Non pariel estate is having 6 divisions. Uggalduwa is the bottom of the world’s end and all the dead bodies can be collect from there. But it is a rough and full day jouney from Uggalduwa to that place. Otherwise continue your journey to Nagrak bunglow, which is located at the top of this mountain range. And there you will find the boarder of Horton Plains and Non Pariel.

Since Horton Plains is a world heritage, please do not attempt to go there without having any valid approval. Accessing to World’s end without any valid ticket is always prohibited. As per my thought if you are coming by bike or by foot you have to spend at least 3-4 hours for these 21 kms. Because there are lot see, sometimes we were looking at the giant mountains and the world’s end mountain range for few minutes. It is really amazing, can’t believe this wonderful creations.

Non parial is a beautiful estate with low public facilities. These people are facing to many challenges. While you are traveling to the bunglow via baker’s end, please note that the forest path to the Galagama fall will start from the Baker’s end. Ask the directions from a villager or else you couldn’t be finding it.

We don’t see any leeches since the weather is in a good mood. But as per the villagers, there are many leeches around the bottom area of the estate in rainy days.

FB: Travel in Sri Lanka-Sobasiri

The name board at Badulla road

Entrance to Nonparial Road

click to enlarge

Hotel at here – click to enlarge

hotel at here – click to enlarge

another one – click to enlarge

First waterfall we met

Stone cutted point

Via the stone cutted point

amazing beauty

Towards to Haagala area

Hirikatu oya entrance

.	Breath taking views at the road

Berath taking views on the way

This is so beautiful

Huge ston can be seen throught the forest

Another tallest waterfall

This fall is at the road

Here we are climbing the worst road

We still can see this rock

Seasonal falls but this is higher than the Bambarakanda

Nice to camping

Another waterfall at the road

Non parial office

Main turning point to the divisons

Use the upper road

These falls are seasonal, but higher than 300m

Another waterfall

Breath taking mountains

Fantastic Baker’s Bend

She is always looking this amazing area

The mist is coming from Belihuloya side

What a color differentiate of Green

The way we came

The path to the top

Mist will cover the path

The path to the heaven

Love to touch this mist

But so Beautiful

Last bend to the Nagrak nameboard

The giants

Entance Prohibited !

In front of the Bunglow

View from the Bunglow

Road to the World’s End

The Bungalow in Mist

Misty roads

Baker’s Bend in White background

Amazing nature paintings

As per my experience, Devil’s Staircase road is the most hardest, dangerous and beautiful road in Sri Lanka. I knew about this on 2012 and I was lucky to visit there at the beginning of 2013. I got little information about this route conditions from Viraj Rathnapitiya and Dinesh Dekker in that time. Then we four got ready to face the challenges about our Motor bicycle tyres.

On that day we came from Visari Ella, Diyaluma, Beragala road and entered to the Bambarakanda road by 10am. However we started our journey from Kalupahana junction and proceed up to Bambarakanda fall, we spend little time there as one of our guys didn’t see this fall before. After that we started the Devil’s ride. On that time the whole route was gravel, uncomfortable and ugly road. Sometimes we had to ride over the 6-8inch highest stones. There is an area where named as a dangerous area since there might be patches on the tyres. We were slowly passed that area and entered to the V-cut. We had a small rest and took some photographs.

After that we again started the journey and successfully crossed the Bambarakanda water stream. That was a lovely experience since I still remember that our new guy how faced to that. Again we ride over mountains, gravel roads and came near to a small village. There we saw a beautiful waterfall at the dead end and took some photos and had another rest.

Again we started our journey and reached to Udaweriya by passing the Devil’s part and talked with a villager about the facilities in this area. That time the Udaweriya hospital was working like a dead man. Finally now we know that hospital was close down forever. There are 2-3 schools and around 250 children with 1400 population for the entire 16km area. There are no common facilities and their main occupation is tea plucking.

This road is having beautiful environment and sceneries as this was situated over too many of mountains and near to the HP boarder. Leopards Sambars, Wild boars are common animal lives in this area. There are no any specific camping place on this road and people can choose their own camping place but with own risk. Most suitable vehicles are motor bikes, 4×4 vehicles and Lorries; hence the duration for the entire route will be around 4-5 hours. If you want to walk along the road it will take about 7-9hours. If someone looking for a real hike, this might be the ideal solution for that.

Starting the journey

Side view of Bambarakanda

Wangedigala and Gommoli mountains

The best medium to the trips

Through the hard points

V-cut

Entrance to the Bambarakanda fall

Roadside beauty

Crossing the stream which carrying water to the Bambarakanda

Crossing it

Another person ready to cross it

Crossing the stream

Searching for the difficult points

We crossed it

Towards Giniseelin estate

Near to Nagadowa fall

Capturing beauties

Gommoliya can see

Endless road

Along the journies

Mountains over the mist

Village part of the Estate

A Junction

Roadside waterfalls

Through Devils Staircase

Towards southern side

Towards Idalgshinna side

Roadside waterfalls

Roadside beauties

Path

Along the way

Difficult points

Beautifull places

To the Udaweriya Estate

Rural lives

At the mist

The Church at the Udaweiya

Namboard

Udaweriya Tea Factory ruins

Udaweriya Tea Factory ruins

Udaweriya Tea Factory

My machine

Mother Mary Statue at a bend

Protection at this Rural villages

A kovil

Tea + Mountains + Mist

Towrds the Factory

More to go

Tea Estates

Nature

Beautiful mountains

The path we came

Close to the Worlds end junction

Gravel road is over

Where we came across

Over the mountains

Udaweriya village

The old nameboard

team without me in 2013

Kaudulla national park probably is the best location to watch elephants in Sri Lanka if you are a big fan. But the exposure given is very much less in my opinion comparing to other national parks.

We left Colombo on 23^rd of December early morning to Kaudulla as planned. Campsite was reserved in advance and all geared up for camping. Me and Thushan left Colombo in my jeep and Aravinda and Laksri joined from Nittabuwa and Narammala respectively. Thushan was a super excited human being at the time as this was his first ever camping trip experience.

We had our breakfast in Kurunagala and was able to reach Kaudulla entrance around 12 noon. Park office seemed like a well-kept place and there were plenty of room and reserved space for visitors to walk around and have their meals as they wish.

Have to mention that the park office personnel were extremely friendly and helpful. It was after more than a month they had people who is on for camping and they looked a bit confused first. We met Mr. Anil, who was the second officer at Kaudulla who explained about the park. I would mention the details we got from him here as it would be helpful for someone who is willing to visit the park for camping.

One can reach Kaudulla by train or by a vehicle. If you are coming in the train, you have to get down from ‘Galoya Handiya’ railway station and Kaudulla park is at a walking distance.

Kaudulla mainly has two campsites and both campsites located somewhat near to the park entrance. One is Olumaluwa campsite. And the other one is located in an island which you need to use paddle boats to reach. You can leave your vehicle at the park entrance car park if you are visiting the second camp. But unfortunately, as per now, Olumaluwa campsite is the only functioning campsite in Kaudulla, as one cannot reach the second campsite in the island due to the malfunctioning and unusable paddle boats. But according to the park officials it is the most exciting campsite in the park! Another thing to note is that both the campsite are likely to get flooded during the rainy seasons so avoid rainy seasons as much as possible.

We left for safari with Madhava (Tracker) after lunch and roamed around for a few hours in the park watching jumbos. Kaudulla basically is a tank other than being a park. You can do a complete safari in Kaudulla in a few hours as there is no larger area to cover. It all depends on the Kaudulla tank and safari season starts when the tank dries up. Jeep tracks are located inside the dried up tank and elephants gather around the water retaining areas giving tourists so many better elephant sightings, sometimes around 300 to 400. In rainy period tank is full and whole area will be covered in water leaving no tracks at all. That will be the off season.

Having a 4wd vehicle will be an advantage here if you are going for safari. It will make your life easy.

Laksri and Aravinda taking a moment to watch these items at the visitor’s area

Kaudulla park office and visitor’s rest area, where we had our lunch.

Passing the entrance and into the park (Sloping gravel road to the right hand side just after the bridge will lead you to the campsite)

Driving along the tracks in the dried up Kaudulla tank. Total treat to the eye seeing a considerable number of old Mitsubishi monsters running all around the park pretty easily.

.

.

A lonely big guy enjoying some fresh herbs while posing for photos and a little herd of elephants with a mischievous junior by the water.

.

A complete giant gangster and it chased away others who came in his way and took the crown of the herd.

Accidentally bumped into this one too. Foxy!

After a few hours of driving around, we came to the campsite. Note that no one has been to this campsite in a month, so the access road to the campsite was barely a road but jungle. We had to clear the road and drive through the bushes and trees to our destination. At around 5 p.m we reached our destination, Olumaluwa.

It was located near a dried up water body and the surrounding area was not being cleared proving that it had not been used recently by anyone. Campsite had no larger trees in it hence there was no shading. Elephant footprints were seen all around the campsite. When I asked Madhava about it he pointed at a far end of the nearby lake and showed the big guy having his evening meal. This was his area and Madhava further stated that there is a high chance of seeing him paying a visit to the camp as well. Hahaa!! And during last camping session big guy actually had come around to say hello!

Just love these shaded gravel roads in Kaudulla

Road to campsite. Barely a road but a jungle to drive through

Olumaluwa campsite

Can you spot the jumbo who is in charge of the area Photo was taken from the campsite.

Aravinda and Laksri went with Madhava in search of firewood while me and Thushan set up tents. Biggest issue was to find water as the lake was almost dry.

Dinner was prepared and the campfire was lighted up. It was important to have a fire running all night here as it will help to keep the animals away. Additionally we had a few lanterns around as well. One or two from us rotationally stayed awake in order to do the watchman duty. Big guy was definitely around and we and our tracker, Madhava had no doubt about it after hearing the tiny noises of water splashing caused by something walking in the lake slowly and steadily. Each one had their turn of watching and had to be in full alert as thick dark jungle was surrounding the camp very closely. If anything approached, we wouldn’t have noticed until the last moment due to that reason. Even though I have camped in the wilderness many times before, this happened to be the most exciting and most unpredictable night I have spent in a campsite ever. And hey, that’s the way to go. Otherwise where’s all the fun in camping? Complete isolation in the thick jungle!

You can hear trains running all night from time to time until morning also as railway tracks are located very much through the park itself. It wasn’t a wise idea to stay at the campsite for longer as there was no access to water what so ever. Hence we cleared the area and packed ourselves up in the morning and returned.

.	Waking up to a cold morning

Crew at the entrance

If you feel like you have plenty of time left and there’s nothing to do, there are few options available. Pay a visit to Minneriya park for a safari or Minneriaya tank where you can have a refreshing and a peaceful bath. And again you can drive all the way to Girithale and visit the Wildlife training center and see the Wildlife museum as it is such an interesting place.

Cheers!

