Road to Lankagama; Leads to an ailing eco-tourism industry in Sinharaja

Neluwa bus stand  

The 18 kilometre road from Neluwa to Lankagama, one of the three main entry points to the world heritage site Sinharaja rain forest hit headlines a couple of years back when the then President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordered a quick renovation to the road, which raised eyebrows of many regarding its eco-sensitive nature. 

This road is also reputed to be a gateway for thousands of local and foreign visitors who were annually attracted to the ecotourism hotspot Lankagama lying along the borders of the Sinharaja. However, a two-year pandemic and an economic crunch presently prevalent in Sri Lanka have transformed this unique destination to be haunted by an ailing ecotourism industry today.   

 A significant reason why Lankagama is popular amongst local and foreign tourists is for its abundant water resources in the wet zone. 

A cluster of six breathtaking waterfalls situated within a radius of couple of kilometres and the lush growth of endemic fauna and flora around them is undoubtedly a fact, which earned this far off village its place amongst the international backpackers.   

 Explaining about the local tourist attractions and the current situation Grama Niladhari of Neluwa Piyaratne Jayawickrama said, on a dry sunny day the six waterfalls of Lankagama namely the Brahmana Ella, Dhooli Ella, Thattu Ella, Gal Oruwa Ella, Uran Wetunu Ella and Duwili Ella of Neluwa used to attract up to 2, 000 visitors before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country.   

Serious environmental concerns
 He said there were serious concerns raised by many environmentalists when the Neluwa – Lankagama Road was to be developed on the instructions of the then President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. However, the SL Army detachment, which undertook the construction under the supervision of the Department of Forest Conservation, made no mistakes in harming the surrounding ecosystem in the course of the renovation work.   

 “The renovated road enabled easy access for the local and foreign tourists as well as for the residents of the interior areas to fulfill their daily requirements of travelling to the nearest town, which is about 15 kilometres away. Presently, an SLTB bus plies between Neluwa and Lankagama every hour. When the road works were completed by end of 2020 and after the first Covid lockdown was lifted a large number of visitors traversed the area with a significantly increased number of motor vehicles that easily gained access to the area,” Jayawickreme said.   

 However, the influx of tourists that reported as a blessing with the renovation of the road had an unexpected blow towards the hotel and hospitality trade in the area, which also had a heavy impact on its eco-tourism industry.   

Developments and consequences   

 Owner of the guesthouse Sinharaja Cottage, Gunapala Bamunusinghe said the renovation of the road had an unforeseen effect on the hospitality industry, as the visitors who used to spend a night in the interiors of Lankagama those days owing to its harsh mobility condition would now return on the same day, within a matter of several hours time.   

 “Before all these problems started few years ago we were receiving a steady inflow of tourists both local and international. When the hotels in the coastal stretch of Unawatuna and Hikkaduwa get packed with the foreign tourists, the local travellers who look for a place to spend a long weekend would divert to Lankagama and Sinharaja to enjoy nature and wildlife. When such groups or families come, they would definitely spend a night or two here offering us business to thrive upon. But now with the renovation of the road hardly anybody would spend a night in these hotels, as they would either return home on the same day or spend their long weekend in Galle or Matara,” Bamunusinghe said. 

 
 Other than the nature lovers, we used to get large batches of company and office staffs from Colombo twice or thrice a month that would seek a nature resort in this area for their get-togethers. 

Also, wedding receptions of the residents of the surrounding areas was a good income from time to time. 
Bamunusinghe says more than the pandemic restrictions that held people from travelling, it is the prevailing economic crisis leading to a severe fuel shortage that deprived their clientele from bringing usual business.   
 “Lankagama is not a national heritage site that owns archaeological spots to draw crowds. It is the Sinharaja forest and these six waterfalls, which attract tourists round the year except for the dull months of December, January and February, which experience a heavy downpour. There are about 12 guesthouses in the area and other small businesses that situated around the waterfalls selling food, snacks with tea and traditional goodies like jaggery and Kitul treacle, which is renowned in the area.   

 But since last March we have not received at least 20 guests per month in my six bedroom guesthouse and for the entire year I haven’t seen a ‘white skin’ to date. There are a lot of overheads we have to take care of including the constant maintenance of the hotels, wages for the minimal staff, water and electricity bills etc. Apart from my personal funds I struggle to keep this property running, yet not to mention the ailing lifestyles of those small vendors who were solely depending on the daily visitors.   

