Kandy Lake: a walking guide

Kandy Lake was created between 1807 and 1812 by Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, the last king of the Kandyan kingdom. The ground below the palace was a stretch of paddy fields called Tigolwela. The king had it dammed and flooded, and named the result Kiri Muhuda, the Sea of Milk.

The building of Kandy Lake was not popular at the time. Chronicles record that local chiefs objected to the forced labour, and tradition says that those who protested were executed on stakes in the lake bed. The small island in the middle is said to have been the king's summer house, later used by the British as an ammunition store.

The route around Kandy Lake is simple: keep the water on one side and walk until you return. Most people start at the temple end and go clockwise, along the northern shore first. This stretch has the cloud wall, the queens' bathing pavilion and views back to the golden roof of the shrine.

The southern shore of Kandy Lake follows Sangaraja Mawatha, a main road with buses and lorries. The pavement is continuous and shaded by old trees, although the noise is constant. Malwatta monastery stands on this side, and a lane climbs from here to the Arthur's Seat viewpoint.

Kandy Lake's best-known feature is the Walakulu Bemma, the cloud wall. The low white parapet has triangular openings in which oil lamps were lit on festival nights. About 630 metres were built before the British took the city in 1815, and the wall simply stops where the work ended.

The Ulpange stands partly in the water on the temple side of Kandy Lake. Built in 1806 as a bathing pavilion for the king's queens, it gained an upper floor under the British and has served as a library and a police post. Further along, look for the royal summer house island and the spillway at the western end.

Kandy Lake supports a surprising amount of wildlife for a city-centre pond. Indian cormorants and little cormorants dry their wings on the overhanging branches, spot-billed pelicans drift in the middle, and black-crowned night herons roost in the trees near the island. Water monitors up to a metre and a half long sun themselves on the bank.

The trees around Kandy Lake are part of the attraction. Rain trees, palms and old mara trees shade most of the path, and fruit bats pass overhead at dusk on their way from Peradeniya. Feeding the fish is common among local families, and the carp gather in dense shoals near the steps.

The best time to walk around Kandy Lake is early morning, from about 6 to 8, when mist can sit on the water and the air is clean. Late afternoon from 5 is the second choice and suits visitors heading to the evening puja. Midday is hot, and the exhaust on the southern road is at its worst.

A walk around Kandy Lake needs no ticket and no guide. Touts sometimes approach near the temple end with offers of dance tickets or tuk-tuk tours; a polite refusal is enough. Lankan Stays & Trails usually places the lake walk straight after the evening puja, when the wall is lit and the day has cooled.

Kandy Lake fits naturally at the start or end of a day. A dawn circuit followed by breakfast and the botanic gardens works well for early risers. An evening half-circuit links the 5 o'clock dance performance, the puja and dinner without needing a vehicle.

Kandy Lake is also the simplest way to orient yourself in the city. The temple and palace lie on the north shore, the market and station are a few minutes west, and the hills with the best hotels and viewpoints rise to the south. Once you have walked the lake, the rest of Kandy makes sense.