Udawatta Kele Sanctuary Udawattakele Forest Reserve (also known as Udawattakele Sanctuary , Udawattakele Royal Forest Park ) (Sinhala: උඩවත්තකැලේ වනාන්තරය) is a historic forest located behind the premises of the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic , Kandy, Sri Lanka. During the Kandyan Period , the Udawattakele forest was considered a part of the Kandy Royal Palace and the ruling kings and their royal families used this forest as a pleasure garden. Presently, it is one of the Sanctuaries in Sri Lanka protected under the authority of the Forest Department (Weerakoon, 2015). History
During the reign of King Gajabahu I (114-136 A.D.), there were no human settlements in Kandy and the area was covered by thick forest. The king ordered his nephew Siriwardana Seneviratna to change a part of the existing land use in Kandy and to build a village there. More than 1000 years later, King Panditha Parakramabahu (1302-1326 A.D.) who reigned in Kurunegala took measures to settle people in the area. During the mid-14th century, Kin…
