I have noted the road is little bit narrow, but some places can pass two buses. But on our way there is no trouble met like that. Also there is mini hydro plant locate near the water fall, which ppl cannot access.

Rikili Ella is behind the trees

Two More waterfalls

Road is closed by Nature

Power Station Works

Nalangana Ella

.

Tiny Nature

Tiny Nature

Tiny Nature

Tiny Nature

Merging 4 maps to make one map was difficult just like the hike – Click to enlarge

For years I have wanted to conquer the highest point of Knuckles and lack of any good information on it was the reason why I didn’t attempt it. Out of nowhere the thought of climbing Gombaniya came in to my mind and I called my friend at Panwila. He was ever so willing to do this hike, Amila also joined at the last moment to make matters more interesting. I know few more guys were also willing to join, but this sudden decision (as always) made it difficult for them.

Gombaniya is a mountain range and is located on the western border of Knuckles conservation its vegetation is almost similar to Horton plains because of its high altitude. The mountain could be reached from Rathnatenna (Alakolle estate) or Nelummale watta (Kabaragala side). The shorter but complex route is Rathnatenna side. We arrived on the previous day to Panwila and stayed the night there. Next day morning we cooked our two meals and left on the first bus to Huluganga. From Huluganga we took a trishaw to Alakolle estate upper division and walked towards Rathnatenna resort. This resort at the end of the jungle is a superb place to camp or rest. We had our breakfast at this point and started marching towards the forest. The path initially was through an abandoned tea estate and was going in parallel to a stream. We were constantly climbing uphill crossing streams. At one time we came across a waterfall and had to crawl along a slippery slope to bypass it. Close to the waterfall there was a hump nosed viper posing for a picture and we didn’t disappoint it. We somehow came on to a flat rock which provided some stunning scenery on the valleys below and the mountain range which we had to tackle. We noted a triangular peak protruding out of Gombaniya range and this was going to be the entry point to the range for us. In a glimpse everything was covered again in mist and we started heading towards the base of the range.

what sight to start the day (hulu ganaga falls)

road to Allakole estate

Gombaniya on a clear day

on the way scenery to Rathnatenna

wild berry’s were yummy

Gombaniya covered with mist

Rathnatenna resort what a relaxing place

Dull blue flycatcher

mountain forest

along the stream

a cascade

perfect background

giving a hand

lovely beauties found all over the ground

the pink version

a white beauty

only found near streams

snail droppings

first view point

the second view point

plenty of valleys to get lost

the triangular peak is the place where we need to enter the mountain range

the abyss we climbed up to enter the range after tackling bamboo and nelu

The Bamboo and Nelu bushes with slippery slopes were not helping us on our final ascend. Somehow we crawled and reached the Gombaniya range from the right side of the pointed rock. After getting on to the range we started walking along it through the pygmy forest and shorter version of bush bamboos until we reached the first flat rock. From here we went further and reached the second flat rock which was sloped but yet a spectacular view point. On one side we could see the adjoining mountain (Yakkungegala / Rathnatenna kanda) forming a remarkable drop towards Wallapomulla side. The river flowing at the bottom of the abyss called Kuda oya later meets up with Kalu ganga which rises from Kalupahana. When the mist got cleared we saw far away lakes at Mahiyanganaya. So on a clear day one could enjoy a spectacular sun rise over the eastern ocean from here and witness a magnificent sun set from the west. On the other side of the mountain Campbell’s lane forest reserve and Hunnasgiri peak was seen clearly whenever the mist thinned off. The mist was blowing towards us like clouds crashing into us. There were so many unforgettable moments which I couldn’t convert in to paragraphs but only relish in my memories. The range was a long one but covered with forest cover and we did proceed along it until the mist settled permanently. It is said during the flowering season the whole range is covered with thousands of flowers (especially Binara). We did come across many flowers during our expedition though they were found spread in a scattered manner.

first view once getting on to gombaniya range

unknown

time for exploration

first flat rock

beautiful leaves

it cleared out on and off

what a diversity

another beauty

are we in heaven?

the drop from heaven

gombaniya peak seen far away

the best view point

towards Rathtota

hunnasgiri range

towards Wallapomulla

Yakkunge hela drop

note the cliffs

far away lakes of mahiyanganaya could be seen

kuda oya meets kalu ganga on its later part

lovely

Yakkungegala or Rathnatenna kanda

mist been blown away from the abyss

Madulkele

Campbell’s lane reserve covered with mist

hanging free

gombaniya range

nelu

wow	Bladderwort(Utricularia spp.)

red tree tops

lovely isn’t it

more to go

flowered bed

heavenly

what a seat!

sheer drops

imagine been here

spooky

grandfathers beard

I really love this one

had to stop here

The extreme cold winds caused us to shiver at 12pm so we had to take our lunch to gain our lost calories and get ready to descend back. The descend was going smoothly until we lost the path at one place and out of nowhere a shower poured down to terrify us. Fortunately most of us in our group were knowledgeable on trekking so following some fruitful discussions and decisions we found the path running close to the waterfall. At this point we came across a horned lizard who was a good poser too. There were only 3 or 4 leeches that worried me during this hike and the high altitude should be thanked for that. We entered the tea patch covered with mud and continued along the estates until we got a trishaw to Panwila. This was a memorable and once in a lifetime adventure that was done with caution. There are plenty of valleys to get lost and if you don’t climb from the proper place you are going to be in trouble. Hope this would be helpful to others who want to venture in to Gombaniya in future.

lunch time

mist was becoming permanant

in to the mist

I will always snap these

Binara

most flowers are either purple or pink

bamboos are providing some comfort to this shivering soul

down we go

bye bye

crawling at sometimes

horned lizard

the team at end destination

he decided to have an ice cold swim

looking back

Thanks for reading!

It was a wet Sunday morning when I woke up for a steaming cup of coffee and the usual Sunday paper. There was this article about a village that, according to the exaggerated version of the journalist, saw the morning sun signing checking in around 9am and then signing out early evening around 4pm.

Naturally I got hooked and tried to imagine what it would be like to live in a place like that. I was craving for that experience when out of nowhere Ashan sent in the report of his journey to this beautiful place.  Yet it didn’t have what I was looking for so got my old gang together and went there, not just for a quick visit, but to stay there overnight to witness this strange occurrence. Well you know all about that journey by now, don’t you?

We were quite taken in by the fact that Rev. Dhammananda Thero who is actually from Horana area, had gone to this ultra-rural village trying to help these innocent villagers without a temple to worship let alone a monk. It must be appreciated the amount of energy and effort he has put into convert a then abandoned community hall into a temple. The kids and even the adults were not aware of the usual religious rituals as there was no monk to do those for them. Now they have not only Dhammananda thero but four more little monks to carry on the good work in to the future.

Sadly there are few obstacles for the chief monk to stay in the community hall cum temple. There are factors that try to undermine the good work done by the monk and they try to evict him from the community hall even though the regional secretary has given the approval. So he’s now trying to build the temple on a land given by a villager. It’s only partially completed and if there is anyone or an organization either government or non-government willing to help complete this, it’d bring lot of good for the people and the village.

I must also mention the good work carried out by the Kohonawala School, especially the principal Mr. Jayasena. NG and the team had visited the school and were very much impressed by what they saw. If only the people got together and used whatever resources available for the betterment of the village, they would see a dramatic change in a very short time.

Ok, that is where the situation stands and after my visit, NG, one of the hard core Lakdasun member and a very good friend, arranged an eye camp with the help of Vision 20/20 for these people. You must have seen her report, (she was forced to write a report after a very long time) if not do check it out. Dr. Asela and his team had traveled all the way from Colombo and walking down to the village via Madolsima and staying the night amid minimal facilities conducted the eye camp following morning distributing a lot of eye glasses for free. What’s more, on their way back, they had had to repeat the process all over again for another huge crowd at Urumeethenna. Hats off to them for such a noble effort.

NG didn’t stop there. She took on another big task. If you read my report, you must have seen the 8-year old handicap boy who was badly in need of a wheelchair. She initiated the project to get him a wheelchair, not just another one but a custom built one that can tackle the rugged terrain of Kohonawala. Well by the time you read this, he will be rolling around in his new and tailor made wheel chair that was donated by the kind donors who insisted to remain anonymous. I’ll be sure to send in a detailed account of the event afterwards.

Guess it’s time I got to the story at hand. From the first time I saw Viyangala, the beautiful lady towering over Kohonawala as if protecting it from the evils of the urbanized parts; I wanted very badly to conquer her. She had all the hallmarks of a gorgeous lady and in my first visit I kept inquiring about her yet not many encouraged my thoughts of climbing her. A mysterious veil had been draped over her keeping the outsiders as far away as possible. We later got to know that there are rumors of treasures on top of Viyangala and villagers discouraged or most of the time reported anyone, be it somebody from the nearby villages or outside, to the forest officials and Madolsima police. That’s the last thing I wanted so decided to do it with the help of the chief monk and the villagers.

Day 01

The unforgiving drought had hit most of the country, especially Uva and North Central bringing the day to day life to a standstill. Kohonawala too had been a victim of this merciless curse depriving them of drinking water and water for farming. We experience the drought hit Welimada, B’Wela and N’Eliya few weeks ago. You can read all about it too. When I called the monk to check if it was ok to come and climb, he was all encouraging and decided to go ahead as there was no better time like the present. One of my partners in crime, Atha too agreed to come with Prasa (mini version of Hariya) and we initially planned to do it on Saturday and Sunday but figured it would be a nightmare traveling up and down with the people going to and from their hometowns. So I decided to make it on Friday and Saturday instead. This is when things went haywire and Atha got all confused of the dates.

He was nicely having a nap when I called him around 9.30pm even after having the tickets with him.  The bus was however leaving Pettah at 10pm. I can never explain the panic I got into. I tried calling the temple and informing him of cancellation. He had made all the arrangements and it had just gone 10pm. I didn’t wanna let all the preparation down the drain so decided to go on my own. I’d never got ready in such a short time before and waking a friend of mine reached the high level road around 10.30pm hoping to catch a Badulla bus. As we were going towards Nugegoda, I saw the light blue sign of the semi-luxury bus and looking closer it turned out to be the Madolsima bus. I couldn’t believe my eyes and we gave chase for about a couple of kilometers and caught it.

The conductor was kind enough to let me have one of the booked seats even though I didn’t have the tickets with me. Well it was a pickle of good and bad. I had a dreamless night and reached Madolsima around 6am. Calling the temple I got to know that one of the villagers was on his way to meet me. We got together and having bought a few rations set off to the Kohonawala turn off in a tuk tuk. It’s about 1km and cost me Rs. 100/-. We reached the sign board that says Kohonawala School, 9.6km and started our journey through the tea estate.

The morning chill soon gave way to the rising sun that penetrated the path in all directions. The sun was behind us and we could see towards Kahataruppa miles away. Suddha, the villager that accompanied me, led the way carrying the stuff on his shoulder while I kept stopping every now and then to capture as much as the scenery in my lens. We saw an old person resting on a rock coming from the village. He had a big sack full of manioc (it makes my mouth water just thinking of all that freshly dug manioc with unique lunu miris) taking to Madolsima to sell and buy some stuff for his home. It’s unfathomable the arduous journey they make everyday up and down just to buy the basic items and sell whatever they find under severe weather conditions.

