- Sri Lanka has declared the Nilgala wilderness, a unique landscape harboring the island’s largest savanna ecosystem interwoven with a mosaic of unique habitats, as a national forest reserve.
- Despite being home to numerous endemic and range-restricted species found nowhere else on the island, Nilgala had long been an overlooked conservation priority, facing continuous environmental threats.
- The area is also the ancestral homeland of Sri Lanka’s Indigenous Vedda community and is revered as an ancient herbal sanctuary, deeply rooted in cultural and historical traditions.
- As a defiant act of opposition to various past attempts to open Nilgala for large-scale agricultural development, environmentalists once staged a unique ritual of ordaining 1,000 trees within the Nilgala area at a religious ceremony to protect the forest from destruction.
COLOMBO — Nestled in the eastern edge of Sri Lanka’s Uva province, Nilgala stands out as a landscape of remarkable ecological and cultural importance. Long overlooked in mainstream conservation efforts despite its significance, Nilgala finally received due recognition on June 2 when it was declared a forest reserve covering its full extent of 40,685 hectares (100,543 acres).
Located within Sri Lanka’s intermediate climatic zone, Nilgala is primarily covered by dry mixed evergreen forest. However, what truly distinguishes the area is its savanna landscape of open grasslands dotted with trees, which is a rare habitat type in Sri Lanka.
“Savannas are found in only a handful of locations in Sri Lanka, and Nilgala is the largest and most ecologically intact savanna in the country,” freelance ecologist and biodiversity expert Suranjan Fernando says.
The isolated hills and waterways that run through Nilgala give rise to a variety of habitat types, including riverine forests and patches of montane forest on rocky outcrops. “These features create diverse microhabitats that have allowed species typically restricted to the wet zone or cooler, mist-covered highlands to thrive here,” Fernando says.
Herpetologist Suranjan Karunaratna of the Nature Explorations & Education Team discovered two gecko species found exclusively in the Nilgala region, naming them Cnemaspis nilgala in tribute to the landscape itself and Cyrtodactylus vedda in recognition of its presence within the ancestral lands of Sri Lanka’s Indigenous Vedda community. “While their close relatives are typically found in the island’s wet zone, Nilgala’s unique climate and topography create a wet-zone-like refuge within an otherwise dry region, enabling these geckos to survive and evolve,” Karunaratne tells Mongabay.
Following this trend of honoring the region and its culture, an endemic frog species discovered in the Nilgala region by Fernando has been named Nannophrys naeyakai. The area where the frog was found also lies within the ancestral lands of the Vedda community, which holds a spiritual belief that the souls of their deceased relatives, referred to as nae-yakas (loosely translated as “relative spirits” or “ancestral guardians”), protect them. “The name (naeyakai) was chosen to honor this cultural belief,” Fernando tells Mongabay.
Nilgala’s avifauna are among Sri Lanka’s most unique. The painted francolin (Francolinus pictus), jungle bush quail (Perdicula asiatica) and the yellow-footed green pigeon (Treron phoenicopterus) are found in India, but when it comes to Sri Lanka, they are confined to Nilgala alone.
These bird populations underscore Nilgala’s role as a refugium, which is a habitat island preserving species lost in other parts of the country, according to Sandun Perera, a professor of biogeography with the University of Sabaragamuwa. Even the butterfly Euthalia nais, commonly known as the baronet, is restricted to Nilgala.
Cultural significance
Local traditions describe Nilgala as sacred ground, rich in medicinal plants and spiritual significance. Legend has it that during the reign of King Buddhadasa (4th century CE), Nilgala served as a royal apothecary, supplying vital Ayurvedic herbs such as aralu or chebulic myrobalan (Terminalia chebula), bulu or bedda nut (Terminalia bellirica) and nelli or Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica), which are still found in abundance in Nilgala.
The Nilgala area is also the ancestral ground of the forest-dwelling indigenous Vedda tribe, with their ancestors once having lived in the nearby rock caves. But large-scale irrigation and development projects, along with new conservation boundaries, have forced the Nilgala Adivasis, or ancient people, to resettle elsewhere. As a traditionally hunter-gatherer society, their way of life sometimes clashes with modern environmental regulations.
“To the Vedda community, Nilgala is not just a forest, but a sacred living space where the spirits of our ancestors dwell and where we follow a sustainable lifestyle close to nature,” Suda Vanniyalaathto, chief of the Vedda clan of the Nilgala area, tells Mongabay.
At the ceremony finally declaring Nilgala a protected area, the Vedda clan made a special dance known as the Kiri Koraha to invoke blessings from their nae-yakun. Speaking at the ceremony, Vanniyalaathto insists that declaring Nilgala as a protected area should not take away their traditional rights in using forest resources in the area.
“We are truly happy that Nilgala has been declared a protected area. We love the forest, it is our home, and we want to protect it, and we have always been a part of past efforts to protect it,” Vanniylaattho says. However, he notes that the laws governing protected areas often come into conflict with Vedda traditions, and he calls for access to these lands to practice what the community considers their ancestral rights.
To accommodate some of their needs, the government has issued Vedda individuals special identity cards allowing entry into forests to collect natural resources such as medicinal plants, wild yams, and bees’ honey. Still, Vanniyalaattho says his community is being sandwiched between traditional rights and contemporary conservation rules. “We would appreciate if our rights can be recognized through the passing of a law [rather] than making us rely on words, the Vedda chief says.
Long fight for protection
This rich biodiversity and cultural landscape repeatedly has come under various threats from illegal logging, land encroachment, infrastructure development and large-scale agriculture. Over the past few decades, there have been numerous attempts to release the Nilgala lands for pineapple, sugarcane and banana plantations. These efforts, however, met with strong resistance.
The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), along with the Vedda and local communities, has led a long and determined campaign to safeguard Nilgala. One of the most symbolic actions occurred in 2014, when CEJ organized a massive tree ordination ceremony. Fifty Buddhist monks ordained a thousand trees, wrapping them in saffron robes and offering special blessings for their protection. “In a country where ordained trees are spiritually untouchable, this was our last resort to prevent deforestation,” CEJ’s senior adviser Hemantha Withanage says.
Alongside cultural advocacy, CEJ also promoted community-based forest governance in Nilgala. “These community groups act as both guardians and first responders. They alert authorities when illegal activities are spotted, as some of their livelihoods rely on a healthy forest,” Withanage tells Mongabay.
While the official designation of Nilgala as a protected forest reserve marks a significant conservation milestone, experts warn that the challenges are far from over. Encroachment and land-grabbing — often fueled by powerful vested interests — continue to pose serious threats to its existence. Ongoing vigilance and stronger community governance are vital for lasting protection of this unique ecosystem.
Banner image: Nilgala has diverse habitats and riverine forests such as this, offering refuge for different species usually not found in Sri Lanka’s dry zone habitats. Image courtesy of Chathura Udayanga.
Citations:
Fernando, S. S., Wickramasingha, L. M., & Rodirigo, R. K. (2007). A new species of endemic frog belonging to genus Nannophrys Gunther, 1869 (Anura: Dicroglossinae) from Sri Lanka. Zootaxa, 1403(1). doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1403.1.3
Amarasinghe, A. A., Karunarathna, S., Campbell, P. D., Gayan, A. K., Ranasinghe, W. D., De Silva, A., & Mirza, Z. A. (2022). The hidden diversity and inland radiation of Sri Lanka’s ground-dwelling geckos of the genusCyrtodactylus(Reptilia: Gekkonidae). Systematics and Biodiversity, 20(1), 1-25. doi:10.1080/14772000.2022.2039319
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