Hakgala

The 2nd hill country botanic gardens after Peradeniya Gardens. Which was originally a plantation of Cinchona from which the anti-malarial drug quinine was found and later used for experiments in acclimatizing temperate-zone plants to life in the tropics, and were run by the same family for three generations, up to the 1940. Hakgala Botanical Gardens is located 10 km away from the town of Nuwara Eliya. Your trip to Nuwara Eliya is not complete without a visit to the Hakgala Gardens mainly because the site is legendary. It was once the pleasure garden of Ravana of the Ramayana epic and according to many, it was one of the places where the beautiful Sitha was hidden by the demon King Ravana. The present botanic gardens were founded in 1860 by the eminent British botanist Dr. G.H.K. Thwaites who was superintendent of the Peradeniya Gardens. The Garden consists of an outstanding collection of fauna and flora.