The surrounding countryside looked parched and many Mana patches had been torched by people for some reason beyond me. So it was a mixture of dark green patches of trees scattered across the sun bleached yellowish hills. The ravines below showed signs of life with houses and plots of paddy fields. The charred areas where Mana was burnt added to the already vivid painting. In no time we reached the “Padi Seeya” (100 steps) where there is a steep downhill path through the tea bushes. Already there was a person coming up and a lady holding a baby girl closely behind him tackling the steep ascent. I spoke to him and he was very cheerful and even bothered to show me a worship place of the estate workers high up on top of a rock. The child, even though being carried by the lady right through, looked exhausted as a result of the heat and the continuous swaying. I managed to take a pic of her (one of the few must-have requirements for me during a journey) and we carried on.

The view of endless panoramic mountains kept us company. We got the first glimpse of Viyangala to our one o’clock and the mostly used Ambalama in the 21st century was barely visible. I knew for a fact that it was 1.8km from the temple to the turpentine trees beyond the Ambalama coz Sheham measured it last time we walked up from the village. So it couldn’t be 9.6km from the turn off to the village, I of course had no GPS with me but it’s simply impossible I’d walked more than 7km till then. I guess Ashan had measured the whole length to be about 6km which sounds about right. The Viyangala kept to our right all the way even though having lost some of her lushness. We were soon walking through the turpentine patch and it brought back happy memories. You can check the videos of our last journey below.

Video 1 – Three Musketeers going downhill.

Video 2 – Documentary from the Ambalama.

I was beginning to feel the heat and was glad to be within touching distance from the Ambalama. Having rested our baggage on the bench I swallowed half a bottle of water in one go. I called the temple and spoke to the monk letting him know one hungry fella was on his way. This is when I came across the principal of Kohonawala School, Mr. Jayasena. I spoke to him for a few minutes before saying that we’d bring some books for the school next time. It was the school hols so I didn’t want to visit the school but hoping to do so coz of all the good things I’ve heard. After a much needed rest, we started going down. All the water streams were bone dry save for a tiny trickle of water in the main canal way below.

Despite all this there was music coming from a solar powered radio in one of the houses. We crossed the bridge and were in the village. In a few more minutes we reached the temple, after exactly 2.5hrs from Madolsima. There were the two small monks who are studying in the Pirivena in Padukka, come for the holidays. It was good to see them at last and I gave them the books I brought with me. There was another boy, Udara, also on holiday playing carrom with the little monks. I had a hearty meal of manioc with Lunu miris, unfortunately the drought had killed many chillie crops making it impossible to prepare the unique 12 different varieties Lunu miris. I savored every morsel and the day just wore on. Everyone I spoke to was pretty distraught about the lack of rains and was praying for some. There was this old person who we spoke to last time we went. You can check the videos below.

Video 1 – Inside of Kohonawala – 1 of 2

Video 1 – Inside of Kohonawala – 2 of 2

He was full of stories and this time it was about the elephant that disrupted their lives for nearly a week but a long time ago. None of them could remember an exact time but from what I gathered of everyone present, it is probably more than two decades ago. The elephant had come from Kahataruppa area and been roaming around for nearly a week feeling on the manioc and other crops. He had frightened nearly every one of the village sending them all with whatever they could grab towards Galulla, where Viyangala trail runs through, to their relatives’ places. Eventually the elephant had got fed up either manioc or frightening the villagers and gone towards Madolsima climbing all the way. Wonderful creatures, the elephants.

However none of them knew that their prayers would be answered in a couple of hours. Came the afternoon with the typical heat and we could see clouds gathering towards Madolsima over the Ambalama. “It’s gonna rain that I’ve come here” I said out loud. “It won’t, all those clouds are just for the show” the monk claimed. “I’m sure it’ll rain” I was willing it to rain just to mark my arrival and out of nowhere the winds picked up bringing hundreds of black clouds over the mountains. Birds that were hovering above vanished into the safety of their nests, however at the end of these strong gusts, how many of them were still standing was anybody’s guess. “If the winds keep like this rain will go away” Suddha sounded unbelieving. They had seen these preparations of the unpredictable weather patterns numerous times without a show and now were too skeptical to believe in it.

Then all hell broke loose. The sky was as if heavily pregnant, looming ever so larger than usual with charcoal grey clouds hanging barely with a single thread until she let them all go. The water came from all around whirlpooling in the tree-uprooting strong winds. Simultaneously the mist descended from heaven shrouding the surrounding mountains. There was this muslin cloth draped around us cocooning our community hall cum temple in an almost transparent shell. This must be like how those yet-to-be butterflies feel.

As soon as it came, everything flew off back beyond the mountains. The misty curtain was lifted as if by magic and the stage was set for the after-the-break show. While the drizzling kept at it, the view was superb yet again. Winds went to a faraway land leaving us all in peace and we got back into the open. Suddha was like a kid, all smiles as he had treated some pepper creepers the day before which was badly in need of water. Now everyone got some of their prayers answered. It was good to see those villagers get some deserved water. Hopefully there will be more in the following days. The monk was cooking a polos curry which looked salivating. I went to the water stream some way off and had a wash before settling for the night.

We planned for the following day while Udara and one of the little monks went in search of passion fruit that had fallen in the winds. They both returned with fourty of them having picked up 21 and 19 respectively. They all looked great and we decided to make passion fruit juice for the morning hike giving that extra kick of vitamin C. Meanwhile Suddha was moaning about having to accompany me to Viyangala. This is due to the fact that people’s beliefs about a treasure hidden on top of Viyangala. The legend is that there was a king who had temporarily sheltered on top of this rocky mountain having been lost in a battle with another. He had not built a permanent fortress on the top, instead used it as a transit point on his way to a safer place. “Viyan” means the top cover of a tent in Sinhala. So it makes sense when this mountain is called “Viyan Bendi Gala” aka “Viyangala”, in English, the rock where the tents were erected.

So almost all the villagers are vary of whoever trying to climb this. The people in Galulla village which is closer to the top half of the rock keep their eyes wide open for any intruders, be it one of their own or someone outside. This will result in them giving an innocent phone call to the Madolsima police, forest officials or the Grama Niladhari (Village Chief). One of these factors would rush in and you would have a armful of problems to deal with. However, the OIC of Madolsima police know the monk well and he said if something happens he could explain. He then sent a message to a villager who is living close to the rock, pretty much at the edge of Galulla village informing him of our arrival. The little monks too wanted to join me on this journey and Udara, the little boy wasn’t in the mood to be refused of all the fun. So after a hearty dinner of Kurahan Thalapa and Polos curry I went to a deep sleep hoping to see Viyangala in my dreams.

At the turn off…

Suddha leading the way

Picturesque mountains all around

Some more

Towards Kahataruppa, can barely see our footpath towards the bottom of the pic

Despite the drought, they keep at them

Mesmerized by the scenery

Going towards Madolsima

There’s a rock at an odd angle somewhat in the middle

Here up close

It’s just another routine for the villagers

This is called the “Diya Kandura” and all the villagers that go back and forth clench their thirst

Getting somewhat shady

The platform where they used to have cables to transport tea buckets

Padi Seeya

What a terrifying journey

She was so exhausted

One of the many estate worshipping places so far high

Can’t get enough of them

Just imagine their plight

Charred mountainsides blending with the colors

First glimpse of Viyangala

We have to go downhill. Further afield is the turpentine patch up to where we walked last time

Most popular Ambalama in the 21st Century

The path is almost overgrown

According to Suddha, there had been a tractor path along the now barely visible footpath up to here to collect the tea leaves

The shade was a welcoming sign after the exposure to unforgiving sunlight

Brought back happy memories of the last journey

Plenty of hills but the right hand lady was the one I was very interested in

The village of Kohonawala zoomed from Ambalama

Framed

This must be the most popular but with the least amount of history behind it

Going further downhill

Vibrant colors

When raining, this could be slippery

It was school hols so no visit was possible

Entering the village boundary

As usual, the pot and the hearth are ready to serve the travelers

What more a hungry wonderer like me asks for?

“Pabalu Iringu”, an especial kind

All ready for the Polos Curry

Cooking to perfection

Sleeping without a care in the world

There it comes, everyone was so glad of the rains and I felt like the Rain God.

Finally he decided to go up for precautionary measures

Almost ready

The harvest was rich

New toy for them for the hols

Udara planning his next move while Vajira, the kid from last time, is looking on

Day 02

I got up to the noise of puppies crying for their mother. It had just gone 6am and I could hear the people had already brought morning alms to the temple and little monks were doing the rituals. I got up lazily and strode out to see the Ambalama, higher up in the mountains on the way towards Madolsima. It was a fine morning and the little monks had started to cut the passion fruit preparing to make juice. We had more than enough to make two 1.5-liter bottles, plenty for three kids and two adults. Udara was summoned so he too could join in the workload. While he and one little monk were making the juice, I accompanied the other with a hoe and a basket to dig some manioc from the garden. We managed to find a good haul of them only having to dig at two plants. The chief monk took on the task of peeling and boiling them. I went on with the washing of myself very carefully as the water was a very scarce commodity. By the time I finished the peeled off manioc was in the pot looking creamy white having shed their brown and pink outer cover, all set to be boiled.

I got ready while they went on with their choirs. In no time juice was made and carefully strained into two bottles and boiled manioc already served on a freshly cut banana leaf with hot Lunu Miris. We had milk rice and manioc for breakfast and packed most of it wrapped in the same banana leaf for lunch. Udara had gone and put on a new suit for the journey, would you believe it now? New clothes to climb a mountain through the dense undergrowth? I’m sure lady Viyangala must have been flattered by the naivety of this kid. Suddha still wasn’t fully convinced and looked to bolt at the slightest chance despite numerous reassurances from the chief monk. We bid our farewell to him and were on our way. I was planning to get to Madolsima from Galulla. I promised to come back soon with the wheelchair for that handicap boy. We started our journey while the sun kept coming over the mountains to haunt us with his piercing rays.

Well, there are two ways to reach the Viyangala, one relatively easy and the other is pretty tough. If one chose to go climb the mountain from Madolsima, it’s the easy way. You have to take the Madolsima – Ekiriya road about 3-4km till you reach the Galulla turn off to your left through the Galulla tea estate. From there it’s another 1-2km to the Galulla village along the estate road till you reach the Bo Tree with a mud hut next to it. This is called the Pahalagama junction. The estate road is concrete paved but only at places. The rest is in not-so-good condition but motorable. From the Bo tree, there’s a path that starts with steps to your right. It’s 3800 feet from here to the last house of the village where you have to climb the last bit of Viyangala. The house belongs to a very hospitable farmer called Gune. “How do you know the exact distance to his house from the Bo tree”, you’re bound to ask me and the answer is easy. Gune had measured it with the Grama Niladhari in the hope of making that path into at least a tuk tuk-driven one. Because they too have to carry their harvest on their heads to the Pahalagama junction to be sent to the town, not so a tough task compared to Kohonawala people. The most unfortunate thing is when they have more than one sacks of things to transport, which is most often the case, they have to do multiple trips back and forth carrying them. However they have to leave somebody to guard those sacks against thieves. Otherwise when they go back for another load, one they brought before would’ve been vanished without a trace. Well that is their plight for you.

Coming back to the directions, when you reach Gune’s house, it’s less than a kilometer hike to the top of the Viyangala. That is always supposing Gune lets you walk through his garden to climb. Well, if you speak to the chief monk of Kohonawala temple first and then he recommends you to Gune, you should be ok. I have given his contact number, so if you wanna climb this, do check with him in advance. However do try not to disturb him unnecessarily as he’s always working in his lands trying to make a living. It’s always best to contact the temple first and get through to him via the chief monk. So it was the easy path but for some mockery of my destiny, I was to take the difficult one from the Kohonawala climbing all the way to Galulla then walk across to Gune’s house.

