Three days in Sigiriya

I didn’t know much about Sigiriya before we went there. I knew where it was located – in the heart of Sri Lanka’s rainforest – only because I had looked up the bus route before we went.

Sigiriya is famous for ‘Sigiriya Rock’ or ‘Lion Rock’ – a well photographed giant rock that seems to just spring up out of the surrounding forest, with the old foundations of a giant palace on the top. But after visiting Lion Rock, and let me tell you, it’s the least of what Sigiriya has to offer.

We caught a bus from Kandy to Dambulla, which is 13km south west of Sigirya town. We had every intention of transfering to another bus for this last short leg, but managed to score a ride for 500rs with a tuktuk driver who was going home (instead of one of the others who were hustling at the bus station, offering the ride for 1500rs with a free trip to his cousin’s spice garden thrown in).

We arrived to our guesthouse in the middle of lush green jungle. This is serious jungle, where plots of land had been carved out of the thick green bush. Black-faced monkeys (‘Grey langurs’, to use their real name) hang out in the trees. Huge monitor lizards lie across the road. There’s all kinds of birds. And most excitingly of all, there’s elephants.

We stayed at Sigiriya Village Homestay which I would highly recommend. At $40 NZD ($27 USD/4,800rs) per night it was a little over our daily budget for accomodation but it included an amazing breakfast, and our host there was simply awesome. After we had dropped our bags and had a cup of tea, he advised up to head out to Pidurangala Rock (though people call it ‘The Little Rock’ or ‘The other rock’) to see the sunset.

Pidurangala (little rock)

Pidurangala is only 1m shorter in height than Sigiriya rock, but unlike Sigiriya, it has no ancient foundations at the top. Also unlike Sigiriya, the entrance fee is only 500rs pp, instead of 5,400rs. Once you reach the summit you’re basically standing on a flat plane of rock, with 360 degree views of Sri Lanka, including Sigiriya Rock itself, which is less than a kilometer away.

If you’re considering climbing this rock, sunrise or sunset is best (though you wouldn’t want to be on those stairs in the dark) as the flat surface of the rock reflects the midday heat. The climb is harder than Sigiriya rock, and probably not appropriate for anyone very young or very old. You do have to pass through a temple to get to the climb, where you will have to remove your shoes. They have free sarongs available for you to borrow to hide exposed shoulders or knees. You can return these sarongs and put your shoes back on before you begin the actual climb.

Sigiriya Rock (Lion Rock)

On our second day, we woke up at 6am to beat the crowds up Sigiriya Rock. We went through the gates when they opened at 6.30, and began the climb to the summit. Even though we were there early, there were already a number of people climbing with us. Everyone climbs the same staircase route, which takes you first past a number of ancient frescoes, preserved by an overhanging ledge. These paintings once covered huge areas of Sigiriya, but now only a few busts remain.

The stairs that take you up the rock can really only be described as scaffolding, bolted onto the rock-face. Unlike Pidurangala, you’re not walking on solid rock, but instead climbing a staircase that zig-zags up the side. If you have a problem with heights – like I do – then it can be a bit challenging. But we made it to the top. And the view was everything that it’s cracked up to be.

After we made it back down the stairs, we spent an hour or two wandering the surrounding gardens and foundations. By the time we were leaving at 9am, floods of people were coming up the central path. The tour buses had pulled up, and it completely changed the vibe of the place. Seeing as it costs $30 USDpp to get in, it was definitely worth doing early in the morning, to have the ability to enjoy the view in (relative) insolation.

The doors to the park open at 6.30am. You will have to purchase a ticket from the nearby ‘museum’, which is seperate from the counter that the locals purchase their tickets from. There are signs that explain there is ‘no refund if you can’t get to the top due to crowds.’ To get into the park, you must remove the plastic label from your water bottle. The climb is up a scaffolding-type staircase, and is fairly easy, though it does go extremely high.

Minneriya National Park

That same afternoon, we jumped in a jeep with another couple from a neighbouring guesthouse, and headed into Minneriya National Park for an afternoon safari. Minneriya is a small national park with a lake in its centre, in the heart of Sri Lanka, and home to a huge concentration of elephants. It’s about a 20min drive from Sigiriya to the gate of the park, where only licenced vehicles can enter.

We saw an extraordinary number of elephants. The Jeep wound it’s way through the dense jungle as we drove deeper into the park, before we finally broke cover alongside the huge lake. Two elephants were there waiting for us, having come down to cool of from the heat of the day. Our driver parked up, and over the course of about 45 minutes, the two initial elephants were joined by twelve more – mothers, babies, huge bulls and silly teenagers. They slowly made their way towards us until they were meters from our Jeep, totally unconcerned about anything other than the fresh grass. It was an amazing experience.

We spent a further four hours driving around the park, running into two much larger elephant herds, 30 or 40 in number. Unfortunately, there were far more jeeps parked up at these herds than there had been at our initial encounter, and it felt a lot more crowded. Though regardless of the other safari-goers, seeing a small baby, barely a few months old, poke his head from between his mother’s huge legs, was still truly incredible.

We paid 7,000rs each for a Jeep shared between four, and park entry. We were picked up at 1pm, and dropped back to our guesthouse (after picking up some beer) at 7.30pm. Park entry at Minneriya is higher than at Yala national park, and we felt like this was a fair price.

Polonnaruwa

On our last day in Sigiriya, we headed to the ancient kingdom of Polonnaruwa. These massive stone foundations once supported the great Lankan kings, and the whole area was the ruling powerhouse of the country. Now there’s just an echo of what once stood there, but it was still amazing to walk around.

We headed off from our guesthouse at 2pm, trying to miss the midday heat. Polonnaruwa is a 1 hour tuktuk drive from Sigiriya town, and once you get there, you either need to keep that same tuktuk driver, or rent a couple of push-bikes, as the ruins are spread over a bit of a distance. Our lovely guesthouse owner drove us in his own tuktuk.

As we walked around, it felt like we were in another world. There were hardly any other people, and some of the ruins still had walls that were three floors high. Because the sun was setting by now, the light was filtering through all the old windows and holes in the brickwork. Huge white stupas peered over the trees. It was quiet, except for the monkeys and dogs (a constant feature of any scene in Sri Lanka). In the end, you come to three massive Buddhas, which are protected from the rain but which you can otherwise just walk up to. They’re carved directly from the cliff face, and their eyes followed us as we walked.

Entry to Polonnaruwa is 4,500rs per person, and we paid our guesthouse owner 4,500 to be our tuktuk driver and guide for the afternoon. Overall, it was one of our most expensive activities in the entire trip. The price generally puts people off, but compared to Sigiriya rock, which is similarly priced, this was more interesting, and we spent a lot longer exploring the area. If you can afford it, I’d say it’s worth it.

Because the sun sets so quickly in Sri Lanka, we were driving back to the guesthouse in the dark. There are no streetlights, but the constant flow of trucks, busses and three-wheelers was keeping the road fairly well lit – then out of nowhere, we saw elephants. Crossing the road, right in front of us, and disappearing back into the jungle. Twice more that night, we saw elephants beside the road, grazing happily alongside the flow of traffic. There are no fences around the national park, and the elephants roam Sigiriya as they please.