Panvila map

Kelebokka map

This year I have been hunting Mini world end’s around the country and on my quest I came across Kelebokka view point too. We left early to reach Panvila where we were accompanied by Nishan (who resides at Panvila) to our first destination which was Hathale MWE. To reach Hathale we took the road near Panvila rest house and after 3Km’s we reached a pines plot where we halted our vehicle and walked towards the WE (refer the map). It was a 4wd ride and you need good ground clearance to tackle this road. We had a 200m walk to the view point where there was an area to sit even. one could enjoy a pnoramic view towards Western peaks of Knuckles such as Gomabiya, Yakkunge hela, Rilagala, Selvakanda, Kandasamy gala, Knuckles, Kota ganga falls etc. After spending some time we took of towards Pitakanda.

on the way to Hathale from Panvila

Victoria reservoir seen on the way

sharp bends

Sri pada seen

heavenly

Gombaniya

Hathale

tall tea trees seen among the shorter ones

knuckles

the path to mini WE

on the way

Gombaniya and Yakkunge hela seen

Kota ganga cascades

Peacock hills seen

Gombaniya

wow

view from mini WE

victoria

Kukulagala

the drop

.	enjoying the view

hunnasgiri peak seen

.

and its raining

exploring

halted

nearby reservoir

Hathale mini WE

While on our way to Pitakanda from Madulkele we took a left turn on a estate road just before Kabaragala tea factory (refer the map). The estate road was an bumpy 4wd ride for about 4Km’s before we reached Kelebokka upper division. just before the final ascend we were asked to buy tickets from a estate official. The view was 360 degree panoramic one and one could easily observe Gombaniya and Kirigalpoththa range and on the other side it was Sembuwaththa lake. There were some lovely summer huts which one could reserve from the tea estate. Since it was already dusk we decided to head back home with some lovely memmories.

the view point seen from elkaduwa – kabaragala rd

estate road starts at this point

more to go

.

the tea factory

at the view point

Sembuwaththa seen

religious point

Gombaniya covered with mist

.

pano

another pano

.

.

.	hulu ganga valley

close up

at the summit

more

.

scenery

.

the road we came along

the view

the route we took

hunnasgiri peak

.

.

hunnasgiri peak

.

wiltshire peak

Mathale town

Even though we have had so many ordinary trips none of them have not given an experience like this one. Yes, we just finished a 20km hike from Ohiya to Bambarakanda.

We started from Maharagama on 6^th Friday, April at 11pm. We took the road via Avissawella, Ratnapura and Haputhale. It was a long and sleepy journey. May be the scenes were spectacular. But we did not experience that since it was the night time.

We came to Ohiya Railway Station, one of the most iconic railway stations in Sri Lanka at 6am on Saturday. The hike was begun from there. We took the exact road normally we take to go to Horton Plains.

It was misty and dark but beautiful

It was misty and dark but beautiful

The morning was cold and misty. That climate and the jokes we cracked did not make us tired. The scenes from either side of the road were so beautiful especially if you want to capture them from a camera. We walked 4km through the road to Horton Plains and we took our 1st turn to the left. It was the beginning of the Devil’s Staircase. Even though we walked through the previous 4kms you can come by a vehicle to this point if you want to. Even though we climb up on the road from Ohiya to the beginning of the Devil Staircase through Devil’s Staircase we had to climb down at most of the times. We took our breakfast at this point, bread and seeni sambal.

The journey from there was bit tough. There were some slippery places to walk down and sometimes it was kind of difficult because of the wet weather. Those slippery places were found when we use short cuts through tea states instead of using the normal path. The normal road was a risk-free path. Since it was early in the morning the mist was always there. Sometimes it was hard to see even 100m in front of us. But when we could see the mist over the far away mountains it was always iconic. Small waterfalls and pure water streams were not rare of either side of the road.

A wander from nature (Spider web- devil staircase)

misty mountains were everywhere

The only problem we had is the leaches’ attacks. It is so common in this side of Sri Lanka. But that was never a big deal for our journey. When we were in the middle of the hike a drizzle was started. The small rain drops made us feel bit panful because of the cold climate. But we did not stop the journey since we had not brought any umbrella therefore we had no choice anyway. We passed two small villages on the way. We wandered how they manage their day today life. Because they must walk more than 10kms to make it to a town from either way. We felt that the simple way of living is the solution. Not only for them, but also for us. At one point google maps said that we had only 2.4kms to walk more, but the reality was there were 6 more kms to the destination.

On the way we found that there is a way which we can walk downwards parallelly to the Bambara Kanda falls. It starts from the top from the waterfall which is the highest waterfall in Sri Lanka. But some of the latest incident about accidents which were concludes with deaths happened by falling down the water fall has made this path a prohibited way. Therefore, we skipped it. From that point we had to walk under the heavy rain. Suddenly, it became so hard to walk since the rain was that heavy and we had to decide what to do. There was only one umbrella we have got and fortunately we found a small house which was not used by anyone. We got into it and talked about what to do.

The tough life (A small house in the village on the way)

We had asked the van driver to come to Bambara Kanda from Ohiya via the main road by van at the beginning. The plan was two of us must go along to the van and asked the driver to come to take others. The place se got stuck was 3km from Bambara Kanda and we believe that van can come to that place. But the driver had other ideas and he refused to come. So, the rest of us waited and finished the hike after the rain.

Bambarakanda Falls

It was furious and scary, but iconic

It was not over from that. You have seen Bambara Kanda before as travelers, haven’t you? Normally it has very thin water body even though it is very high. Literally you can keep your head under the water body from the bottom and bathe. But believe me, this time it was different. you have not seen it in that mood. We saw the water fall by far during the hike. My goodness, it was so scary. The water flaw was very big. It was like Dunhinda got tall. The long hike we just finished did not stop us from watching Bambara Kanda. We ended our hike at 12 noon which run for 6 consecutive hours.

We could hear it by far. There is a small bridge which is over a stream which starts from the bottom of the waterfall. We could feel the mood of the waterfall from that stream. Do not be surprised, if you fell down that bridge you would not be found. The waterfall was at its most beautiful but scariest mood than ever. We could not look at the waterfall since the eyes cannot be open due to the Gush of vapor. That was a great experience which I will not forget forever.

Then our destination was Grace Holiday Bungalow which was 8.8km away from Bambara Kanda. It is a nice place which is situated in the middle of the misty mountains. We spent our night there and the food and accommodation were remarkable.

We headed back home in next day (Sunday) morning and we were extremely exhausted but we were happy and satisfied more than that. Take that experience at least once in a life time, but I am afraid to tell you that I do not think you will ever get a chance to see Bambara Kanda waterfall at that mood. Because it is that rare.

In 2012 while we were exploring Rajagala we noted a prominent hill which locals called Balagala / Walimbe and after few map reading sessions we got to know that this was called Walimbe hela / Friars hood (because of the look of a hat of a priest). I was determined to conquer it and in 2014 I actually attempted it while I was turned back by a false 119 complain. Last year when Tharindu scaled the mighty peak for the first time my heart started pounding again with the ever lost desire surfacing back in to the scene. After contacting Tharindu we got in touch with Bandara who was the friendly village guy who provided all the logistics. As Bandara suggested we planned to hike the mountain during the evening hours and descend in the morning and the main reason for this was that we had to walk along the exposed rock and according to them there wernt any alternatives.

Map 1

map 2

map 3

We climbed along the blue line and came down along the yellow (image belongs to Onal)

We reached Gonagolla by 1P.m and had our lunch, also packed our night meals too so that we could save our time for the journey. We were introduced to the forest officials at Bandaraduwa and they were eagerly waiting to join us too. From here onwards it was a 4*4 ride(7Km’s) for me through the Kalugal oya reservoir project. The ride was not an easy one and Harinda had to get down to clear the path at many instances. We halted our vehicle close to “Wiyan bendi gala” and started to march on foot while others went further towards the rock with their bikes. The 1.8Km stretch was an easy walk though it was blazing hot. After halting the bikes we marched through the savanna area to reach the forest patch found below the rock.

as seen from Rajagala

standing out

the giant of east

as seen from Bandaraduwa

ready to go

target

.

.

.

.

The forest cover was a blessing for us and we also came across few water streams where there was plenty of fish species to our surprise. In 30 minutes we reached the base of the rock and the daunting height of it was going to be a challenging one. According to the locals this was the only path to the summit but I knew from my map reading knowledge that there should be another.  It was 4.45P.m and we had to get to the summit before we loose light so it was a 4*4 climb from this point on wards. Despite the risk of getting water blisters we opted to climb up without shoes because we believed in our barefoot grip rather than the shoe grip. The initial steps felt ok with the angle of the rock been 45° but gradually the slope was getting tilted towards the worst and looking back down scared the spirit out of our body hence requiring more and more psychological breaks. Harinda decided to hang on to the rope which Gune held on the other end purely as a psychological booster rather than a support role. When the degree of incline turned close to 70° we decided to head towards a forest patch and ascend along it. After a small forest patch it was the final ascend and the time was 10 past 7P.m, the head lights were at work and the ropes were hanging, we only had to hang on to it and climb up the last bit of rocky wall before we reached the summit. I do not recommend climbing along this path on an afternoon, if someone faints it would be the end of his life.

Since it was already mid night the stars had appeared and the lights lit up all around Digamadulla was simply the sight we needed to glance at and rest our tired soles. The pre cooked Dinner packets vanished in to thin air and we were ready to sleep under the 5 Billion stars.

fresh water

the deadly slope

.

.

on the way scenery

Thoppigala

Narakamulla

Rukam

Pulukunawa side

the path

.

Omanugala

Dimbulagala seen faintly

Kapapu gala

.

last part

green pit

සැප නින්ද

night sky

Next day morning was bit gloomy but yet we could easily identify the landmarks around Digamadulla. We noted many lagoons of the eastern shores , Rukam lake, Unnachchiya lake, Ampara tank, Kondawatwana tank, Himidurawa tank, Iginiyagala reservoir, Iginiyagala peak, Wadinagala, Govinda hela, Walasa gala, Dora ira, Pahankudawa, Kokagala, Rambaken oya, Nuwaragala, Ethabendigala, Ulhitiya, Maduru oya, Omanugala, Thoppigala, Narakamulla, Pulukunawa, Dimbulagala, Kuda walimbe and many more landmarks. There were two points of ruins and one seemed to be remains of a ancient sthupa.

good morning

.

.

tea

looking at his home

Nuwaragala side

.	Ampara forest reserve

shadow of Walimbe

.

kokagala and rambaken oya

.

Inginiyagala, walasgala, govinda hela and wadinagala seen

Dora ira

.

.

.	Ulhitiya seen over Nuwaragala

group at summit

Kalu gal oya project

ruins

wow

senanayake reservoir seen

Unnachchiya reservoir

ampara, himidurawa, kondawatuwana tanks

lagoons of the east

Nawagiri aru

.

.

Though the guides wanted to descend along the same route we insisted on taking an alternative path and we guided them towards a tree line which ran towards the base of the rock as seen on satellite maps. In no time we were jumping from one branch to another and descending down and finally we reached the rock where we started our proper ascent. After a quick rest we headed back to a stream at the base of the mountain where we prepared a Manyok meal as lunch.

optional path to descend

it was steep too

.

.

a stream

lunch

improvised

products

end product

Finishing the Manyok meal we started walking back towards our vehicle and after leaving our bags behind at the jeep we walked 300m’s further towards “Wiyan Bendi gala”. Wiyan bendi gala had a huge cave where we noted ancestral paintings and modern day vandalized paintings. I must say this is a lovely place to camp because there was a nice stream flowing by the cave too. From Wiyan Bendi gala we headed back towards Bandaraduwa where we thanked our guides and forest officials before departing back to our homes. On the way we didn’t forget to have a dip in Navakiri aru tank too.

looking back

home

happy chaps

common sighting

Wiyan bendi gala

wiyan bedi gal lena

vedda paintings

mixed with modern day vandalism

.

.

.

.

bye bye

dip at navagiri aru

.

