Amazing Lanka – A photo Journey to the Island Nation in the Indian Ocean

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SRI LANKA HAS A DOCUMENTED HISTORY THAT SPANS OVER 2,600 YEARS, BUT THERE ARE FACTS TO SUGGEST THAT SRI LANKA HAD PREHISTORIC HUMAN SETTLEMENTS DATING BACK TO AT LEAST 125,000 YEARS. ITS GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION AND DEEP HARBORS MADE IT OF GREAT STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE FROM THE TIME OF THE ANCIENT SILK ROAD THROUGH TO WORLD WAR II. SRI LANKA IS A DIVERSE COUNTRY, HOME TO MANY RELIGIONS, ETHNICITIES AND LANGUAGES. IT IS THE LAND OF THE SINHALESE, SRI LANKAN TAMILS, MOORS, INDIAN TAMILS, BURGHERS, MALAYS, KAFFIRS AND THE ABORIGINAL VEDDA. SRI LANKA HAS A RICH BUDDHIST HERITAGE, AND THE FIRST KNOWN BUDDHIST WRITINGS OF SRI LANKA, THE PĀLI CANON, DATES BACK TO THE FOURTH BUDDHIST COUNCIL IN 29 BCE .

THE PURPOSE OF THIS SITE IS TO CREATE A DEEPER AWARENESS OF ALL THE ATTRACTIONS OF SRI LANKA THUS DEVELOP A RICHER APPRECIATION OF WHAT OUR ANCESTORS AND NATURE HAS PROVIDED US WITH.
SRI LANKA IS HOME TO ONE OF OLDEST CIVILIZATIONS IN THE WORLD WITH A WRITTEN HISTORY COVERING THE LAST 2600 YEARS.

SRI LANKAN CIVILIZATION WAS NATURED AND NOURISHED BY BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY AND WAS BUILT ON A THEME KNOWN AS “WAWAI DAGOBAI, GAMAI PANSALAI” WHICH SIMPLY MEANS EVERY VILLAGE CONSISTED OF A IRRIGATION TANK, A BUDDHIST TEMPLE AND A STUPA.

