Blog Archives

Thoppigala – spectacular archetypal inselberg – By Arundathie Abeysinghe Image Source : dilmahtea The highest peak located between *Dimbulagala near *Polonnaruwa and the East Coast situated 543 meters above sea level, the inselberg “Thoppigala” (in Sinhala) and “Kudumbimalai” (in Tamil) meaning “hair-knot” rock is surrounded by protected dry zone scrub jungle within an area of 400 square kilometers. The nearest village Manamptiya situated approximately 14 kilometers away from Thoppigala was developed due to the Mahaweli Irrigation Scheme. Thoppigala is also part of the traditional *Veddah community situated in the vicinity of the Maduru Oya National Park abundant with large herds of deer, elephants and leopards that are roaming in the wilderness between Thoppigala and Maduru Oya. This rocky edged mountain was also known as “Piyagalaka Agali Pawatha” in the past. The British had called this enormous spectacular monadnock as “Baron’s Cap” (during the British Colonial Era) due its distinctive shape of ...