Water is life .Value of it cannot be measured in rupees or dollars. Not only for our basic needs but also for our pleasure, Leisure it’s the most commonly used thing. And for me if there is no water source it’s not a trip. I’d like to swim in swiftly flowing rivers and am desperate to dip in natural pools filled with Crystal clear water. When I jump in to water I forget everything other than dipping and swimming. Cool H2O molecules kisses my head and entire body so as to wash over mental and physical stress. And colour combination of the rocks around and stones under the pool make me forget about past and future. One can call it as present mind consciousness or meditation. Somehow rather it’s Holly thing for me. Last month I was able to visit a place where you could find plenty of water wherever you go. That’s KITULGALA where you see Crystal clear water where ever. So here is the story our memorable trip to Kitulgala

Sri and me, met at Kotawa around 7.00a.m and Tony was coming on a Embilipitiya bus. We got in to the bus around 7.45 and three of us had a nice chat till we got off at Avissawella .We had breakfast there and purchased some food stuff and other goods and got in to a kitulgala bus . We reached Kitulgala by 11.30 a.m. where we met our three wheel driver and guide Sumudu.

After discussing with sumudu we decided to visit Beli Lena and Handun Ella first and then come to Makandawa early as possible to explore somewhat in the jungle and camp before dark. We preserved next day to explore the rest of the forest and see Mannakethi Ella and Kataram oya.

Nearby mountain

On the way to beli lena. There is a small ascend

Cave

First we headed towards Belilena after turning left from Butukiththa Junktion where the name board called BeliLena clearly visible. As Beli Lena is a famous and well known destination I am not going to describe the path one by one. Just confirm the path from locals. Since road conditions were terrible you have to use a vehicle with high ground clearance. We stopped at a junction in In Oya estate where further driving was not possible and walked nearly 750m to reach beli Lena

Surrounding

Searching for shells but yet to find them

BeliLena Falls

Inside the upper cave

Dripping

Our Group with the caretaker of the BeliLena

QUOTE FROM unknownsrilanka
Beli Lena cave at Kithulgala was excavated and researched between the years 1978-1983 by the Sri
Lankan archaeological department. The cultural deposits at the site after 25 radiometric tests were
determined to be from 30,000 – 900 years before the present day.

A diverse range of cultural, faunal and human remains were excavated. Amongst the things
discovered were some geometric microlithic stone tools which at 30,000 years are among the oldest
found to date in the world. There have also been some bone tools along with evidence of fire having
been used from 30,000 years ago onwards. The site also brought to light numerous animal remains
that had quite obviously been used for consumption. Some of the animal remains found were to
name a few sambhur, pig, barking deer, monkeys, porcupines, giant squirrels, and an assortment of
reptiles and fish. There is also evidence that the primitive human species that lived here referred to
as the Balangoda man had a diet that was primarily comprised of mammals, tree and aquatic snails
and food plants such as breadfruit and canarium (kekuna) nuts.

There is evidence that some sort of exchange network had also been established 30,000 years ago
onwards with the coastal lagoons which were some 80kms away.

The earliest evidence to date of substantial structures has been discovered at this site owing to the
rubble foundations dated to 16,000 years before present day. Skeletal remains found here in the
levels dating back 16,000 years have been intensively analysed by an international team of
anthropologists as these remains are invaluable to help us understand the physical anthropology of
the Balangoda man. Beli-Lena awaits further excavation and investigation by future generations of
Sri Lankan archaeologists with progressively sharper analytical skills.
Directions and location
The drive to the Kitulagala Beli Lena is a short but winding picturesque route thorough many rubber
estates and little water falls which are dotted along the pathway. Belilena Cave is close to the Ing
Oya rubber estate which is about 8 kilometers from the Kitulgala town. To reach Beli Lena turn at
Kitulgala Temple on Iyanwatta road to reach the school. You need to trek by foot for about 1
kilometre up a pathway that has been partly paved to reach the cave. From Colombo the journey is
about 1.5 hours.

Care taker explained lots of things about beli Lena. According to him this had been a temple before it was researched by Archaeological department. According to him ancient people were exchanging goods with people came from sea side and they have exchanged Salt with them (don’t know which form )and with that they have got this shells called BELLO .But that idea is little hard to believe as i guess.

Then we moved on to see Handun Ella.We had to go upwards In Oya estate. We parked three-wheeler in a small house and took a road to the right hand side. We had to walk upwards through a tea estate and met another house and took the footpath towards right hand side. After 15minutes trekking we reached the base of the fall. After spending some time there we reached the top of the fall.

Road to Handun Ella

Where we parked the vehicle ……..Tony is Showing the direction

Last house we met and took the path to right hand side

Some cascades we met

obstacles

Handun Ella

Fall with the deep base pool

Side by falls

Young Man PHOTO : SRI

of fall ……..See the damn Dam???????????????

View from the Top

Surrounding mountains

After spending some time we came back to Kitulgala and had our lunch .Then we rushed to Makandawa which was close to Kitulgala Rest house

We said good bye tour SUMUDU and came to the river Bank (Thotupola) and waited for our boat. That is a famous bathing place too…….

A Notice board Photo ……….Sri

Here comes the Paruwa

Hi Hi ……………..fake Rowing………………………………………… Photo …………….Sri……..

We reached the other bank and walked 500 + meters to reach the ticketing office

Distance is nearly 3 times than the board mentioned

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We reached the office and bought tickets. As I had informed about our arrival to Adavi Wan Niladari(Mr. Bandara) and Mr. hettiarachchi , the ticketing officer (Mr. UPALI) gave us the permission for camping near ATHA WETUNA WALA and gave us the directions to reach there.

office

Map – Click Image to Enlarge

Turned left from here

Katussa Photo Sri

Mushrooms

One of the streams we met

HA Ha…..Although notice board informs like that Mr.Tony had to put something rather than foot prints In The forest. So we named that place as TONBOOK DOLA………………..Ask Tony for more details

There is was a notice board indicating the directions to Lenkiriella .That was the easy access to the top of the fall. But Tony and Sri wanted some adventure so that we took another path to reach the bottom of the falls. We were ascending and descending for a while and finally after a steep descend we reached the base of Lenthiri ella

Lanthiriella

Adding to our toughness the path was not continuing after this .So we contacted Mr.Upali again and got instructions to reach the top of the falls somehow rather and to walk upstream to reach the camping site. So after tiring journey by creeping through bushes we reached the top of the falls. Then we walked upstream.

