Sinharaja Rain Forest in Sri Lanka

Previously we wrote another heritage site from Sri lanka, Sigiriya. Sinharaja Rain Forest (One of best Forests in the world) of Sri Lanka is a famous world heritage site. It is mainly a national reserve park and a great source of biodiversity. In 1978, it was pronounced as a World Biosphere Reserve center by UNESCO. Afterwards, it was declared as a world heritage site by the UNESCO in 1988. It is located in the Sabaragamuwa and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka. It has covered an area of 88.64 square kilometers. It is simply known as the ‘kingdom of Lion’. This forest is the residence of a numerous species of birds, reptiles, insects, trees, mammals and amphibians. The forest is so dense that the animals cannot be easily seen. There are 3 elephants, 15 or more leopards that are so rare to be seen. Purple faced Langur is the mostly seen animal here.

Visitors can go to the Sinharaja Rain Forest by several different routes. There are three entrances to the forest. They are- Kudawa Entrance, Pitadeniya Entrance and Morning Side Entrance. If anyone wants to enter from Kudawa entrance, he has to head from Colombo and has to reach Kudawa passing through Kalawana. And if anyone wants to enter from Pitadeniya entrance or Morning Side Entrance, he has to head from Galle or Matara and has to reach Pitadeniya passing through Deniyaya.

Sinharaja Rain Forest is a wet tropical evergreen typed forest. The most prominent feature of the trees of this rain forest is that the dominant trees are very lofty. The average height of the trees is between 35 meters to 40 meters. Some trees have grown up to 50 meters here. The boles of the trees are simply straight. There are trees of several species. Trees here represent a high degree of endemism. The trees of Dipterocarpaceae family represent a degree of endemism of above 90%. Plants like ferns and epiphytes are also represent a high degree of endemism. In Sri Lanka, almost 25 species of endemic flora has been found and among these 25 species, 13 species are found in Sinharaja Rain Forest. This rain forest is very much dense as it holds different types of trees, herbs, shrubs and seedlings.

The Sinharaja Rain Forest is blessed with a great bio-diversity. Sambar deer is the commonly found deer species here. But Indian hog deer and Indian muntjac deer are also found here. The Leopard is rarely seen. But their footsteps prove their presence. . Other occasionally seen animals are the Golden Palm Civet and the Stripe-necked mongoose. Most commonly Purple faced Leaf Monkey represents the existence of primate here. There was a record of seeing 3 elephants in this forest. But, for last 15 years they have not seen by anyone here. All most 72% birds that live here are local and 13% are migrants. Red-faced malkoha is a rare type of local bird that can be found in this forest. The Ashy-headed laughingthrush, the Sri Lanka Blue Magpie and the White-faced starling are also very rare in nature. The mostly rare species of bird that is found in Sinharaja Rain Forest is the Green-billed coucal. Many other animals like the Agamids, the Common Green Garden Forest Lizard, the Whistling lizard, the Indian black turtle,  the Bronze mabuya, the Green Pit Viper, the Wrinkled frog and  the yellow-banded Caecilian are preserved here with great safety. Peoples come here to pay a visit or to research purpose. This Sinharaja Rain Forest of Sri Lanka plays a great role in the field of international bio-diversity.

Map of sinharaja Forest

---

Photo Source : [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]