This story accounts for the pocket of vegetation of healing herbs and plants at the strange mini-plateau at the summit of Ritigala, distinct from the dry-zone flora of the lower slopes and surrounding plains. Walk through the Ritigala forest monastery that spreads across 700 acres of land. Home to forest monks who lived a simple way of life removed from the material world back in the day, Ritigala has since been abandoned. Shaded by a thick canopy of jungle and stone pathways built into existing rocks, Ritigala is unlike any other experience. The incline to the peak of the mountain is gradual and is surrounded by sites of ruins of structures that were once used by the monks.