We took the difficult route (marked by arrows) to reach the top

Stream

Few cascades

Further walking upstream

Finally we reached the camping site

Let me explain about the camping site. It is well built and was enough to pitch two small tents. It’s bordered by the steam and the jungle. In between the camping site and the stream there was a huge rock surface where we could do cooking and putting campfire even for lay down and relax. There was a toilet with tap line. Also there was a summer hut mainly built for bird watching as I guess. And close to the summer hut there was a natural pool for bathing where the middle part is somewhat deep. That was one of the perfect camping places according to my knowledge as you get almost everything for a camper. Adding to that people who camped earlier had left nothing and kept the place very clean. What else you Want????

First we just kept our bags on the rock surface and rested few minutes. Then we pitched the tent. Then collected some firewood and kept in a separate place. Then came my favourite activity. BATHING….. The pool consisted of two mini waterfalls. Sri and Tony picked a safe place for bathing and I was swimming everywhere. It was a rewarding experience.

Stream was very closer

My Tent

Toilet is clean and There was a tap line

Summer hut

Etha WetunuWala……. I was at a small waterfall .This area was somewhat deep…..just above 2m Photo : Sri

Newly married couple picked a safe place to bathe Photo : Sri

Then we prepared some Nescafe and started the camp fire. Then we prepared noodles for our dinner. After the dinner we sat around the fire and started our talent show. We were singing and chatting and dancing under shade of the moon and shining stars till midnight. Poor Tony had to prepare Nescafe for the second time as Ordered and Pleaded by SRI. Then we went our tent for sleep refreshing the beautiful memories of the day

Camp Fire Photo : Sri

Tony and Me were cooking and Sri was Supervising as usual Photo : Sri

Enjoying the moment Photo : Sri

Next day we walked up around 6.00 and got ready after having morning tea and Bread sandwich paste for breakfast. We cleaned the place and left around 7.30.Thistime we picked the clear path through the jungle

At this junction we turned and walked nearly 1 km.

Trek

Some land marks

Vegetation was little different……..

As we didn’t find any interesting places we returned back through the same path and turned the other direction to reach the ticketing office. Meantime we found several other camping places but they were not well maintained as the place we camped.

More water streams

Another natural pool .Safe for bathing

We came to the junction where we took the wrong path lat evening. Sri is showing the easy access to the Lanthiri Ella. Tony is showing the path we took last day. But if you want some adventure never mind of trying it even…….

We traveled again in the path tony was indicating and after few meters we took the right path lead to abounded paddy field

Yellow–Easy path to the top of the Lanthiri Ella Red- Difficult path base of lenthiri ella Green- Paddy field

Paddy field

Hut Made for bird watching

Mountain covered with mist

At This place we met a Mother and her kids walking towards a nearby village as I remember it’s Pallebage .We talked with them for while and Sri Managed to get a nice picture of kid and the mother

So Natural BYE.. SIRI MAME……. Photo :Sri

Then we spent some time in the hut and came back to the previous junction. After traveling further down me met another junction and turned left to see Makulu Ella. Remember if you are coming from ticketing office Makulu ella is to your right hand side left path will take you to other places mentioned in the sign boards

Guide Tony is showing the path to Makuluella to a person who is coming from the ticketing office

After 200 m we had to turn right ( Name board was there) and took the foot path down ward. But to reach the Makul ella easily one should carefully turn right at a junction instead of going straight to meet visible stream. We Went straight????. So we had to come down stream and took another difficult path to reach the fall. After enjoying the view of we came through the original Path. Sri was annoyed and said “Why we took wrong and two difficult paths to meet the Lentiri and Makulu Falls “. I laughed and replied “Hey Man God has just given us a training prior to our next adventure “ELI HATHA – MALIBODA”

Tricky junction Don’t follow Tony…………………………………… Follow me Photo SRI

Makulu Ella

Base pool with crystal clear water … I wanted to jump in again But Cruel SIRI Stopped me

Close by By cascade………………….

Then we reached the office. Thanked Mr. Upali and came back to Kitulgala . We phoned and asked Sumudu to pick us near Kitulgala Rest House.

Good bye Makandawa…………..(Mr. Upali Is in the Middle) Photo- Sri

Coming back…………..Genuine Rowing ……….Egodaha Yanno ….Megodaha enno….Thawa Kawruda inne………Photo :SRI

Then We moved towards Manna Kethi Ella. When you are coming from Colombo There is a road to left ( very close to Kitulgala Bridge) called Malwatta Road. After Passing Malwatta and the temple and going for another 1km driver took us to a junction where road divided in to two parts. We took the downward path and parked the vehicle at a house. Then we took left uphill Road. After few hundred meters we reached another junction with a Tree trunk. We knew from previous articles Right path would take us to Base and left path would take us to the top. As there was no clear footpath towards down, we followed left path and reached the top of the fall. Then we came back to the previous junction and went down wards searching the base pool. That was some tiring journey. Noticeable land mark is after few hundred meters you find huge rock which is in the left hand side. Descend was so steep and after passing lots of obstacles such as fallen trees, bushes etc we reached the base of the fall. View was so splendid. Although her name is Mannakethi she was very beautiful .But the base pool was so deep.

So we did a short documentary about the falls too.After spending considerable time we retuned back

Junction…….We took the right path Photo :SRI

We parked the three wheel here and took the left upward path Photo :SRI

Now the last junction With The tree Trunk …………Tony is resembling the path to top of the fall and me to the bottom of the fall Which is in the shape of MANNAYA/ KETHTHA Photo :SRI

Base pool On the Top Photo : Sri

View from the Top

Here we see the MANNA KETHI Ella

Blade Of the Keththa

Handle (Kethi Mita)

Getting back also not easy. Tony got a cramp Photo Sri

Then We came back to Kitulagla and headed towards Beautiful Kataram Oya .To reach it you have to go towards Hatton .After about 1 km passing Beli Lena Junction we turned right and crossed a bridge and reached village on the other bank. From this village also there is an access to Makandawa. Then we moved up wards in the terrible road and reached a house and parked the three wheeler then descend to the Kataram Oya

It’s a collection of 6-7 natural water basins with mini waterfalls on most of them. It’s one of the places you must visit in Kitulgala . There was a foreign couple and a gang of local boys doing some adventurous sports .Only difference was local people did these without safety equipments

First part of Kataram Oya . You could see three basins. There were 4 more Photo Sri

Crystal clear water Photo Sri

Deep natural pools Photo Sri

We did not come here for bathing and didn’t bring extra suitor towels. But I couldn’t wait for more jumped in to water having only the same dressing as local boys wore. Oh my god that was so rewarding .I was looking for these kinds of natural pools for a long time as it’s thousand times better than chlorine water in artificial swimming pools. So I asked Sri whether he want to see some adventure like Navaratne Mama’s(Meemure) and requested him to take some pics of my adventure + stunt action ( Not to publish in the forum… but to keep as a souvenir in my computer)………………………………….…………………But this cruel evil photographer had some other intentions as he was busy on shooting foreign couple how they engaged in the sport. What to do…No Pics. of Me . But that experience is stored deep in my brain and when I ever close my eye I remember that holly experience .I Love Water…………. .

