Originally inhabited by the aboriginals commonly known as Yukkas. A monastery is believed have been built here first but subsequently known to have been used by a order of recluse monks who practiced a austere life style. No mention of this order of monks has been found since 12th century at Ritigala or else where and probably the monastery also has been abandoned since then. Ritigala was rediscovered by the then government surveyor James Mantell in 1872. Ritigala had been used as a base for battle by Pandukabhaya the founder of Anuradhapura city.

We started our journey from Piliyandala around 5a.m. in the morning (we were too late) and stopped near Kurunegala to have our breakfast. We were able to reach the mountain base by 10.30 in the morning. After contacting an officer from the Archeological Department and started climbing the mountain.

Place Mark	Strict Nature Reserve
This is just a very small part of the pond.	Can you just imagine the real size of it…?

Soon after we entered the Mountain range we felt a sudden change of climate around us. It was getting cooler as we go deep in to the forest. The first sight that caught our eye after entering the site was a large rounded ground with atone steps leading into the base. Our guide explained us that it had been a pond used for drinking and bathing purpose of the monks who lived in the monastery in the mountain. Further more he told us that it’s the second largest archeological pond in Sri Lanka

I’m One and only…..

Ritigala forest is a strict natural reserve. It is full of rare endemic herbal plants. Some are very rare indeed. The best instance is “Ritigala Mee”.

This tree in the picture is called “Ritigala mee” and there’s only one tree of this kind in Sri Lanka. Not just that, this is one of the very few trees of this kind in whole Asian continent.

After passing the pond we walked along a well paved stone way which leads to the ancient monastery. As I mentioned earlier the breeze around us was getting cooler and cooler. It was really a fascinating journey along with the beautiful trees on either side of us

The stone paved way leads deep into the mountain….

The stone paved way leads deep into the mountain….

Ruins of the ancient monastery…

Ruins of the hospital complex…

Ruins-Kurahangala…..

Ruins-Ambarumgala ….

More to go…..

Natural beauty….

Then we came to the famous “Balum Gala (The Look out)”. From there we got a very good view of the valley down and as well as the mountain top…

Balum gala….

The longest Gal palama in Ritigala…..

The view of the valley from the Balum gala…

Gal asanaya…..

This was really a pity…

We were so disappointed of people who do things such as carving their names on trees and the rocks in mountain. Please refrain from doing such things if you visit places like Ritigala in the future….

Can’t move after a sumptuous meal…	One of many butterflies seen on the way
Meditation site……	Meditation site……

You can’t go beyond this meditation site if you don’t have a permit. It’s strictly restricted to enter the natural reserve by the Department of Wild life. And the permits are given away for special purposes only. We couldn’t climb up to the mountain top though we had a permit as we were running late. Hope to climb up to the mountain top on our next visit.

After spending sometime there we decided to head back and our next destination was the Awukana Buddha statue. On our way we stopped near Kala wewa to have our lunch.

One we rescued on our way back...

Sucking the life out…..

Ritigala as seen from Kala wewa…

The famous Awukana Buddha statue…

After visiting awukana we started to head back to Colombo. It was a nice day spent with nature and the history…

Thank you very much for reading my trip report. Have a safe journey…