The inch map

Gongalla WE

Both of us badly needed to go on a road trip and due to the unfortunate situation around Central province we had to take a huge detour to reach our destinations. We knew nothing about whats happening in the country because we were caught up in a curfew and news sources were been cut off was a terrible experience. Any how we decided to go head. On Day one we reached Watawala and spent the night at Watawala inn.

Next day early morning we took off towards Thalawakele where we took the Nawalapitiya road to reach Queensberry Tea factory at Dimbula-Pathana. The first destination of the day was a mini WE which I noticed while gazing over Devon falls on many occations and after some map reading I had located the location as Gongalla mini WE. I was told that this location was known by many local citizens but a totally foreign place to others. Passing Queensberry tea factory we entered Kolapatna estate (Gongalla division) and followed the estate road untill we reached the foot path towards the mini WE. The estate ride was a scenic one and I would love to drive along this road on another day without any hesitations. There was a 300m hike through the Eucalyptus where one would come across a newly built hut. The guys at the hut became furious after seen us and asked us to get out of the estate at that instance. We were told that no one is allowed to enter the estate without prior approval. But after a calm chat we were allowed to look around and spend some time.

the mini WE seen from Nawalapitiya rd

the drop

the estate rd through Kolapatna estate

.

.	reaching the destination

the foot path

.

what a location

SD on a promoting project

The view From Gongalla mini WE was one of a kind. One could view Kotagala, The Dell,  Elabedda range, Great western, Pundalu oya, Kothmale oya and reservoir, Piduruthalagala, Kikiliyamana and Meepilimana range, Peacock hills, Beramana, Ravanagoda and many more. The A.S.D of the division was now friendly with us and we were invited come on another day if we wished to. Saying good bye to them and after a final apologization we headed back towards Hatton.

the view towards great western and Pundalu oya

Peacock hills seen

Great western

Kothmale oya at Medakumbura

Kikiliyamana and meepilimana range

Lindula – thalawakele side

lot to explore

the stage

Kotmale reservoir

Kotagala

Dell with the towers and Elabedda range

Towards Ravanagoda

.	Kothmale valley flowing to reach Kothmale reservoir

pano

Towards Beramana

the drop

Kothmale valley

.

Summit of Sri Lanka

.

the hut

.

halted

.

From Hatton we left towards Maskeliya  where we took the Lakshapana road. At one point we took the road through Maussakele tea factory which was a winding road through the tea estate until we reached legendary Ravana gala with the aid of GPS. The local kids who came to show us the road wernt helpful at all in finding the proper route. After a 4Km ride we reached the rocky area which is believed to be an airport of King Ravana and the parallel ingrowings are believed to be dug by Ravanas chariot. The local kids who accompanied us didn’t forget to play Bat and ball at the rocky play ground. After hanging around for a while we started descending back to Lakshapana road where we said good bye to the young ones before starting our long departure drive towards home sweet home.

my guides playing cricket

the airport

imprints of the mythical aircraft

more imprints

.	water source

parked at rawana gala

exploring

maussakele dam

Maussakele

The trip was scheduled with one of my friends from university and usual we planned to have no plan other than the duration this time would be just 2 days.

By the end of the 2 days, we had visited 14 places and traveled 900 kilometers

1. Makulana Rajamaha Viharaya
2. A limestone kiln in Yatawatta area
3. Deevilla Ambalama
4. Kawatayamuna Rajamaha Viharaya
5. Bambarakiri Ella
6. Riverstone Telcom Tower
7. Pitawala Pathana Mini Worlds End
8. Wasgamuwa National Park
9. Namalpura Sri Vishuddharama Tampita Viharaya (Madawala Tampita Viharaya)
10. Mahadivulwewa Ancient Tampita Viharaya
11. Manankattiya Sri Sudarshanarama Tampita Rajamaha Viharaya
12. Pahalagama Archeology Site
13. Thiriyaya Girihandu Seya
14. Kokilai Fishing Point / Bird Sanctuary

We met on a Thursday at 4 AM at Bamabalapitiya and came to Thunmulla junction and stopped. It was time to make the first decision. Which way should we turn ? After bit of deliberation we decided to drive towards Kandy and decide any diversions on the way.

On the way we decided to go to Knuckles side and to avoid primary roads turned towards Rambukkana from Kegalle and took the Mawathagama road. Passing Mawathagama, we saw the Makulana Raja Maha Viharaya and its stupa on a massive rock standing against the morning sky. The time was around 7 am now and it was time for our first stop.

Makulalana early morning

According to a board displayed at the temple, two merchants Tapassu Balluka after bringing the hair relics of Buddha to the country, part of it was given to a friend called “Kanaka”. This part of of the hair relics has been enshrined at this stupa with the sponsorship of the regional king Bimba. “Makuta” is hair in Pali language and converted to Makula in Sinhala. “Ana” is jungle in old Sinhalese thus the jungle area where the Makula was enshrined was been called Makulana.

Little did we know that we will be visiting the original temple built by Tapassu Balluka enshrining the hair relic at Thiriyaya the very next day.

. Carvings on the rock at the top of the steps on the rock

The entrance to the maluwa is through this beautifully made bell tower

Makulana Stupa

The stupa seen from the ground level

. .

.

We probably spent about 30-40  minutes exploring the temple and talking to the chief incumbent priests at the temple.

Then we took off towards narrow but beautiful roads of Kegalle towards Matale. Getting closer to Matale we passed few limestone kilns along the road and decided to stop at place.

Having a chat with the workers we realised this was quite a operation. At the toad level all we could see were people dropping limestone rocks to a smoking  pit. The pit was covered by a coconut leaf thatched roof.  Getting closer we realised this was just the tip of the iceberg. The kiln continues down the mountain slope invisible to the road.

Layers of limestone rocks and wood are continuously loaded in to the pit. This operation continues throughout the year and fire is estingusided only for few days during the Sinhala and Hindu New Year in April. After few days of burning the burned powder falls off at the bottom of the kiln which is at the slopes.

Operations at the road level

Operations at the road level

Burnt limestone collected at the bottom of the kiln hidden from view

view of the top of the smoking pit from the bottom

..

.

It was around 10 AM now and we drove towards Matale and on the way I suddenly saw the Deevilla Ambalama passing by and quickly stopped. We got down took few snaps of the building to the amusement of a bunch of 3 wheel drivers wondering what was special about this building. Unfortunately most of the residents who live close to such site do not understand the value or the historical significance of such sites.

. .

.

.

.

Time was 8.40 AM when we left the Ambalama and close to Matale we saw a board towards Kawatayamuna Rajamaha Viharaya. Since this was popular name we took a small diversion and went in search of the temple.

Unfortunately nothing of historical value remains of this rajamaha viharaya and seems more popular for its devala. The only interesting feature of this temple is the depiction of various scenes of hell built across a hall.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

After a quick visit through the temple, we had a good breakfast buffet at a place just before the Matale town.

Then we took the Rattota Road. Passing Rattota we saw the directions to the Bambarakiri Ella and stopped there. Time was 10.30 AM when we reached Bambarakiri Ella

.

.

.

.

We spent almost 30 minutes at the waterfall and left toward Riverston. We reached the bottom of the telco tower around 11.40 AM. The wind at this point was so strong it even took a great effort to open and close the vehicle door.

The climb to to top is gentle and filled with mist. But the wind was strong on the last bend to the top both of us were almost getting blown away. After walking halfway on this wind passage we took a call to turned back since if the blowing increased further when we walked back it would be too risky. Number of people who came after us too turned back at this passage.

misty road to the top of Riverston

misty road to the top of Riverston

The total length of the trail is 2 km and the elevation increase is about 150 meters along the route.

Our next destination was Pitawala Pathana plains just few kilometers away. The trail is clearly marked on the plains from the ticketing office and the total distance is about 750 meters to its mini worlds end. The windy situation of the Riverston was present at this area too. Strong winds were blowing across the plains but did not post any danger on the plains.

At the two edge of the rocks (mini worlds end points) the wind increased drastically keeping us from getting on to the rock at the edge.

Trail head for Mini Worlds End at Pitawala Pathana

At the mini worlds end view point 1

At the mini worlds end view point 1

At the mini worlds end view point 1

At the mini worlds end viewpoint 2

At the mini worlds end viewpoint 2

We left Pitawala Pathana around 1.45 and made a stop at a Roti Kade near a bridge which was being constructed. There we accidently found a lovely black pool up the river which Ashan G later identified as a popular bathing place on the Thelgamu Oya.

Thelgamu Oya – note the waves on the surface due to high winds

After this stop we didn’t have an idea where to go so after deliberating whether to travel towards Batticaloa or Trincomalee  over a plain tea and a pol roti with Lunu Miris we decided go to Wasgamuwa and figure out the next steps. So we drove towards Wasgamuwa National Park .

We had our lunch on the way from a small shop and continued towards Wasamuwa NP. We reached to park around 3.45 PM

Unfortunately there weren’t many animals but we did manage to see two bull elephants testing their strength at a edge of a water tank.

.

.

.

.

We came out of the NP around 6 AM and decided to end the day at Dambulla. So we turned back and drove towards Illukkumbura and reached Dambulla through Bakamuna. Since it was around 7 PM, we decided to go up to Habarana for the night. On the way we checked few placed to stay on Google and found a nice place advertised for Rs 4500 on bookings.com. We called them on the way and said they have rooms available. So we went there found rooms and environment exceptionally well maintained so negotiated the price to Rs 3000 and made our stop for the night.

Day 2

My friend wanted to go upto Kokilai Fishing Point and on the night before so I mapped our route to see some of the Tampita Viharaya I had in mind to visit which would also avoid the common Habarana – Trincomalee road.

We took off around 7 AM  and drove towards Ritigala and turned right from Palugaswewa leading to Namalpura. Our plan was to have breakfast somewhere on the way.

This area consists of a cluster of 4 Tampita Vihara which mostly remain unknown and are are rarely visited by outside parties. Namalpura Sri Vishuddharama Tampita Viharaya (aka Madawala Tampita Viharaya) lies 11 km down this road and this would be our first stop for the day.

.

.

.

.

.

.

This is a small rectangular Tampita Viharaya built on 16 granite pillars and well maintained. The pillar stumps are about 3 feet high uneven as though they were scavenged from various ruined buildings. This is the only Tampita Viharaya in the area conserved by the Department of Archaeology.

From Namalpura we took 4 kms of gravel roads twisting turning through chenas, jungles and elephant fences to reach our next destination, Mahadivulwewa Ancient Tampita Viharaya temple which is remote village off the beaten path rarely visited by outsiders.

When we arrived at the temple, the resident monk was out and there was a small school next to the temple. First we went to the school and inquired about the chief monk and found he has gone out. Then we met the principal of the school and informed our intentions to explore the Tampita Viharaya who willingly accompanied us.

This Tampita Viharaya is built on 15 granite pillars. The pillar stumps are about 3 feet high. The exterior of the temple has not changed but the interior of the Tampita Viharaya has been completely rebuilt about 50 year ago.

.

.

.

.

.

It wa 8.30 AM when we left this site and stopped at the adjoining Mahadivulwewa Reservoir. This is a large Reservoir covered in Lotus flowers and surrounded by elephant fences.

.

.

.

Our next target was Manankattiya Tampita Viharaya. This Tampita Viharaya was not identified in in any list or publications but I had accidently stumbled upon it on a facebook page some time ago. After some research on satellite views  I had located the temple on google map and was not 100% sure of the location.

