Abstract:
Human and environment are deeply interconnected and the environment is directly affects the nature of the society such as culture, behavioural patterns and believes. Sri Lanka is an island with a very high density of caves which have unforgettably played an important role in ancient Sri Lankan Culture. Although caves are considered as dark spaces with many legendary tales, geologically a cave can be defined as "a natural cavity in a rock which is large enough for a human to enter". In the context of tourism development, caves fall into four groups. The first group comprises caves that have a long tradition, but show signs of aging as a tourism product. The second group include caves that were once open to the public, but were later closed for some reason. The third group consists of caves on the seaside or seabed visited by speleologists¬divers. The fourth group is made up of potential cave sites that have been evaluated as being attractive, but are located in hard-to-access areas, making their valorisation in tourism purpose more difficult. All four groups can be promoted as cave tourism destinations in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is the island that the archaeologists found the earliest human remains which are old for more than 35000 years. Sri Lanka is an island with a very high density of caves which have unforgettably played an important role. in ancient Sri Lankan Culture. When the ancient kings were ruling the country, they used caves to escape!' from invaders. There are thousands of manmade caves in and around the historical sites in the Uva province. Most of the caves were decorated with paintings called frescos and they offered the caves to the monks when they returned to their places.
