Speleology or Caving is one of the less known tourist activities in the context of Sri Lankan Tourism. According to the available documents from the archeologists and researchers most of the caves in Sri Lanka are lasting from the pre historic period. Some of them are dating back to 500 million years and in some of those caves, skeletal remains of pre historic man have been found. The Wavulpone Cave is one of the famous caves, because of its formation from lime and thousands of bats that inhabit in.

When the ancient kings were ruling the country, they used caves to escape from inwaders. There are thousands of man made caves in and around the historical sites in the North Central Province which the ancient kings used. Most of the caves were decorated with paintings called frescos and they offered the caves to the monks when they returned to their palaces. Nowadays most of those caves are converted into Buddhist Temples or hermitages.

Going back to the pre historic period will be a unique experience during your holiday in Sri Lanka. Let it be 14 days tour or a shorter tour of 3 days, still you will be able to visit and explore one of those caves during your stay. With a little bit of adventurous journey, most of the caves are accessible and some of them could be easily accessed. If you are a keen speleologist, a round tour including all of these could be arranged and the number of caves depends on your duration of the stay.Some of the will known caves are

• Belilena Cave
• Batadobalena Cave
• Adirilena Cave
• Pannila Cave
• Wavulpone Cave
• Rawana Ella Cave
• Bogoda Cave
• Sithripura Cave
• Lahugala Cave
• Nitro Cave