We passed the village and walked along a tiny footpath that winds up the mountain to Galulla. Ideally we should have started as early as possible, say around 6.30am but all our preparations took its sweet little time. The Viyangala was now to our left looking down on us as if challenging us to climb her. “Who Dares Wins” is the motto of elite British commando unit, Special Air Service aka SAS and it’s one of my favorite mottos and I wasn’t gonna falter having come all this far. The heat kept breathing down our necks and we had made a grave error in our hasty preparations. We had two bottles of passion fruit juice but not a drop of water; gosh I wanted to kick myself for overlooking it. It made me feel worse after tasting the juice as it was a wee bit saltier than necessary. It means only one thing; it will make you all the thirstier. I couldn’t possibly have let three kids aged between 9 and 14 to figure it out. Thank goodness Hari wasn’t there otherwise he’d moaned to death without water.

We made good ground but my fully laden back pack dragged me down making every step a challenge. In about an hour we cleared the trees and entered a Mana patch that was taller than us in most places. We could see the mountains to Kahataruppa and the Ambalama was still way higher up. I kept asking Suddha if the Galulla village is in line with the Ambalama just to get a sense of the height but he said to my great disappointment, that it was higher than that. “Ok legs, be ready for more, this is just the beginning” I mumbled to myself. The razor sharp Mana blades scraped my exposed arms and legs but I hardly felt it as I kept it going steadily up patting the battle scarred legs. After what felt like an eternity, we reached a flat area where there had been a house long ago. Now only the remains of the foundation and a well could be seen. Udara said the grandpa who was the last to live in the house now roams around in a ghost form. That was why he and one of the little monks who had climbed before us were waiting for our arrival. So it’s a well-known thing but I had a lot on my plate at the time than to worry about those unseen spirits.

The passion juice did very little to clench my thirst, nevertheless the kids kept gulping it down blaming one another for adding more salt than sugar. I was the worst affected but not about to call it quits. We continued from there towards Galulla. Well, I think I’ll now save you the trouble of having to read me struggling uphill and get to the point.

Having taken numerous breaks on the way, we finally crossed the wooden post that acts as a gate and reached the first house of Galulla village. The household was very hospitable, more so due to the presence of little monks. After a long pull of water, we were offered some tea, in the monks’ terms “Gilanpasa”. The old grandpa warned us against trying to climb the mountain but we were determined to, especially the little monks and Udara were in no mood to back down. He said that Gune might not be at home, even if he was, he wouldn’t let us go through his garden. “Well, we’ll have to take our chances and go see, won’t we?” said one of the monks and that settled the matter. We dumped one bottle of juice and filled it with water. Thankfully it was a flat terrain that we had to walk till we reached Gune’s house. We did it soon and were at his gate which was closed. On the corrugated tin plate that acts as the gate was painted with a map of some sort and a telephone number.

It was a crude hand drawn map which I couldn’t make head or tail. We saw someone in the distance close to house and Suddha spoke to him. Another came out of the house and told us the gate was unlocked and we could come in. I was relieved and we went through. It’s about 200m walk along a jack tree-lined path to the house. There were lime and orange trees full of fruits but on the verge of falling off due to lack of water. We were warmly welcomed by Gune and one of his relatives Kalu Ayya. The usual offers of water and tea followed one after. That is the typical Sri Lankan hospitality to you.

His house is located at a very beautiful place just below the summit and you can see miles all around, especially towards Mahiyangana, we could see a couple of tanks too probably Loggal Oya reservoir, Hepola Oya reservoir and Dambarawa tank. At night he could see the Mahiyangana town clearly, even the gigantic Buddha statue, Gune claimed proudly. However and atmospherical haze limited our vision and it was hard to beat the glare of the sun. Gune has been living in this house for the last three decades but now he lives on his own as both his parents had passed away. What a beautiful place to have, I kept wondering. In fact his land is the gateway for the winds that are gushing from one end to the other and he has a helluva job keeping his roof intact. After the pleasantries we decided to start the hike. In fact he’s laid a small pipeline stretching about couple of hundred meters halfway to the summit bringing a trickle of water that is being originated amid Mana bushes. We followed it around the rock till we reached the spring. He’d built a tiny squarely shaped structure with a cotton cloth over it acting as a filter. Clever chap, isn’t he? According to his and the villagers’ beliefs, God Kalu Bandara is protecting them, and that tiny trickle of water is a gift from that God to him.

The sun tried his best to inconvenience us but the cool breeze coming from all around the mountains kept us sane. Everywhere were the signs of wildlife as there were dungs of rabbits and wild boars. After tackling through 6-foot tall Mana bushes for the second time of the day we finally arrived at the summit where a tiny slab of the rock visible from the dense grass and Mana undergrowth. We could see all around but that taller than us Mana plants made the visibility not so easy, especially the camera found it hard to focus on anything other than the blades of Mana. It shows no lens can be smarter than the naked eye.

The Kohonawala village was so far down in the ravine that we had to get closer to the edge of the rock for a proper look. We could see a smoke rising beyond the school. We could also see a few houses scattered across only the roofs were visible among the greenery. We managed to shoot three short clips, kinda documentary from this majestic location. Do check them out below.

Documentary 1 of 3.

Documentary 2 of 3.

Documentary 3 of 3.

There was a large Nuga tree growing from a side of the mountain. There was Gune’s house below, far down than I imagined. We could even see the Ambalama but at definitely a lower level. I just couldn’t believe that I was actually here having only dreamt about it last time from the Ambalama. So the tables were changed along with the positions. We took a different and shorter path downhill and reached his house in high spirits. We were ravenous and as soon as we got home Gune handed out plates around for manioc lunch. Gosh, it tasted so much better after a strenuous hike. Having devoured our sumptuous meal we were on our way as there was so much to go. We had 3800 more feet to reach the Bo tree at Pahalagama, you know how the distance came but not before paying a brief visit to Gune’s chena cultivation of manioc that he is so proud of. It’s located facing the Viyangala giving a clear view of Kohonawala downhill. Gune didn’t wanna leave us there so instead followed us to the Bo tree and even called for a tuk tuk for us to get to Madolsima.

Their cries woke me up

Must’ve been darn hungry

Busily making juice for the climb

Other one making tea

Gosh, he’s found some

The hero of the day

Our cache of manioc

Still half built

See the roof is broken due to a branch of the Bo tree falling on it

Inside the Image house

Plenty more to do

Proposed Sanghawasa

They do toddy tapping too

Fresh

And salivating

Couldn’t have have asked for more

The team, from left: Rev. Deepananda Thero, Udara, Suddha and Rev. Chandananda Thero

Gosh, so steep and so far to go for our goal

Passing the last house met on the way in Kohonawala

Gosh, I’m already lagging behind

Fabulous views

Taking a much needed rest

Clear view towards Kahataruppa

Gosh, some more

We could hardly see in front of us

Having run past us, they were waiting in the fear of the ghost

Madolsima path is towards this side

Here’s a close up of the Ambalama

At the place where a house used to be now believed to be roamed by a spirit

That smoke is coming from Kohonawala

Very old grandpa

Waiting for our tea

He was very reluctant to come but decided to help us nonetheless

The drinking water was all we needed

Hi Pinky!

They look great despite the drought

On our way walking towards Gune’s house

Collecting those precious drops of water

This is the 3800-foot long path

They were always leading

Shady

Here’s the tin sheet and the map. Can you see the telephone number?

Shady path to his house

Makeshift Budu Medura

It’s like entering an orchard

Plenty of them

Ripe nicely

Larger version of them, Jambola

But had no time to savor these

Towards Mahiyanganaya

Possibly the Loggal Oya Reservoir

The team before the last bit

Gune leading the way,

Further in the forest patch is Gune’s house and we tackled the path kissing the rocky wall. Note the pipeline

The path towards Ekiriya and Metigahathenna is below

Expecting rains, the paddy fields is like steps carved on the ground

What little water is filtered before sending along the pipeline

Telling us his stories

Taller than us Mana bushes

Rabbit dung

No idea who this belongs to

The temple seen from Kohonawala

Endless mountains

Some more

This is towards Galulla Tea Estate

Here’s the hut in Gune’s manioc cultivation zoomed

No clear footpath

The path towards Madolsima in the distance while you can see the path we took in the light greenery area

Ambalama and the turpentine patch is here

Looking downhill made me feel dizzy

Here’s the team

Took a short cut

Hungry

Gune’s hut at the manioc chena

Ready to cook meals and make tea

Here’s inside

Have you seen Manioc fruits? This came as a surprise but they were not edible

View from the hut. We were there and got down to the tree (the one above the tiny along the slope) on the slope. Looking from here it makes me scared

Going back

Just before Pahalagama Junction

Galulla Tea Estate

Pahalagama Bo Tree, up to here it’s motorable from Madolsima

They’ve built a hut

I like this

It’s not concrete paved all the way but only at places

Final glance towards the mountains and the Kohonawala is deep down

Having thanked him profusely we bid farewell to him and were on our way. We all reached Madolsima around 4pm and I got a bus to Passara while the rest of my team took the journey back to Kohonawala. It’d been a rollercoaster of two days it didn’t end till 3am when I reached home so exhausted even to breathe.

Well I didn’t think I would end up doing this hike at first but instantaneous decisions got me through all that. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I could bring this unknown beauty in style for you.

Enjoy some Panos too.

Pano 1

Pano 2

Pano 3

Pano 4

Pano 5

Pano 6

Pano 7

Hopefully I’ll be able to bring you the scenes of our handing over of the wheelchair to that boy in the next episode. By the time you read this, it’d have happened.

Keeping the fingers crossed.

Take care and keep exploring, this is Sri signing off for now.

P.S. I’m glad to let you know that we delivered the wheelchair to the boy in the village and are now in the process of helping them build the Image House aka Dhathu Mandiraya. Take a look at the Videos of Wheelchair Donation and will send in the details with the next report.

Further, Prasanna (Prasa) and Ana have funded the much needed cement and metal for the Image House. They deposited the money to the account and the monk is in the process of re-starting the building work. Fortunately, they’ve also received money from the government for the Sanghawasa. Hopefully both the image house and Sanghawasa will be completed soon giving the village a much needed temple.

“Good morning and very sorry for the delay” I got in to the jeep apologizing Yohan and NG, whom I kept waiting for me for more than 20 minutes. It was a little bit of unusual setup for a journey for me; a journey in the middle of the week – yes, a working day -, strangely decided to wait for the early morning bus – which for my disappointment wasn’t there – and late! – no, I’m not late all the time. My work schedule which usually does not allow me to roam around during weekdays, surprisingly gave me a break. Anyway it was –as I told to our team later- was a journey that I would not have wanted to miss at any cost. It was a chance that did not want to miss. All in all, perfect, everything happened in favor of me, I joined the convoy to take part in an unforgettable expedition.

The third one of our team was picked on the way and we headed towards Monaragala, met Ashan who had concluded his day’s duty. After the lunch we proceeded without Ashan who promised to catch us on the following day to join our main expedition. We reached Kotiyagala in the afternoon and met the guide who was prepared to take us to Mailla – our first day’s plan.

“Six miles into the thick jungle to the right from the Kotiyagala Colony, a cave temple with a reclining Buddha image and paintings is found. The reclining Buddha had been constructed in brick and clay mortar and plastered with lime.

Parts of the reclining Buddha statue had been destroyed by treasure hunters. The cave roof is decorated with attractive paintings and over the head of the Buddha image on a red backfall, the floral motifs and the figures of tuskers are painted. The paintings of this temple comprise those of various floral motifs, figures similar to the damsels of Sigiriya, various forms of humans and animals.”