This was another 13 km of gravel roads jungles and elephant fences with no sign of any civilization in between. Now we were getting hungry but had nothing to eat. Then out of nowhere a Choon Paan truck appeared from the middle of the jungle with no village for kilometers on both sides.

We immediately hailed the miracle three wheeler and bought our breakfast of Buns, Kimbula Banis and Jam Paans.

.

We reached our destination around 9.40 am. Found the Tampita Viharaya at Manankattiya Sri Sudarshanarama Rajamaha Viharaya in somewhat dilapidated state but not harmed by ad hoc restoration efforts.

The temple lies close the Manankattiya Wewa and is in a peaceful location surrounded by some simple houses. We spoke to the head priest and went in to see the Tampita Viharaya.

.

.

.

.

,

.

.

.

.

.

The temple has a fairly large Bana Maduwa which has the date 1952 carved on a wooden rafter. Although the history of this temple is not known, scattered granite pillars on the temple premises indicate that this temple is much older than the Kandyan period.

We left the temple and and made a quick stop at the bund of the beautiful Manankattiya Wewa unspoilt by human activity.

Manankattiya Wewa

Manankattiya Wewa

Our next plan was to find the Divulwewa Samadhi statues which were almost identical to the Samadhi statue at Anuradhapura.

The location I had identified as this archaeological site was found to be wrong and the villagers didn’t know of such a site in the vicinity. With mobile data signals being almost non existent to do any research we gave up the idea and left the area with the next destination being the Thiriyaya Girihandu Seya.

Later after coming home I did some research on the Divulwewa site and found it to be few kilometers towards Hamillewa from the site I had identified. For anybody interested in the location, this has been update here.

We drove past Hamillewa, Mahadivulwewa and Gomarankadawala and came across an cleared archaeology site right by the road. The typical ‘kalu’ board just identified it as the Pahalagama Archaeological Site. Too tempted not to pass it we stopped there where we met with few labourers who maintain this site. This site consisted of a Stupa, Bodhigara and a Image House which has been cleared and conserved. Although no historical document had been found here the existence of Sri Pathul Gal indicated to a early Anuradhapura period.

On gravel roads through the Andiyagalahinna Forest Reserve towards Gomarankadawala

On gravel roads through the Andiyagalahinna Forest Reserve towards Gomarankadawala

Pahalagama Archaeological Site

Ruins of the Stupa

Ruins around the stupa

A Sri Pathula Gala at the Stupa

The Bodhigara at the site

The Bodhigara at the site

The Image house at the site

The Image house at the site

It was 12.20 when we left this site and arrived at the  Girihandu Seya around 12.45. We climbed enjoyed the view for about ½ hour but it was blazing hot at the top.

.

.

.

.

.

.

After gorging ourselves with some fresh mangos at the car park of the site, We left to Kokilai Point which is a lagoon, a protected bird sanctuary and a fishing harbour which lies about 18 km towards Mulathivu from the Girihandu Seya.

We arrived at the Kokilai fishing point at 2.30 PM. There weren’t much birds this time probably due to our timing. Last year I visited this site in the morning and the sky was filled with various types of birds and eagles. With no luck with birds we tried to get a ride on a fishing boat around the lagoon but the fisherman were getting ready to go on their evening fishing rounds thus could not find a boat.  So we drove to the very edge of the lagoon where there was the Karawala Wadiya.

Since the lagoon lies just after Pulmude town, the beach is mostly black mixed with mineral deposits in the area. Here my friend insisted on having a sea bath and at the end of it, it was time to return home

Kokilai Fishing Point

Edge of the Kokilai Lagoon

A Karawala Wadiya

Blackish sand on the beach of Kokilai Lagoon

A Karawala Wadiya

Not many birds today.

We left Kokilai at 2.30 PM  to return home. We took the route of Padaviya – Kebithigollewa – Anuradhapura – Wariyapola and Narammala and reached colombo around 11 PM ending an eventful two days.

Thank you for reading.

We left from Anuradhapura around 8.00 a.m & reached to Jathika Namal Uyana around 9.00 a.m. We spent couple of hours there & came back to entrance around 11.30 a.m. From there we went to Ibbankatuwa Wewa. We had good bath there & we left to see Ibbankatuwa Megalith Cemetery. Now this place developed & maintain nicely.

We spent nearly one hour there & left to Dambulla. We had our lunch from there and left to Sigiriya. All the places booked & finally we found a room. We faced a shocking experience there. Time was around 4.30 p.m & when we came to the room. Wild elephant came to nearby house from forest. Many people joined & try to send back elephant to forest. They were shouting & throw “Ali wedi” to him. But the elephant didn’t fear to it & freely walked through lands. We also joined them & first time we saw such operation live. But later came to our mind how we can escape if elephant turn back & chasing us. Finally they were able to send elephant back to forest. After finishing “Jumbo operation” we came back to the room. We finished the day with lots of new experiences.

Next day morning we went to Sigiriya. We were able to climb the Sigiriya rock before it getting crowded. After that we went to “Aligala Nature Trail”. It opened in few months ago ,but now looks like they abounded the project. This trail starting point situated at main exit pathway from the sigiriya rock. But most of the local & tourist people don’t know this path. Because they don’t properly informed. This pathway finished at “Aligala”. On that way we  climb “Pahangala”. From there you can get nice & different views of “Sigiriya” & “Pidurangala”. Around 12.30 p.m we came back to room & had quick wash. Around 1.00 p.m “Safari jeep” came & we went to “Kawdulla National Park”. After taking tickets & visit to park museum we went to park around 2.00 p.m. Luckily we were able to see 300 – 400 elephants at the park. We wait until 5.30 p.m at the park & we had memorable time there. When we came back to room we noticed that , the previous day jumbo again came to same house around 3.00 p.m. People’s & elephants lives under threat in this situation. They don’t have any other option  than live with this danger. After having good time in Sigiriya we prepared to leave from there on next day morning.

Pls read the next Trip Report to find details from Day 9 onwards.

Thanks for reading.

Sanjeewa

Day 7 – 8  ( 19.08.18 – 20.08.18 )

18.Jathika Namal Uyana

19.Ibbankatuwa Wewa

20.Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Cemetery

21.Sigiriya

22.Aligala Nature Trail

23.Kawdulla National Park

18.Jathika Namla Uyana

.

.

.	Pathway to mountain

.	“Rosa Thiruwana Kanda”

.	Buddha Statue on the mountain

Ruins

sthupaya

.	Awasa Geya

Vihara Geya

.

19.Ibbankatuwa Wewa

.	Spill Gate

.

20.Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Cemetery

Galewela – Dambulla Road

.

.

.

details

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Watching video presentation

21.Sigiriya

“Diya Agala”

.

pond	“Ata Pattam Pokuna”

.

.

.	“Ketapath Pawura”

.	“Sinha Padaya”

Palace Complex on the mountain

.

.	Pond on top

“Sinhasanaya”

“Ugul gala”

.

22.Aligala Nature Trail

Starting point

.

The pathway

On the top Pahangala

Sigiriya

Pidurangala

Seats for meditation

.

Cave – pre historic evidence received from here

.

.

.

.	End of trail

23.Kawdulla National Park

Entrance Waiting at Entrance Gate

Park Museum

Body of baby Elephant

Preparing to go

.	Searching for Elephants

Water level very low

Here they are

More groups coming out

.

.	More & more coming

The Giant Tusker

.

Large group coming to water

Large group in “wew pitiya”

Large group in “wew pitiya”

.

.	They coming out from every where

.

.

Evening view

It had been 3 years  since I left Monaragala so I wanted to pay a visit to refresh my memories. On our way we decided to visit an unknown mini Worlds end close to Haputhale. Close to Thotulagalla there was a board saying Thotulagalla ridge. So we took a road through the estate close to Thotulagalla church for about 500m’s where we halted our vehicle. From there onwards it was a 10 minute walk to the summit point with a 270 degree view towards Udawalawe basin.

From here we went towards Dambethenna and headed towards Lipton seat which turned out to be a wrong decision. Since it was  school holidays the road was blocked at many places and the worst part was limited parking space at Lipton seat. The  visit was a very brief one since parking was an issue.

View from Haputhale

.

Thotulagalla mini WE

on the way to ridge

the drop of 700m

the drop

Lipton seat side

the vantage point

wellawaya side

Koslanda

udawalawa side

the drop

pano

.

the ridge

.	view from lipton seat

From Lipton seat I took the Bandarawela road and from there I headed towards Poonagala. Winding roads around the tea country provided some stunning scenery which I missed alot. Passing Poonagala school we came to the junction where 3 roads could be found and took the road towards Pilkington point which was the center road. The road up to Pilkington point could be manged carefully by a good ground clearance car.

view from pilkington point

.

wellawaya

Ali kota oya

Pilkington point

.

met few friends

From There onwards we went towards Millenium point and to get to it one needs to go along the uphill road until the 3way junction is met and from there we took the left hand road. The road condition is in terrible condition up to the summit. The road ends 100m’s before the summit and from there onwards it was a short walk. Fortunately there wernt any elephants that day. In 2009 we were greeted with mist providing no view but this time it was the opposite. The splendid view was a treat for our eyes and we enjoyed the view for 30 minutes before departing back. On our way back we took the Koslanda road towards Monaragala to reach our final destination.

halted close to Millenium point

on our way

view from millenium point

Wellawaya and wadina hela

Ali kota oya reservoir

Ali kota oya reservoir

the range

.

towards Namunukula

elephant dung of koslanda jumbos

millenium point

.

pano

us

.

Nayabedda

wow

.

wellawaya

First of all let me go to the past. It was in 2009 when Mithila suggested that lets start a trip report section on Lakdasun which was more of a Forum based web site and I was lucky enough to contribute the 2nd report to this archive which was my virgin hike to Sripada { Sri pada Off season and Mapalana (Mapanana) Falls(141m) }. Since then it has been 9 years and hell of a lot of traveling and many many write ups. This is my 200th report and it has been a long journey which I hope to continue in future too. My only wish is to see people adopting the strategy called responsible traveling rather than just hiking for selfies.

Many years back I came across some pictures about Padiyapelella mini WE but couldn’t find any online resources. When Anura posted details of the place I found some new hope and was ready to explore the hidden beauty of Hewaheta. Actually this was a 3 day trip and on the first day we planned to tackle the difficult roads around Rockwood estate. We left Chilaw at around 2A.m and reached Hanguranketha early morning. From Hewaheta we went 1Km along Delthota road to reach Mool oya junction where the winding roads to Mool oya begins. Following this road for 3Km’s we reach a reservoir where Mool oya is dammed. Just before the reservoir we took a left turn along an estate road. It is very difficult to explain the route but its advisable to get direction from locals to reach Eastland division. After tackling 7Km’s of estate roads we reached Assistant superintendent Madurangas bungalow where he provided us a guide to show us the way. It was a 2Km ride from Madurangas bungalow towards Eastland plain and it was around 300m from Eastland plain to mini WE where some line houses intersect in between.

Eastland plains( 7° 5’51.85″N 80°47’0.67″E) was a white quarts land where very few trees could be found despite the efforts of forest department reforestation programs. This extensive land area provides some stunning scenery towards Kukulagala, Victoria reservoir, Southern region of Knuckles range, VRR reserve, Hunnasgiriya, Hanthana, Piduruthalagala, Ragala, Padiyapelella, Mandaram nuwara and many more.

estate road

view from the estate road

Piduruthalagala and mandaram nuwara

Randenigala reservoir

towards eastland

at eastland plains

single tree at the plains

Kondagala seen

Kukulagala

Agassula range

pano at eastland plains

hunnasgiriya

knuckles seen from rockwood

Gombaniya and knuckles range seen

hanthana range

Piduruthalagala

Mahakudugala

eastland

rikillagaskada at the base of kukulagala

randenigala seen

nawanagala , yahangala seen

.

