Caving

This captivating activity is relatively new to Sri Lanka and is rather an unusual experienced not to be missed. Sri Lanka is dotted with many caves from the Ritigala mountains in the north to the central hills and the southern hillocks of the South. The most famous being Batatotalena at sudugala, attributed to the “Balangoda man” a prehistoric man whose skeletal remains were uncovered inside this cave, Belilena in Kithulgala and aptly named “Wavulpone” because of the large community of bats living inside with some records indicating a figure as high as hundred thousand.

The word speleology, describes the exploration, surveying, mapping and photographing of caves, used by the scientific community. These caves are home to a great variety of creatures that are nocturnal in their habits and most of the recently discovered species are from caves which have been around for at least 500 million years, and abound with stalactites and stalagmites, formations of conical calcium deposits sometimes as tall as a child

The Andirilena Cave is a cave located 4 km (2.5 mi) from Udugama, in the Galle District of Sri Lanka (25 km (16 mi) from Belihuloya towards Colombo on the Balangoda–Colombo road). The cave system begins from a 4 ft (1.2 m) opening, before splitting into two main channels (and more smaller caves), before joining back after approximately 500 m (1,600 ft) in.

The Aluvihare Rock Temple (also called Matale Alu Viharaya) is a sacred Buddhist temple located in Aluvihare, Matale District of Sri Lanka. Surrounded by hills, the Aluvihara cave temple is situated 30 km north of Kandy on the Matale-Dambulla road. The history of Aluvihare Rock Temple is traced back to the 3rd Century B.C to the reign of King Devanampiyatissa. It is believed that the King built the dagoba, planted the Bo sapling and founded the temple after the introduction of Buddhism to the country during his reign.

Batatotalena (Batadombalena) Cave

A hike from the nearest township of Sudugala, and then a climb of about 50m will bring you to the mouth of this fairly large cave, is a very important archaeological site since it contains evidence of human habitation from 32,000 BC and the 10 skeletal remains of the oldest human remains of Sri Lanka were also excavated from this cave, the “Homo sapiens balangodensis”, the Balangoda man may also have been responsible for the creation of Horton plains for agriculture.

This famous cave is located close to the adventure tourist capital of Sri Lanka, Kitulgala, approximately two hour drive from Colombo, and holds evidence of 12,000 year old remains of a Sri Lankan civilization probably occupied by the Balangoda man. A rope ladder is used for entry and the lake inside the cave mouth is largely unexplored and may contain fauna yet undiscovered.

The Bogoda Cave is thought to have been used by the Sri Lankan King Walagamba as one of his many hide-outs from the invading South Indians.& nbsp; It is considered to be part of a complex ‘tunnel network’ of other hide-outs such as the Narangala mountain cave, Dowa rock temple at Bandarawela and Rawana Ella cave in Ella.& nbsp; However this story cannot be proved because at present, the cave only leads about 15m into the tunnel through a narrow passage.