Kitulgala is a small town in the west of Sri Lanka about 100km from Colombo. It is in the wet zone rain forest, which gets two monsoons each year, and is one of the wettest places in the country.
The Academy Award-winning “The Bridge on the River Kwai” was filmed on the Kelani River near Kitulgala in 1957, although nothing remains now except the concrete foundations of the bridge. The locals call it “the location”. They also told us that this bridge was actually blasted in the movie as at that time there were no camera tricks, so they made complete bridge and in the end blasted it… there was only one shot possible and they did it to perfection.
Kitulgala is also the base of white-water rafting.