There were some other deep pools downstream with higher cascades. But we couldn’t reach those without safety equipments as there was no other way to reach them other than jumping in to the water. But those brave local boys approached with no safety kits and enjoyed best of it. So we finished our all shooting, bathing etc and came back.

Adventurous sports …Here they go…………… PHOTO SRI

Beauty is coming down PHOTO : SRI

They are safe with safety equipments PHOTO SRI

Cruel Photographer Photo Sri

On our way we visited the place where a Scene of “Bridge on the river Kwai “was shooted. According to our guide the depth of the river is more than 60ft at this point.

Around 3.30 p.m. we came back to Kitulgala, had a hearty lunch and got on to a Colombo bus. We all went our homes

Before 10.00 p.m. memorizing the wonderful journey we had.

Near the Wakkalama where Bridge on the river Kwai was filmed Photo Sri

Rafting Photo Sri

Good bye Kitulgala ………We are coming Back Soon Probably for Rafting Photo Sri

THANK YOU FOR READING.

Planning a trip to Kumana Np for a long time. Finally was able to arrange everything and make it happen. Crew was only myself n two more friends since all others were busy and couldn’t make it.

We booked the campsite early and arranged everything for 3 nights. Drive up to kumana was soo long and tiring. We left Gampaha around 11.30 in the night. Stopped several times and reached Arugambay around 8.30 am. Spent around 2 hours in the beach and went to Panama to meet our jeep guy, Sena. He is the only Sinhala guy operating in the area. He has gone through a lot due to probs from the fellow Muslim jeep operators. Who doesn’t do a proper job as I heard from so many people. I’m not trying to be a racist here.

Just writing down what I heard from the locals so that it will help you guys. Regarding Sena, he is a great guy. Not a person who go after money like others. A true gentleman!! Main priority was to satisfy the customer. Highly recommend to contact him and arrange if u guys are planning a tour to Kumana. His Mob number is 0775390111.

We went to the park around 1p.m after having lunch. Tracker was Wasantha. Awesome, nice guy. We were lucky to have him to guide us throughout the tour with Sena.

The 1st thing we saw as soon as entering the park was a peacock dance. Knew we are going to be lucky again… Since it was a great start

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Brahmany Kite

Cooling down…

Changeable Hawk-Eagle

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Then we were truly stunned by what we saw. It was around 30-40 crocks having a sun bath. Was an amazing sighting that we will never forget. Couldn’t capture all of them in one pic.

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.	Painted Stork

.	The Pheasant-tailed Jacana

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Blue tailed bee eater

Was a nice sighting

1st jumbo we met.

Then we came across with another stunning sighting. It was a Changeable Hawk who has attacked a peacock and tasting it.

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We came to the campsite around 4p.m. it really was a great afternoon session. We arranged the tent and cooking items, collected wood for the camp fire and etc.

Our tent on the river bank.

Full moon was really helpful…

Woke up early in the morning and went for a round.. Will let the pictures to speak from now on… 

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.	I’m shy yar!!!

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Common K.F

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Green Bee Eater

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Walking crock

Painted Stork

Wish it was a leopard 

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Feeding the babies..

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Out of balance due to heavy winds…

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Frogs!!!

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They call it as sand bathing..

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And then we were lucky to see a leopard in Kumana. Which I never expected. It was so fast n couldn’t take a proper pic. This pic was taken by my friend Kasun. Kumana leopards are afraid of vehicles as per the guide. They are still not used to it…

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We went to the campsite, had a good river bath, prepared food and had dinner around 8pm.. We were chatting for some time and went to sleep since we were so tired. Woke up around 4.30am to prepare food. A leopard was shouting very close to us… I even gave up the idea of going to toilet till the sun comes out

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We packed our items after lunch and planned to go out from the jungle in the evening even though we have booked the site for 21st night as well. Driving all the way home isn’t an easy task. So thought of going back home in the night time like before. So that no cops, burning sun or much vehicles on the road..

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It was around 6pm and already dark. We saw a sloth bear very close to the entrance gate. We were so lucky since it wasn’t in a hurry to hide…. We all were over the moon!!!

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We came out from the Np around 6.30 pm. Thanked our helpful guide, Wasantha and start moving to Panama where we left our car. Packed everything back to the car and said bye bye to Mr. Sena and started to head back home around 8p.m. had to stop and wait around Lahugala since an elephant was on the road.. Stopped at few places as usual to freshen up and reached home by 3.am…

Thanks for reading the report

I’m a big fan of the Beach Traveler and don’t miss out watching the program on Sat at 7.30pm on Rupavahini unless I’m away on one of my own adventures writing fairy tales. So it was one of those days that I came across Gange Wadiya where the presenter, Nishanta Kahawita, visited the place and met with Sunimal, the caretaker, and enjoyed a boat ride and a night camping with BBQ.

My mind didn’t need a second invitation to start imagining about this place and its beauty surrounded by the Kalpitiya Peninsula, the Lagoon and sexy Kala Oya. My mind kept wandering from Colombo to Gange Wadiya every now and then making me crave for a feeling of the place.

After a couple of strenuous hikes which made me whine with pain, a nice, relaxing and cozy journey was just what the doctor ordered. I couldn’t think of a better place than Gange Wadiya. So thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and his thinking skills, I could send out an open invitation to my Lakdasun gang who usually join me on adventures.

The responses were a mixed one with a handful of yes’s and no’s and a few irritating maybe’s. It went right down to the wire as we had to confirm our booking to Sunimal and finally we were left with Ageless Tony, Ever-getting Young Athula, Professional Photographer Dhana, Workaholic Wumi and Getting-old me. Dana came up with a solution to our transport problem and managed to get hold of a van and a driver whose rates were very reasonable.

So everything was set for 12 and 13 October and I was getting anxious to make the journey. I called Sunimal and made arrangements to do the camping and boat ride. Finally, we were ready and Dana left Kottawa at 04.00am and soon everybody was on board and on our way. From the very beginning, the topic was on food, no matter however much I tried to steer them away to something half decent.

