Hot Water Springs

Even though the Island of Ceylon now known as Sri Lanka is a very small island on the planet, the biodiversity there is at it’s maximum. There are hot water springs in Sri Lanka too , which are not well known or popular among most tourists.

Most of them are located in the eastern province of Sri Lanka. But Southern province also have few as well. In Early days people considered these as are sacred or place of worship and used it’s water for medical uses. Temperature of these springs can span from 42’c to 60’c.

Minerals in these spring waters may also span from 0.2g to 0.7g too. There are also free CO2 , bi-carbonates , Chlorides , Sulfates , phosphates , Magnesium , Sodium, Lithium and Iron are also found in small quantities in these waters.

MahaOya hot water spring contains the highest temperature of water among all the hot water springs found in Sri Lanka. Bathing in one of these is a not to miss thing for a tourist in Sri Lanka.

Minneriya Forest Reserve

Another natural wonderland a traveler can witness in Sri Lanka is Minneriya Forest ereserve. It spans nearly 8889 acres. This is the 11^th largest forest exists in the island of Ceylon. 

This was opened to public in 1998. Situated in North Central province - Polonnaruwa District, it is at the height of around 500 meters above the sea level. Forest comprises of dense jungles and mountain points. This is very famous for being a wet land at the dry zone in Sri Lanka. Annual rainfall is measured here at from 1500mm to 2000mm . Temperature spans from 20.6’c to 34.5’c which is very unique for a forest located in a dry zone climate. Soil is special too because it consists of brown mud clay which also exists in wet zones while this is located at a dry zone.

Visitors can reach this place on A11 Road to Polonnaruwa from Colombo , stop at 182 mile post, there you can find the entrance counter to the forest reserve. Elephants take the foremost place for the mammal creatures in here. According to Statistics , from 175 to 200 elephants roam this jungle. But at the driest seasons of this area , in around April, around 300 elephants can be witnessed near the Minneriya Water Reservoir. Because Elephants from other areas come to this place to find water at dry season.

They could also be blocking the main road as well at that time. Unique botanical plant systems also can be seen here which are difficult to find in other areas of this dry zone. There are 23 more other mammal species live in this forest. Deers , Buffaloes , bears and rare wild cats can be seen here. Also in the high tree tops , there are monkeys which breed is unique to the Island as well. Cobras and Other snakes are also very common. Another special member in here is the Sri Lankan Alligator. Visitors must be very careful of not to get down from the vehicle you are traveling. You should also not feed any wild animals as well.

Alstonite or Bromlite

Another rare gem type discovered from mining pits. This particular gem type has special demand from gem collectors and experts due to it’s rarity. In rural town called Gilimale close to the Gem city of Sri Lanka Ratnapura , 

Alstonite or Bromlite weighing 17.5 was first discovered. These are also rarely found in mining pits in Madagascar and Russia. Miners were initially unable to identify this gem type. Therefore they presented it to the veteran gem expert Dr Dunil Palitha Gunasekara. Using his expertise he bought the gem, cut it into 15 pieces and sent to a lab in USA for the identification. 

They were able to finally conclude that this is cut and polished bromlite. Dr Dunil Palitha was the first to introduce Bromlite gems to the world. These are colorless. But once cut and polished it becomes very bright. Density is 9 units. Refraction index is 1.719 and 1.733. It has two refractive indexes. Specific Gravity is 3.02 units. Due to it’s rarity fake bromlites are also exist on the market.