 All I ask from the authorities is to invent programmes to promote areas bordering Sinharaja and to safeguard this struggling ecotourism industry,” the hotelier requested.   

Neluwa to Lankagama road

Tour guides and vendors affected 
 30-year-old Supun Dahanayake… is a licensed tour guide of Sinharaja in Lankagama, who would earn his income through guiding visitors to the forest and the surrounding waterfalls. Out of the three main entry points of the Sinharaja from Weddagala entrance of Ratnapura, Pitadeniya entrance of Deniyaya and Lankagama entrance in Neluwa the latter had drastically reduced its number of visitors in the past few months, was the opinion of Supun.   
Both the price of an entrance ticket to the forest as well as the fee of a tour guide has been increased excessively in the past several months. The price of an entry ticket to the forest from the Brahmana Ella falls has been increased from Rs.28 to Rs.120, whilst the fee of a tour guide has been increased from Rs.900 for a group of ten persons to Rs.2, 000.   

“There are about seven licensed tour guides in the Lankagama area at present and I’m one of them. 
I have been engaged in this job for the past five years and have never experienced this kind of dull period in the industry before. More than the pandemic that confined people to their homes and foreigners from travelling the scarcity of fuel that remained for the past several months deprived tourists from visiting at all.   

 Most of us professional tour guides solely earn our bread and butter from the local and foreign visitors who like to walk in the forest and visit waterfalls. Therefore, a low turnout of tourists would definitely affect our livelihood,” Supun said.   

 Like the tour guides, another section of the society that makes their living through the Sinharaja ecotourism industry is the snack vendors and those who run tea kiosks. M. I. G. Priyanka is a 55-year-old mother of two who runs a small tea kiosk next to the Duwili Ella falls for the past eight years. She is also the gatekeeper of the falls managed by the Neluwa Pradeshiya Sabha and issues entrance tickets to the visitors.   

“There was a very low turnout of tourists since March and now it’s gradually catching up with the arrival of small groups of local travellers and families.

Still the foreign tourists haven’t started touring these areas except for the expatriate Sri Lankans living overseas,” Priyanka said. She explained how the tender has to be secured to run the entrance ticket counter at the Duwili Ella falls by paying a sum of Rs.65, 000 to the Neluwa local government body annually. She charges Rs.25 from an adult and Rs.10 from a child under the age of 12 to see the waterfall, which is covered with a mesh and are included with two manmade pools for the spectators to take dip in the icy waters of the falls. 

“On a regular weekend or a Poya day prior to this difficult period started about 2, 000 visitors used to come to the falls. But now it is hardly 100 tickets I could sell on a weekend. At least this much is arriving because the Duwili Ella is situated about seven kilometres from the Neluwa Town. Very seldom the tourists would travel way up to Lankagama, which is about 18 kilometres interior,” Priyanka opined.   

Foreign tourists at Brahmana Ella Falls prior to Covid-19     

preserving nature
 The entrance to the Sinharaja forest from Lankagama and preservation of the surrounding nature are chiefly handled by the Department of Forest Conservation. Officials from the Neluwa Range Forest Office prioritize their duties especially observing the sort of harm that could be done to nature by the tourists.   

 Deputy Range Forest Officer of Neluwa S. Yasiru said the tourists visiting Lankagama and Neluwa have drastically reduced in the past couple of years. It is rarely we see a foreigner roaming these areas now, yet the local visitors in small groups come to see the forest on a public holiday.  “It is our duty to observe that no harm being inflicted upon the nature or the environment especially on the plants and trees of Sinharaja by the visiting tourists. When large groups arrive sometimes we seek the assistance of the police too. Except for an illegal sand mining racket that reports every now and then, the area is free of deforestation or illicit timber felling,” he said.   

Within the legal constraints Lankagama and the six natural waterfalls of Sinharaja are a unique location in the low country wet zone, which could be developed for ecotourism. Several hundred families used to earn their livelihood through the industry, before a pandemic and an economic crisis hit the country. The local residents believe the authorities could do much to enrich the lives of these people whilst protecting nature.