Tour Highlights:

1. Anawilundawa
2. Wind Mills of Puttalam
3. Salt Pan – Puttalam
4. Malwila Ruins
5. Gange Wadiya
6. Kala Oya Estuary
7. Elephant Tree
8. Limestone Quarry at Aruwakkalu
9. Nawadankulama
10. Sunset at Kochchikade
11. Collection of Panoramas

We made good time and Tony sang with the help of Dana and Wumi used his all 10 fingers playing the bongo. It was like going back to the 70s and 80s with Haroon Lantra, Jothi, Clarence, Milton and many others were brought back on stage. Hari and I discovered the singer in Tony at Makandawa while camping and he didn’t disappoint us this time either. For some reason or other, Wumi always wanted sad songs and kept humming classical tunes all the time.

Amid all the music and singing, we eventually reached Anawilundawa junction around 07.00am. We took a left and crossed the Puttalam railway line passing Anawilundawa station towards the one of six Ramsar wetlands in Sri Lanka.

Anawilundawa

We soon entered into the wetland and the sanctuary and saw the map displayed.

“Facts of Anawilundawa:”

“This was declared as the 1078th wetland on 03 August 2001. This is comprised of 1397 hectares and boasts 6 man-made fresh water tanks. Anawilundawa harbors quite a few species of threatened fish, amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. This serves as an important refuge for migratory birds and also supports half the country’s freshwater fish species, including at least three endemic species.”

The morning sun tried very hard to pierce through the cloud cover and birds were up and about trying to get some breakfast. Meanwhile Dhana set up his camera equipment and was on his way looking for some rare birds.

I wonder how he manages to keep track of all those birds coz there’s virtually no bird he doesn’t know by the name. Throughout the journey, there was only one he couldn’t identify and he must’ve told hundreds of names which sounded like Greek to us, especially Tony with his limited knowledge about birds.

The farmers on the other side of the tank bund were milking their cows and that was a very rare and grand sight to us all. We kept walking along the bund and found so many wood apple trees full of fruits. Tony, being the youngest of all, wanted some of them and Dana duly obliged. Wood apple on an empty stomach can’t have been the best of the things to have but I was happy to get rid of the topic on food at least for a while.

There were plenty of birds at large and Wuminda kept complaining not having a long zoom camera and as usual vowed not to venture into the woods without one in future. Athula reminded that he’d apparently done so quite a few occasions before. However, everybody wouldn’t bother too much about not having state-of-the-art equipment and was happily shooting around.

After about 2hrs of hovering about, we bid farewell to Anawilundawa and soon were on the way towards Puttalam. They were chanting like hungry ghosts and had to stop well before to have breakfast. We were actually planning to visit Nawadankulama but decided to do it the following evening as the time didn’t seem appropriate.

Anawilundawa station

The notice

Here’s the map

Adhere to these

It says it all

6 Tanks

Heart shaped

Good Morning!

Diya Kawa, the only known bird to me

Dhana can remember all these names

Alu Koka

Ready to serve

Starting our journey

Tony showing his climbing skills

“Where are all these fish?”

There were plenty of cattle nearby

“My back’s itching”

The sun trying to penetrate

“I’m hungry mum, just stay still for a sec, will ya?”

Posing for a group pic

They are being led back into the pen

Rare seen to capture

“He’s milked you to the limit mama, there’s nothing for me”

Hundreds of unattended wood apples

“Hold it tight Dana, it’s close”

Gigantic trees bordering the tank

The road is isolated

Busy at work in the morning

Lotus in the morning

Sun rays making patterns

Colorful path

Everywhere is picturesque

Gang of birds

Kaha Kurulla, another known one

Very common flower in the water

Not sure what these are but very pretty

Like a dream

“Hey, found anything yet?”

“Just missed the fella”

Where we stopped for a breather

Brahmina Kite, if I’m not mistaken

3 Musketeers

Tried to eat but not ripe enough

Another eagle waiting for a prey

Time to say good-bye Anawilundawa

Wind Mills & Salt Pan at Puttalam

We reached Puttalam around 10.30am and saw this absolutely wonderful Buddha Statue with the lagoon in the background. The sky was blue, the lagoon is grey and the statue is pristine white. I immediately wanted to stop and we all filed out of the van shooting away. It was a magnificent view and I felt very calm looking at the serene looking Lord Buddha.

We saw one of the recent huge failures lurking in the distance, the white-elephant Norochcholai Charcoal power plant. The windmills of Kalpitiya lagoon and Puttalam were looking superb. I wanted to stop by and we all went towards Puttalam to buy the provisions and 5-litre cans of water before that. We had a nightmare trying to find sliced bread in Puttalam as none of the shops had any. Whatever they had was expired and some shops only had one or two small packets.

Surprisingly, Puttalam town doesn’t have branches of these fast moving supermarket chains. So better be prepared for this eventuality if you’re planning to travel via Puttalam. We finally managed to find a bakery after going in circles for some time and bought 4 loaves of bread along with some chicken for our barbecue. Having stocked our rations, we headed towards Wind Mills and Salt Pan. The road towards the Wind Mills and Salt Pan is about 1-1.5km away from the town to your left.

The gravel path was dusty but there was hardly any traffic. So we made it through the salt evaporation pans towards the edge of the lagoon where 25 wind mills located. The view took us by surprise and the scorching heat was taken away by the gusting winds from the lagoon. It was amazing how you feel underneath that towering wind mill which is well over 100ft. We all felt dwarfed by those mammoth architectural marvels. I wonder why not have many wind mills instead of destroying the Mother Nature by those crappy mini-hydro power plants.

We simply had to drag Dana away and reached salt pans. There are hundreds of huts built all around and they are used to storing the salt. I got into a chat with one of the workers and found some interesting things.

“Life of Salt Pan and Workers”

 “It takes 15 days from storing sea water to harvesting salt. The salt is collected and piled along the bank of the pan in huge piles and then taken by the workers in bags on their back to the nearby huts. One pile typically has about 12-15 bagful of salt which is about 480-600kg. They’re paid Rs. 500/- for clearing each pile and the one I spoke to said they (5 of them together) usually clear about 20 piles a day so that they earn around Rs. 2000/- each a day.

 This salt is then taken and iodine added and packs them into different sizes depending on the weight and distributed around. A 50-kg bag is usually sold around Rs. 200/- during the season and it goes up to Rs. 500/- during the off season. The harvesting season begins in July and goes on till late October. The workers were all living very close to the Puttalam town and it too is like fishing which has off season as well.”

Simply majestic

Serene looking Lord Buddha, makes me feel very calm

The longest lagoon, Puttalam

25 Windmills in Puttalam

Towards Kalpitiya peninsula

What a waste? Norochcholai failure

Oh ho, finally a group pic

Salt pans, couldn’t cross due to the channel

Piles of salt ready to be taken and stored

Finally found the path and reached the windmills

Making an art of their own

That’s the company’s name and logo

Gigantic

Not used any more for salt production

Every angle is picturesque

Abandoned?