.

.

.

my ride

From Eastland plains we drove 200m towards the line houses where we halted our vehicle close to the kovil and started marching towards the mini WE which was 200m away. Though Padiyapellella mini WE (a.k.a. Rockwood mini WE, 7° 5’38.04″N 80°47’1.10″E) provides a stunning view it wasn’t a 360 view. One could easily appreciate Padiyapelella, Mandaram nuwara, Mathurata, Piduruthalagala, Maha kudugala from this location. From here we returned back to Madurangas bungalow and took another estate road to reach Gal lella ella( 7° 5’2.42″N 80°46’8.56″E) and after enjoying the beauty of it we decided to head back towards Mool oya reservoir.

at mini WE

Rockwood mini WE

drop towards Padiyapelella

towards elamulla

pano

.

.

.

.

.

the drop

.

.

.

.

.	Piduruthalagala

Kodigala kanda seen

Galllella ella

.

.

From Mool oya reservoir we took the road towards HOPE factory and headed along the upper division to reach HOPE(Pattaramale) natural pool. To reach this place one needs to tackle a 8Km estate road and getting assistance from a local is mandatory. The winding roads will lead one towards this artificially built natural bathing place which provides icy cold water if you are willing to have a bath there. After enjoying our short stay at nature pool we headed back to Hewaheta and ended our journey at Mathurata at a known place.

Mool oya dammed

on the way to Hope natural pool

.

entrance

.

.

.	feeling icy cold natural water for the first time

.

.

.

.

.	Mool oya falls seen from mool oya road

ලංකාවේ දිගම තනි කඳුවැටිය තරණය කළෙමු

කඳු, හෙල්, නිම්න, තැනිතලා, පතන, දිය ඇළි, උමං, ගුහා ආදී සොබා නිර්මාණ රාශියක් පිරුණු මේ ලක්බිම සැබවින්ම සුන්දරය භූමිකම්පා, ගිනිකඳු රහිත මේ පොළොව විවිධ දේශගුණික තත්ත්වල පිරුන කුඩා දිවයිනකි. ඉන් මධ්‍යම පළාත යනු රටේ අතිශය සුන්දර ඉසව්වකට දෙස් විදෙස් කවුරුත් පිළිගන්නා මතයකි. ඒ මන්දයත් මීදුම කැටිවූ කඳුකරය සැබැවින්ම නෙතට ප්‍රිය හා ගතට සුවද‌ායක ඔසුවක් වැනි හෙයිනි. බලන බලන අත දැවැන්ත කඳුවලින් සමන්විත කරවනැල්ලේ සිට හැටන් හරහා නුවරඑළියට යන මාර්ගයේදී බොහෝ කඳු දැකගත හැකි නමුත් ඉන් විශේෂ එක් කන්දක් අපට තලවකැලේ ආශ්‍රිතව දැකගත හැක. එනම් පොළොවේ සිට තනිවම නැගී ඇති ඉතා දිගු කඳුවැටියයි. බැලූ බැල්මට කුඩා දිගැටි පෙට්ටියක් ලෙස දිස්වන මෙම ‘ඩෙල් කන්ද’ සොයා පසුගිය දිනක ගමන් කළේ නුවරඑළියේ සිටය.

බැලූ බැල්මට ඩෙල් යනු විදෙස් නාම ව්‍යවහාරයක් ලෙස පෙනුණ ද මිනින්දෝරු සිතියම්වල පවා ලියැවුණු ඩෙල් (DELL) නාමය ලංකාවේ කන්දකට පටබැඳි නාමයකි. ඩෙල් යනු කන්දකි. මෙය පිහිටා ඇත්තේ තලවකැලේ සහ ලිඳුලට නුදුරු ප්‍රදේශයකය. දිගැටි හතරැස් බවකින් යුක්ත​ හෙයින් මෙම කන්ද බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවලදී සහ නුවරඑළියේ දැවැන්තයින් මතදී පහසුවෙන් දැක ගැනීමටත් හඳුනා ගැනීමටත් හැකිය. තලවකැලෙන් හැරී ලිඳුල හරහා ආගරපතන ප්‍රදේශයට යන මාර්ගයේදී හමුවන බඹරකැලේ නම් ඉසව්වේ පිහිටි මෙම කන්ද මුදුනට ළඟාවීම කළ හැකි හොඳම ආකාරය නම් සංචාරක ජීප් රථ (4 WD) හෝ යතුරුපැදි මගිනි. මන්ද දියනිල්ල කැලේ වතුයාය ආශ්‍රිතව පිහිටි තේ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව අසලින් ඇරඹෙන දුෂ්කර මාර්ගය ක්‍රමයෙන් ගල් බොරලු වැනි බාධක රාශියකින් යුත් පටු පාරක් බවට පත්වන්නේ යන්තමින් එක් වාහනයකට ප්‍රමාණවත් ඉඩක් තබමිනි. ඩෙල් කන්ද මුදුනේ ටෙලිකොම් සන්නිවේදන කුලුනු සහ මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් ඇති හෙයින් මෙලෙස දුෂ්කර ලෙස හෝ මාර්ගය තැනී ඇත.

යතුරුපැදි මගින් අප මෙම ගමන යාමට පැමිණි පසු අසල කම්කරු නිවාස පේළියේ වැසියකුගෙන් තවදුරටත් මාර්ගය සහ මංසන්ධි පිළිබඳ විමසා දැන ගත්තෙමු. මන්ද ලඳු කැලය සහ තේ යායන්ගෙන් සමන්විත මෙම හුදෙකලා ඉසව්වේ මිනිස් පුළුටක් මුණ ගැසීමට ඇති ඉඩකඩ අවම බව අංකල් නිසා දැනගත් හෙයිනි. අහස් කුස නම් යන්තමින් නිල් වියනක් බැඳ එම වියනේ අලංකාරයට සුදු වලාකුළු ගැට ගසා ගෙන සිත්තම් පාන්නට වූයේ අද දවසේ කිසිදු වැහි වලාවක් ගුවනට ගෙන්න නොගන්නා පරිද්දෙනි. ප්‍රින්ස්ටන්, එළබැද්ද, ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටර්න් ඇතුළු කඳුගැට රාශියක් සතර අතින් ඇස ගැටෙන්නට තරම් වපසරියක් මෙම සුන්දර ඉසව්ව තුළ අපට දක්නට ලැබුණි. මාර්ගයේ දුෂ්කරතාව දත් නිසාම අප නැවතත් යතුරුපැදිවල රෝද සහ තිරිංග පරික්ෂා කරන ලද්දේ යම් හෙයකින් රෝදවල හුළං අඩුවීමක් හෝ යම් කරදරයක් වුවහොත් අපට ඉමහත් අපහසුතාවට පත්වීමට සිදුවන හෙයිනි.

ප්‍රමාණවත් තරම් ජලය, බිස්කට්, කෙටි ආහාර ආදිය ගමන් මල්ලේ කල් තියාම දමා ගත් හෙයින් අප ගමන පිටත් වූයේ සොබාදහමට නමස්කාරය පුදමිණි. මෙම මාර්ගයේ දුෂ්කරතාවය අපට මීට පෙර ගමන්ගත් බොහෝ තේ වතු ආශ්‍රිත මාර්ගවල දුෂ්කරතාවය පරිදිම විය. කබොක් ගල් කුට්ටි, අඟල් හයක් පමණ වන ගැඹුරු වළවල් එක පොදියට බිම ඇතිරී ඇති කුඩා ගල් කැබලි වැනි බොහෝ දුෂ්කරතා මෙම මාර්ගයේ විය. හරිත පැහැයේ විවිධ වර්ණ භේද අතර දෝලනය වන තේ ගස් නිසොල්මනේ පැවතුන ද තේ කෑල්ලෙන් එහාට පරිසරය වන පියසක්ම විය. ගල් බොරලු මතින් රෝද ගමන් කරන විට පරිස්සම් වූයේ ලිස්සන සුලු වූ නිසාවෙනි. මන්ද මීට බොහෝ කාලයකට පෙර යක්ෂයාගේ පඩිපෙළේ යන විට අප විඳි දුෂ්කරතා එමට වූ නිසාවෙනි.

මුහුදු මට්ටමේ සිට මීටර 1800ක් තරම් උසින් පිහිටි ඩෙල් කඳුවැටිය මුදුනතේ පවා තේ වගාව සිදුකර ඇත. අප යා යුතු මාර්ගය කන්ද දිගේ හරහට වැටී ඇති අතර කඳු ගැටි අතරින් වංගු ගැසී යන විට කුලුනු පිහිටි ඉසව් මගින් අප යා යුතු දිශාව නිර්ණය කරගත හැකි විය. ප්‍රථම කිලෝමීටරය ගෙවා දමන කණිසමේ යම් යම් ස්ථානවල නැවතී පරිසරයේ සුන්දරත්වය කාච ගත කිරීමට අපි අමතක නොකළ අතර දුර ඈතින් පෙනෙන කඳු හඳුනා ගැනීමට ද පසුබට නොවූයෙමු.

තවත් හෝරාවකට ආසන්න කාලයක් ගතවී යන විට අප කන්දේ ඉහළ ප්‍රදේශයකට පැමිණි අතර එහිදී අපට සමනල පර්වතය සහ සමනල රක්ෂිතයේ ඇති අනෙකුත් අවශේෂ කඳු වන බල්ලබැඳි ගල, සප්ත කන්‍යා වැනි කඳු ද එල්බැද්ද, පුස්ටන්, කොටගල, ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටර්න්, බඹරඇල්ල, කොනිකල් කන්ද, පිදුරුතලාගල සහ හග්ගල ඇතුළු ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධානතම කඳු රාශියක් අපට දැක ගැනීමට ලැබුණි.

නිල්වන් අහස් කුස හරහා විටින් විට පියඹා යන සියොතුන් හැරුණු විට අපගේ නෙත ගැටුනේ මුහුදු ගුවන් යානයක් නුවරඑළිය බලා පියාසර කරන අන්දමකි. කන්ද මුදුනට ළඟාවත්ම පයිනස් ගස් යායක් දැකගත හැකි වූ අතර ඇතැම් ස්ථානවලදී මාර්ගයේ එක් පසක් විශාල ප්‍රපාතයකට මුහුණලා තිබුණි. ඒ ඔස්සේ කඳුකරයේ තවත් සුන්දර ගම් දනව් සහ වෘක්ෂලතා මගින් පොහොසත් වූ වනාන්තර දක්නට ලැබුණි.

කෙසේ හෝ මාර්ගය බෙදෙන ස්ථානවලදී අප සැලසුම් කළ පරිදි නිවැරදි මාර්ගය සොයා ගැනීමට පුළුවන් වූ අතර ස්ථාන දෙකකදී තේ දලු නෙළන්නියන් සිටිනු දැක ගත හැකි විය. ඩෙල් යනු සාමාන්‍යයෙන් සංචාරකයින් නොයන කන්දක් බැවින් ඔවුන් විමතියෙන් මෙන් අප දෙස බලා සිටියේ මින් පෙර යතුරුපැදිකරුවන් නුදුටුවාක් මෙනි. මෙම මර්ගයේ කන්ද මුදුනට ගමන් කිරීම බොහෝ දුෂ්කරතා ප්‍රධාන මාර්ගය මග හරිමින් වතු හරහා කෙටි මං සලසා ගත්තද නැග්ම වැඩි හෙයින් ගමනේ දුෂ්කරතාව ඉතා ප්‍රබල ලෙස දැනෙනු නියතය.

