Locations & Archeological Sites ‹‹ Go Back

On 4 February 2019, I reached a large rock outcrop known as “Eth Patiyagala”. The site is not commonly visited by tourists, and there is no road leading directly to it. It lies to the right of the road from Maha Wewa to Maradanmaduwa.

To reach the area, I travelled for about 45 minutes through the jungle with my guide, Tissa Ratnayake. He had previously visited the location with Department of Wildlife Conservation staff. We eventually reached a point where we had to leave the vehicle and continue on foot. After a short walk through the jungle, we arrived at Eth Patiyagala.
This was my first visit to the site.

Eth Patiyagala is a large rocky outcrop with a small rock pool, or “kema”, which was filled with water at the time. We climbed to the top of the rock, where the surrounding jungle opened into a sweeping view of a vast “sea of green”.

The area showed clear signs of wildlife activity, including droppings from:

• elephant
• sloth bear
• leopard

These signs indicate the rich diversity of megafauna found in the surrounding jungle.