Lone boat waiting for its owner

The trio tied near the beach

Trying to be a professional

No green left, must be due to saltiness and scorching sun

We didn’t loiter around

See the size of the pillar?

There seems to be a door

Finally got to the fields of salt

They’re so much used to the sun

Busy at work

Single pile of salt, which has about 400-600kg of salt

Vaporizing pans

Making a living

This is where the salt is stored for distribution during off season

Salt pans and windmills waving at us

Malwila Ruins

Having exposed too much to the sun we left for Eluwankulam and I decided to visit Malwila Ruins on the way. The Puttalama-Mannar A-32 road is being renovated and currently it’s full of dust but hopefully it’ll soon be completed. Malwila ruins are located in front of Kasamadu Estate of Chilaw Plantations and a sign from the archaeological department is also displayed on the right hand side. It’s about 3km from the main road and be sure to check ask for the directions as well.

The first half of the road is very well paved with concrete and the rest is just a gravel road. They apparently haven’t done a full investigation of the place yet. There was a soldier from the Civil Defense Force, who’s there guarding the premises from treasure hunters, helped us with some information. According to him this place goes back towards the era of Saliya-Ashokamala and yet to do a proper excavation. It could even be related to Kuweni’s era as there’s a similar place inside Wilpattue. We saw plenty of stone pillars around and remains of a Stupa as well.

He said that there are many more hidden in the jungle (This is deep inside Wilpattu) and can’t be reached as yet. Hopefully the powers-that-be will clear these as soon as possible revealing more hidden information of our history. After about an hour, we decided to head back and about 500m away from the site there’s a temple but no monks staying there. The same soldier said that monks don’t stay there for long and even if they did, the poor 20 odd families will find it difficult to look after them.

Turning point

Being invaded by the forest

So many more to be discovered

Needs protection

Being cleared and dug out

Looks like a complex of buildings

Broken pieces of major structures

There must’ve been an entrance through here

The hut is where the CDF soldiers stay 24/7 protecting this place

Ruins of the Stupa

Gange Wadiya and Kala Oya Estuary

We reached Eluwankulama around 1.00pm and took a left from the junction. There’s a huge Holcim board and you can’t miss that. Go about 2km before you reach a Y junction where the left hand road takes you to Holcim Aruwakkalu Quarry Site where they excavate limestone for manufacturing cement in their factory at Puttalam.

We took the right and after about 500m you’ll meet a railway line (in fact it ends there with no clear indication) and turn right. The path is running in parallel with the Lunu Ela where it joins Kala Oya close to Gange Wadiya village. The view was simply breath taking and the earth is scorched by the searing heat and you can see the Wilpattu Jungle on the other side of the river.

Sunimal was waiting for us; the Navy Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS) has a camp of theirs behind the fisheries village. The boat was laden with the stuff we need for the journey but Atha and I wanted to charge our camera batteries and decided to stay about half hour waiting. The smell of crab and prawns were tempting and we couldn’t wait any more. This village had been attacked many times in the past by the LTTE killing many and injuring even more. We saw remains of huge limestone boulders which had piled in front of houses like bunkers.

Sunimal is a Civil Defense Force soldier who had fought to keep his people and village safe from the terrorists with many other villagers. The terrorists on many occasions had crossed the river trying to attack the village without success. SL Navy had then deployed one of their elite commando units into the place in the form of RABS with fast moving arrow boats. It must have been very scary for those people living in fear of their lives.

Having heard all those brutal activities of the LTTE, we decided to leave for our camping site around 2.30pm. We left the village with Sunimal and his friend Shantha and went upstream along Lunu Ela and turned onto Kala Oya.

The water levels were low due to less rain but Sunimal said the rains are on the way and will soon be with them. We saw quite a lot of tiny boats (Theppam) coming down the river carrying numerous containers of water. This is due to the saltiness of the water near the village and they have to travel further upstream to bathe and bring in drinking water. If not, you have to go all the way to Eluwankulama in a vehicle to bring in water for drinking and cooking.

It was a tedious task to paddle with a long stick and we saw most of the times it was women who did the peddling. Sunimal said when it‘s raining the river is not easy to maneuver around but the water gets better close to the village cutting down the distance to get drinking water. They carry all their dirty linen and go upstream in the morning, then wash them and bathe and come in the afternoon carrying water for the rest of the day. Every day they have to do this like a ritual.

After some time the river got narrower and very shallow making Shantha get down to the river bed and push the boat along with him as using the motor was not possible. There were many people, mostly the villagers, already bathing, waiting and having meals or simply getting drunk. The surrounding was sadly was littered with beer cans, plastic bottles and polythene bags. Sunimal said the rains will send all these to the lagoon and then onto the sea with the flooding river.

We soon reached a place where the getting was very difficult and the boat was simply impassable. We decided to take a break and have lunch and try after that. The lunch was superb with Crab, Prawns, Beans, Gotukola Sambol and Yellow Rice. We simply wolfed down the generous helpings by Shantha and Sunimal. Tony was simply unstoppable and Dana wouldn’t simply eat sea food as he was allergic to them which he piled onto Wumi and Tony’s plates.

Thank goodness we took three 5-litre bottles as the water was simply not up to our taste. After that it was time to check the stamina of our boys and they did live up to it. Everybody except me (who had to get that on record) got into water and started pushing the boat with all the energy they could muster. We soon crossed a sand bank into the water and padded along searching a better place.

There was a family camping on the river bank and we went further upstream and found this beautiful sandy spot with plenty of shade. We anchored down and took our stuff and set up the tent and laid the mats. Sunimal had even brought 3 plastic chairs which Atha, Tony and Dana soon lowered them into with a grunt. The place was tailor made for a relaxing journey and we soon unpacked and got into the water.

After a tiring day, the water felt great on our body but Wumi kept sniffing it feeling a bit doubtful. We stayed in about an hour and the sun was ready to go down. Shantha treated us with a cup of ripe Maa Dan (berries) and they were delicious. Having changed into some comfy shorts, we decided to take a short walk into the jungle and Sunimal advised not to venture deep into the jungle as elephants are very common there.

We found a jeep track where it leads to a village near Eluwankulam and found some other villagers camping further up and they had come in their motor bikes. We saw a roof over the top of trees and decided to take a peek at it. There was this almost dead but very much alive prickly bush with vicious thorns and it was a nightmare avoiding them.

