Beautiful Rumassala /රූමස්සල

Year and Month	20^th and 21^st October 2020
Number of Days	Two days
Crew	Two
Accommodation	Levels Unawatuna
Transport	Car
Activities	Sightseeing, Photography and Archeology
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo-> Galle-> Rumassala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Better avoid in weekends to escape the crowd. There are vehicle parks at the end of Bonavista Road. And places to have normal water bath following sea bath. All famous beaches are under threat of pollution. Therefore please bring back what you carried. South Rumassala Beach is actually not a beach and it is full of slippery rocks. Be careful when you get on the rocks. Better visit at the premises of peace pagoda in early morning or late evening to avoid heat. We didn’t bath at none of these places. Therefore don’t know the details of it.
Related Resources	Amazing Lanka article on Rumassala Lakpura article on Rumassala Amazing Lanka article on Yatagala RMW Lakdasun trip reports on Rumassala and Jungle Beach Thanks Mr. Tharanga Liyana Arachci for your valuable information. He is one of the members of Galle Heritage Found.
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Beautiful Rumassala /රූමස්සල

Rumassala is a small hill with forest cover situated closer to the beach in Galle. It is a tourist hot spot. Ru-mas-Sala in Sinhala means beautiful mountain. Some historian tell Rumassala is a corruption of the Sanskrit word Ramassala, which translates to Rama’s hall. The colonial name of Rumassala is Buno Vista implies “pleasant view”. Rumassala hill, forest and sea are declared as a wildlife sanctuary. Bonavista coral reef is also a part of it.

The origin of Rumassala hill is related to Rama-Ravana legend.

Story of Rumassala
The famous story of Rumassala related to Ramayana is a mythical encounter between Rama and Ravana. When Rama’s brother-Lakshman was near-fatally injured in battle, it needed to bring some herbals from the Himalayas. Hanuman the monkey god has undertaken the task, but he forgot the name of the herbs. Hanuman broke a part of one mountain (Holy Sanjeevi) where herbs occurred and rest of the mountain was thrown away after getting the herbs. This fallen part was the origin of Rumassala. While he is on his way to Sri Lanka some of the parts of mountain have fallen. Ritigala is one of that.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who lived at Unawatuna once he moved to Sri Lanka, stated Rumassala is strangely not included within earth’s magnetic field. As a result , he explained that geo-stationary satellites lacking power end up milling round and round, high above this place.

Value of Rumassala
It is a heaven for herbs. Researchers have found 150 different species of herbs on Rumassala Hill. These species are unique in that area. The soil properties and environmental conditions of Rumassala are inherently different from the rest of the surrounding landscape. Rumassala hill has an herb that is said to have magical properties, called “Kalu Nika” (කළු නික). The herbal arrangement of Rumassala is similar to that of Ritigala Mountain.
Both the forest and the ocean around Rumassala are rich in biodiversity. The forest is home to many species of birds, reptiles and mammals (including several endemic species). The coral and rocky reef at Rumassala which are home to number of sea life.
In past ships come to Galle harbor used southern end of Rumassala, known as watering point, to stock up with fresh water. The value of Rumassala was high since past due to fresh water even during ancient silk route. The Galle harbor was developed due to Rumassala as ships came to fill fresh water.

Places of interests in Rumassala
1. Jungle beach
2. Rumassala South Beach
3. Japanese Peace Pagoda
4. Unawatuna Walle Dewalaya
5. Yatagala RMW

Jungle beach (6.018752, 80.239677)

Jungle beach is one of the famous beaches in Galle. Therefore thousands of beach lovers visit this place in weekends to enjoy the white beach surrounded by Rumassala forest. The approach to Jungle beach is from Bonavista road situated in front of Holcim Cement Factory. It is about 1.5km drive from main road and there are two entrances to the beach. As this beach is surrounded by the jungle (Rumassala Sanctuary) it is called Jungle beach and the foot pathway also lies through the forest.
My first experience at Jungle beach was with my hospital staff in weekend but I didn’t like the place much as it was full of people.
But in a weekday amid of Corona threat I have visited the place with a friend. It was completely different experience at Jungle beach with no crowd. It seems Jungle beach has two parts (Portuguese Sand Bay / White Beach and Dutch Pan Bay) and separate by a rock cliff.
We followed the first foot path (6.019006, 80.241340) to enter Jungle beach. This part of the beach was completely empty and we were able to view Galle Fort, Harbor and Town from the beach. This is the main part of Jungle beach. It was called Portuguese Sand Bay / White beach. There was a foot path to other part of Jungle beach – 6.017526, 80.237652. Earlier this area was called as Dutch Pan Bay and a fresh water point still can be seen at the beach. We climbed some steps and reached Bonavista road at the end.

Foot path to jungle beach

It is Rumassala sanctuary belongs wild life department.

Jungle beach (6.018752, 80.239677)

Jungle beach

Jungle Beach

Selfie at Jungle Beach

.	Towards Galle Harbour and Galle Fort.

Towards Rumassala South beach

View of Galle fort from Jungle Beach

.	This arrow shows other part of the beach (6.017526, 80.237652)

The rock cliff separate two parts of the beach

There was a foot path from this part of the beach to rest of Jungle beach. We followed it.

