Sinharaja Rain Forest

Sinharaja Rain Forest in Sri Lanka, the World Heritage Site

A Tropical Lowland Rain forest or Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest the forest at its lowest is 270m above the sea level last remaining virgin rain forest in Sri Lanka and one of the few virgin forests left in the world encircled by 3 administrative districts viz. Galle and Matara Districts in Southem province and Ratnapura District in Sabaragamuwa province declared as a world heritage site in 1988 by UNESCO initially declared a Man and Biosphere Reserve (MAB) in 1978, as representative of Tropical Humid Evergreen Forest ecosystem in Sri Lanka it has been recognized by UNESCO as part of its International Network of Biosphere Reserves under the Heritage Wilderness Area Act, in 1988, Singharaja forest was announced as a National Wilderness Area, and subsequently as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO it is the first natural resource that declared as a World Heritage site in Sri Lanka not only the ecological and biodiversity value but also its scenic beauty is also marvelous tributaries of the River Kalu (Kalu Ganga) in the north and the River Gin (Gin Ganga) in the south, nurture the Sinharaja forest the rainfall in the area is high throughout the year the average annual rainfall of Sinharaja is within the range of 3,000 to 6,000 mm even driest periods in the country this rain forest records a surprisingly considerable rain fall the vegetation of Sinharaja can be described as 'Tropical Lowland Rain Forest' or 'Tropical Wet Ever Green Forest' there are four main routes of access to Sinharaja

1.       Kalawana- Weddagala road (Ratnapura District) 

2.       Rakwana-Morning side estate road (Ratnapura District) 

3.       Hiniduma-Neluwa road (Galle District) 

4        Deniyaya-Pallegama road (Matara District) 

Kalawana-Weddagala road via Matugama, Agalawatte and Kalavana is shorter and more convenient for visitors who travel from Colombo this forest cover an extent of approximately 1 1 187 hectare from east to west, the length of the forest is about 21 km its width from north to south is about 3.7 km the average annual temperature of Sinharaja is 23.6 C 

Hinipitigalais the tallest summit and the height is about 1171m other important hillocks in Sinharaja over 500m in height are:Patthinigala(605m), 

Sinhagala (742m), 

Kohilearambe (757m), 

Mulawella (760m), 

Dotalugala (769m), 

Kosgulana (797m), 

Tibbotagala (904m) , 

rich treasure trove of nature with a great diversity of habitats it is home to 95% of the endemic birds of Sri Lanka out of the birds recorded in the western sector of the Sinharaja forest, 72% were resident but non-endemic and 13% migrant almost 95% of the endemic birds are found here, which comes into 19 species the rare endemic birds to be seen in Sinharaja are the Red-faced Malkoha, the Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, the Ashy-headed Babbler, and the White - headed Starling and the 

other bird life includes Ceylon Spur fowl, Ceylon Jungle fowl (the National bird), Ceylon Wood Pigeon, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, Layard's Parakeet, Chestnut-backed Owlet, Ceylon Grey 

Hornbill, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Ceylon Small Barbet, Black-capped Bulbul, Spotted-winged 

Thrush, Brown-capped Babbler, Orange-billed Babbler, Ashy- headed Laughing-Thrush, Ceylon 

Hill Munia, Ceylon Hill Myna, Malabar Trogon, Black Bulbul, Indian Scimitar Babbler, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Green imperial Pigeon, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and Yellow-brown Bulbul etc. 

Vertebrate category	Species in Sri Lanka	Species in   Sinharaja	Percentage in Sinharaja	Endemic species in Sri Lanka	Endemic species in Sinharaja	Percentage in Sinharaja
Fish	59	11		16
Amphibian	37	20		19	10
Snakes	65	16		34	6
Tetra od	79	29		38	15
Birds	384	147		33	22	66.2%
Mammals	85	39		12	8
Total	709	262		139	60	43%

the average height of the emergent trees varies between 35m —45m high forest has three layers i.e. Emergent up to 45m, Canopy between 25-30m Sub-canopy between 10-15m there are some exceptional trees that rise even up to 50m  Mesua , Shorea community and Dipteracarpus community, dominates the vegetation the forest also sheltered the large varieties of wild orchids, epiphytes and lianas as 

139 out of 21 1 varieties of trees and creepers within the Sinharaja are endemic and as a it comes to about 66% well 

Percentage basic studies on the fauna of Sinharaja have revealed that there is a high degree of en among the butterflies, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals demism in fact 95%of the endemic birds of Sri Lanka are recorded in Sinharaja endemism among mammals and butterflies are also greater than 50% eight out of twelve endemic mammal species ofthe country are found here green Pit Viper and Hump-nosed Viper are commonly found snakes in this forest they are endemic to Sri Lanka among the amphibians nine endemic species have been identified in Sinharaja, water monitors, torque macaques, giant squirrels, purple-faced leaf monkeys and leeches are common many streams start from the high grounds of Sinharaja and fall into bigger rivers there is a small waterfall called Duhuvili Ella, perhaps it is named after the dust like spray of the waterfall 

the following rivers can be seen within the reserve: 

Koskulana Ganga,	Maha Ganga
Kudawa Ganga,	Maha dola
Pitakele Ganga,	Gin Ganga
Kalukandawa ganga,	Napala Dola
Aranuwa Dola	('Ganga ' or 'Dola ' means river)

there are foot paths in the reserve created by the people in the boundary villages people who are looking for fruits, raisins, firewood, cane and bees' honey and herbal medicines their foot prints as the forest is theirs these foot prints are helpful to the visitors too visitors are welcome as long as they go in, leave nothing other than their foot-prints and take nothing except the wonderful memories and photographs of Sinharaja