There were remains of a house and a disused well surrounded by hundreds of elephant dung. We later found out that it used to be a forest department bungalow abandoned due to LTTE activities in the Wilpattu jungle. After a recce in the jungle we came back to the camp site to find Sunimal and Shantha busily arranging the campfire collecting firewood and fixing the BBQ place as well. To our great amazement, there was this green hammock tied between two trees and I immediately jumped onto it. It was like floating on a pool and felt very much heavenly

It was time to relax and that’s exactly what we did.

After some time, Sunimal and Shantha started cutting and washing fish and chicken for our BBQ. It was one of those days that we played guest and them host. There was nothing for us to do except wait and relax. We had our torches and Sunimal had even brought a lamp which he traditionally hung on a stick. The BBQ got underway by Sunimal and Shantha while two of his friends brought provisions for our breakfast and tea. They too helped with making the dinner.

Sunimal informed us that we were the first group to arrive without any liquor. Everybody who went on camping took loads of them and got drunk on the way let alone enjoying the view but we were a completely different matter. Sunimal and Shantha were very surprised to hear that and in the end they too were pleased not having to look after a bunch of drunks.

After a while, a plate laden with cooked fish and chicken was brought to us and we all dug into it like a pack of wolves. The food was tasty and we soon emptied the whole plate and Sunimal had a lot in his hand trying to keep up with our demanding tummies. The second helping didn’t last long either and was soon followed by the third and the last along with some left over crab which had no mercy from Tony.

After a bellyful dinner, we got ready to tuck in for the night, but not before another short musical show by Tony and Wumi. That combination worked like a dream throughout the day. The moon was out in full force and the river and trees were illuminated by that soothing golden brown light. The sky was cloudless and many millions of stars were on display as if trying to welcome us. We saw many shooting stars and satellites but not sure if the Supreme Sat did a fly over.

The tent was a tight fit for the 6 of us but not having any of gigantic members, we all squeezed in. it was hot inside but nobody volunteered to sleep on the sand. After a little conversation, we were dead to the world. I was soon awoken by the opening of the tent and saw Tony getting out. I feared he might be sleep walking and followed him to find it was just a comfy break. It was very cool outside and Wumi too followed us out and wanted to sleep on the mat outside.

Tony decided to bunk down on one of the comfy chairs but I went in to get my head down. I could hear Wumi and Tony having a long conversation about stars. Wumi was giving him a long lesson in astronomy when I fell asleep for the second time of the night. All of a sudden I heard Tony’s voice urging us banging on the tent and I got the shock of the life. We all got up to see that a pack of elephants had crossed the river about 100ft away from the tent and about 20ft away from the camp fire where Sunimal and Shatha were sleeping.

Tony had apparently seen a black oval shape moving but Shantha and Sunimal had seen the elephants clearly. They however decided not to bother us even though we heard those elephants breaking branches of the trees nearby probably having a late night snack. Since then, nobody fell asleep, even Dana, who had been dreaming of animals, was up. Suddenly he shouted saying that a frog jumped into the campfire committing suicide. It was the first time I ever heard something like that and that poor frog had sacrificed his life for what reason, we didn’t know.

It was soon the morning and we all started crawling out of the tent and Shantha was already busy with making tea. The morning sun brought the birds out who started flying around and the water level of the river had risen a bit making our journey downhill easier.

After tea we decided to try to venture into a Villu where we can observe elephants and Sunimal led the way in. The undergrowth was too thick with prickly bushes and we had to tread very carefully. We found plenty of trees of berries which we munched hungrily and the ripe fruits kept us plucking more and more of the unending supply. The forest was full of them and all of a sudden, Dana came running towards us and everybody up front started running after him.

Even Sunimal came back hurriedly having heard a sound and thought it was an elephant. It was so hilarious to see everyone was so banged up but there was no elephant but a bunch of monkeys. We ate more berries to chase our fears and were got on track. However, after about a km or so, we found the path is so over grown with thorn bushes and decided to take a turn back. Sunimal then informed that the LTTE had frequently roamed the jungle targeting civilians who come to collect drinking water, what brutes they had been.

After this everyone wanted a cool dip in the river. This might have been the result of being scared to death in the jungle and they were feeling hungry too.

Soon the breakfast was ready with fried eggs and buttered bread; unfortunately a whole bread was full of ants who had decided to feed on our expense. We had no option other than giving it to the fish that were early waiting.

In about half an hour, we packed our stuff back onto the boat and were on the way with a half empty tummy, but the going was easy this time due to the rise of water levels.

After the Eluwankulama, the Y junction, turn right to Gange Wadiya, left is Aruwakkalu Quarry

End of the railway line, good signage

The road towards Gange Wadiya

This is the Lunu Ela

The electricity is there at the village thanks to the Navy Camp and the Cement Factory

Sunimal’s boat service

Would’ve been grand if these were big enough

Is this legal?

He was wondering who these fellows are

The view from the boat yard

Majestic Kala Oya separating the village and Wilpattu…

The LTTE had crossed this river to attack the village

Theppama resting

Plenty of hawks hovering above

The team ready to go in

Laden with food and our baggage

Oh yeah, push it

Shantha the navigator at the front

Right is the Lunu Ela, to the left is Kala Oya

We took the left

Difficulty of carrying water from upstream

Diya kawa waiting for us to pass

Water is too shallow for the engine so Shantha got down to pull it

Coming down with full containers

The area is beginning to look like a heaven for campers

Maneuvering was a nightmare at places

Gigantic Kumbuk Trees providing the shade

Having a bath before going back with water

Sunimal too had to pull us with the boat

Kingfisher waiting for something

An ideal place for camping but there were already a few drunks

Couldn’t go any more coz feeling ravenous

Salivating

Mine…

After a hearty meal, look at the contended looks, Wumi’s rubbing his near bursting tummy

“What shall we do today?”

Athula is asking: “Kohomada Kema?”, Tony replies: “Athi Wishishtai Machan”

Ok, enough resting, let’s go find a place to camp

Hardly any water for the boat to cross

No option, but to drag it along the sandy bank

Ara Soysa!!!

I chose to venture into the woods

A Theppama full of containers idling

Commandos after a mission accomplished

No idea what this weapon is

Willus of Wilpattu

“That place is good for us”, shouted Dana

I was all about going along the banks

There had been people before too

Finally the tired boat got a much deserved rest

Tent is ready and our towels getting dried up

Yum Yum Yum!!!

Shantha was laboring with the heavy work

We’re ready to explore a bit

Gigantic but looks abandoned

Fully shaded

We found this path that leads to a village on the other side

Extremely prickly and hurting

“Dude, somebody’s coming”

“Sweet heart, don’t look, we’ve got strangers looking at us”

Abandoned tourist bungalow

This must’ve been the well that fed the bungalow

Along the path, found this

“Hiya, anybody home?”