අප යතුරුපැදිවල ගමන් කළ ද අප ගමන් කළේ සාමාන්‍ය මිනිසකුගේ වේගයට සමාන වේගයකිනි. මන්ද ගල්, බොරළු, මාන පඳුරු සහ ලිස්සන සුලු අබලන් මාර්ගයේ වේගයෙන් යෑම අපටත් යතුරුපැදියටත් හානිද‌ායක විය හැකි බැවිනි. ඇතැම් ස්ථානවල යතුරුපැදිය ඉහළට ගැනීම පවා අපහසු වුණි. නමුත් කෙසේ හෝ ගූගල් සිතියම ද ආධාර කරගෙන මංසන්ධිවලදී නිවැරදි ඉසව්වට හැරෙමින් අපි ඉදිරියට ගමන් කළෙමු. කෙසේ හෝ හෝරා කිහිපයක් ගත වන විට අපි කුලුන පිහිටි ඉසව්වට ළඟා වෙමින් සිටියෙමු. පරිසරයේ සුන්දරත්වය ද හොඳ හැටි විඳගෙන එය කාච ගත කරමින් හෙමි හෙමිහිට පැමිණි ගමනාන්තය අපගේ දෑස මානයේ පෙනෙන්නට තිබුණි.

ඩෙල් යනුවෙන් සඳහන් කළ සන්නිවේදන කුළුනු පිහිටි කර්යාලය ඉදිරිපිට ගේට්ටුව අසලට අපි පැමිණියෙමු. තේ වගාව මෙම ප්‍රදේශ දක්වා ව්‍යාප්තව පැවතෙන අතර ඒ අසල වූ නිලධාරි මහතෙකු සමග අප සුහද පිළිසඳරක වැටුණේ තව තවත් රස කතා අප නොදන්නා තොරතුරු දැන ගැනීමේ අටියෙනි. මෙම ඉහළම ප්‍රදේශයට බඹරකැලේ, ළිඳුල ආදී ප්‍රදේශ පවා පැහැදිළිව දැකගත හැකි අතර පසෙකින් හෝර්ටන්තැන්න සහ කිරිගල්පොත්ත කන්දත් අවශේෂ කඳු වැටි සහ තේ යායන් බොහෝමයක් ද දැකගත හැකිය.

ඩෙල් කන්ද නිතරම මීදුමෙන් වැසී තිබෙන කන්දකි. එම නිසාම එම පරිසරයේ යම් තෙත බවක් නිතරම දැකගත හැකිය. හිරුඑළිය කොතරම් තිබුණත් සවස 4, 5 පමණ වන විට මීදුම් රොද කන්ද වටා එකතු වන්නේ ඩෙල් තවදුරටත් ලෝකයාගෙන් සඟවා ගත්තාක් මෙනි. ශ්‍රී ලංකා ටෙලිකොම් සන්නිවේදන කුළුන පිහිට ඉසව්වට ඇතුළු වීමට කිසිවකුටත් අවසරය නොමැති නමුත් අපි ඒ පිළිබඳව වැඩිදුරටත් විස්තර සොයා ඔවුන් සමඟ කතා බස් කළ අතර එහිදී එම සේවකයන්ගේ ජීවන රටාව සහ කඳුකරයේ දුෂ්කර බව සමග රාත්‍රියේ අධික සීතලේ කල් ගෙවන ආකාරය දැන ගත්තෙමු. වැසි කාලයට ඩෙල් යනු එකම දිය ඇලි පාරක් වැනිය. පස් කඳු, ගල් කුට්ටි අතරින් ගලා යන දිය දහරාවන් බොහෝමයක් මෙම ප්‍රදේශයේ දැකගත හැකි බව ඔවුහු අපට පැවසීය. එම කාලයේ නිතර මෙහි යාම් ඊම් පවා අනතුරුද‌ායක විය හැකි බවත් පැවසීය.

සමනල කන්දට සහ ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටර්න් කන්ද මතට පැහැදිලිව දැක ගත හැකි ඩෙල් කන්ද අද අපගේ දවසේ එකම ගමනාන්තය නොවීය. මන්ද යත් දවසේ තවත් කාලය ඇති බැවින් අප යන්නේ එළබැද්ද කන්ද වෙතටය. නිලට දිළෙන අහස්කුස තවමත් එලෙසින්මය. වතුකරයේ කඳුකරයේ හීනියට හමාගෙන යන සීතල සුළඟ ඇඟ දැවටෙන විට තරමක් විඩාබර ගත සැහැල්ලුවට පත්වන බැවින් ආපසු යන ගමන අපි නොනවත්වාම එක එල්ලේ පල්ලම් බැස්සෙමු. අප ගෙන ගිය බිස්කට් හා ජලය ද නිමා වූ හෙයින් කඩමණ්ඩියක් සොයා අපි බඹරකැලේ ප්‍රදේශයට හනිකට ගියෙමු. ඩෙල් කඳු මුදුනත සෙමින් සෙමින් ඇස් මානයෙන් දුරකට යන විට අප දහවල ළංවත්ම කර්මාන්තශාලාව ආශ්‍රිත ප්‍රදේශයට ළඟා වී ළිඳුල හරහා තලවකැලේට ඇදුනෙමු.

තලවකැලේ යනු තරමක් විශාල නගරයකි. හැටන් සිට නුවරඑළියට යන මගේ ප්‍රධාන නැවතුම්පොළක් වන තලවකැලේට උඩරට දුම්රිය මගද මංසන්ධියක් එකතු කරන්නේ ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටර්න් හරහා නානු ඔය පසුකර යාමට පුළුවන. තලවකැලේට පැමිණ පුන්ඩලුඔය මර්ගය හරහා කඩිමුඩියේ අපි පියමං කළේ මාර්ගය මතින් වැටී ඇදෙන අලංකාර පුණ්ඩලු ඔය ඇල්ල නැරඹීමටය. පුණ්ඩලුඔය යනු ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටර්න් කන්දේ උල්පත් දියෙන් හටගන්නා ජල ප්‍රවාහයකි. ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටර්න් සිට පුණ්ඩලු ඔයට පැමිණිය හැකි අතර එය බොහෝ දුෂ්කර සහ GPS තාක්ෂණය අනුසාර කර ගත යුතු ක්‍රියාද‌ාමයකි.

ඇල්ල අසලට පැමිණි අපි එම පාලම මතදීම ඇල්ලේ සුන්දරත්වය බැලූ පසුව යතුරුපැදි පසෙකින් නවතා ඇල්ල මත පිහිටි පිළිමය අසලට පැමිණියෙමු. දැඩි ජල ප්‍රවාහයක් නොමැති වූයෙන් එසේ සිටීම අනතුරුද‌ායක නොවීය. නමුත් පොඩි හෝ ලිස්සීමකට පත්වුවහොත් මීටර ගණනක් පහළට ඇළ දිගේ පෙරළී යනවා නිසැකය. කෙසේ හෝ අඩ හෝරාවක් පමණ එහි කාලය ගත කළ අපි වෙනත් මගකින් ඇල්ලේ පහළට ගොස් ඈතින් ඇල්ලේ සම්පූර්ණ ස්වරූපය බලා ගත්තෙමු. පසුව අප නැවතත් අාමගේම තලවකැලේට යන්නට පිටත් වුණෙමු.

දැවැන්ත ගල් බිත්ති හා ගල්කුට්ටිවලින් තාප්පයක් සේ සෑදුණු එම මග දැඩි ලෙස පාළුවට ගිය ඉසව්වකි. ග්‍රේට්වෙස්ටරන් කඳු රාජයා නිසොල්මන්ව සිටිය ද ඔහු වෙත තෙවරක් අප විවිධ දිශාවලින් ගිය ආකාරය අපට සිහිපත් විය. තලවකැලේට පැමිණි අපි කොටගල හරහා හැටන් නගරයට පැමිණ ගිනිගත්හේන කළුගල මංසන්ධියට පැමිණියේ සප්ත කන්‍යා කඳුවැටිය පාමුලින්ය. එහිදී ප්‍රචණ්ඩව ගලාගෙන යන කැලණි ගං කොමලිය අප දුටු අතර කාලවෙලුම සීමිත වූයෙන් තුන් හතරවතාවක් නැරඹූ ලක්ෂපාන ඇල්ල නැරඹීමට කාලය මිඩංගු නොකළෙමු. කෙසේ හෝ වර්ෂාව තරමක් පහ වන විට අප කිතුල්ගල පසුකරමින් සිටියෙමු.

ඩෙල්කන්දේ අසිරි සිරියත් පුණ්ඩලු ඔයේ හැඩකාර බවත් විඳගත් අප එක් දිනකදී යතුරුපැදි මගින් මෙම සුන්දර සහ පහසුවෙන් ළඟා විය හැකි ස්ථාන වෙත යා හැකි අතර එම විවිධත්වය තුළ අත්දැකිය හැකි පරිසරයේ විචිත්‍රත්වය එකිනෙකට වෙනස් බව වටහා ගත හැක.

Thanks for reading!

Sobasiri Team © 2017/18

Heading to Dell

Top part of Holy peak seen over the Dell Mountains

Tea Beauties

Horton Plains side seen

Another set of giants seen

On the way to Dell

Casltreigh Reserviour

Gawarawila to Seven Virgin range seen through Sripada

Under the clouds

Great Western covered by mist

Towers seen at Dell

They were covered in a mist

Greeny under the sun shine

towards Nuwaraeliya

Road through mountains

Came to Pundaluoya Dansinan Ella

It is so beautiful

The Kovil near to the fall

Full view of the fall

Lower part of the fall

Heading to Vegi wash fall

Came to the Vegiwash fall

The meaning of Vegi+Wash fall

Water was very cold

A tiny fall

Road to Nuwaraeliya from Pundaluoya

Rest for my bike

Another-rest-for-Akilas-bike

Mountains near Thalawakele

St. Clair fall

Trying to drink some water

He was waited for us

Devon at the nd

I still want to go to the bottom of the fall

This is so beautiful

Devon and road towards Nawalapitiya

He found something to eat

Summary of a journey

Athweltota Stream

This is also one of my oldest trips did with my first hiking partner Jerom. We went to Athweltota via Kalutara and Matugama. It was not a hard thing to find this famous stream as it was very popular among the nearest villagers.

Here is the stream

Misty?

Where we entered

Clear Water

Many Stones

Environment

Full View of the stream

Obstacles

Bathing places

Keep walking

Roaming around the stream

Another bathing point

Fast

Beauty

Jerom is bit scared

Its going

Selfie time

Its there

Had a cool bath too

Pahiyangala (Fa-Hien) Caves – පාහියන්ගල

Pahiyangala caves lies in Yatagampitiya, which is a remote village about 5 km away from Bulathsinhala (40Km along Piliyandala-Horana road), in the Kalutara District. Excavation has proved that these caves were inhabited by prehistoric cave men some 37,000 years ago. This cave is supposed to be the largest natural rock in Asia and this is also known to be the most ancient pre-historic human settlement in Asia.

