st clair's waterfalls

Most conveniently seen by the travelers on Hatton – Talawakelle Road, the twin waterfalls of St.Clairs cascades over three rock outcrops into a massive pool. The beautiful and most popular fall, located among tea gardens, carries a large volume of water, and is the widest waterfall in the country.

The fall is situated over 500 m. away from the road, and one needs to walk down among the tea bushes at a steep gradient in order to reach it.

Located on the Kotmale Oya, this fall will be affected by the proposed Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project, but for the benefit of the public a limited quantity of water will be released to prevent complete disappearance of the fall.

Devon Falls

Devon Falls is one of the most popular waterfall in the country specially due its clear view from the popular Hatton Nuwara Eliya Road. The best view is from Dimbula where a special viewpoint is located with parking facilities.

On the other side of the road is the famous Mlesna Tea Center where you could have a fresh cup of tea could be had. Almost Everybody who travels on this road to Nuwara Eliya is bound to at least break rest here before continuing the journey.

Devon waterfall will be one of the most effected waterfalls and the Government has ordered relevant authorities that enough water will be released so that the St. Clair’s waterfall will maintain a continuous flow of 47,250 m3 (1,668,618 cu ft) of water for 10 hours and 30 minutes daily, between sunrise and sunset.

HAKGALA BOTANICAL GARDEN

Hakgala Botanical Garden is one of the five botanical gardens in Sri Lanka. The other four are Peradeniya Royal Botanical Garden, Henarathgoda Botanical Garden, Mirijjawila Botanical Garden and Seethawaka Botanical Garden. It is the second largest garden in Sri Lanka. The garden is contiguous to Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve.

Hakgala Botanical Garden is situated on the Nuwara Eliya - Badulla main road, 16 km from Nuwara Eliya. The garden has a cool temperature climate because of altitude and is 1620 meters (5,400 feet) above the sea level. From December to February it has a cold climate, while the slightly warm climate persists from April to August.

Royal Botanical Garden

Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya are about 5.5 km to the west of the city of Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It attracts 2 million visitors annually. It is near the Mahaweli River.These stunning gardens were once reserved exclusively for Kandyan royalty.

Highlights include a fine collection of orchids, a stately avenue of royal palms, the extraordinary, aptly named cannonball fruit tree and 40m-high Burma bamboo. Another big hit is the giant Javan fig tree on the great lawn, with its colossal central trunk and umbrella-like canopy of branches. Peradeniya is 6km from central Kandy.

Parakrama Samudraya

This vast water reservoir was built by King Parakramabahu the great (1153-1186) and today what you see as the Parakrama Samudraya is only a portion of his original creation.

Parakrama Samudraya originally consisted of five large reservoirs separated by smaller dams to reduce the pressure on the main dam. Many smaller tanks has been built around the main tank to feed these primary tanks and to take in excess water.

Minneriya Tank

Minneriya Wewa, created by building a dam across the Minneriya River, has many intricate tales woven around it. Built by King Mahasena it is chronicled in the Pujavaliya that the King received help from the Yaksha clan to complete the Lake’s construction.

The Lake receives water from the Mahaweli River through the Elahera Giant Canal and the catchment area of the Minneriya tank is about 237 square kilometres. The Minneriya National Park borders the reservoir on one side and during the dry season herds of elephants are known to frequent the banks.

These Tanks Provides evidences how people of Sri Lanka were able to accomplish such intimidating feats hundreds of years ago.

Nine Arch Bridge

Built at 3100m above sea level, among the craggy peaks of the Central Highlands; the Nine Arches forms a viaduct between the Demodara and Ella Railway stations. Built entirely out of brick, rock and cement; without a single piece of steel; the bridge has stood solid from 1921, its time of creation.

According to history, the bridge was built by the locals using such materials; when the construction came to a standstill from the lack of steel caused by World War I. But, in addition to this history; lore abounds the creation of the bridge.

Regardless of the truth of the stories; the fact remains that the Nine Arches Bridge, with its nine graceful arches and solid construction, is one of the proofs of Sri Lanka‘s skills in

Demodara railway station

Demodara railway station is the third last station on the Main Line, and is 277.71 km (172.56 mi) away from Colombo.The station is most notable for its spiral rail line at this location, popularly known as the 'Demodara Loop'. The rail line passes under itself, going around the loop and emerging from a tunnel, which runs directly beneath the Demodara railway station.

The rail loop is approximately 900 metres (3,000 ft) long and the tunnel is 320 m (1,050 ft) in length. It is considered the only loop in the world with a railway station situated exactly over a tunnel at spiral loop.During the construction of the rail extension to Badulla the engineers and surveyors found that elevation between the hills at Demodara was too much for the track to negotiate, with the maximum inclination allowed by the Ceylon Government Railway being one foot per 44 feet (1/44), an innovative track design had to be devised. Local folklore has it that one of the engineers, Devapura Jayasena Wimalasurendra, was inspired after observing a Kankany (supervisor) in a local tea estate undo his Talappawa (turban) and re-tie it around his head. It is located 912.5 m (2,994 ft) above mean sea level and 8 km (5.0 mi) from Badulla, the capital city of Uva Province.

Sinharaja Rain Forest

Sinharaja Rain Forest (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the last viable remnant of Sri Lanka’s tropical lowland rainforest spanning an area of 18900 acres is located within Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces of the south-west lowland wet zone of Sri Lanka. Sinharaja is bounded by rivers on three sides.

On the north, Sinharaja is bounded by the Napola Dola and Koskulana Ganga.On the south and south-west are the rivers Maha Dola and Gin Ganga. On the west are the river Kalukandawa Ela and river Kudawa Ganga. To the east of Sinharaja is an ancient footpath near Beverley Tea Estate and by the Denuwa Kanda.

Sinharaja Rain Forest is a narrow strip of undulating terrain consists of a series of ridges and valleys drained by an intricate network of streams, which flow into the Gin Ganga on the southern boundary and Kalu Ganga, via the Napola Dola, Koskulana Ganga and Kudawa Ganga, on the northern boundary.

Gregory Lake

Gregory Lake was created in 1873 by the British era Governor at the time, Sir William Gregory, supposedly for the purpose of providing electricity. However the lake was mainly used for leisure and recreation after it was built. At its peak of fame, Gregory Lake was the most prominent attraction and was used a place to relax by many visitors.

Recently the hilly district of Nuwara Eliya received a complete facelift by the government. With these renovations, the Gregory Lake area, which is located right in the center of the Nuwara Eliya town, has been converted into a sort of Lake Park with many recreational activities.

Now visitors can follow the ancient British era tradition of relaxing picnics on the shore of the lake, or more modern leisure activities such as rides in swan shaped paddle boats, normal boatrides, pony rides along the shore, water walking balls, watersports such as jetskis, windsurfing and etc. As such with these many attractions Gregory Lake is a family friendly historic location of SriLanka, attracting many holiday makers who visit the country.

Kandy Lake

Dominating the town is Kandy Lake. A leisurely stroll around it, with a few stops on the lakeside seats, is a pleasant way to spend a few hours, although diesel-spurting buses careening around the southern edge of the lake can mar the peace somewhat.

The nicest part to walk along is the area around the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Due to some past cases of harassment, single women should not walk here alone after dark.