15th-century structure fell victim to Portuguese destructive ruthlessness in the 17th century; the current one dates from 1734. Its beautifully maintained larg…
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Coral Sanctuary
Hikkaduwa’s overexploited ‘coral sanctuary’ stretches out from the string of ‘Coral’ hotels at the north end of the strip to a group of rocks a couple of hundred metres offshore. You can swim out to the rocks from the Coral Gardens Hotel, where the reef runs straight out from the shore. The water over the reef is never more than 3m or 4m deep. Once upon a time this was a magnificent garden of fishy colours and flowering corals, but today the reef is sadly a shadow of its former self with much of the coral dying and the fish flipping away to more pristine spots. One of the big reasons for this demise has been coral bleaching, caused by oceanic and atmospheric conditions (q…
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