Getting dark and thought of turning around

What a surprise

I’m in heaven baby…

Tony playing the nanny

Half-moon ready to lighten the night

More wood for the campfire

Moon is finally ready

Our tent and the light hanging on a pole, surrounded by thousands of insects

Elephants are on the other side

Recalling the days’ events and Dana like a huge beetle with a flashlight

With flash, the hammock

Kumbuk trees making the environment artistic

Ready for the BBQ. Tony’s asking Shantha, “How long will it take?”

Fire is ready with the grill

Fish and the Chicken we brought

There it goes

The first plateful with BBQed fish and chicken

“Malli Wena Nedda?”

After an eventful night, the dawn arrives

Shantha is making tea

Tea’s ready…

Ready to do more adventures and Sunimal leading the way

Juicy berries kept us busy all the time

Never ending supply

“Anna Atha Kurullek, penawada?”

A stranger

“Kollane, me wayasaka matath tikak thiyapalla bolavu”

Grapes???

Being very cautious

Trying to avoid treading on Elephant dung

Dead end, not a hope of crossing this thorny bushes, you need an Elephant’s rough skin

Heading back

Off to a flying start

River bathing is always fun

“Hiya matey”

Eggs are being cooked

Almost done

Loosing one whole bread made us go half hungry

Let’s go

Still water is too shallow

“See you folks”

Coming for the daily collection of water

This area is very wide

Back at the village

Elephant Tree and Aruwakkalu Quarry

We reached the village around 10.00am and unloaded everything and set off yet again towards the lagoon looking for the Elephant tree. We reached the lagoon at a ferocious speed and the journey along the lagoon was a roller coaster ride, the boat bumping up and down and swaying left and right. The water splashed all over us making Wumi duck underneath the front of the boat and Tony very kindly offered him his comfy seat. We turned into Kumburawa River which runs right through the Wilpattu jungle and went along about 2km till we saw the top of Elephant tree.

It was actually a huge Baobab tree with a circumference of well over 40ft (measured by Nishanta and Sunimal during their journey) being second only to the giant in Mannar which is more than 60ft. We anchored the boat and got onto the land and the tree felt huge compared to others. We’d have needed more than a dozen people to surround it completely. The skin was so thick just like an elephant’s.

Sunimal pointed that the age of the tree is about 750 years, calculated by some people who knows what they’re doing. There was a small baobab tree too about 100m into the jungle which is about 12-15ft. It was super cool watching this giant from up close and we had to very sadly go back.

We saw the communication towers at Kalpitiya and the peninsula was visible as if they were very close to us. Fishermen from Gange Wadiya usually go to Kalpitiya by sea and it’s about 12km to the town and according to Suniaml it takes about half hour to get there. If you, on the other hand wanna visit Kalpitiya, you need to go back to Puttalam and take the road along the peninsula which is more than 70km away.

I wish we could build a bridge along the lagoon to the peninsula making it easy to travel between. There were a lot of islands such as Uchchimunai, Illippantivu, Periya and Sinna Arichchalai, etc. You can go to Baththalangunduwa too from here which is a long way from Kalpitiya. We came back to the village and got everything loaded onto the van and got ready for the next in line of our agenda which is visiting Limestone Quarry at Aruwakkalu.

As I mentioned in Notes, you need to get permission at least 2 days prior to your journey from the Colombo Head Office. Having bid farewell to Gange Wadiya, we left with contented hearts.We left for Aruwakkalu Quarry took the left turn from the Y junction and went on a dusty but ramrod straight road to the factory. We were met by the supervisor and took us along the quarry to the top where we got a panoramic view of the site.

It was like an Australian Gold Mine, spreading in a vast area and huge monstrous vehicles busy at work. We saw the Kalpitiya very close across the lagoon and the supervisor told us a very mysterious tale. A tunnel which had apparently been done by the Portugese, had been found about a decade ago dug between Kalpitiya Fort and Jaffna Fort. It’s said that a white couple had got in and vanished without a trace. It was later closed down burying centuries of history with it.

The earth looks similar to what you find in Ussangoda, very reddish and full of minerals. This jungle is where you find plenty of Camellias and Dana badly wanted to picture of them. It was one of the few that is missing from his collection. There is a railway track running from here to Puttalam Cement Factory carrying dug limestone back and forth.

We left the quarry and came back to the Eluwankulama and bid farewell to Sunimal.

Dana and Tony got the comfy seats

Have to go straight and then turn left beyond those trees

At full throttle

Trying to catch some

After a bumpy ride at the lagoon we turned onto Kumburawa

Can see a structure at the right hand corner… there are plans to build a hotel here

Along Kumburawa towards the Elephant’s tree

The top bit is seen from here

Endless supply of landscapes

There it is

Ready to jump

Looks like two separate ones but it’s the same

Not many leaves

Huge at the base

Skin like an Elephant’s

The small one

Not so small up close

Well, time to go heavies

Back to the bumpy ride

Finally at the village

The Y junction and the Quarry is 4km away

Straight like an arrow

Just arrived at the gate

Getting in

Piles of limestone in the distance

Those tires are as high as our van

Ready to send to Puttalam

The mammoth quarry, just like a gold mine in Aussie

Towards Kalpitiya, pretty close

Busy at work

Drilling the limestone rocks

Look at the earth, very reddish

Never seen one like this in real life before

We’re going

What’s that?

Oh! An eagle’s nest

Nawadankulama and Sunset at Kochchikade

We followed the Puttalam road and stopped about 10km passing Puttalam town for lunch. Everybody was might hungry and gobbled up every morsel they could get their hands on. That’s when Tony showed me a specially made tri-wheeler and its owner was a handicapped lottery vendor. There was this saying written behind his vehicle. Its English meaning is something like “I don’t give a damn about ships when I don’t even have a paddle”.

Having had a hearty meal, we came to Nawadankulama junction where we took a left and the tank was 4km away. Dana had visited the place before and told us there were two other tiny tanks before it. By the time we reached those, the drought had made sure no water was remaining and it was nothing but a ground where you can play Elle or Cricket.

We had our doubts about Nawadankulama but she had kept some water despite the unforgiving sun. There were birds and the landscapes were absolutely wonderful and we simply savored every second of it. Dana claimed he’d never seen so many stunning landscapes and his landscape lens was doing overtime right throughout the journey.

Sometime later, we left Nawadankulama and headed back towards Colombo when I wanted to see the sunset sometime close to Mundala but we were too early. Then Dana asked if we could see those primitive yachts at Kochchikade with the setting sun and we headed towards there. However, the traffic was becoming a nightmare and we were held off quite a long time and by the time we reached Kochchikade beach, the sun had already gone down but the sky was still full of vivid colors.