The cave lies 400 feet above sea level, At its entrance, the cave is 175 feet high and over 200 feet long. It is believed that 3000 people can be easily accommodated in this cave. The natural tunnels running inside the caves are now blocked and is not accessible. The cave has been divided into four sections of which the left side cave is the largest and is the centre of it. There is a deep pit dug out by the Archaeological Department for an excavation. In is in this pit that archeologists found five human skulls which were identified as 37,000 years old by carbon dating in USA. Some weapons made of stone and animal bones were also recovered during the excavation. It has been found out that these were used to kill monkey, deer, porcupine and others. They have also consumed acavus, a species of edible snail and wild breadfruit.

Biologically, this cave dweller known as Pahiyangala Manawakaya (Pahiyangala Man) had a short vertebral structure, wide jaw bones , a large palette and big grinding teeth.

The name of the cave is derived from the name of the Chinese mahayana buddhist priest ” Fa- Hsien” who visited the cave in the 5th century. This Chinese scholar- bhikkhu, was a tireless wanderer in strange lands. It is learnt that Fa-Hsien, having taken the path of Gautama Buddha, sailed with two friends Bhadantachariya and Buddhaghosa. The latter was a Pali scholar, commentator and author of Vissuddhi Magga (a classic manual of the Buddhist doctrine and meditation), and they sailed from the mouth of the Hooghli river in Calcutta to Sri Lanka in the year 411 AD.

Fa- Hsien obtained a copy of the Disciplines and Long Agamas when he visited Anuradhapura and from there he was determined to climb the Sacred Mountain “Sri Pada” and pay homage at the Buddha’s foot print. His pilgrimage to Sri Pada lasted several months because the route to the peak was through Bulathsinghala, Kalawana, Nivitigala, Ratnapura and Gileemale.

On his journey, it is believed that he had lived several months in the Pahiyangala cave and a vessel which was supposed to have used by him was discovered during the excavations.

According to some Chinese people, in the 1940s, a Chinese monk named Thiashu Sangaraju who visited Sri Lanka had stayed in the cave.

Later this cave has been converted to a Buddhist temple by a priest called Porogama. Ven. Porogama thera had used a 6 ft. Yakula which was similar to an iron crowbar. This iron crowbar is so heavy that even six people find it difficult to carry it. He used this to push the debris and soil that obstructed the entrance to the cave. He was also able to level the ground. The Yakula is now tied to the feet of the reclining Buddha statue which is 40 ft long. Ven. Porogama thera also made two colossal door frames for the Vihara which can be seen at the entrance.

Resource – Amazing Lanka

This was a sudden trip that I and Akila went to Bulathsinghala. Akila wants to meet his client at Bulathsinghala on a mercantile holiday and then I joined with him and planned to discover some places over there. Unfortunately, due to the rain we were only able to discover the Pahiyangala (Fa-hien) prehistoric cave.

The Statue

Part of the large cave

Inner arts

Its so beautiful

Here is the archaeology site

What they explored

Giant pit

Some guessing about the history

Inside of there

Outside view from there

I was there

We were there

In the evening

Mist is coming

Towards sky

Rainy

Around there

Rest of the cave

This is so attractive

Protecting

Fa hien Monk

Notice

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

There was a special visit at Jetwing Hatton bungalows on that day and I left early morning around 5.30 am from Jaela and wanted to be at Hatton at 9 am. I was heard that Sripadaya can see near to Jaela Highway entrance but never had time to go there in the early morning. Since the sunrise wasn’t happening I thought to go and see whether Sripadaya is visible to that place.

Fortunately, I was able to see the whole range of Sripada at Highway entrance. After that, I started my journey from Ekala to Gampaha. Then again I saw Sripada at two places and then again on the top of Gampaha fly over. Then I saw it again at Ambagaspitiya village which can be meeting at Yakkala Uda Thuththiripitiya road.

However, I was able to come to Hatton by 8.30 am and I went to Jetwing hotels and finished my work within a few hours. After that, I went to meet the Grama Niladhari of Great Western Mr. Madusanka Hettiarachchi who is a member of our Sobasiri Team. Madusanka was appointed as the Grama Niladhari of Great Western a few weeks ago. It was such a nice place for a GN since the place is a bit out of the lime houses and reaching the place is too easy.

I spent a few hours there and return back to home around 6 pm in the evening.

Thank You!
Sobasiri Team ©

Early Morning at Jaela Highway Entrance

Siripada seen

Zoomed view of Sripada and the whole range

There were many more mountains

Time is still around 5.45am

Some other mountains located Kandy side

Sripada seen at Ekala Gampaha road

This is the first paddy that we meet from Ekala to Gampaha

Another view of it

Seen at a main road without any difficulty

Sripada again seen near Wetwater Hotel at Ekala Gampaha road

Near the hotel entrance

Sripada again seen at Gampaha Flyover

Its a clear view

Time is still about 6.15am

Holy peak

Sun rising

Sripada again seen at Yakkala Udathuththiripitiya road near Ambagaspitiya

Clear view of it

This is the last point that I have seen it on my journey to Hatton

Passing Kithulgala, Seven virgins seen

Refreshed Morning

A Waterfall, name unknown

Passing Jetwing Strathdon Bungalow area

Kotagala Kanda Seen

Mighty Kotagala Rock

Sripada seen near Hatton

Clear view of it

Dell mountain seen at GW GN Office

With Great Western Grama Niladari

Nice place

The little GN Office

Clear view of Dell and Kotagala

GN of GW

The other side of Great Western. note another peak

Road to GW

Another peak point of GW range

Time for a train

It’s going toBadulla

Entering to Thalawakele tunnel on my return journey

A man made tunnel

Here we go

Noted

Outside from it

Man made Tunnel (Artificial Tunnel)

Kotagala seen at Kotagala

Entering to Jetwing Dickoya Bungalow

View from Dickoya Bungalow- Elbedda Range

Entering to Jetwing Craig Appin Bungalow

The Bungalow

Its nice

Entering

A dining room

Inside of it

Outside garden

Views

Varandha

Other side of it

Best place for relaxing

Craig Appin by Jetwing

Kabaragala seen on my return journey

Dimbula MWE and the Gap

Peak Wildrness forest reserve

Sripada seen near Hatton

Thank You for reading!

Facebook – Sobasiri Team  – සමනල කන්ද රසික එකමුතුව

Gawaragiriya

This is one my oldest hike which was much interesting. I remember that we were planned to find the Miyunu Fall which is related to the poet Meemana Premathilake but unfortunately, we couldn’t find it on that day. This is the time where I don’t know about GPS and I don’t have much interest in adventures as we planned to find waterfalls and end of the day having a bath.

Finally, we found a beautiful stream while roaming in Gawaragiriya and had a bath end of the day.

Passing Bandaragama

Little summits on the way

Roaming around Gawaragiriya

Roaming around Gawaragiriya

Roaming around Gawaragiriya

Finally reached to this unknown stream

Its so Beautiful

More bathing pits

Small cascades

Capture

Here is it

The other side

Me in 2011

Resting place

Clear water

My first hiking partner, Jerom

Leaving to home

Heading fromGawaragiriya to Kiriella

Gelanigama Entrance

As I remember it is not yet opened at that time

කුරා උඩ ඇල්ල (Kura Uda Fall)
—————————————
කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ තිබෙන දියඇලි 4 වගේම මෙම ඇල්ලත් කොළඹට ඉතාමත් කිට්ටුවෙන් පිහිටි එත් කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයට අයත් දියඇල්ලක් .නමුත් මේක තියෙන්නේ ඉංගිරියේ. ඉංගිරියේ ඉදල හඳපාන්ගොඩ පාරේ යද්දී කොටිගල හන්දියෙන් හැරිලා තමයි මේ ලලනාවිය බලන්න යන්න ඕන. ගමේ මිනිස්සු අතර උනත් එතරම් ප්‍රසිද්ද නැති ඇල්ලක් වන මේ ඇල්ල බලන්න මිනිස්සු පැමිණීම ඉතාමත් දුර්ලබයිලු. හරියට බැලුවොත් කොළඹට ළගම ඇල්ල මෙය විය හැක. මේ ඇල්ලට දියවර එන්නේ මීටර් 355 ක් උස ඉංගිරියේ උසම කන්ද වන ගිරංචි කන්දෙන්. ගොඩක් කට්ටිය දන්නේ නැති උනාට කොළඹ අවට ක්‍රියාදාම සංචාර අත්දැකීමක් ගන්න ඉංගිරිය, ලබුගම, තුම්මෝදර කියන්නේ ලස්ස්සනම පැත්තක්. මොකද කොළඹට ළගම ගුහාව (Cave ) පිහිටලා තියෙන්නෙත් ඉංගිරියේ. (Sobasiri)

රයිගම් උඩගහපත්තුව සරසන අලංකාර දියඇළි කොමලියන් අතර කුරණ කුරා උඩ දියඇල්ලද වේ. මෙය වර්තමානයේදී එක්වරම කඩාහැලෙන දිය ඇල්ලක් ලෙස දක්නට නොලැබේ. අලංකාර ආනතියකින් ගලායන්නකි.

ඒසේවී ඇත්තේ අතීතයේ සඳවතී කුමරිය ස්නානය කිරීමට මෙම ස්ථානයට පැමිණි බව කියන පුවත නිසා නිදන් ඇතැයි සිතූ මෝඩ මිනිසුන් මහ ගල් පෙරලා ඇල්ලේ ස්වභාවය වෙනස් කළ නිසා බවත්, පැරණි ඇල්ලේ හඩ ගෝෂාව කොටිගල දක්වා ඇසුණු බවක් පැරැන්නෝ කියති.

අතීතයේ මේ දිය ඇල්ල ඇසුරේ සඳවතී කුමරියට වාඩිවී දිය නෑමට පහසු වන පරිදි පුටුවක් මෙන් ගල් තලාව කොටා සකසා පැවති බව ජනප්රවාදයේ පවතී. එමෙන්ම ඇල්ලේ ක්රියාකාරීත්වය නිසා හෑරී ඇතිවූ දිය වලවල්ද මෙහි පවතී.

අතීතයේ මීට වැඩි විසල් ජල කඳක් ගලාගිය කුරණ් ඇල කලුවල නම් පෙදෙසේදී මෙම මනරම් දසුන නිර්මාණය කරයි. ජල මට්ටම අඩුවී ඇත්තේ කුරණ මඩකඩ වනාන්තරයේ ෆයිනස් නම් ආගන්තුක ශාකය සිටවීම හේතුකොටය. ෆයිනස් ජලය සිදිනබව බොහෝදෙනාගේ මතයයි.

තවත් ජනකතාවකට අනුව සඳවතී කුමරිය මාලිගාකන්දේ මාළිගයේ සිට කුරාඋඩ දියඇල්ල අසලට පැමින ඇත්තේ උමන් මගක් ඔස්සේය. එහි මුවවිට තිබි ඇත්තේ කුරාඋඩ වව්ලෙන ගල්ගුහාවේන්ය. මෙම උමගේ කොටසක් කොටිගල පෙදෙසේ ලිදක් කැණීමේදී හමුවූ පුවතක් ආචාර්ය සරච්චන්ද්ර ජයකොඩි මහතා පවසා ඇත. වර්තමානයේ පවා වව්ල්ලෙන පෙදෙසේ උමන් මගක ලක්ෂණ පවතී.