Source – www.archaeology.gov.lk

The road the Mailla – if one can call that a road – was along the chena cultivations. Thanks to Yohan’s jeep it wasn’t too difficult for us to reach Mailla hill after tackling some kilometers along what was hardly a road.

scenery on the way to Mailla

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Mailla hill among the chena cultivations

life – different stages

We stopped the vehicle at the foothill where a monastery was, with a monk living alone. We met the monk who wasn’t very welcoming and gave all our details and explained our purpose. The monk’s vigilance is great in one way though it was a bit irritating to us. He even had went on for trying out our mobile numbers we gave him and once he found one of us had written down only 9 digits – obviously by a mistake – had called 119. But considering the number of treasure hunting activities happening in the area we cannot blame him for doing that.  Luckily we had informed the local police station about our visit and had given our details, so the police just verified if we were the same group.

The cave where the paintings were just a few meters away from the hermitage.  A drip ledged cave almost opened to the air – not a very protective place was where the frescoes were. It was a large reclining statue of the Lord Buddha what we saw as soon as we came out of the small jungle patch, vandalized by the treasure hunters – smashed, dug, wounded and then repaired using clay probably by the archaeologists. All the grass and plants on the rock surface were dried due to the many months long drought prevailed in the area. The Buddha statue blended with the dry surroundings was nice scenery though.

The cave – first sight

Dired up

The statue

The famous frescoes were on the ceiling of the cave above the Buddha statue. There were a hundreds of paintings on that medium sized cave ceiling. It was clearly seen that there had been many layers of painting on top of each other hinting that the paintings have been redone several times over the years.

.	Cieling decor

Another decoration

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Probably a peacock

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Some of these paintings are said to be very old. As it seemed all of those were pre-Kandyan era paintings. Some of those said to be closely related to the world famous Sigiriya frescoes. There was one clear painting which very closely resembled a “Sigiri Apsara”.

Very similar to Sigiri Apsaras

and these flowers

these too

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There were four beautiful figures of elephants and tusker paintings. Three out of those four were very clear and a part of the fourth one is damaged. The damaged elephant figure is different and special than the others. An elephant inside a circle surrounded by some hundreds of circular figures, all within one large rectangle was that painting. This painting is believed to resemble the Queen Mahamaya’s dream. The large rectangle is explained as the Anotattha Vila and the circles are as lotuses.

Two tuskers in one place

The third one

and teh fourth one

White elephant cub flying over the Anotattha Vila

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These paintings and the cave have taken a lot of battering over the centuries. At some places the entire plaster is gone. Most places had many damages on the plaster and the paintings.

Plaster is damaged

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Hardly remaining

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On the other side of the cave there were some ruined rooms made out of bricks. On the plaster of those walls too were the paintings – mostly damaged – only a little remaining. Compared to the paintings on the cave’s ceiling, these paintings were large. But only a few places here and there could be seen.

Some clear parts of the remaining paintings on the wall

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.	Almost destroyed

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The Kuti

There were a couple of Weddah paintings on another cave too

The mahout riding the elephant

Probably a triplet

Again the mahout and the elephant

Mailla / Mayilla cave is known as one of the best places to study ancient Sri Lankan paintings. But it didn’t look like taken care of very well. Not by at least the ones who study this place. The place has had a several attacks by the treasure hunters. Natural forces are slowly erasing the unprotected paintings. It is obvious if the authorities do not act fast, these magnificent frescoes will be lost forever. Soon it will only be a historical place in study materials.

View from top of the cave

Vandalized

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On the way back

Here’s a small video clip made out of the footages taken during our visit

Thank you for reading.

This is part of my dream trip and part of Harinda’s dream. On my way to Kehelpothdoruwegala climbing I heard about a foot pathway from Kalugala to Meemure. Harinda has noted a foot pathway from Alugal Lena to Meemure in his Alugal Lena trip. We wanted to combine these two trails and do it in two days with camping at Alugal Lena.

I would like to divide this trekking into few stretches:

1. Hunnasgiriya to Thangappuwa via Corbet’s gap
2. Thangappuwa to Alugal Lena
3. Alugal Lena to Karambakatiya
4. Karambakatiya to Na Ela
5. Na Ela to Kalugala

1. Hunnasgiriya to Thangappuwa via Corbet’s gap.

We reached Hunnasgiriya town from Colombo at 10.30 am. After buying necessary things from Hunnasgiriya we called to a three wheeler to reach Thangappuwa. Weather was gloomy and it was about to rain. We have planned to meet our trekkers (Shiwa and Rajendran) at Thangappuwa. On our way we enjoyed the surrounding beauty. Though we asked to get ticket to visit at Alugal Lena from Deenstone ticket counter, they said no need. We met our trekkers in Thangappuwa at 1pm.

View from Hunnasgiriya to Corbet’s gap: Nawenagala (1487m) covered with mist

View from Hunnasgiriya to Corbet’s gap: Black arrow-Kehelpothdoruwegala (කෙහෙල්පොත්දොරුවේගල). Red arrow-Garandi Gala (ගැරඩි ගල)

View at Corbet’s Gap: Misty peaks

View at Corbet’s Gap: Road to Meemure

View at Corbet’s Gap: Meemure will get electricity from central line through Thangappuwa in near future

View at Corbet’s Gap: Dumbara Valley and Kandy-Mahiyangana road shown in arrow

View at Corbet’s Gap: Red star-Balalgira (බලල් ගිර), Green star-, Black star-Friar’s Hood. Balalgira is a good view point. (Refer trip report )

View from Corbet’s gap to Thangappuwa: Dumbanagala (දුම්බානාගල)

View from Corbet’s gap to Thangappuwa: Mahiyangana town

View from Corbet’s gap to Thangappuwa: Sorabora Wewa (සොරබොර වැව) at Mahiyangana

After having lunch from Shiva’s place at Thangappuwa, we started the walk to Alugal Lena.

2. Thangappuwa to Alugal Lena

Foot pathway to Alugal Lena from Thangappuwa started behind the line houses of Thangappuwa. It has an initial ascent through tea patch and then few ascends and descends. We came across the foot pathways to Kotaganga Falls and Knuckles peaks in our left hand side. We were caught to a heavy rain during the walking and surrounding was occupied by thick mist following rain. Forest department has cleared the foot pathway recently and therefore no difficulty in reaching the destination. There were abundant water streams due to rain. After 3hours journey we reached Alugal Lena.

At Thangappuwa Town. Direction board with distances – Click Image to Enlarge

Smiley faces

Initial ascent of foot pathway

Crossing a bridge

View of Thangappuwa

Pouring rain. This board shows kind of a resting place

Abundant water streams

Clear foot pathway

Foot pathway to Kota Ganga Falls (කොට ගග ඇල්ල

Misty forest

Entering to a plane where five peaks of Knuckles visible. But we were not able to see them due to mist

Black arrow shows the foot pathway to Knuckles peaks. White arrow to Alugal Lena

Having a break to remove leeches

First glimpse of Alugal Lena Mountain

Alugal Lena

Alugal Lena (1515m)

Alugal Lena is situated at the base of Alugal Lena Mountain. This cave is surrounded by old Cardamom estates. Two families have lived there when cardamom estate functions well. Therefore still brick walls can be seen. Don’t know the historical background of this cave. This is an ideal place for camping. We could detect a water source just above and right hand side of the cave. Space is enough for about 20-30 people to stay.

We have spent the night at Alugal Lena and went down to Karambakatiya next day morning.

Note-Enough space in Alugal Lena

Separate place for bonfire

Where we slept. We didn’t need a tent

How we got water

Warm up

Five in the journey. Left and right hand fellows are our trekkers

3. Alugal Lena to Karambakatiya.

Foot pathway to Karambakatiya starts infront of Alugal Lena. Initially it descends sharply through cardamom bushes. Therefore it takes time to go down as need of well control. We came across a “Wadiya” (වාඩිය) where people rest when they come to pluck Enasal. Foot pathway is clear as it is frequently used. It crossed several water streams and went parallel to the main stream. We got 3hours to reach Karambakatiya where road from Hunnasgiriya to Meemure goes. We said good bye to our trekkers after this section.

White arrow shows the foot pathway to Karambakatiya. Black arrow shows the foot pathway from Thangappuwa

Getting down was bit difficult

Old cardamom estates are still functioning. They can’t clear and put fertilizer to Enasal estate. But can pluck them

Cardamom

Peaks are getting cleared from mist.

Tree arch

Getting down from this part was bit diff cult.

Road side beauty

Reaching Enasal Wadiya. Note the foot pathway restarts behind the house

Tree man.

Another sharp descend

“Maussa”(මා උස්සා) plant. When this plant accidentally touches you, will develop severe itching

Some part of the foot pathway has been vanished due to landslides. But if you look around carefully you can find the other end of the foot path way

Toddy Tapping

A land mark. Foot pathway goes closer to this rock

Junction. Take right hand foot pathway

This is the largest water steam we came across

Alugal Lena Mountain. Cave is at the base of this

Abandoned house

Another junction. Take left foot pathway. (White arrow)

Entering to Mana area

Landscaping…

Return to civilization. Brick walls of Karambakatiya village

Directions. Hari (right) shows the direction to Meemure. Nirosh shows direction to Hunnasgiriya. Foot pathway to Alugal Lena is behind them. Few meters after this point towards Meemure, there was a tea shop. We had a plane tea with Kithul jaggery before our next stretch

4. Karambakatiya to Na Ela.

This part can be done by a vehicle. Actually this is the road to Nitro cave. Though we tried to find a three wheeler to complete this stretch we couldn’t. Then we decided to walk with enjoying the scenic view of surrounding. The road goes through Kumbukgolla and then ended up at Na Ela. On our way we came across the foot pathway from Meemure to Nitro cave. (Refer trail guide). At this junction you may notice other foot pathway to Kosgolla Estate. We didn’t follow that one. I wanted to meet Sugatha Mama at Na Ela village to clarify the direction to Kalugala. He showed another foot pathway from Na Ela to Kosgolla Estate. Both foot pathways joined together at one point.

Take first left turn with the bend when you go up towards Corbet’s gap. Concrete road towards Kumbukgolla

Road condition is good now up to Na Ela village. At Na Ela now they are making a parking area for vehicles which go to Nitro cave. Most probably with a ticket counter

Where we came. Black arrow shows Alugal Lena Kanda. Alugal Lena cave is at it’s base. Knuckles peaks most probably at the area shown by the star

The road winds down to Meemure. But Pusse Ela (පුස්සේ ඇල) and Kaikawala (කයිකාවල) are before Meemure

Knuckles massif

Might be one of Seven Falls of Meemure

Corbet’s gap/Attala Mattuwa (අට්ටාල මට්ටුව)

Passing Kumbukgolla village

Kalupahana 2/ “Hellena gala.” (කළුපහන 2/හෙල්ලෙන ගල)

Lakegala Zoomed

Important four way junction. Red arrow shows the foot pathway from Kaikawala. Yellow arrow shows Karambakatiya side. Blue arrow shows the way towards Na-Ela. Black arrow shows the foot pathway from Kosgolla estate. But we didn’t follow this pathway to Kalugala

5. Na Ela to Kalugala.

This was the last stretch and most difficult as it took 4hours to reach Kalugala. We clarified our way from Sugatha Mama at Na Ela. He showed the foot pathway just behind the house next to his home. It ascended since beginning and reached to an open area where panoramic view of surrounding provides. Again it went up through the forest and joined with other road. Then it entered Kosgolla Estate. Though it is called Kosgolla Estate this part only has forest. We were fortunate to visit at Log Cabin of Kosgolla Estate (It is a kind of a cottage). Balcony of this Cabin had a beautiful view of Lakegala. Actually you need prior permission to enter this estate. Then we met estate manager and got permission. After passing line houses we have noticed some Enasal cultivation at this estate.

