oldest recorded tree in history

Sri Lanka Tourism greeted the year 2008 in a bold statement calling out to all, to care about the environment and its depleting resources. The simple and positive message carried through the “Carbon Clean Sri Lanka: Tourism Earth Lung Programme” greeting, tugged at the heart strings and the conscience of all this season, to pause and give thought to saving trees and conserving all other resources to support mitigate global warming.

We at Sri Lanka Calling is also proud that this call for conservation comes from the home of the oldest recorded tree on earth, the ‘Sri Mahabodhi’ – a tree venerated by Buddhists the world over, for over 2500 years. The holiest shrine in Anuradhapura in the north central province, the ‘Jaya Shri Mahabodhi’, is a mature tree which grew from the Bo sapling, which was brought to Sri Lanka from India in the 3rd century B.C. Protected by the people of Sri Lanka for centuries, today it stands tall and majestic amidst other younger trees, in the place it was originally planted, encircled by a gold plated railing fed with milk and water by devotees.