සුදුවන්පෙණ පිඩු විසිරවමින් ගලින් ගලට පැන එන කුරාඋඩ දිය ඇල්ල අලංකාරය. නමුත් වැසි දින වලදී නම් මෙය දරුණු චණ්ඩ ස්වරූපයක් ගනී. ඉතා කෙටිකලක් තුළ වැඩි ජලකඳක් පතිතවේ.

මෙම දිය ඇල්ලට යා හැකි මාර්ගය වන්නේ ඉංගිරිය නගරයේ සිට කිලෝමීටර් අටක් පමණ මීපේ දෙසට පැමිණි විට, හමුවන කොටිගල හංදියෙන් හරී කුරණ පාර් ගමන්කර, කුරාඋඩ පාරට හැරි, කිලෝමීටර දෙකක් පමණ දහම් කන්ද ආරණ්යෙය අසලට ගමන් කිරීමෙනි. එතැන් පටන් පාගමනින් ඇල්ල දක්වා ගමන් කළ යුතුය.

සුදුවන් පෙණපිඩු විසිරවමින් ගලින් ගලට පනිනා කුරා උඩ ඇල්ල නිර්මාණය කරන කුරණ්ඇල කුරාඋඩ ගම්මානය හරහා ගලාවිත් අරකාවිල පෙදෙසේදී මාවක් ඔය හා අත්වැල් බැඳ ගනී. (සටහන- ජානක තරංග ආරියරත්න)

Kura Uda Waterfall

Kura Uda Waterfall is situated in the middle stretch of the small stream starting from Giranchi Mountain in the Forest Reservation. Though this place was not so famous in the past, recently the number of visitors has been increasing. The Government Forest Reservation in which this waterfall is situated is rich in rare wet zone plants and herbal plants. Many birds and animals native to this area live here. (Wikipedia)

Turn Right

Turn Left

Keep going

Little more

Parked them here

Footpath began

Keep walking

The stream

Forest Patch

Footpath

Darkness

Little more

Final tea part

Close to it

Got into the stream

Small cascades

Dangerous points

Here is she

Getting closer

Kura Uda Fall

Near by

Side and clear view

Full View of it

Its beautiful

Zoomed view

Clear water

Slow Shutter

Nearest fall to Colombo

more slow shutters

Environment

Another one

Good Bye

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

I got to know this from a Facebook post published by one of a friend on my Facebook list. Then I got this into my ‘to do’ list and thought to have this small ride when I will go around Ella- Badulla. Then suddenly I got a chance after a few months to a destination at Ella and then I reserve a little time to cover this lovely place. Here is the write up from him, Mr Anura Pallamulla. I used some photographs to show you the beauty of distance until Knuckles mountain range as well as the mountains we can identify on the top of Pluckers Hut.

සංචාරක ඉවක් තියෙනවනමි ඹ්නම ගමනක් හොද සංචාරයක් බවට පත්කර ගන්න පුළුවන් කියන්නේ නිකන් නොවෙයිනේ. ඉතින් අපි ආපු ගමනත් සංචාරක ගමනක් නොවෙයි නමුත් සංචාරක ඉවක් තිබුනු නිසා ඒ ගමන දැන් සංචාරක ගමනක් බවට පත්කර ගන්න පුළුවන් වුනා. කසුන් මල්ලි කියපු ඒ සුන්දර ඉසව්වට යනකන් මටනම් ඉස්පාසුවක් තිබුනේ නැහැ . උදෑසනම ගමන් ආරම්භ කරන අදහසින් රාත්‍රි නිද්දට ගිය අපිට ගමන් මහන්සියත් එක්ක එක දිගටම නින්ද ගියා. උදෑසන හයට විතර ඇහැරුනු අපි උදෑසන ආහාරත් නොගෙනම වතු බංගලාවෙන් පිටත් වුනා. මොකද උදෑසනම ගියොත් තමයි හොද ඡායාරූප ටිකක් ගන්න පුළුවන් . නෙළුව වත්ත කියන්නේ හාලිඇලත් ,ඇටම්පිටියත් බන්ඩාරවෙිලත් කියන නගර තුන මැදට වන්නට පිහිටලා තියෙන වතුයායක්. අක්කර 270 පුරා විහිදුනු තේවගාවෙන් පිරුනු මේ වතුයාය මල්වත්ත වැලි වැවිලි සමාගමට අයත් වතු වලින් එකක් තමා.

වතු බංගලාවෙන් පිටත් වුන අපි කිරින්ද මාර්ගය දිගේ කි.මි.2ක් පමන පැමිනි අපි කිරින්ද පන්සල් හන්දියෙන් දකුනට දිවෙන වතු වතු මාර්ගය දිගේ තේ වතු මැදින් ඉහලට ගමන් කලා. තේවතු යාය දිගේ පැමිනි අපි එක පාරම මහා කැලයකට ඇතුල් වුනා . මිටර් 200 ක් පමන කැලය මැදින් ගමන් කරමින් තේ වතු යායට නැවතත් අපි සෙන්දු වුනා . කැලෑ එලි කර සුද්දා තේ වගා කලත් රක්ෂිත ලෙස ඉතුරු කලයුතු තැන් ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම එදා ඹවුන් ආරක්ෂා කර ඇති බව මනාවට පැහැදිලි වන්නේ නෙළුව වතුයායේ මේ වගේ රක්ෂිත කැලෑ රොදවල් කිහිපයක්ම දක්නට ලැබිමෙනුයි.වතුයායේ සුන්දරත්වය විදගෙනම අපි වට වංගු වතු මාර්ගයේ තවත් කි.මි.2 ක් පමන ඉහලට ගමන් කිරිමෙන් පසු අපි 16 හන්දියට පැමිනුනා. 16 හන්දිය කියන්නේ නෙළුව වතුයායේ මෙන්ඩිස් ලෑන්ඩි කොටසේ පිහිටලා තියෙන තුංමන් හන්දියක් තමා . එතනින් වමට දිවෙන වතු මාර්ගය දිගේ අපි“ ප්ලකර්ස් හට්ස් “ කරා ගමන් කලා එම මාර්ගයේ මිටර් 300ක් පමන ඉදිරියට ගමන්කල පසු එන්න එන්නම මැවෙන සොදුරැ දසුන් නම් පුදුම සුන්දරත්වයක් තමා එක්කලේ . 16 හන්දියේ සිට ගමන් කරපු කිලෝමිටරයක දුර ගමන් කරන්න අපට විනාඩ් 45 ට වඩා කාලයක් වැයවුනේ නෙත ගැටෙන ඒ සුන්දර දසුන් සියල්ල කැමරාවේ සටහන්කර ගැනිමට වුන නිසයි . සුන්දර දසුන් දැක බලාගෙනම අපි ඹන්න අපේ ගමනාන්තය වන“ ප්ලකර්ස් හට්ස්“ කරා පැමිනුනා.ඇත්තටම “ ප්ලකර්ස් හට්ස්“ වලට පැමිනි පසු නෙත ගැටුනු දසුනින් මම පුදුමයට පත්වුනා . මේ ඉන්නේ මොන ඉසව්වකද කියලා මටනම් එක පාරටම හිතා ගන්න බැරුව ගියා. අපි කදු වටේ කරක් ගහලා එන දොමෝදර මෙතන ඉදන් බලන විට ලගම පහලින් . ඒ වගේම නමුණුකුල කන්ද හරියට අපි දිහා බලන් ඉන්නේ මොනවා හරි අපෙන් අහන්න වගේ .එ වගේම ඇල්ලේ පුංචි සිරිපාදේත් ඇල්ල රොක් එකෙත් හරස්කඩ දර්ශනයේ සුන්දරත්වය මටනම් හිතා ගන්නවත් බැහැ. එතනින් එහාට තියෙන නායබැද්ද කන්ද පුනාගල කදු ඒ වගේම හෝටන්තැන්න මායිම තවත් එතනින් ගියාම පිදුරුතලාගල කන්ද හග්ගල කන්ද නාරංගල කන්ද වගේ මෙතනට අංශක 360 කම දර්ශන තලයක් තමයි තියෙන්නේ . ඉතින් මේ වගේ තැනකට එක පාරම ආපුහාම ඹ්නෑම කෙනෙක් සොභා සෙෘන්දර්යට වශී වෙනවා කියන්නේ මේකට තමයි.

වතු අදිකාරි කසුන් මල්ලි ප්‍රකාශ කලේ මෙතනට වැල්ලවාය නගරය පැහැදිලිව දැක ගන්න පුළුවන් බවත් ඇල්ල සිට දිවෙන බදුලු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය වගේම ඇල්ල වැල්ලවාය මහා මාර්ගයද මෙතනට හොදට නිරික්ෂනය කරන්න පුළුවන් බවයි. නෙළුව වතුයායේ කෙලවරක පිහිට් “ ප්ලකර්ස් හට්ස් “ කොටස අයත් වන්නේ උඩුවර වතුයායටයි නමුත් මෙම ස්ථානයට ලගා වන්නට පහසුම නෙළුව වත්ත හරහා අප පැමිනි මාර්ගය විමත් විශේෂයි. 2003 තේ දළු කඩන අයට විවෙික ගැනිම සදහා ඉදිකල මෙම “ප්ලකර්ස් හට්ස් “ මුලින්ම ඉදිකරලා තියෙන්නේ . මුහුදු මට්ටමේ සිට මිටර් 1700 වඩා ඉහලින් පිහිටි මෙම සොදුරු සංචාරක ඉසවිව තවමත් සංචාරකයන් අතරනම් ප්‍රසිද්ද නැහැ.. එයට හේතුව සංචාරකයින් මෙම තැන ගැන නොදැන සිටිමයි. එහෙනමි ඹබත් දවසක ගිහින් මේ සොදුරැ අද්දැකිම ලබා ගන්න කියලා මතක් කරන ගමන් යන්න පාරත් කියන්නම්කෝ.

ඹබ බදුල්ල පැත්තෙන් යනවානම් හාලිඇලින් වැලිමඩ පාරේ කි.මි. 3ක් වගේ යනවිට හමුවන මොරේතොට හන්දියෙන් වමට ඇති මාර්ගයේ කි.මි.4ක් වගේ ඉහලට ගමන් කල පසු කිරින්ද හන්දියෙන් වමට තවත් කිලෝමිටර් එක හමාරක් ගිය පසු කිරින්ද පන්සල් හන්දියෙන් දකුනට ඇති වතු මාර්ගයේ කි.මි.2 ක් පමන ගමන් කල පසු මොන්ඩිස් ලෑන්ඩ් කොටසේ 16 හන්දියෙන් වමට දිවෙන වතු මාර්ගයේ කිලෝමිටර් එකක් පමන ඉදිරියට ගමන් කල පසු නැවත වමුවන මාර්ගයෙන් වමට මිටර් 500 ක් පමන ගමන් කල පසු සුන්දර “ ප්ලකර්ස් හට්ස් ‘ කර ලගා වන්නට පුළුවන්. හැබැයි ඉතින් මේ වගේ තැන් කිවිවා කියලා ගිහින් විනාශ කරලා දාන්න එපා අනාගත පරපුරටත් දකින්න ඉඩ තියන්න.

Here is the place, Pluckers Hut

Pluckers Hut

Nearby Mountains

Known places

More to view

Temple

Another destination

More to view

Name Unknown

Mahakudugala

Ella Rock

Ella and Kumbalwela

Ella to Wellawaya

Kehelpothdoruwegala and Yahangala Seen

Galauda and Narangala Seen

Namunukula

Little Adams Peak

Sandathenna Mini World’s End

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©