We had to pass a sharp ascend after Kosgolla estate to reach Ambalama. Following that it was a sharp descend till Kalugala. We hired a three wheeler from Kalugala to Ududumbara to get Kandy bus.

Starting the journey behind the house

Climbing up

Beautiful view at open area

Lakegala is shown by star and Kalupahana 2 is shown by arrow

The foot pathway we followed is shown by white arrow and black arrow shows other pathway. This is the junction

Entering to Kosgolla Estate. There were short cuts between proper pathways at the estate. We followed them

Dried waterfall inside the estate

Log Cabin of the estate

Splendid view of Lakegala from Log cabin

Moving away from Log cabin. Then you will come across the quarters of the estate. Estate manager was there

Kosgolla Line houses. Pathetic situation is children at this line houses don’t go to school. Then they have to go to Kalugala (2hour climbing) to buy household things

Proper cardamom section of the estate

Passing the estate

Passing the estate

Ascending up again

Directions to Kosgolla Estate

Reaching Ambalama (අම්බලම)

Faces tell the tiredness of the journey

Descended to Kalugala

Kandy-Mahiyangana road is shown by black arrow

Mahiyangana Town and Mapakada Lake

Getting down

Flat section….

Entering to Kalugala. This boutique is a land mark if you do this trail in other way round

Pathway in summary: Black star shows the starting point at Hunnasgiriya. Followed up to Corbet’s gap/ Attalamattuwa (Red star) then to Thangappuwa-Alugal Lena trail head (Brown star). Walking from Thangappuwa to Alugal Lena and then to Karambakatiya is shown by red arrows. Green star shows starting of road from Karambakatiya to Na Ela. Purple star shows the starting point at Na Ela and Purple arrows show the pathway to Kalugala via Kosgolla Estate. Ahs star shows the end point at Ududumbara. – Click Map to Enlarge

Thanks for reading

It was an exciting and fresh morning. After a good night sleep followed by the heartwarming hospitality by the villagers and some hours of listening to interesting folklores, we were ready for our main mission of the visit. By 6.30 am Ashan joined with Theshantha who took the night bus from Colombo to Athimale were at the doorstep.

A quick but filling breakfast was taken and all packed into Yohan’s jeep with as much as possible water bottles in their backpacks and were ready to go. Another three villagers joined us on the way while our journey proceeded through chena cultivations off the roads, along the river Vila Oya. Our plan was to drive as deep as possible into the jungle in order to reduce the distance we had to walk.

Having reached the border of the village’s chena lands we left the vehicle under the shade of a big tree and proceeded towards the jungle. The initial part of our journey was through a jungle patch until we reached the river. About 20 minutes of walking brought us to the river which was totally dried up because of the many months long severe drought. The rest of our journey of about six kilometers was along this river.

Starting the walk through the jungle

Enetered the river

There were so many butterflies. But had no time to waste

Mod Wedda

Oh, apologies for not telling where we were going. Budupatunna! Heard of it? I don’t think so. I don’t think even some of the archaeologists have heard that name. Even I had no clue when I saw the initial discussion started by NG on Lakdaun forum

However after a great effort of map reading, literature reviews and inquiring NG, Yohan and Priyanjan were able to roughly locate the site somewhere in Kotiyagala. Then rest of the mission was undertaken by Ashan who dropped the bomb suddenly by announcing that he has found the place and even visited it. Since that day we were planning our journey, getting delayed for about one year due to various reasons until this day.

It was a hard journey. The path was a totally dried up river, the walking was on soft sand which was burying our feet as soon as we set on it, the sun was burning hot on a clear day in the middle of the driest month of the year, but still we marched on.

First of the many pitstops

Along the river

Totally dried up riverbed. It was a torture walking on soft sand.

Blue – Green & Brown

smooooooth

along the shady part

Frequent pit stops were taken, water was carefully consumed, Jeevani solution was sipped frequently and the journey was enjoyed to the max. Endless blue skies, greenery all around us, thousands of butterflies everywhere, echoing bird songs, presence of wild elephants close to our path a couple of times and endless chatting took us along the journey.

lovely

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Perfect

Kumbuk Puttuwa

Claw marks of a bear on a tree. It had climbed in search for honey

Goyam Kole Gala

Four hours into our walking, we reached the landmark where we had to enter the jungle again. Another short walk brought us to our destination. For a moment the heartbeat stopped, ears turned deaf, tongues went dumb and the time stopped. We were looking at three statues carved out of a rock boulder, hidden deep in the jungles, covered by thorny creepers and bushes. It was like an ‘Indiana Jones movie location’ as NG described after watching my video clip.

Behold…. the first sight

What we came looking for

See the statue of Lord Buddha. The head is carefully cut off

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The largest of the three statues was the statue of Lord Buddha in the middle with equal sized two Bodhisathwa statues on either side, similar to the statues in Buduruwagala. The significance of these is that they belong to the Mahayana Buddhism style.

“The rock cut trio of figures represents the Buddha in the center flanked by Avalokitesvara (with his garment held in position by a tiger skin indicating his ascetic identity) and a bodhisattva who could well be Maitreya, as in the case of Buduruwagala”

Source – John Guy, Indian Art and Connoisseurship : Essays in honor of Douglas Barret, page 159

Statue of Buddha in the middle, Awalokitheshwara and Maithree Bdhisathwa on two sides

Destroyed

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Hoods to preven water droping I guess

The vandalized pagoda

A Japanese team from Hosei University had come exploring this site in 1985. An old article related to their exploration triggered NG’s first discussion about Budupatunna and ended up with us going on exploring the same.

The Japanese journal says

“It is thought to have been able to be able to until October 3 end of activities, to explore the ruins point of 51 points total, and include better-than-expected performance. Waketemo is U~iraoya-Budo~upato~un’na ruins, ruins of extremely rare Mahayana Buddhism system, is Shakasanzon image obtained by a round carved rock, Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka art history also archaeological also have an important value in Sri Lanka mainstream I considered.”

Source – Sri Lanka jungle ruins exploration Corps (Fifth Corps) summary of activities

An image from the Japanese Journal of their exploration in 1985

The trio of statues were in very good state when the Japanese discovered it

However the current status of the statues was very bad. Though it has been hidden deep in the jungle full of wild animals and once was a territory of the terrorists, Budupatunna has had no escape from the cruel greedy eyes of the treasure hunters. One of the Bodhisattva statues was totally destroyed. The head of the Buddha statue is carefully cut and removed, probably now being kept in a glass box of a billionaire’s house as a relic. The base of the statues and the pagoda nearby were dug and vandalized.

See the video clip

From another angle

This is the best remaining statue

.	Another angle

.	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – named by NG

.	One last look. Probably this will be last time we see these in this state

It was past noon so we had to say good bye to this precious place, which probably we will never see again in any better shape. Returned to the river, had a light lunch, had a nap for about 40 minutes under the shade of a giant Kumbuk tree, we started our torturous return.

Ashan the Hanu-man on Kumbuk Poottuwa

A nap after lunch

While lying on the riverbed saw this above

The textures of nature

Lovely

A luxury pitstop

He wasn’t looking for luxuries though

Just as we came out of the jungle

We had to get pass them to get to the vehicle

Serenity

Thank you for reading

Exploring the wilds was always our thing, we had the wonderful experience of camping on a mountain, so now we thought of getting our feet wet; the beach. Our country is blessed with beautiful beaches, so after much thought we chose Kalpitiya, the beautiful peninsula in the Puttlam district as our destination. Based on our past experience we needed a contact person, that’s when we got the contact of Mr. Sugath Emmanuel (0778600539), a local boat owner from Kudawa in Kalpitiya. He said there are islands where one could camp but the boat charges were heavy, also there are good spots on the beach he said and could arrange a place for us.

Gearing up for another adventure, Minol Peiris, Suran Perera and Myself selected the 2nd week end of July and planned to take the Saturday morning train to Palavi and bus-it from there.

Following our dreams of camping in the wild, our story began; by 04.30am we geared up and started for the Kapuwatta station, at 04.50 the train arrived and we boarded on another adventure. The train ride was quite peaceful and after Negombo the scenery was just amazing so we sat on the foot board of the almost empty train and watched how the wet zone transformed to the dry zone. Another stunning site were the ghosts of the rail way; the rusting train carriages after Naththandiy

Kapuwatta station

During the stop at Naththandiya

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At 08.15am we arrived at Palavi, the gate way to the Peninsula. We inquired about the train times for tomorrow and were glad to find a train at 10.05am so we decided to catch this train but that meant that our stay at the beach will be shortened. After having breakfast in the town and gathering our supplies we took a bus to Kurichchanpitiya junction as instructed by Mr. Sugath. The bus was a bit crowed and took about one hour to get there. The road to Kudawa beach is from this junction and we took a three-wheeler to his place which was near the beach.

Mr.Sugath is highly influential in the area as he is the President of the local Boat Owners Association. Once at his home we kept our bags there and went with him to the beach to see the location; he showed a nice spot under some coconut trees to make camp, but it did not seem to be a quiet spot as there was a contraction site nearby for a massive wind mill. This was at the beginning of the Kalpitiya lagoon and from here starts the isthmus called the sand route connecting a larger part of the peninsula. He said to put a walk to the lagoon and come while he arranged lunch.

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.	From left: Minol, Myself and Suran

.	Palavi town

When walking towards the lagoon we were surprised to find a large number of foreigners “Kite-surfing”. That looked so fun to try but we were told that there are kite-surfing schools in the area and it takes couple of weeks of practice, and many foreigners stay for 2-3 months to learn! Continuing along the isthmus passing the “wardiya” with some small huts, there was a stretch that due to the strong winds for about a foot high the sand from the beach was being blasted like a little sand storm and it was like needles being thrown as our feet.

.	The Kite surfers !!!

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.	The sand storm region

After this the sand route became a bit narrow and Mangroves started to appear on the banks of the lagoon. Here we soon came across a spot that bewildered all 3 of us; there hidden among the mangroves, the perfect camp site! But we had come too far all most 3km from the Kudawa beach, so in the hot blazing sun we walked back to the house. When inquired about that area from Mr. Sugath he said it was safe but it was too far to walk to and back again in the morning, but nothing was on our mind but that, so he said he can arrange a three-wheeler half way there to the wardiya. So after lunch we had a swim in the beach nearby and took the tuk tuk to the wardiya and from there hiked to the “most beautiful camp site in the world”.

Entering the Mangrove area

On our way to the camp site in the evening after getting off at the Wardiya

So sorry man !

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.	Hermit crab

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The mangroves were arranged in a way that we had a separate place for the tent, kitchen, living area and a water front veranda on the lagoon and with the sea on the other side 5m away! It was paradise. We even had neighbours too; Hermit crabs. We set up the tent by 5 in the evening and then came our signature: we went to the beach and to the setting sun waved the Lion flag at the success of our adventure.

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Then had a hard time getting the camp fire going due to the wind and at one point we almost ran out of fire wood. Finally to our relief we got the fire going and had a late evening Marmite drink. For dinner we had baked beans and fried chicken. To add to the splendour of this place it was Poya and with the moon light we did not need our torches. Relaxing on the bank of the lagoon surrounded by mangrove forests in the moon light was just Heaven! Caught amidst this beauty of nature we dozed off for the night.

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Hermit crab

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.	No !!!!!!!!!!!!

The Wardiya

With Mr. Sugath

Click Image to Enlarge

Red arrow – route from Kudawa beach along the sand route and the location of the camp site is the Red cirlce

Exact location of our camp site!