SEVEN PLACES IN SRI LANKA HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED AS WORLD HERITAGE SITES UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF WORLD CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HERITAGE ADOPTED BY UNESCO ON NOVEMBER 16, 1972. SRI LANKANS ARE PROUD TO HAVE SEVEN WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SUCH A SMALL COUNTRY.
Heritage of Sri Lanka (New Additions)
ALTHOUGH THE LAND AREA OF ​​SRI LANKA IS RELATIVELY SMALL, IT HAS A WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF ECOSYSTEMS DUE TO DIFFERENT CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AND TOPOGRAPHY AND HAS A LARGE VARIETY OF FLORA AND FAUNA. THE FORESTS ARE ONE OF THE PLACES WHERE THE BIODIVERSITY OF LANKABE IS AT ITS MAXIMUM BECAUSE OF THE RARE FLORA AND FAUNA ENDEMIC TO SRI LANKA. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT SRI LANKA IS ONE OF THE 34 BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS IN THE WORLD.
Wildlife and Biodiversity of Sri Lanka (New Additions)
CONSIDERING ITS SIZE, SRI LANKA PERHAPS HAS THE LARGEST DENSITY WATERFALLS IN THE WORLD. THERE ARE CLOSE TO 500 KNOWN WATERFALLS NAMED AND UNNAMED, SEASONAL AND PERENNIAL WITH THE TALLEST BEING 241 METERS AT BAMBARAKANDA
Waterfalls of Sri Lanka (New Additions)
CONSIDERED THE LOST PARADISE BY ANCIENT TRAVELERS DUE TO WHAT NATURE HAS OFFERED IN FORM OF PRISTINE BEACHES TO ROMANTIC LANDSCAPES GOVERNED BY RISING MOUNTAINS, LUSH FORESTS, TANKS AS LARGE AS OCEANS AND ROAMING ANIMALS, SOME MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS WHO FIRST LANDED IN SRI LANKA BELIEVED THAT THEY HAVE DISCOVERED THE ORIGINAL GARDEN OF EDEN.
Attractions of of Sri Lanka (New Additions))
SRI LANKA IS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD WHO INVENTED AND PERFECTED THE VALVE PIT SYSTEM CALLED BISO KOTUWA WHICH ENABLED THEM TO CREATE GIGANTIC IRRIGATION RESERVOIRS STARTING FROM 3RD CENTURY BC. THE EUROPEANS DISCOVERED AND USED THIS TECHNOLOGY IN THE 20TH CENTURY AND BY THIS TIME, SRI LANKA HAD ALREADY BUILD OVER 30,000 TANKS WHICH USED THE BISO KOTUWAS TO MANAGE PRESSURE CREATED BY THE GIGANTIC WATER VOLUMES
Water Heritage of Sri Lanka (New Additions)
  • Ancient Minipe (Manimekhala) Amuna over MahaweliAncient Minipe Amuna (Manimekhala Amuna) over Mahaweli (පැරණි මිණිපේ අමුණ)
    The Pabbatahata Ela now identified as the Minipe Canal is the product of the the great reservoir builder, king Mahasen (276-303 CE). However the Minipe Amuna a (Manimekhala Amuna) has been built later by king Aggabodhi I (575-608 CE) […]
  • Ma Oya Yaka Bendi Ella Amuna (මා ඔය යකා බැඳි ඇල්ල අමුණ)Ma Oya Yaka Bendi Ella Amuna (මා ඔය යකා බැඳි ඇල්ල අමුණ)
    Evidence of the ancient amuna (dam) at Yaka Bendi Ella built across Ma Oya can be found in the area around Nalla near Giriulla town in Pitigal Korale in Kurunegala district. After traveling about 24 km from Minuwangoda passing Divulapitiya and Kotadeniyawa towards Giriulla, you can turn south from Nalla village and locate this this place on the Ma Oya river. […]
  • යාන් ඔය නිම්නයේ පුරාණ වාහල්කඩ අමුණ - Ancient Wahalkada Amuna on Yan OyaAncient Ellagala Naka Amuna across Kirindi Oya (ඇල්ලේගල නකා අමුණ)
    Today aka Amuna consists of several undressed stones scattered on the river as well as outside the waterline. Except for the remnants of the earthen wall of this construction, no other parts were visible on the ground. […]
  • Ancient Ellegala Amuna across Kirindi Oya (පුරාණ ඇල්ලේගල අමුණ)Ancient Ellegala Amuna across Kirindi Oya (පුරාණ ඇල්ලේගල අමුණ)
    Ellegala Amuna is a site of an ancient anicut built across the upper floodplain of the Kirindi Oya. The main purpose of the canal, especially during floods, was to divert excess water from the reservoir at Ellegala to Tissa Wewa situated close to the urban hub of Tissamaharama. […]
  • යාන් ඔය නිම්නයේ පුරාණ වාහල්කඩ අමුණ - Ancient Wahalkada Amuna on Yan OyaAncient Weerawila Gal Amuna across Kirindi Oya (වීරවිල ගල් අමුණ)
    Weerawila Gal Amuna (Galamuna) is a site, where one of the earliest irrigation dams was built across the Kirindi Oya. This would have been a small stone built dam constructed for the purpose of controlling the floods of the main stream. At present there is no evidence of the ancient dam at the site except the large natural stones lying in the riverbed. […]
  • Mahiyanganaya Kelewala Udaththuwa Wewa (Uda Wewa) - මහියංගණය කැලෑවල උඩත්තුව වැව (උඩ වැව)Mahiyanganaya Kelewala Udaththuwa Wewa (Uda Wewa) – මහියංගණය කැලෑවල උඩත්තුව වැව (උඩ වැව)
    Uda Wewa uses a sluice gate similar to Sorabora Wewa without the use of a Bisokotuwa. Using the natural rock to build the sluice gate seems be unique to Bulatha and these two tanks are the only 2 known reservoirs in the ancient irrigation history of Sri Lanka to use this technology. […]
  • මුලතිවුහි සැඟවුණු පුරාණ පෙරාරු අමුණ - Ancient Peraru Amuna in MulathivuAncient Peraru Amuna Hidden off the Jungles of Mulathivu
    From the shape of the pin holes made in the stone slabs used to make this Amuna, it is clear that this has been built during the Anuradhapura era. One river bank of the two of the embankment has been systematically prepared using gravel and stone blocks, and the second bank has been prepared using natural rock and embankments has been placed only in the necessary places. […]
  • The massive bisokotuwa of Kuda Vilachchiya before destruction by treasure huntersKuda Vilachchiya Wewa and its Ruins inside Wilpattu
    This ancient reservoir of Kuda Vilachchiya is believed to have been built by King Wasaba (67-111 AD).  Since it lies in the thick jungle of Wilpattu national park where the public has no access, those who are doing the surveys have to first obtain permission to enter the park and then travel by a tractor to a certain distance and lead the rest of the journey by foot. […]
  • Ruins of Habagama Gal Palamaහබගම පුරාණ ගල් පාලම ගල් අමුණ නටබුණ් – Ruins of Habagama Gal Palama and Amuna
    හොරොව්පතාන, හබගම යාන් ඔයේ ගල් තලාවක් හරහා ඇති ගල් කණු සහ ගල් පුවරු වල නටබුන් මෙම මාර්ගයේ වැටී ඇති අනුරාධපුරයෙන් පිටවන ප්‍රධාන මාර්ගයක් පෙන්නුම් කරමින් ගඟ හරහා ඉපැරණි ගල් පාලමක් සංකේතවත් කරයි. […]
  • The Kantale Tankපනෝවා ප්‍රදේශය සශ්‍රීක කල කන්තලේ වැව
    විවිධ වකවානු වල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරය කොට සටහන් ලියා තැබූ අය අතින් මහත් වර්ණනාවට ලක් වූ පැරණි ජලාශය කුමක් ද යන්න විමසුව හොත් මුල් ම තැන හිමි වන්නේ කන්තලේ වැවට ය. හබරණ සිට ත්‍රිකුණාමලයට යන අයෙකු නොවරදවාම පසු කරන කන්තලේ වැව, ප්‍රධාන මාර්ගයක පිහිටීම නිසාත් එයට ම ආවේණික පරිසර පද්ධතිය නිසාත් මෙම මගෙහි ගමන් කරන කිසිවකුට මඟ නොහැරේ. […]
IT IS VERY LIKELY THAT THE FIRST SETTLERS FROM INDIA HAD REACHED SRI LANKA AT LEAST AS EARLY AS ONE MILLION YEARS AGO – PERHAPS EARLIER.

BY ABOUT 125,000 BP IT IS CERTAIN THAT THERE WERE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS IN SRI LANKA FROM THE EVIDENCE DISCOVERED AT BUNDALA. NUMBER OF CAVE SITES HAS BEEN DISCOVERED WITH EVIDENCE OF PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS HAS BEEN FOUND AROUND THE COUNTRY.
Pre Historical sites of Sri Lanka (New Additions)