Hakgala Botanical Garden
Entrance of the garden
Type	Botanical garden
Location	Hakgala, Nuwara Eliya
Coordinates	6°55′00″N 80°46′00″E / 6.91667°N 80.76667°E / 6.91667; 80.76667 (Hakgala Botanical Garden)
Area	badulla
Created	1861
Operated by	Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka
Visitors	500 000
Status	Open all year
Website	http://www.botanicgardens.gov.lk/?page_id=4380

Hakgala Botanical Garden is one of the five botanical gardens in Sri Lanka. The other four are Peradeniya Botanical Garden, Henarathgoda Botanical Garden, Mirijjawila Botanical Garden and Seetawaka Botanical Garden. It is the second largest botanical garden in Sri Lanka.^[1] The garden is contiguous to Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve.^[2]

Part of a series on
Wildlife of Sri Lanka
Protected areas Protected areas of Sri Lanka National parks Biosphere reserves Sanctuaries
Flora and fauna Vertebrates Birds Endemics Mammals Endemics Amphibians Reptiles Freshwater fish Introduced fish Cartilage fish Commercial fish Invertebrates Butterflies Beetles Moths Dipterans Mosquitoes Hymenopterans Orthopterans Cockroaches Termites Earwigs Lacewings Phasmid Hemiptera Mantids Minor insects Bees Odonates Aphids Ants Freshwater crabs Non-marine molluscs Myriapods Spiders Tarantulas Scorpions Hard ticks Mites Isopods Pseudoscorpions Lesser arachnids Echinoderms Flora Trees Mangroves Pteridophytes
Gardens Zoological gardens Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage Dehiwala Zoo Pinnawala Open Zoo Ridiyagama Safari Park Botanical gardens Hakgala Henarathgoda Mirijjawila Peradeniya Seetawaka
Organizations Authorities Department of Forest Conservation Department of Wildlife Conservation Civil societies Field Ornithology Group
Related topics Deforestation Ecoregions Tourism
v t e

Location and climate

Hakgala Botanical Garden is situated on the Nuwara Eliya-Badulla main road, 16 km from Nuwara Eliya and extents for about 28 hectares. The garden has a cool temperate climate because of altitude is 5,400 feet above sea level. The mean annual temperature ranges between 16 °C to 30 °C during the course of a year.^[3] From December to February it has a cold climate, while the warm climate persists from April to August.

History

The garden was established in 1861, under George Henry Kendrick Thwaites as an experimental cultivation of Cinchona, a commercial crop thriving at the time. Once after the Tea replaced the Cinchona, it was turned into an experimental Tea cultivation. In 1884 it transformed into a garden. Since then many subtropical and some temperate plants were planted in the gardens.

Folklore

In the folklores, it says Sri Lankan demon King Ravana after abducting Sita, kept her hidden in this area and area was offered to Sita as a pleasure garden, the place finds mention in the Ramayana as Ashok Vatika.^{[citation needed]} The area was named as "Sita Eliya" and "Sita Amman Temple" was built on the site.

Visitor attraction

There are over 10,000^[3] species of flora planted here and during the Spring season in Nuwara Eliya thousands of visitors come to see the blooms here. The number of annual visitors is around 500,000.^[3] The garden is famous for number of species of Orchids and Roses present in this garden.