Sinharaja Forest Reserve

Sinharaja Forest Reserve is one of the most spectacular forest reserves in Sri Lanka and is ecologically very unique. It is located close to Ratnapura and is placed between the villages of Rakwana, Deniyaya and Matugama. This forest reserve is one of the least disturbed amongst all the natural forest reserves in the country. It is a unique lowland rain forest. It has been declared a Man and Biosphere Reserve (MAB) in 1978. It has also been recognized by UNESCO as part of its International Network of Biosphere reserves. The park is very unique as mentioned earlier.

There are innumerable varieties of original plants and animals, flowing rivers and silent streamlets. The area of the park is around 9800 hectares. The park receives heavy rainfall distributed well between the two monsoons. The list of animals found in the park can go on and on. The earliest account of the animal list was compiled in 1937. Indigenousness is high here in this park. Particularly for birds it is around 95%, for mammals and butterflies it is greater than 50%. Some of the animals here are threatened. Leopards (Panthera pardus), Indian elephant (Elephas maximus), purple-faced langur (Presbytis senex) are found here though some questions remain about their future. The birds that are considered to be endangered or rare are Sri Lanka wood pigeon, green-billed coucal, Sri Lanka white-headed starling, Sri Lanka blue magpie, and ashy-headed babbler, and red-faced malkoha. Amongst the engendered reptiles and amphibians are the python and some other species.
Calotes liolepis, the rarest of all Agamids on the island, the rare rough-nose horned lizard Ceratophora aspera, restricted to part of Sri Lanka's wet zone, and Ramella palmata, a rare endemic microhylid are really threatened. Some of the fishes are threatened too like combtail Belontia signata, smooth-breasted snakehead Channa orientalis, black ruby barb Barbus nigrofasciatus, cherry barb Barbus titeya and red-tail goby Sicydium halei. Several of the indigenous butterflies of the island are also threatened, though all steps are taken to preserve them. When you are visiting the island, spend some time in Sinharaja Forest Reserve.