Giant Vine

This giant woody vine (Liana or 'Pus' wela in local language) can be seen near Hunuwila, Opanayake between Pelmadulla and Balangoda. As per what I have heard, a major part of this vine was cutoff sometime back for no apparent reason. Still this is one of the biggest of this variety in the country.

You can see the bigger part of the vine on the left bank. A part of it goes over the river to the other side. The river is known as Wey Ganga, which is a tributary of River Kalu

I have seen a smaller cousin of this variety in Sinharaja sometime back.

Kalumediriya

After a quest of 4 years, I found Kalumediriya (Calamander or Coromandel - Diospyros quaesita) saplings. As I mentioned in my previous post, Kalumediriya is endemic to Sri Lanka and it is one of the rarest plants. It is a slow growing tree and it takes more than 100 years to grow to its full scale. This is classified as a super luxury class wood.

Above picture was taken from Haldummulla Herbal Garden. We bought 35 Kalumediriya saplings from there and planning to plant them in 35 homes.

For those who live in Colombo can see a Kalumediriya plant at Baddegana Wetland Park.

Enchanting Forest

This is another photo from the cloud forest of Sri Pada reserve. Isn't it magical to wander in these forests?

Kaluwara and Kalumediriya

I have a few Kaluwara (Ebony - Diospyros ebenum) trees in my garden. The timber is jet black and one of the hardest. These plants are now available at many places in Sri Lanka.

I am still looking for a rare tree called Kalumediriya (Calamander or Coromandel - Diospyros quaesita). The tree seem to be very similar to Kaluwara. It is more expensive than Kaluwara and the wood is known as the most beautiful of all timber. The wood is black but has a brown stripe. 

There were many Kalu mediriya trees in the 18th and 19th centuries and all were cut off for furniture. Right now it is almost extinct. So far, my visits to Forestry Department (and many other places) looking for Kalumediriya saplings, have been fruitless.

The picture here is one of the ebony trees in my garden. 

Garden After 5 Years

This is my home garden in Thalawathugoda.

The top picture was taken in 2011 when we first did the landscaping. Second picture is taken a few days ago.

See the difference that it has done over the 5 years. There are 31 trees planted in my 15 perch land (around 500 sq.m) including Ebony, Satinwood, Hora, Mango and Kumbuk.

In another 5 years, it should look like Sinharaja Forest

Towards Diyathalawa

I went thru' this forest, while travelling from Haputhale to Diyathalawa. Haputhale, Diyathalawa and Bandarawela known for cool and less humid climates, quite close to temperate zones in the world.

This stretch of forest is about 3-4 km. More pictures of this beautiful area is shown here.

Trees of Life

These amazing trees were captured in Mathugama area. Hope you can identify those peculiar objects hanging from the palms.

I have not seen so many 'wadu kurulu' (Baya Weaver) nests in one place. A closer view is shown here. It appeared that this community has lived here for a long period of time as I saw some of the older nests on the ground.

Tall Trees

This picture was taken somewhere close to Raththota, during my recent hike to Knuckles Range

Alive

Although the tree looks almost dead but it is not. A new branch has sprung with full of life.

This picture was taken at Yala National Park.

Succession

This dead tree was captured in Sinharaja. Two younger trees have grown taller taking its place.

Tree and Reflection

This picture was taken at Yala. Please click and enlarge it to see all the intruders in the picture.

Trees in the Lake

Above interesting photo was taken from the tank bund of Thisa Wewa (Tank) of Thissamaharama. Thisa wewa is one of the most scenic places in Sri Lanka. I’ll prove it with some pictures soon.

Thissamaharama is a town south of Sri Lanka situated in a vital location. Some of the facts are mentioned below.

The main temple of Thissamaharama is one of the 16 sacred places of Sri Lanka for Buddhists. In addition there are number of important places with archaeological importance. Thissamaharama is very close to culturally important venue of Katharagama, where people from all religions and race come to worship throughout the year. Also it is the closest town to the southern entrance of Yala National Park.

The Giant

Although it is more interesting to meet the giants of the animal world, some times it is equally appealing to see giants in the plant world.

This giant was seen in Sinharaja rain forest. It is known as the ‘Giant Nawanda Tree’ and it is one of the key attractions in this tropical rain forest. The tree is about 140 feet tall and the circumference is 21 feet. The botanical name is Shorea stipularis and it is one of the cousins of this particular tree, I saw sometime back.

