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Sri Lanka Sri Lanka forest

Galkadawela

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30

89% trees around it and 80 species recorded.

78Forestyas Score

ForestDense canopy

  • trees within 3 km89%
  • wild within 10 km98%
  • species recorded80
  • Altitude765 m

The forest around

89% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 94%Grassland 5%Cropland 1%Trees 88%Grassland 8%Cropland 3%Trees 86%Grassland 12%Cropland 1%Trees 85%Grassland 11%Water 2%Cropland 2%Built-up 0%89%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km94%
  • 1–3 km88%
  • 3–6 km86%
  • 6–10 km85%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees88%
  • Grassland8%
  • Water0%
  • Cropland3%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

80 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Water yam
Water yamDioscorea alata13 recordsForest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

78out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 89%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 98%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 80Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 765 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in July.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan26°17°108 mm
  2. Feb27°17°86 mm
  3. Mar28°18°104 mm
  4. Apr28°20°175 mm
  5. May27°21°164 mm
  6. Jun26°20°101 mm
  7. Jul25°20°82 mm
  8. Aug26°20°92 mm
  9. Sep26°20°129 mm
  10. Oct26°20°234 mm
  11. Nov26°19°274 mm
  12. Dec25°18°212 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Galkadawela.

Village in Central Province, Sri Lanka

Galkadawela is a forest in Sri Lanka, 765 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 89% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 98% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

80 species have been recorded around it: 1 plants, 0 fungi, 79 birds and 0 mammals.

The best time to walk is in July.

Galkadawela seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at CMB airport (Colombo)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Galkadawela seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 7places to stay within 10 kmGlendevon Bungalow and 6 more
  • marked trails within 5 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • picnic sites within 4 km
  • shelters and huts within 6 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • visitor centres within 6 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • campsites within 10 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Galkadawela.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas75 mountains within 25 km
Dematapelessa6.1 kmDegalwelakanda6.1 kmDahagala8.7 kmMahakudagala2,100 m · 12 kmPidurutalagala2,524 m · 21 kmKikilimana2,240 m · 24 kmHakgala2,170 m · 24 kmOne Tree Hill2,100 m · 25 km
Islandyasthe island
Sri Lanka67,655 km²
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 km
Randenigala Reservoir20 km² · 11 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
PidurutalagalaBortle 2 · 21 km
Cascadyas2 waterfalls within 15 km
Kurundu Oya Waterfall189 m · 9.4 kmRathna ella12 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Other forests nearby.

Galkadawela

Sri Lanka

  • 78Forestyas Score
  • 89%Trees
  • 98%Wild
  • 80Species

Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya

Sri Lanka · 42 km

  • 85Forestyas Score
  • 88%Trees
  • 94%Wild
  • 295Species

See the guide

Sinharaja Forest Reserve

Sri Lanka · 120 km

  • 79Forestyas Score
  • 96%Trees
  • 99%Wild
  • 23Species

See the guide

Sri Maha Bodhi

Sri Lanka · 151 km

  • 60Forestyas Score
  • 55%Trees
  • 82%Wild
  • 143Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q5518790) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species898 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here