Wildlife & Safari
Sinharaja Forest Reserve
Sabaragamuwa Province
The last major stretch of primary lowland rainforest on the island, and a UNESCO site holding most of Sri Lanka’s endemic birds.
- How long
- 1 day is usually enough
- Best months
- January, February, March, April, August, September
Sinharaja is what covered the wet zone before the tea and rubber arrived — the last substantial primary lowland rainforest left. UNESCO listed it in 1988.
Over half of Sri Lanka’s endemic mammals and butterflies are here, and the great attraction for birders is the mixed-species feeding flocks: twenty or more species moving through the canopy together, one of the best-studied such phenomena anywhere.
This is walking, not a jeep safari, and a guide is mandatory. Take leech socks — in the wet zone that is not optional advice.
Photographs of Sinharaja Forest Reserve
We can build Sinharaja Forest Reserve into a tailor-made itinerary.
Plan a trip around Sinharaja Forest Reserve