Sigiriya meaning ‘Lion Rock’ is a giant rock structure that is surrounded by jungle in the middle of Sri Lanka. It’s like nowhere else that I’ve been and something out of an Indiana Jones movie. We stayed in a tiny hostel which was so close to Sigiriya that you could see it from our hostel room and within walking distance to the entrance. Luckily we were told that the place opened at 8am by our hostel hosts, which was not what our guidebook had said. The book said that it opened at 9am, and the place was FULL by 10am with busloads of tourists. We were literally the first people to walk in and what an amazing experience it was! There are two Sigiriyas, people called them Little Sigiriya and Big Sigiriya. The big one is what you see in the distance (standing at over 600 feet high) while we were standing on top of little Sigiriya. What was great about little Sigiriya was the fact that it was a jungle hike to get there and much cheaper to visit. If you ever go there, I highly recommend visiting both since they both offer different and amazing experiences in their own right. The structures located on top of big Sigiriya are the foundations of former fortresses and the home of the king of the region, named King Kashyapa who reined in the mid 5th Century. After his death it became a Buddhist monastery until the 14th Century. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site and hopefully well protected for many more years to come. These Rhesus monkeys you see here were a little out of focus, I must have been too close to them, or didn’t stop down my aperture enough to get them all sharp. Either way, I still like the shot and hope you do as well. Shot on my Sputnik on Fuji Provia 100F film.