If you are a person who enjoys being in nature, watching the animals, contemplating the infinite green, listening to the murmur of mother nature and feeling the cool breeze, I have good news for you. You are going to discover a place like this, a unique ecosystem that will be a unique experience.

You must be eager to know what this place is now. Well, it is the Nilgala Forest National Park of Sri Lanka that you are going to learn about. It is the foremost savannah forest in Sri Lanka. This, like other savannahs, has typical grasses. These sheets catch fire every year. They have grass undergrowth and the trees scattered here and there are well adapted to be resistant to fire.

Nilgala is located in the Eastern and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka. The forest extends over 26,000 hectares and is managed by the Sri Lankan government’s forest and wildlife conservation departments.

You can reach the park by going from Colombo to Kandy and then to Bibila, on the Bibila-Inginiyagala road, or by using the Bibila-Batticoloa road.

In the part that belongs to the department of wildlife conservation, you will not find tracks, except those used for conservation purposes or facilities for camping or lodging, but the section that belongs to the Galoya national park has tracks and camping sites.

The west side part of the park has three jeep trails, a boat trail from the Senanayaka Samudraya Basin Dam, which gives you a scenic view, a traveler’s lodge with a capacity of ten people, and three camping sites.

There are lonely rocks and mountains here and there, pools of water, valleys and slopes in the park, but the main feature is the savannah. Short, tall grass with scattered lone trees is the typical feature of that.

Nilgala, Danigala, Yakunnahela, Hamanawa, Kahatatuwa and Mahakadakanda are the main rock formations in the forest enclosure. Nilgala is the greatest of all, and has such a rich community of herbal plants.

Senanayaka Samudraya, a 19,250-acre man-made water reservoir is on one side of the park. There are many mountain ranges surrounding the park which adds to the beauty of the park.

The Galoya River runs through the park.

With the savannah prominent, a mixed feature of dry and evergreen forest can also be seen there. The annual average rainfall is about 1700mm, which comes from the northeast monsoon and the average temperature is about 20 centigrade.

The forest’s plant community consists of grasses like Kudukumberiya, Kukurumana, Pengirimana, Mana and Iluk, as they are called by the locals, and various hardwood trees.

There are significant numbers of wild elephants in Nilgala. Other mammals include the sambour, deer, wild buffalo, wild boar, fox, fishing cat, porcupine, pangolin, toddy cat, mongoose, leopard, and sloth bear.

Nilgala is also famous for birds. Almost all the birds of the dry zone of Sri Lanka can be found there. There are local, endemic and migratory birds. Wetland bird species are also present.

Not enough studies have been done on the amphibians that live there. All reptiles from the dry zone of Sri Lanka have been reported from Nilgala. Pythons, crocodiles, and some deadly poisonous snakes are also among them.

Nilgala is also known for its butterflies and bees.

Does this sound fascinating? Trust me; the real beauty of this desert is far beyond my expression. If you visit Nilgala forest national park once, you will want to go back there