We woke up early the next day as we had to make it early for the train, so we had bread and chicken for breakfast, enjoyed the morning breeze and broke camp at 07.00am, and then headed for the wardiya to catch the tuk tuk we had arranged yesterday. We made it a point to take all what we took at the camp site adhering to the principle “leave only foot prints” so we left it the way we found it. After having tea at Mr. Sugath’s place we bid him farewell came to the junction to take the bus to Palavi. The train came in time and we were home for lunch! Though this was a very short camping adventure it was surly well worth, with the company of friends in a double water-front camp site in the wilds; that was the Life!

THE END

As Knuckles is a well known mountain range in Sri Lanka we felt guilty for not going hiking in this range. So after a few cancellation we decided to do this hike however. We got into a Colombo – Kandy bus from Mawanella around 06.45 am. We reached Kandy railway station around 7.20 am and wait for Matale train. We got into the slow train and reached Waththegama around 09.00 am. We took some bread and other items from Waththegama town.

Luckily we were able to catch a bus to Bambarella. The bus left around 09.30 am from Waththegama town. We were talking with the bus conductor and passengers regarding our knuckles route. BTW bus conductor told that he knew about the route and entrance point.

We reached Thawalamthenna around 11.00 am and we crossed the bridge and then keep on walking. So we came to a place where the steps are going on left so we decided to change the dress and start the hike.

The bus will take you to last stop; we had to walk from there…

You have to start the trail from this point

Suddenly a person whom travelled with us from Waththegama came to us and inquired about us. He said he was from Wildlife department. He asked us for the permission letter we obtained from department. So we convinced him and said that we were not aware of that permission issue. He said we should have to take an entrance ticket for Rs. 30/= and need to obtain a guide from there. He further pointed out that entering without permission will lead to 6 months jail or 200,000 rupees penalty.

Providing identification details to wild life department officer

We were able to compromise him that we are doing hiking from day one and nature lovers so no need to afraid on us and we provide our NIC numbers and including addresses so that he could trust us. BTW there was no one we can buy entrance tickets. So we said we will pay them when we are returning.

The Officer helped us on start of trail

So please take necessary permissions from wild life department or an entrance ticket from trail starting point and obtain the help of a guide

Then he accompanied with us for a while in walking and he showed the way to estate. We took our breakfast just before the estate and start our walking. When we came to estate we took left and walk. We had to walk nearly 4-5 km throughout the estate roads. After a long walk along the estate roads we came to the point where the real hike begins.

Walking along the green blanket of nature is an amazing experience

The gloomy background was a warning which we didn’t care of it

Walking through estate roads…

We came across this stream, unfortunately she was not that much water flowing..

Crew is walking through a bridge…

There are lot of streams crossing your way during the journey

Starting point of the actual trail, you will find directions in your RHS

A concrete patch of road leading to a small name board was the point where we had to start our real hike. It was already 12 and we were heading up for the mountains. At the beginning the surrounding was only covered with mana plants and as the period was drought, it had all dried up and we had to put an immense effort to battle it out with the sun.

Suresh is standing along with name board of Knuckles Peak Nature Trail…

After about 300m of ascending we came to a waterfall and spent some time there and started to move forward. After crossing the waterfall, it was easy for us to ascend because we had to go through the trees. After about half an hour of ascending we came on top of the 1st mountain. And then we headed towards the second one. It didn’t take much time for that within half an hour we got there.

.	A hidden beautiful waterfall always add values to a hike

But still time was running out and it was already 3.30pm then and the mist has started to cover up. So we made our stride as quickly as possible to the 3rd mountain as there were no suitable places to put up the tent in the second one. The path was bit clear, but we had to cover quite a lot of ground to reach up to the 3rd one than the other 2. As it was getting darker and as still we didn’t reach the top we were bit hesitant to go forward and we thought of tent somewhere over there. But before that we decided to send someone up to the top and see whether it is possible to go up that day itself. Aashik voluntarily took up the challenge and went to the top. Within 15 minutes he came down and said that the summit is not far away, and we could reach there in a 15 minutes time. And specially told that summit was the better place to put up the tent. So we all went up to the summit and after that we put up the tent as soon as possible.

The path is clear and you have to keep on walking towards top

Walking through bamboo jungle…

The range can be seen completely after you pass waterfall and continue your walk

BTW do not forget that Knuckles requires a long walk than you think

Entering into misty world..

Capturing a moment in mist

Yes we were staying on top of clouds :-)

It was a hide and search run with nature

But, to our unfortunate it began to rain heavily and the most unfortunate thing of all was that our tent became a pond and we were as frogs in the pond. Any way it was not going well for us. We tried to pour out the water with the baskets we had, but in vain.

Then we decided we should shift the tent somewhere else because it was not a pit where we had put up the tent. All the water was poured into our tent. Then 2 of us went out and found a better place. Then we shifted the place. After about 2 hours of intense raining, it began to ease up. Then we slept in the wet cover after consuming the dinner.

When we got up in the morning, it was really a heavenly place to see. If you are a real nature lover u will pump out your heart at it. We were amazed at seeing those beauties. After admiration, we took up our breakfast, bread and Tin Fish sambol.

View from our tent, where we were able to survive the flooding last night inside the tent

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.	Make your shadow over mountains (edited image and couldn’t find the original)

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.	Shadows tell how higher you are…

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.	It was slippery while climbing down..

Then we decided to descend down wards. The path was slippery as there had been rain previous night. We kept our strides carefully and descended down. Within an hour and a half we were able to reach the bottom.
We were able to get a fish therapy in river (just near the bridge) and got refreshed. All you had to do is just put your legs there and small fishes will come around your legs.

And then we reached Thawalamthenna we got to know that the buses scheduled that day weren’t working. So we had to walk to the next town. From there we got on to a public van and reached… after that we got home taking a bus from there. It was one of the memorable hikes we had.

Gal Koth Kanda-It’s unique appearance

View at Pahala Erawula area

This is the rock which looks about to fall

Most right peak is Gal Koth Kanda. View at Kandalama Lake bunt with Erawulagala

Triangular shape Mountain

Where it is situated

Gal Koth Kanda is circled. Map mentions it’s name as Dickandahena. But nobody knows it. – Click Map to Enlarge

Gal Koth Kanda got my attention in my Erawulagala climbing. (Refer report on) There was a triangular shape mountain next to Erawulagala and it was a separate mountain from Erawulagala range. I got to know it as Iththakanda but that name was wrong. Then people at Erawula inappropriately name it also as Erawulagala.

There is a unique appearance of this mountain. It has a large rock at top of the mountain which looks about to fall.

We followed the same way up to Erawula junction and got right turn from there to reach Erawula. (Left turn is to Kandalama Lake bunt and Kaludiya Pokuna). Then we passed Pahala Erawula School in right hand side and noticed a house in our left hand side just before Pahala Erawula Lake. A girl at that house confidently told it can be climbed behind the house but no foot pathway now.

So we started the climbing behind this house. Though there was no foot pathway it was not difficult to climb. There was minimal under growth and layers of dry leaves. Always we aimed the peak of the mountain and made our way towards it.

We started the journey behind this house. It is Mr. Punchi Banda’s house

Starting the hike behind the house without a proper foot pathway

Forest department boundary

At some places old foot pathway is clear. Recently nobody has gone to top. Therefore foot pathway was not clear

Getting to the rocky part of the mountain

After about 1/3rd of the journey we reached to first observation point. Surrounding peaks: Yakkurugala යක්කුරුගල (most right), Manikdena මැණික්දෙන (middle), and Gedaragalapathana ගෙදරගලපතන (most left)

Nearby Pahala Erawula Lake

Peak. More to go

Climbing is bit difficult now

Beautiful Yakkurugala is seen in back

This is the rock which seen as about to fall. But actually it is stable

Angle is more now. As there was no foot pathway we went up along the way we thought easier

Gal Koth Kanda has two peaks. The highest point and unique shape rock which is about to fall.
First we reached the highest point of the mountain. But last part of climbing was tough. We spent about one and half hours to reach the peak since start. At this point we had a panoramic view of surrounding areas. Erawulagala, Sigiriya, Pidurangala, Ritigala, Kandalama Tank, Dambulla rock with temple, Punchi Dambulu Kanda, Ibbankatuwa lake, Manikdena, Yakkurugala, Arangala peak, Ambokka, Etipola, Wilshire Mountain, Gedaragalapathana and Elahara-Dambulla road were seen clearly.

This was the most difficult part. We had to squeeze through this narrow canal like area to reach the peak

We climbed like this

Some more to peak. Angle is more now

This is the peak of Gal Koth Kanda

Erawulagala. I have reached to highest point of it shown by the star. (Refer trip report). Note there is a huge gap between Gal Koth Kanda and Erawulagala. So these two are different peaks

Dambulla-Bakamuna road

Nearby paddy fields and Chena. Wewala and Erawula area

Kandalama Lake and it’s island. Now it is connected to main land

Distance view of Kandalama Lake

Ritigala

A-Dambulla Temple with it’s rock. B-Punchi Dambulla Kanda and C-Ibbankatuwa Lake

This is the other peak-Rock which is about to fall. Pahala Erawula Lake

Other nearby peaks. A-Yakkurugala, B-Manikdena, C-Arangala, E and D different peaks of Gedaragalapathana

We are on top of Gal Koth Kanda

I wanna fly

Other peak is the cream of mountain. It is the rock which seen as about to fall. Reaching on top was challengeable. It is not possible to go from top of the mountain to this peak. We descended to some extent and moved towards right side. There was a bamboo patch and later about 30m climbing with 700 angle. Next section was bit tricky as we had to go along sharp rock area like a knife. My friend refused to take such a risk as both side of this ridge was steep. I accepted the challenge and reached the second peak.

Bamboo obstacle

View of second peak

This is the most challenging part. Black arrow shows narrow ridge like pathway. Star shows the peak

On top of second peak-Vandalism

Place for flag at second peak

View of Pahala Erawula Lake and it’s bunt

Design

Summary of the path we climbed up to second peak. Yellow line indicates the steep section we climbed and my friend is at the area shown by circle. Then I walked on this ridge like section shown by red line to reach second peak

After enjoying the surrounding view we went back to road in about 45minutes. There was a nice water spill at Pahala Erawula Lake. We had a bath there to relief our tiredness

Pahala Erawula Lake

Water spill

Group of Little Cormorant

Yakkurugala captured on our way back. Might be next target

Thanks for reading. Have a safe climb.

My morning side trip is a long awaited one and finally arranged for two days. After finishing our blood donation journey to Ilumbekanda Duwili Falls  Amila, Sanadaruwan and I stayed the night at Rakwana. Ashan joined with us in next day morning at Rakwana from Moneragala.
First we travelled to Kadamuduna from Rakwana to visit at Sooriyakanda and Sinharaja Buddhist Hermitage. On the way we enjoyed 10hair pin bends at Buluthota (බුලුතොට). Harinda came all the way from Colombo by his bike and joined with us at Sinharaja Buddhist Hermitage

Bridge is under renovation

Passing Buluthota ten hair pin bends

The byroad at right hand side at Kadamuduna to Sinharaja Buddhist Hermitage and Sooriyakanda

Sinharaja Buddhist Hermitage
We visited at Sinharaja Buddhist Hermitage and then followed the foot pathway towards ancient cave situated within the premises of hermitage. The place where they plan to build new Buddha statue provides nice surrounding view. When we were coming down from the temple we noticed a beautiful pool which is used by estate owners in their visit. Though this area is popular for bird watching we didn’t see many birds.

