Kitulgala is a small town in the west of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The Academy Award-winning '' The Bridge on the River Kwai'' was filmed on the

Kelani River The Kelani River ( si, කැළණි ගඟ) is a river in Sri Lanka. Ranking as the fourth-longest river in the country, it stretches from the Sri Pada Mountain Range to Colombo. It flows through or borders the Sri Lankan districts of Nuwara ...

near Kitulgala, although nothing remains now except the concrete foundations for the bridge. Kitulgala is also a base for white-water rafting, which starts a few kilometres upstream and also popular as a location for adventure based training programs.

Features

The Kelani river is wide at Kitulgala, but it is shallow apart from a deep channel near the opposite bank, so in the drier months it provides a safe and attractive place to swim, wash and play. The river can be crossed by walking out across the shallows and crossing the deep channel in a dugout canoe, which is stabilised with an outrigger. Sri Lanka's most recently discovered bird, the Serendib scops owl was originally heard calling by

Deepal Warakagoda Deepal Warakagoda (born 1965) is a prominent Sri Lankan ornithologist. His early working career was in electronics, but for many years he has studied birds and also works as a professional guide for birding tours of the island. He is mostly known ...

in these forests. The hills above the rubber plantations also have mountain hawk eagle,

crested treeswift The crested treeswift (''Hemiprocne coronata'') is a species of tree swift. It was for some time considered the same species as its eastern relative, the gray-rumped treeswift (''Hemiprocne longipennis''), but they do not interbreed where their ...

and

Layard's parakeet Layard's parakeet (''Psittacula calthrapae'') is a parrot which is a resident endemic (ecology), endemic breeder in Sri Lanka. The common name of this bird commemorates the British naturalist Edgar Leopold Layard; his first wife, Barbara Anne Cal ...

Agriculture

The agriculture around Kitulgala is typical of the hilly wet zone. The solitary fishtail palm, ''

Caryota urens ''Caryota urens'' is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Malaysia (perhaps elsewhere in Indo-Malayan region), where they grow in fields and rainforest clearings, it is regarded as introduced ...

'', which is called ''kitul'' in Sri Lanka, gives rise to the town's name. Its sap is concentrated into a delicious syrup, not dissimilar to

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

, and crystallized as

jaggery Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can ...

. It is also fermented to make palm wine. The pith is used to make sago, and the fibres to make rope.

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

s of both red and yellow varieties are grown. The yellow bananas are only some 8 cm long, but are sweeter and tastier than the commercial strains available in the West. Rubber trees are also grown on the higher areas. Many birders stay at Kitulgala. This area has most of the rainforest bird species that are found at the World Biosphere Reserve at

Sinharaja Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a forest reserve and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It is of international significance and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site by UNESCO. According to International Union for Conserv ...

, although in lower numbers. However, the secondary forest and cultivation at Kitulgala is more open than the pristine woodlands of Sinharaja, and elusive endemic species like Sri Lanka spurfowl, green-billed coucal and

spot-winged thrush The spot-winged thrush, (''Geokichla spiloptera''), is an Asian thrush, a group within the large thrush family Turdidae. It is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka. This uncommon species breeds in hill rainforests, and to a lesser extent i ...

may be easier to see.

Scene creation of the movie ''The Bridge on the River Kwai''

'' The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 British World War II film by

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

based on the novel '' The Bridge over the River Kwai'' by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William Holden,

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa. The scene creation of the film was done in

and many of them were at Kitulgala area including the bridge explosion.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Sabaragamuwa Province

Features

Agriculture

Scene creation of the movie ''The Bridge on the River Kwai''

See also

References