Basic Facts
Flora and Fauna
For a small country, Sri Lanka encompasses a surprisingly varied topography. The beach bordered palm fringed coastal plain comprises much of the country with the best beaches on the south west and the south east coasts. The terrain rises in the south center of the island to over 2000 mts above sea level where the vegetation is somewhat similar to the temperate lands of Europe.
These are the central highlands with the highest peak Piduratalagala reaching a height of 2524 mts. From here also originates Sri Lanka’s longest river, the Mahaweli, running its course in a north easterly direction to empty out into the sea at Trincomalee. The hill country gives way to the flat north central plains extending all the way to the northern tip. In the north west corner of the country is Mannar Island connected to the mainland by a bridge and almost to Rameshwaram in southern India by the broken chain of rocks and islets called Adam’s Bridge. Forest cover in 1981 was 20%.
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