Udawatta Kaley

Udawatta Kele is unique in that it is the only forest to be located in the center of a city, proving that modern town planning concepts, such as the creation of green belts, is nothing new after all. Ever since the 16th century, when it became part pf the royal palace and was designated as a Thanasi Kele or ‘Forbidden Forest,’ Udawatta Kele has afforded the resplendent city of Kandy with a natural hub. And ever since 1815, when Kandy finally fell to the British, it has provided millions of visitors with the opportunity of experiencing the remarkable sensation of being in a tropical rainforest less than a kilometer from the city center.

The British found that Udawatta Kele was 1,000 acres in extent. However, over the ensuing century much of it was cleared to make way for buildings, such as St. Paul’s Anglican Church and Trinity College, military barracks and a cemetery, and even coffee plantations. What was left of the original Udawatta Kele - about one quarter - was declared a forest reserve in 1856. However, this meant little for thirty years, because it was only with the passing of the Forest Act in 1885, and the creation of the Forest Department in 1887, that the area could be protected. In fact, it was not until 1898 that Udawatta Kele was finally and officially declared as a forest reserve. Forty year later, in 1938, it was turned into a fully recognised forest sanctuary.

Udawatta Kele Sanctuary, which is 108 hectares in extent, is located on a hill that rises behind and above Kandy’s Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth). Visitors staying at any central Kandy hotel can easily reach Udawatta Kele by walking up D. S. Senanayake Vidiya and then turning right into Kande Vidiya. This brings you through the periphery of the sanctuary to the main entrance.

Just outside the gates is the Sri Dalada Thapowanaya Meditation Centre, which attracts crowds of devotees at Vesak. After purchasing a ticket and entering the sanctuary, make sure to familiarize yourself with the map inside the entrance. It is not easy to get lost, for all paths end up on another, but to make the most of this remarkable place, it is better to have an idea of where you are going. During the 19th century several paths were opened up in the forest, named after British governors or their wives. The first to be blazed in 1834, Lady Horton’s Walk, was later converted into a motorable road (although cars are not allowed today).

This walk begins by the side of President’s House (but what was then the Governor’s House) and meanders to the main pond, where it forks left and then loops round a major portion of the sanctuary. There are three places that have worthwhile scenic views on Lady Horton’s Walk. The best view encompasses the Dumbara Valley (now flooded), with the mighty mountain known as Hunasgiriya in the background.

Another walk named after a governor’s wife is Lady Gordon’s Drive, built in the 1880s. Then there is the very overgrown Gregory’s Path, which was opened up by Sir William Gregory in the 1870s. It begins by the pond and climbs a hill, ending in Lady Gregory’s Seat. Then there is the path blazed by Lady Ward in 1858 known as Marble Seat Walk. The walk still exists, but the seat is no longer there. A lesser colonial official, a government agent called Russell, also got in on the act, creating a path after his name leading to the Rama Vihare, located at one end of the sanctuary.

The pond already mentioned is an artificial one, although located in a picturesque setting with large clumps of bamboo on the banks. It was probably created by the last king of Kandy, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, as a bathing pool for his queens and their retinue. Legend has it that there is a jar containing gold coins somewhere in the mud on the bottom of the pond. This treasure is believed to be guarded by a cobra with glowing red eyes. Apparently the jar surfaces once a year, and those who have tried to grab it have all disappeared - no doubt due to the actions of the guardian cobra.

Flora
In the early 19th century there was a major replanting program, and many of the trees to be seen today are the result, nearly a century on. Among the species are Katu Imbul or Silk Cotton Tree, Pihimbiya, Wal Sapu, Eth Demata, and Na orIron-Tree, which is Sri Lanka’s national tree.

One of the truly unique features of Sri Lanka’s flora can be witnessed at Udawatta Kele. This is an extraordinary giant creeper called Maha-Pus-Wel or “great hollow climber”, which extends over a vast area. It has to be hollow because it loops over the tops of trees and then down to the ground. In his book Ceylon (1859), James Emerson Tennent writes of trees being “tormented by climbing plants of such extraordinary dimensions that many of them exceed in diameter the girth of a man, and these gigantic appendages are to be seen surmounting the tallest trees of the forest, grasping their stems in firm convolutions, and then flinging their monstrous tendrils over the larger limbs till they reach the top, whence they descend to the ground in huge festoons, and after including another and another tree in their successive toils, they once more ascend to the summit, and wind the whole into a maze of living network.” They are able to cling on to trees because the leaves have strong hooked spikes. It has huge seedpods 1.5 meters long with beautiful brown beans, so large that the Sinhalese used to hollow them out and use them as tinderboxes. Over 40 ferns and flowering plants are found in the sanctuary. In addition, the forest is the natural habitat for most of the island’s endemic orchids, all of which are now rare.

Fauna.
Mammals inhabiting Udawatta Kele include the Indian Crested Porcupine and the Toque Monkey. The Porcupine is entirely nocturnal, so visitors are unlikely to see one, although they may find a quill or two. On the other hand, the Toque Monkey, a species endemic to Sri Lanka, is everywhere. This monkey, with its thick reddish fur, is gregarious and lives in family troops of 20 or more.

Avifauna
Some 30 species of birds have been recorded. Some of the more remarkable species to be encountered are the Layard’s Parakeet, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot,Yellow-Fronted Barbet, Brown-Headed Barbet, Black-Capped Bulbul, Emerald Dove, Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater and Blossom-Headed Parakeet.