Kukulugala (Sinhala: කුකුළුගල කන්ද සහ වනාන්තරය) is a mountain (also known as Horanae Kanda) covered by a lowland evergreen rainforest situated within the western boundary of Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. It covers an area of more than 600 acres within the Ayagama Secretariat Division (Karunarathna & Amarasinghe, 2011).
The mountain in the forest reserve rises to an elevation of 673 m (2,208.01 ft.) above mean sea level. Two waterfalls named Ritigas Ella and Miyunu Ella are found in the entourage of the reserve. The average annual rainfall of the forest is around 3,849 mm, with most rainfall occurring from December to May (Karunarathna & Amarasinghe, 2011). The mean annual temperature is 28.7 °C with a maximum of 32 °C and a minimum of 24.3 °C (Karunarathna & Amarasinghe, 2011).
The forest consists of dominant tree species such as Dipterocarpus sp., Mesua sp., Doona sp., Schumacheria castaneifolia, Artocarpus nobilis, Calophyllum inophyllum, Mangifera zeylanica, Humboldtia laurifolia, Oncosperma fasciculatum, Canarium zeylanicum and Shorea sp. (Karunarathna & Amarasinghe, 2011).
References
1) Karunarathna, D.M.S. and Amarasinghe, A.A., 2011. Reptile diversity of a fragmented lowland rain forest patch in Kukulugala, Ratnapura district, Sri Lanka. TAPROBANICA: The Journal of Asian Biodiversity, 2(2). pp.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 30 July 2023
