SPELEOLOGY (CAVING), IN SRI LANKA

This captivating activity is relatively new to Sri Lanka and is rather an unusual experienced not to be missed. Sri Lanka is dotted with many caves from the Ritigala mountains in the north to the central hills and the southern hillocks of the South. The most famous being Batatotalena at sudugala, attributed to the “Balangoda man” a prehistoric man whose skeletal remains were uncovered inside this cave, Belilena in Kithulgala and aptly named “Wavulpone” because of the large community of bats living inside with some records indicating a figure as high as hundred thousand.

The word speleology, describes the exploration, surveying, mapping and photographing of caves, used by the scientific community. These caves are home to a great variety of creatures that are nocturnal in their habits and most of the recently discovered species are from caves which have been around for at least 500 million years, and abound with stalactites and stalagmites, formations of conical calcium deposits sometimes as tall as a child.