hakgala botanical gardenHakgala Botanical Gardens lie just 10km from Nuwara Eliya town. Hakgala is an essential part of any holiday in the hill resort of Nuwara Eliya. According to legend, it was once the pleasure garden of Ravana of the Ramayana epic, and was one of the places where the beautiful Sita was hidden by the demon king.
In the period of British rulers, Hakgala was a site for experiments with cinchona plants, which bark yielded quinine which used as a cure for malaria. The cool, temperate climate of the Hakgala area with the temperature of 16ºC, was conducive to the introduction of temperate zone plants, both ornamental and useful. These included conifers and cedars from Australia, Bermuda and Japan, and cypresses from the Himalayas, China and as far as Persia, Mexico and California.
An English oak, introduced around 1890. Camphor, a tree which is grown in regions above 12,000m elevation is also growing there. In the Rose garden, you can experience the sights and scents of blooms in their many number of variety. A special attraction here is the variety of mountain orchids, many of them endemic to Sri Lanka in the Orchid house. Sri Lanka's ferns are well represented in Fernery.
The low-country lotus and water lily also float in ponds at Hakgala. The highlands’ refreshing zephyr memorizes temperate climates tourists about their homeland.
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