Saturday was the time to challenge the Sigiriya Rock. We got a late start, and that means an extremely hot climb! We stopped to resupply water before we left the car.


Sigiriya stands a straight 300m out of the jungle, and was the fortress of a King 1500 years ago. Two brothers fought over power and the youngest who took power from his father by force, used Sigiriya to guard himself from the revenge of his brother. Eventually it came to a final showdown and the fortress of Sigiriya fell during an Elephant battle between the two..! Amazing!

Stairs leading onto the rock looks rather easy to negotiate from below.. :)

The heat starts to take its toll after only very few steps, and the water comes in veeery handy..! The heat of mid-day sun is somewhere in higher-thirties and humidity is jungle-style!

The old King was not without a sense for art - and women.. :)

As the jungle canopy is left below, the landscape opens up beautifully :)

Sigiriya is surrounded by an ancient park

Entering the final stage of the climb - in between the lion's paws!

At the top - after carrying sandbags to help work there