Kitulgala is a small town in the west of Sri Lanka.  It is in the wet zone rain forest which gets two monsoons each year and one of the wettest places in the country.  Nevertheless it comes alive in the first three months of the year, especially in February, the driest month.

The Academy Award winning film’Bridge on the River Kwai’ was filmed on the Kelani River near Kitulgala, although nothing remains now except the concrete foundations for the bridge (and supposedly the submerged train cars that plunged into the river in the climatic scene).  Kitulgala is also a base for white water rafting, which starts a few kilometers upstream.

The Kelani river is wide at Kitulgala, but it is shallow apart from a deep channel near the opposite bank, so in the drier months it provides a safe and attractive place to swim, wash and play.  The river can be crossed by walking out across the shallows and crossing the deep channel in a dug out canoe, which is stabilized with an outrigger.

The agriculture around Kitulgala is typical of the hilly wet zone.  The Sago Palm which is called Kitul in Sri Lanka gives rise to the town’s name.

This area has most of the rainforest bird species that are found in the World Biosphere Reserve at Sinharaja, although in lower numbers.  However, the secondary forest and cultivation at Kitulgala is more open than the pristine woodlands of Sinharaja.

Bananas of both red and yellow varieties are grown here and rubber trees are also grown in the higher areas.