.	How Jungle Beach is seen

View of peace pagoda

Other part of the jungle beach

Other part of the Jungle beach.

Jungle Beach

Rumassala South Beach (6.018447, 80.235505)

When I searched in Google map I saw a place called South Rumassala Beach (6.018447, 80.235505) and the foot path from Bonavista road continues to South Rumassala Beach. Actually it has no proper beach only a considerable number of rocks are situated at the beach. The sea was rough and evidence of sea erosion was there. The notice board placed by the police mentioned about loss of lives due to slippery rocks at South Rumassala Beach. The best place to see the shipwreck at Rumassala is this south Rumassala Beach. This ship was wrecked in the sea few years ago and it was brought to the beach to get metals. The foot pathway to other side connects with the main part of Jungle Beach and we have entered there for the second time. This time there was a group of youngsters and they were cooking a meal under a tree. It was a common scene at the Jungle beach in weekends.

Following the foot path to South Rumassala Beach.

So called Rumassala South Beach

Red notice about Rumassala South Beach

Rumassala South Beach

View from Rumassala South Beach

This rock cliff is marked as Unawatuna Observation Point in the map. It must be the most south point of this part of the land. But waves came above the rock when we were there.

Unawatuna Observation Point- 6.017702, 80.234807

Rumassala South Beach

View of rest of Rumassala

Sea erosion

Somewhere close to Unawatuna observation point.

Shipwreck and Japanese Peace Pagoda

Shipwreck

This construction was noted on our way to Jungle Beach from Rumassala South Beach. Later I got to know it is related to latter part of British period.

As sun was right above our heads it was high to move a closed area. We have walked along Bonavista road and tasted “Kirala Juice” ( කිරල බීම). I never forget to drink Kirala Juice when I visited down south but it was bit high price here. Japanese Peace Pagoda was situated few meters away here.

Japanese Peace Pagoda at Rumassala (6.015901, 80.237770)
Japanese has built Pagodas in several places at Sri Lanka as symbols of peace. Rumassala is one of the places of Japanese peace pagoda and it adds extra beauty due to beach with sea. It was completed and gifted to Sri Lanka in 23rd of February 2004. There is a monument to commemorate victims of Tsunami and a statue of Lord Hanumantha. This is the first time I have seen a statue of Hanumantha as a god. As this temple is situated at a higher place of Rumassala it provides a beautiful view towards the beach and sea.

Other places of Japanese Peace Pagoda are Ampara, Sri Pada, Bandarawela and Walapane.

Most of peace pagodas of the world were built under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fuji (1885-1985) monk from Japan and founder of the Nipponzan-Myohoji Buddhist order. In 1947 he began constructing Peace Pagodas as shrines to world peace.

Japanese Peace Pagoda at Rumassala

.	Around Stupa

Around Stupa

Tsunami Monument

View from peace pagoda

Shrine of lord Hanuman. He carries Holy Sajevani Mountain.

Then we drove towards our next attraction of the day-Unawatuna Walle Dewalaya.

Unawatuna Walle Dewalaya /උණවටුන වැල්ලේ දේවාලය (6.006283, 80.2444013)
Unawatuna Walle Dewalaya is built for Dewol Deviyo (දෙවොල් දෙවියෝ ) who greatly believes around down south. A lot of fishermen come here for wow before go for fishery. The place was also empty due to Corona threat. There was a Buddha statue and a stupa situated above the place. This place is bounded by beautiful Unawatuna beach and newly building Araliya Unawatuna hotel was rising as a giant in front of the place. I kept Unawatuna Beach as a separate visit and moved to Yatagala RMW.

Unawatuna Walle Dewalaya

One of a rare plant species at Dewala premises- Xylocarpus granatum

Buddha statue and Araliya Unawatuna Hotel

Unawatuna Beach. Another entity

Unawatuna Beach.

Yatagala RMV (යටගල රජමහා විහාරය)
Yatagala Raja Maha Viharaya is an ancient temple belongs to Anuradhapura era. It was established during King Devanampiya Thissa time and the Bo tree is one of the first samplings from the reserved Sri Maha Bodhi tree. During Dambadeniya time, King Parakramabahu II ordered his minister Devapathiraja to build 18 riyan reclining Buddha statue in the cave.
Currently Pirivena is situated at lower part of the temple. After you climb stairs you will reach the Buddha statue, Stupa, Bo tree and ancient image house. The image house was closed during our visit. There is a boulder garden situated just above the Bo tree.

Steps to Yatagala RMW

Dewalaya

Ancient image house, Buddha statue and Stupa

Might be new addition to the temple

Steps to boulder garden

Boulder garden

A cave with Samadhi Buddha statue

Boulder Garden

Doors were closed at shrine house

Rumassala has number of beautiful hotels. Some are beach front and some hotels have sea view. We have selected one hotel called Levels Unawatuna which has a splendid view towards Rumassala and Jungle Beach. Let’s share some photos of the hotel.
Levels Unawatuna hotel is situated at Bonavista road closer to the entrance of Jungle Beach. As it is situated at bit higher place you can have a nice sea view from the hotel.

Levels Unawatuna Hotel