There were many trees of same size, in this area some decades ago and most were cut off for timber. Nawanda is native to Sri Lanka.

Towards Kudawa

This scenery was captured between Weddagala and Kudawa, on my way to Sinharaja rain forest.

Hope you can identify all the different types of palms in the picture.

Sinharaja

Sinharaja Forest Reserve is one of the last remaining virgin rainforests in the world. Due to its significance, UNESCO has designated this forest reserve as a Biosphere Reserve as well as a World Heritage Site.

This majestic rainforest is situated in the South West of Sri Lanka within Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. There are many entry points to this forest and the closest to Colombo is Kudawa village via Weddagala. The distance to Kudawa is about 125km from Colombo. The other main entry points are Pitadeniya via Deniyaya and Morningside via Sooriyakanda.

This primeval forest is home to many flora and fauna and most are indigenous to this area. It is quite popular for endemic species of butterflies, amphibians, reptiles and birds. Also you can see larger animals like sambhurs and leopards. The majority of the trees are tall, gigantic ones between the heights of 35 – 40m. And some trees like the Giant Nawada Tree are closer to 50m in height.

The forest receives 4000 – 5000mm of rainfall every year and it is a primary source for many rivers and tributaries. Koskulana Ganga and Gin Ganga are some of them. There are some dazzling waterfalls also in this forest like Neluwa and Doovili Ella. This hilly reserve area has a few medium level peaks which provide excellent vantage points for explorers. Hinipitigala, Mulawella, Sinhagala and Kosgulana are some of them.

The best period to visit the forest is between December - April and August - September.

The above picture was taken from one of the highest peaks within the range known as Mulawella (about 760m).

I will bring more about this amazing place very soon. Till then, please visit following sites to learn more about Sinharaja.

• www.sinharaja.net
• www.sinharaja.4t.com
• UNESCO Biosphere Reserves
• UNESCO World Heritage sites

This post was selected for Kottu Section of week end news paper, The Sunday Leader.

The Dun Tree

The trees in the wet, low lands of Sri Lanka usually are very tall. Some trees grow even up to the heights of 30 – 40m. Hora, Bu-Hora, Thiniya Dun, Dun and Nawada are some of the tallest species.

The above Dun tree which is easily about 140 feet tall is popular as the tallest tree in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. You may find taller trees in Sinharaja Forest Reserve and some other places, but this tree should be one of the tallest in Sri Lanka. Its significance is amplified, since it is situated by the side of a main road.

If you ever travel along Agalawaththa - Kalawana road, you will see this tree in the village of Athwelthota, between Akasa Bokkuwa and the boundary of Western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces.

A Study in Scarlet

I saw this bright red seeds / fruits recently in a house near Pepiliyana. The tree which was about 15 feet tall seems to belong to the family of palm trees. I saw lot of birds attracted to the same but I did not try to eat them although they look very edible. I was unable to find the name of this interesting palm.

Any guess anyone?

Banyan Tree

Banyan (Nuga) trees are kind of nature’s wonder to me. The large numbers of aerial roots which are coming down from the branches grow into thick trunks later on. An older banyan tree would have hundreds of such smaller trunks all around the main trunk.

An old banyan tree is a photographer’s delight and this particular photo was taken near the famous Thalawila Church in the North Western Province (Wayamba) of Sri Lanka.

A City Walk

The city is not my favorite place for a walk but I really enjoyed this half a kilometer walk in the heart of the city of Colombo. This straight path, which links the Independence Square and the Planetarium in the University of Colombo premises is developed quite recently. Further development is planned here and the idea is to make a greener and more environmentally friendly area within the city.

The whole walkway is paved and quite a lot of trees are planted all along the path. Already this is quite shady but once the trees grow up further it will be one of the coolest and greenest walkways in the city. Although there were very few people in this area yesterday, I hope to see more people visit this wonderful place in the near future.

Anawilundawa

This interesting scenery was seen at a place called Anawilundawa in the Puttalam District. You can reach here via Colombo – Puttalam Road. A traveler had to turn towards the sea side after Baththulu Oya.

This area is connected to Mundal Lagoon South of Puttalam. It is a marshy area but very scenic in its own unique way. The watery landscape is full of different types of water lilies like Olu and Manel. The land is generally grassy but lots of thick forest patches can be seen.

It is a great place for bird watchers and to my knowledge, Anawilundawa is already identified as a bird sanctuary.