Let’s Find out a Lush, Tropical Savanna Forest in Sri Lanka

If you are a person who enjoys being in wilderness, observing the animals, seeking at endless green, listening to the murmur of Mother Nature and feeling the cool breeze, I have good news for you. You are going to learn such a spot, a unique eco system which will be a unique experience.


You have to be eager to know what this place is by now. Well, it is Nilgala forest national park of Sri Lanka that you are going to discover about. It is the most prominent Savanna forest in Sri Lanka. This, like other savannas, has standard herbs. These savannas catch wildfire each and every year. They have underbrush of grass and the trees that scatter right here and there are all nicely adapted to be resistant to fire.

Nilgala is located in the Eastern and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka. The forest spreads more than 26000 hectares and administered by both forest and wildlife conservation departments of Sri Lankan government.

You can reach the park by either going from Colombo to Kandy and then to Bibila, on Bibila-Inginiyagala road, or using Bibila- Batticoloa road.

You would not find any tracks except these utilised for conservation purposes or any camping or lodging facilities in the portion that belongs to department of wildlife conservation, but the section belonging to Galoya national park has tracks and camp websites.

The west side aspect of the park has three jeep-tracks, a boat track from the dam of Senanayaka Samudraya basin, providing you a panoramic view , a traveler’s lodge with a capacity for ten individuals, and 3 camp internet sites.

There are solitary rocks and mountains here and there, pools of water, valleys, and slopes in the park, but the major feature is the Savanna. Brief and tall grass with scattered solitary trees is the common function of that.

Nilgala, Danigala, Yakunnahela, Hamanawa, Kahatatuwa, and Mahakadakanda are the primary rock formation in the forest premise. Nilgala is the grandest of them all, and it has such a rich neighborhood of herbal plants.

Senanayaka Samudraya, a man made water reservoir of 19250 acres is on 1 side of the park. There are several mountain ranges surrounding the park which adds to the beauty of it.

The river Galoya flows through the park.

With the prominent Savanna, mixed dry and evergreen forest feature can be observed there as well. The annual typical rain pour is about 1700mm, which comes from north eastern monsoon and the average temperature is about 20 centigrade.

The plant community of the forest consists of grasses such as Kudukumberiya, Kukurumana, Pengirimana, Mana, and Iluk, as local people call, and different hard-wood trees.

There are a significant number of wild elephants in Nilgala. Amongst other mammals, there are sambour, deer, wild buffalo, wild boar, fox, fishing cat, porcupine, pangolin, toddy cat, mongoose, leopard and sloth bear.

Nilgala is also popular for birds. Nearly every Sri Lankan dry zone bird can be found there. There are regional, endemic and migrating birds. Wet land bird species are present too.

No adequate research have been accomplished about the amphibians that reside there. Every single Sri Lankan dry zone reptile has been reported in Nilgala. Pythons, crocodiles and some deadly poisonous snakes are also amongst them.

Nilgala is also identified for its butterflies and bees too.

Does this sound fascinating? Trust me the actual beauty of this wilderness is far beyond my expression. If you take a look at Nilgala forest national park once, you would want to go there again

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