Junction of the road. Red arrow is the direction to Sooriyakanda Towers. Black arrow to Hermitage

Entering to the Sinharaja Buddhist Hermitage

Nowadays most valuable tree in Sri Lanka

This hermitage functions as a Pirivena also

Beautiful foot pathway towards ancient cave. Good site for bird watching

Common tree I have seen this area

Ancient cave

Snapped behind it

Old Buddha statue and manmade pond

Stupa

Hariya is entering the scene

The place where new Buddha statue is built. This provides a good surrounding view

Rakwana Town zoomed

Kabaragala 2 is seen. (1291m)

Nearby tea estate called Aigborth estate

Pool used by Estate owners

Sinharaja rain forest

Harinda provided transport facilities to us by his bike to transmission towers of Sooriyakanda. There are three transmission towers situated there: SLT, SLRC and ITN. This is not the peak of Sooriyakanda. At this place you can have a good panoramic view with blowing wind. Famous Sooriyakanda burial is also situated close to SLRC towers (later I knew). No need to permission to go there but if you visit at one of transmission towers then need permission. This is 4km walk.

Transmission towers at Sooriyakanda

View of Gongala (ගොන්ගල)-highest mountain of Sabaragamuwa Mountain range. Sooriyakanda occupies government transmission towers in contrast Gongala is the place for transmission towers of privet channels

Where we came

Sooriyakanda peak (1310m) is behind SLT tower

Kadamuduna (කඩමුදුන) Holiday Bungalow made during colonial age

Turning point of Kadamuduna to Sooriyakanda is situated about 2km before Sooriyakanda town. We bought necessary things for cooking from Sooriyakanda town and hired 2 three wheelers to reach the starting point of 7km walking to Morning side bungalow. This road starts about 2km from Sooriyakanda town towards Deniyaya.

Walking to Morning side bungalow is first through the Carlton tea estate and then through the forest was a nice experience. Gongala-highest peak of Sabaragamuwa Mountain range was seen and southern plateau was visible beyond that. Road may get confusion at two sites. One is within initial 2kms. At this junction road divided and we had to follow right side one. Last junction was just before Morning side bungalow. Initial part was a continuous ascend through tea estate and forest patch. After one point climate changed from dry clear weather to typical morning side weather-misty cool weather. When we are close to the bungalow we were heard songs of some afternoon visitors of the bungalow. It took about 3hours to reach there.

Shopping at Sooriyakanda Town

Starting of Morning side road (Black arrow). Tarred road will continue to Deniyaya

Notices

Southern plateau

Gongala transmission towers

Bad condition of the road

Having a rest

This is the junction where road gets divide. Note this building construction. Take right hand side pathway. But it is not difficult to find the correct road

Sinharaja Forest

Sooriyakanda Towers

Handapanthanna side (හදපාන් තැන්න)

The way through the woods

Don’t know the name

Last junction. Black arrow towards Morning side estate and white arrow shows Morning side forest bungalow. But before this junction you may notice the forest bungalow in right hand side bit far away

Morning side and Morning side Forest department Bungalow.
Morning side is situated in east corner of Sinharaja rain forest. As it is always covered with mist it is called Morning side since colonial age. Mist and drizzling is part and parcel of morning side weather. Though it is similar to Hortain plains weather, temperature is not that much low.
Forest department bungalow has two rooms containing 10 bunk beds. Thilakasiri-care taker of this bungalow supplies meals when you provide food items. They have a solar panel to supply electricity but if not possible they will use generator. Therefore Thilakasiri is always careful in using electricity by visitors. They will not provide pillows or bed sheets for beds. Two bathrooms are there but not repaired for long time. Basically this bungalow is not in good condition, if can tolerate with average conditions you can stay there.

Misty bungalow

Gloomy

What you can see when you looked out

Rest of the day we relaxed at Bungalow.

Activities can be done at Morning side
1. Get relaxed
2. Visiting at Morning side tea estate. On the way you can visit at Morning side water fall.
3. Bathing at Natural pool at morning side tea estate.

Though Thilakasiri was the main cook we had our own cooks

Next day morning following breakfast we walked to Morning side tea estate. Road to morning side tea estate is mostly clear and distance about 2km. After about 1km the foot pathway to Morning side waterfall is situated in left hand side. This foot pathway is a clear one and sound of the water fall can be heard. It is about 5m tall waterfall

Get ready with Alum before walk

Misty road

Misty forest

Early morning jogging

Directions to water fall

Morning side waterfall

Road side beauty

Then we entered Morning side tea estate. As this was a Sunday nobody was there. Newly built bungalow and old estate bungalow could be seen.

Entering to Morning side tea estate

Morning side new bungalow

Morning side tea estate

Black and white

Old bungalow under renovation

Fill with mist

We followed the road towards Iththakanda (gate is there at the beginning) and after about 1km, the foot pathway was noticed in right hand side towards natural pool. (This is the border of tea estate and forest). We walked there about 500m to reach natural pool which is a nice place to have a bath.

Ashan shows the foot path to Natural pool

Crossing a water stream

Important junction where take left foot pathway to reach the pool

Natural shallow pool

Risky job over the pool

Water stream above the pool

Mini waterfall

Following our lunch we made our return journey in 1 and half hours. On our way back we got caught to rain. We waited at Sooriyakanda town for a bus to Embilipitiya about 3hours and somehow reached Embilipitiya around 7pm.

Team with Thilakasiri –Man in saron

Adapted for wind

Way back

Lonely man

Ghost

Good bye morning side

Thanks for reading.

The map = path in green, Hanthana 1 & 2 in stars – click to enlarge

Hanthana is one of the well-known hiking destinations in Sri Lanka especially among university students. There are two points named Hanthana 1 & 2. Altogether there are about seven peaks, Hanthana 2 comprise of first and second peaks with towers which we had to skip due to permission issues. Rest of the range belongs to Hanthana 1 where the highest peak of Katusu kanda (Ura kanda) is located. This mountain range located in Central Sri Lanka lies right in the center of the central hills and been isolated by all other prominent peaks make it one of the best view points of central highlands.

I have done many hikes but Hanthana was never in my list so it felt like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle was missing. This time I was committed and I was privileged to be joined by few of my Lakdasun friends. Harinda did arrange a van so we could get to Kandy and return back leisurely without worrying about the transport problem from Kandy. We arrived at Peradeniya at around 7.30am where Nishan joined us. Then we proceeded towards Uda Peradeniya and from there to Upper Hanthana guest house. The last bit of the ride was through a typical mountain forest and we wished we had time to walk that distance. At Upper Hanthana the security guard showed us the trail head and we were on our way in no time. First part was through the mountain forest and after crossing a stream we reached the pines plot. The path was a clear one and been marked at many places by university students. Next was leech country, the tall mana was causing many problems but having a path was a great relief. With a small ascend we reached a tea estate where we removed the leeches and started marching up. The views were splendid so we did have a mini break appreciating landmarks. The tea estate ended at the base of the main range where we had to cross a stream and proceed through the forest. The forest patch was a small one and within no time we reached the range. The clear foot path took us towards the third peak where almost all the Hanthana hikers end up. It was sunny plus windy but the on and of cloudy nature made it a pleasant stay. From here Kandy city, Peradeniya University and many landmarks were seen clearly. I would go in detail later on the landmarks.

starting to march through the forest

Pines

leech country

first glimpse of kandy

ambuluwawa seen on the way

gampola town

Peradeniya campus

through the tea estate

yellow

will never miss out on these

crossing s stream

green velvet

I had plenty of ambul pera

what a path

shiny mana

towards the famous peak

the rays which filter through the clouds make things perfect

3rd peak

view towards Uduwela

hanthana range

Peradeniya

first and second peaks

we explored all of this later

clear path

From the 3^rd peak we wanted to get to the other end of the Hanthana range and end our journey. So we started climbing further up and entered the forest patch on the edge of 4^th and 5^th peaks. There were foot paths at some places but most of those weren’t used frequently. We did come across some interesting terrain and some flora which was totally alien to us. Walking on short mana was also tricky but we had no other option on many occasions. The path we took was parallel to the edge so we came across few sheer drops with splendid viewpoints. The 5^th peak was totally an awesome walk with many splendid lookouts. On and off we came across few water streams but those may dry out during extreme dry periods. Flowers were the main attraction but the winds never allowed us to take clear shots. Katusu kanda was our end destination but to get to it we had to climb through a forest patch and to make things worse there were these trees with long roots hanging from branches obscuring our path. Squeezing our bodys through these tough roots weren’t easy at all since those were very rigid. After battling our way we reached the Katusu kanda range (6^th peak) and a small climb bought us towards a ridge where we took some group snaps. From here it was a small hike towards Katusu kanda where we spent about one hour. There is cave below the hood where we had lunch without been disturbed by the winds.

From Hanthana range one could easily appreciate Kandy and Peradeniya towns, Alagalla, mountains at Mawathagama, Hunnasgiriya, Etipola of mathale, Wiltshire, Hunnasgiriya peak, Gombaniya, Knuckles, Kalupahana and other knuckles mountain peaks, Meda mahanuwara peak, Vicoria reservoir, Digana town, Hanguranketha area, Kukulagala, Galaha, Delthota and whole of Piduruthalagala range, Pussellawa, Peacock hills, Kabaragala, Dolsbage peaks, Aranayake region, Ura kanda, Gampola town, Ambuluwawa, Geli oya town, Uthuwankanda, Peradeniya university and mighty Mahaweli river were few landmarks I could recall.

and no path

Alagalla

the pines patch we tackled

kabaragala at the backdrop of gampola

pano towards Peradeniya and galaha road

through the forest patch

the gap we crossed

window view

life in the shade

lovely isnt it

common finding

burnt trees gaining some life

sheer drop

capturing

looking back

Kandy town

Kukulagala of rikillagaskada seen far away

peacock hills of pussellawa

hunnasgiri peak touching the clouds

plenty of these

found a nelu flower too

more to go

Geli oya and galagedara

Pano towards Digana

Katusu kanda

enjoying the drop

wow

a shelter

the group of hikers

mahaweli river and paddyfields

and another drop

wow

washed away with time

these were one of kind (tackling these was not easy at all)

difficult terrain

looking backwards from katusu kanda

knuckels mountains seen far away

something new

closing on katusu kanda

medamahanuwara peak and randenigala reservoir

drop towards digana side

group picture minus me

katusu kanda

on top of it

towards galaha

flag post

through the cave

piduruthalagala range

paddyfields

mountain tops

pano towards galaha

After having lunch we started descending directly downwards towards Upland watta of Hal oya. First path was along the short mana and later we were tackling 45 degree sloped rock surfaces and at last a hectic stretch through tall mana which drained all our energy before we reached the line houses down below. From here we took shortcuts and reached Sarasavi gama where we were united with our van driver. The nearby stream helped us wash away the mana before saying good bye to Hanthana range. While Nishan and I stayed at Kandy that day others took off towards Colombo with many happy memories. anthana 1 and 22222

the slope

getting down

what a landscape

flat sloped rock

the last and hectic mana patch

looking back towards katusu kanda

Thanks for reading!

It was hot in the town and my nephew who was back from Middle East desperately wanted to escape from the misery.

Where to go for one day?

I suddenly remembered two memorable days we spent at Poonagala Estate. A call to my friend – Mr. Jayasundara (Admin Manager of Poonagala Estate) confirmed the fact that the Nature Park is free for us.

We started at night and reached Bandarawela early in the morning of following day. My friend’s house is another 6 kilo meters towards Poonagala. We were able to wash, refresh, have breakfast and relax a bit at his place.

My friend’s wife, Geetha, insisted that we should prepare and take our lunch in packet-form to the Reserve, so all of us participated for a quick cooking session.

