Scenic road tour from Ampara to Kandy

Year and Month	17-September-2020
Number of Days	Two
Crew	04
Accommodation	Old Empire
Transport	AAT Van
Activities	Photography, Sightseeing, Nature Exploring, Scenic drive
Weather	Sunny Day and clear
Route	Ampara -> Polwatta -> Bulupitiya -> Bibile -> Ridimaliyadda -> Andaulpotha -> Loggal oya -> Mahaweli Raja Mawatha -> Marassana -> Tennekumbura -> Kandy
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Plan your journey well Better to have good knowledge of roads Ask the directions from local Do not disturb the villagers Beware of wild elephants Do not enter the forest reserves Do not enter the national park without permission Help the locals buying some goods Do not litter Leave only footprints
Related Resources	None
Author	Ranshan Fernando
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Scenic road tour from Ampara to Kandy

I had an opportunity to spent 3 days at Ampara since AAT Sri Lanka opens their 7th branch at Ampara. Since I’m the route planner and mapper I suggest leaving from Ampara to Kandy after the branch opening since I wanted to have a different road to reach Kandy. However, we left Ampara around 12 noon and had a bath at Ampara tank, and spent around half an hour over there.

After that, we took the Inginiyagala Bibile road as I wanted to see some mountains and I was lucky to identify a mountain which I was searching at that time. It was a part of the mountain which I saw on a song ok Sokari film of Jackson Anthony. By the time we all seen beautiful areas passing Namaloya reservoir, Gal oya valley national park to Bible. Once we came to Bibile we had our lunch and the time was about 3 pm at that time.

After that, we headed to Kandy and I have chosen the Raja Mawatha which is known Randenigala road. I wanted to see some wild elephants but couldn’t. We stopped our van at several places to see Loggal oya, Minipe Canal, Rantambe, and Randenigala reservoir. And we headed to Kandy via Victoria dam and more on.

It was a simple trip but we have seen many mountains and attractions on this scenic drive from Ampara to Kandy. We reached Kandy around 6 pm and entered our famous hotel, Olde Empiror

The Identity of Ampara

Clock Tower

Ampara Tank is next to Guruhela Ela and is located in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Ampara Tank has a length of 9.22 kilometres.

Ampara Tank

Soldiers of the tank

The pagoda

The road

The entrance to the pagoda

The view of the road

We are leaving

Ampara Tank

Had a lovely bath

Nice place

The giants

Boats for fishing

Scenic

The giants

Mid of the tank

The highest point of the mountain valley

Ranges

More mountains

More to capture

Landscape

Waving

Waves under the shadows

The point

It’s in the afternoon

Time for a selfie

The fence

Not clear now

Heading to Bibile

Landscape

Beware of Elephants

More to see

I’m near to the driver seat

Another tank

Scenic road

Turning points

Heading to Bibile

Woow	What a road

Namal Oya Reservoir is a reservoir(s) and is located in Sri Lanka. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 86 metres. Namaloya Reservoir… pass this on your way from Nilgala to Senanayake Samudraya.. nice place to stop by and enjoy the view or have lunch, if you are lucky, you might be able to spot elephant swim in the evening.

Entering a beautiful area

Namaloya reservoir

Giants at Namaloya reservoir

Beautiful road

The road over Namaloya reservoir

More to go

Some known giants

Zoomed view

More to go

Capture

Clean and tidy

Turning

Under the forest

Galoya valley national park

Through the park

More to go

Beware of elephants

Signs

Mountains

No vehicles

Innocent students

Some known hills

Added to the future

Couple mountains

The picture that I saw in the Sokari film’s song

Part of viyanhela

This mountain identified in a song of Sokari Film

Love it

Part of the range

Looks like at the mid

Heading to Bibile

More to go

Silence roads

We are alone

How beautiful

Heading via Randenigala

The road

The giants

The central valley is seen

Another famous area

Nice and calm

The famous canal

Capturing some pics

It’s beautiful

Selfie time

AAT vehicle

Wondering during the rainy season

Entering now

Loggal Oya is situated along Mahiyangana Road in the Uva Province. Loggal Oya is in the Uva region of Sri Lanka is next to the Loggaloya reservoir. A beautiful large lake with shady banks. Boat rides can be arraigned by chatting with the local fishermen. Convenient access via Kandy. The reservoir is on the side of the main road. Not good for bathing unless in designated areas. Lovely area for bird watching mainly water birds. If into cycling or trekking the region offers a lot to explore.

The giants

Loggal oya

Blue water

Central hills

The loggal oya

Giants at Kandeketiya side

Giants over the loggal oya

More to go

Heading to Kandy

The upcountry seen

The Randenigala Dam (Sinhala: රන්දෙනිගල වේල්ල) is a large hydroelectric embankment dam at Rantembe, in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Construction of the dam began in November 1982 and was completed in approximately 4 years. The dam and power station were ceremonially opened by then-President J. R. Jayawardene in 1986.

Construction of the dam cost approximately Rs. 4.898 billion (1986), of which 24.6% (Rs. 1.207 billion) was funded by the local government, and the majority of the remainder by Germany.

The Randenigala Dam has located 19 km (11.8 mi) downstream of the Victoria Dam, and 2.8 km (1.7 mi) upstream of the Rantembe Dam. Randenigala measures 94 m (308 ft) in height, 485 m (1,591 ft) in length, with a crest and base width of 10 m (33 ft) and 303 m (994 ft) respectively. The embankment dam is made mostly of rocks and consists of a clay core.

Three large controlled tainter gate chute spillways, with a combined discharge volume of 8,100 m3/s (290,000 cu ft/s), are constructed at the southern end of the dam. The three spillways measure 270 m (886 ft) in length, with a combined width of 48 m (157 ft).

The dam creates the Randenigala Reservoir. With a catchment area of 2,330 km (1,450 mi) and a total storage capacity of 861,000,000 m3 (3.04×1010 cu ft), Randenigala is one of the largest reservoirs in the country.

The reservoir experiences approximately 1,250–3,000 mm (49.21–118.11 in) of rainfall annually. In addition to this, the reservoir is also topped up with water from the Victoria Reservoir upstream, and the Mahaweli River.

The power station is located immediately downstream of the dam, on the left bank. Water from the reservoir is delivered to the power station via a single steel-lined tunnel with a length and diameter of 270 m (886 ft) and 6.2 m (20.3 ft) respectively.

The plant consists of two generators with a rated capacity of 63 MW each, powered by two Francis turbines. The units were commissioned in August and September 1986 respectively. At a combined capacity of 126 MW, the plant generates 428 GWh annually.