After achieving all these tasks, we started our tour to Poonagala Nature Resort by 10.00 am to reach the destination by 11.00 am.

I was shocked to see the present situation of Nature Resort and adjoining nature park. It is truly an Abandoned Paradise. Nature Resort which is managed by Poonagala Estate needs a concentrated face lift to make it presentable to an average eco traveler. Adjoining nature part (A reserve) is overgrown with high grass and foot paths are difficult to follow. This means only one thing. People are not frequenting the Paradise. This is as bad as overcrowding a place of beauty.

We had a refreshment at Nature Resort facility building and proceeded to visit the Nature Park. First we visited the natural pool, back tracked and went down to reach top of Diyaluma.

Following photos will tell the story.

Towards Poonagala

.

Scene of Bus Accident

Estate Gathering

Entrance to Nature Resort

Inside the Resort

Inside the Resort

Inside the Resort

.	Nature Park

Towards Rock Pool

.

Rock Pool – Safe Bathing Place

Towards Top of Diyaluma

.	Top of Diyaluma

Beginning of a Graceful Journey

Very Dangerous Bathing

Punchi Diyaluma

Climbing Back

Vanishing Foot Path

Vanishing Foot Path

Misty Return to Bandarawela

After my initial visit to Kohonawala on 08-09 March 2014, NG initiated this project of funding a wheelchair to a boy who was handicapped in the village. While organizing that, she carried out a much needed Eye Clinic to the people of Kohonawala and even Urumeethenna with the help of Doctor Asela and Vision 20/20 Team. This was fully funded by NG and the Vision 20/20 Team. Due to the nature of the deformation of the boy, a regular wheelchair couldn’t be used resulting NG to find out a place to build a custom-made one for him.

The actual cost was enormous but she managed to get it down after a lot of bargaining, yet it still was a large sum. Thanks to NG, her mother, Arjuna, Ana and his friends (who like to remain anonymous) we managed to raise the required amount within a very short period.

So thanks to them all, the fee was paid and the wheelchair was ready to be taken but how we were to take it from Colombo all the way to Kohonawala was the million dollar question. As it was custom built so that it could handle the rugged and uneven terrain of Kohonawala, the wheelchair was, compared to an ordinary one, larger and heavier making it impossible to transport by bus. We didn’t wanna send it by train either in case it got damaged in the process as there were many cables and handles that might not survive a train journey amid many other goods to Badulla. Dismantling it was out of the question as we had no technical knowledge about many screws and bolts attached to it so had to take the full packaged assembled as it was.

Again it was Ana who came to our rescue offering his SUV to take the wheelchair to Kohonawala. So we set the dates for 22-23 Aug but due to the busy schedule NG was unable to join us but Athula and I joined Ana for the Journey. Ana had gone and picked up the wheelchair from the manufacturer at Borella in advance which took the whole back space of the vehicle and we left around 3.00am on 22 August while the rains were hitting us from all around.

Tour Highlights:

1. Wheelchair Donation at Kohonawala.
2. Lipton’s Seat, Dambethenna.
3. Scenic Drive along Balangoda-Bogawanthalawa Road.

Day 01

The journey was so tough and tricky due to the heavy showers falling all the way up to Pelmadulla. We were considerably slowed down but thankfully after Beragala, the rains eased somewhat helping us catch up lost ground till we reached Bindunuwewa for a much needed cup of tea having finished a container of egg and tomato sandwiches on the way saving time having to stop for breakfast. We called the temple and informed Rev. Medananda Thero of our arrival and he promised to send some villagers to Loggal Oya help us carry the wheelchair.

We reached Kahataruppa passing Badulla around 8.30am and started the arduous journey downhill towards Urumeethenna. Heavy showers had eroded the road in many places making it so hard to maneuver. Having driven non-stop from 3.00am, Ana kept battling this unforgiving terrain till we reached Urumeethenna around 9.00am to find the road from there to Loggal Oya in an even worse condition. The road is now being excessively used by the Lorries that had carried the transformer (now installed in the village) and now transport electric poles in addition to the sand lorry.

The washed out road was dangerously slippery due to the rain and there were streams flowing across the road too in addition to hundreds of different sizes of rocks scattered all about. It took us a long time to arrive at Loggal Oya, some driving from Ana as well about 9.45am. There were a couple of boys who had come to take the wheelchair and the kids of the village along with the two little monks too awaited our arrival.

The water levels were not so high still tricky crossing over so we decided to walk the rest of the journey as we didn’t wanna chance a flash flood of Loggal Oya stranding us inside the village with the vehicle. NG had sent some books and DVDs (provided by one of her friends Mahil) to be handed to the school as well and we delivered them to Principal’s house through one of the boys but couldn’t contact him at the time. However on our return to Colombo I managed to get through to him and get the confirmation that he’d received them.

Crossing the Loggal Oya was not so tough as they had built a crossing with sand bags so that Lorries could easily reach the village with the transformer and the electric poles. It’s roughly about 2-2.5km hike to the temple which took about more than an hour. We arrived at the temple around 11.00am for a sumptuous meal of Manioc, Kurahan Thalapa with authentic Lunu Miris and Kollu Curry. Everyone was fascinated by the sight of this strange machine, especially the kids.

We chatted for some time but the large black clouds were looming from Madolsima but we went for a bath in the now alive water streams after the rains. Back at temple, we visited the partially completed Kohonawala Temple, hoping to help them build it as well in some way (more about it later). The boy and his family (Father, Mother and the Sister) came to the temple so that we could hand them the chair officially. However the monk was planning to do some Bodhi Pooja before handing them it. I’m sure it’d’ve happened long before you get to read this report and the boy is now enjoying his new ride.

Athula and Ana help them familiarize with the machine while doing some minor adjustments to it so that it fit him nicely. The monk did an introduction and handed the wheelchair and we got him to go for a ride in the temple garden with his family who were delighted at this as it’ll help them keep the boy nice and safe while they get on with their lives. It was a very touching moment to see the boy propped up on the chair and his parents standing by his side. His mother’s face said the whole story and it was a feeling that I can’t put into words, something closer to “Immense Relief”, I guess. It’s been a wonderful thing to see people like these who are really in need of things get them thanks to projects like these. I felt so proud of ourselves and hopefully we’ll be able to carry out more in future, especially environmental conservation and educating our next generation.

After they’d left we sat down for a hearty lunch of Thibbatu with Dried Fish, Polos Curry and Passion Fruit Leaves Mallung with rice. With about to be burst bellies hanging off us, we left Kohonawala bidding our farewell to everyone. Ana raced to the Loggal Oya beating everyone else and we were soon battling it out uphill. Thanks to his skillful driving, we got back on solid ground heaving a sigh of relief and headed towards Haputale.

It was so misty that we could’ve sliced it into blocks and sold instead of ice cubes. It was bone chilling by the time we got out at the rest house and Ana’s friends were already waiting for us wrapped up in thick coats. After a long hot bath, we sat down for dinner and went to bed hoping for an early morning the following day. The winds were so strong and kept hammering at our windows trying to breakthrough. I was in fact very worried that they’d succeed.

The view along Kahataruppa road

Zoomed in

Loggal Oya, with some water after the rains

Ready to cross

Sand bags made it easy

Going uphill

Piled along the road for firewood

Ana, leading the way

Full of them

Just look at them

Taking a break

Busy at work

Like a giant flower

Up close

Closing on the first house met on the way

Here’s where the transformer is erected

Can you see the charred Viyangala? Galulla village is to the right of her

Hope it’ll start functioning soon

Ana taking a break and we were served some tea by the house owners

Munching the peanuts we gave them

All the necessary items ready at hand

Ana wearing a GoPro Camera. Unfortunately the battery was dead before we started recording the journey

Juicy guava plucked by Vajira

The dried up stream is now alive, we had a bath upstream

Here’s the wheelchair

Looks robust

Atha doing some adjustments, even Janthu the dog is wondering what this new beast is

Freshly dug

Ready for the Polos Curry

Here’s the complete breakfast

Getting the Thibbatu ready for lunch

Lakmali with a beautiful smile

Ready to cook

Viyangala through the trees

Atha testing the chair with Vajira on it

Ana helping with the adjustments with the boy on it

More adjustments needed

Atha and Suddha both at work

His sister and mother waiting anxiously

Sister is a bit weary over all these adjustments

Here he is

On his new toy

Atha trying to show them how it’s moved about

The family with Medhananda Thero.

All the kids too wanted to pose with him

Ana and Atha too

The family

Rev. Medhananda Thero.

They took him for a ride out in the garden

Getting accustomed to it

Father is pushing him around

Still some adjustments done by Atha

Finally they went back home, as there will be a Bodhi Pooja with the handing over later in the week

In the meantime, our Thibbau Curry was being nicely cooked

On our way Viyangala is partially hidden by the mist. She must’ve felt naked without those Mana bushes covering her

Suddha follwing us to the river

Crossing over to safety

Flowing over sand bags

The hero of the journey, Toyota Hilux

Day 02

We got up to a chilly morning covered in a thick layer of mist and soon got ready to leave for Lipton’s Seat, a remarkable viewing point popular worldwide. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of people in SL that haven’t even heard about this. This is rumored to be one of the best in the whole world and one could see practically all four corners of SL on a clear day with the aid of a powerful binocular. Night mail was laboring along towards Bandarawela with 2 M6 engines and 12 carriages. The mountains towards Diyathalawa were covered in mist and we soon left for Lipton’s Seat.

The road runs uphill from Haputale Town itself along Dambethenna Tea Estate. There are buses running now from B’Wela to Dambethenna (Haputale-Dambethenna is about 9.5km) but from Dambethenna to Lipton’s Seat is another 5-6km which you can walk but not on a windy, misty and cold morning like the one we went. Driving up through lush greenery was simply awesome while the sun was battling it out with the thick layer of cloud to appear. To our right was the Walawe Basin that runs past Udawalawa, Thanamalwila and all the way to the south coast.

Passing the Dambathenna Tea Factory we met up with the mist obscuring the path. However the road is now very well tarred and maintained making it easier for any vehicle to go right up to the viewing point. Last 2-3km was like driving through a milky sea. All around us was the misty trying to envelope us as if protecting us from some evil eyes. We reached the viewing point around 7.30am, but it looked like late winter evening. There was very little light due to both mist and cloud cover. Strong winds were coming from the tea estates below trying to send us flying back to Haputale. We didn’t have to buy the tickets that are Rs. 50/- each as there was no one to sell them due to the harsh weather.

Most of the time we had to remain half bend in order to fend off the winds. The dew drops that came at us with the winds tried to squeeze their way into our cameras making it so hard to take a pic. Getting up to the refurbished concrete viewing platform (it used to be built on wood and felt shaky last I went couple of year ago) was a huge challenge. We all hug the railing as tight as we could and slowly crept up to the top. It was so fierce and cold up there and we soon got down and ran to the safety of our vehicle. I was so scared we’d be thrown off the road by these never ending winds.

Coming back we met a few boys and girls running up coming from Dambethenna side towards Lipton’s Seat dressed only in their running gear. How on earth they bore that bone-chilling cold is still a mystery to me despite their bodies were heated up after all those running. The basin below us looked breath taking and we took a few breaks to appreciate the view. Then we reached Beragala in search of some breakfast before driving to Balangoda for yet another unforgettable scenic drive.

Good morning misty Haputale!

Tinge of blue in the distant

Ooops!

Plenty of them

New Rest House, Haputale

Finally came the morning light

Just at Lipton’s Seat, you can note the rocks to the left of the picture that have been brought for renovation

Newly painted too

Here’s the story

Welcome all

Mist and the Winds were the theme of the day

Looking at the mist hoping for a breakthrough