We jumped out of the van as if the end of the world had come and ran to the beach shooting like Blackhawk-debussed US Marines. It was simply spectacular view, the whole sky was painted with different shades of Red, Orange, Blue and Grey and they had to drag me out of the beach. What an end to a majestic journey, couldn’t have been better.

Unlike other journeys, we reached Colombo at a more humanly acceptable hour and reached our homes by 08.00–09.00pm. Everything fell into place like a nicely done jigsaw puzzle and it was a very welcome leisurely journey for our battered bodies and minds.

Well folks, that’s the end of another of my fairy tales, hope you enjoyed it and planning to do more but wanna do something different.

Take care

Sri

We saw this on our way too and he was waiting where we had lunch

Not far to go

Having passed two empty tanks, this was a relief

From the professional to the amateur

Splitting but it was such artistic after all

There’s hardly anything for them to eat

“Where have they all gone?”

Herd of Goats being taken back home

“Hey, don’t photograph me, ok?”

“Hamine, moke koranne?”

Wow	Gotcha buddy

What a combination!

Just got off, the sun had gone but still grand enough

Sky is on fire

From left: Dana, me, Tony and Wumi

Trying everything

“Let’s go to heaven”

An airliner off from Katunayake

Time to go

The Collection of Panoramas during the whole journey will be an ideal summary.

Pano 1

Pano 2

Pano 3

Pano 4

Pano 5

Pano 6

Pano 7

Pano 8

Pano 9

Pano 10

Pano 11

Pano 12

Pano 13

Pano 14

The name Kehelpothdoruwegala (Rock shaped like a plantain sheath gutter) came to my knowledge in 2012 February in our Yahangala climbing. We have noticed a giant standing in front of Yahangala (1220m) and got to know it as Kehelpothdoruwegala.

But the day of conquering came after one and half years of Yahangala climbing.

Peaks of Knuckles range. Taken from http://www.knucklesrange.org/sef.html.

We spent the night at Mahiyangana and reached Ududumbara around 5.30am. Following our short breakfast at a small hotel at Ududumbara we met a three wheel driver to reach Uda iluka.

I have discussed with Heen Banda mama (A villager lives in Kalugala who met during our Yahangala hiking) in previous day of our arrival to get to know the road towards Kehelpothdoruwegala. But he was out of home when we reached there. Then we decided to climb it alone after getting the directions from villagers.

Our plan was to first get on to Velangolla Pathana (Where we camped on Yahangala climbing) and then reach Kehelpothdoruwegala along it’s edge. We started the climbing around 7.30am.

There is a nice foot pathway from Uda iluka to Velangolla Pathana with scenic background. It starts just after the bridge of Uda iluka and first ascends through the village. Then it enters the thick forest and background scenery was so beautiful. Finally it connected with the foot pathway from Udagaldebokka at Dewalaya of Gale Bandara Dewiyo. (ගලේ බණ්ඩාර දෙවියෝ)

Black arrow till green star shows the pathway towards Velangolla Pathana from Kalugala. Then black arrow shows our hiking towards the peak of Kehelpothdoruwegala peak (in red star). Green arrow shows our pathway to Udagaldebokka village.

The foot pathway on right hand side of this three way junction was the way to Yahangala and we had to go to left hand side to reach Kehelpothdoruwegala.

The road in Uda Iluka.

Foot pathway within the village.

Climbing.

Scenic view in the back.

Central Hills.

Southern part of the Knuckles range and the valley where Hasalaka Oya runs.

Toddy man. We were able to taste “Mee Ra” (මී රා).

Drop

Our bags made climbing difficult.

The foot pathway towards Velangolla pathana.

Gale Bandara Dewalaya. White arrow shows the direction towards Udagaldebokka. Red one shows the way to Yahangala. Black one is the direction to Kehelpothdoruwegala.

Beliefs

Mighty Yahangala.

Yahangala and Velangolla Pathana.

Kehelpothdoruwegala. Star shows the peak and line shows our plan to reach there.

Time was around 10am. We started the climbing. Climbing along the edge of the mountain to the peak was not easy at all. There was an unclear foot pathway in some area may be due to cattle. It has no forest cover but Mana bushes and thorny bushes were there. Although it was seemed as considerably less distance final one was about 3-4km with ascends and descends. Finally we reached the Kehelpothdoruwegala Mountain around 3pm and climbed it to some extent. According to previous experience of this area we knew mist will come down in another 1-2hours. Therefore we decided to camp there without reaching the peak.
It was difficult to find a flat area to place our tent.

Starting of the journey. Note Mana bushes

Kehelpothdoruwegala and Watabandigala (වැටබැදිගල). Watabandigala looks a small version of Yahangala.

New appearance of bed rock. (Yahangala)

Surrounding mountains of Knuckles range.

Creeping…..

Getting on to a peak of the edge…But some more to go.

Now Kehelpothdoruwegala is bit closer. Note it has a different greenish colour than others.

Black arrow shows the peak of Kehelpothdoruwegala and red arrows show peaks of Lakegala/Galtuna (ලකේගල /ගල්තුන)

Longest river of Sri Lanka.

Mahiyangana town zoomed.

Nice place to sleep.

Suddenly met a wide gap

Only way to getting down and then climbing up.

Peaks we have crossed.

Final cut down. Now we are about to climb Kehelpothdoruwegala

Going through bushes.

Rocky part of Kehelpothdoruwegala

Our cooking

It was difficult to find a place for tenting

Painting on the sky

Our fire

Tomorrow target. Peak of Kehelpothdoruwegala

Night was so long as usual in other camping experience. We had to battle with cold and wind. We came out of the tent around 5am to set our fire again and had a cup of tea. We were able to reach the peak of the mountain around 7.30am. Surrounding view from top of the mountain was superb. Rest of Knuckles range could be seen here including Lakegala/Galtuna, Thelambugala (තෙලබුගල) and some other peaks much higher than Kehelpothdoruwa.

Early morning sky

Sun rise

Colorful

Good morning Yahangala

Lakegala/Galtuna

Thelambugala (1331m) in black star. Ununugala/Kuwenigala (උනුනුගල/කුවේණි ගල) in black arrow. It has a unique shape similar to Uthuwankanda. Lakegala/Galtuna in red arrow.

A peak higher than Kehelpothdoruwegala, covering with mist.

Yahangala is bathing with sunrays. Note the peaks we crossed to reach here.

Another prominent peak

Another prominent peak of knuckles. ? Garandigala (ගැරඩි ගල) according to inch map

This one is also higher than Kehelpothdoruwegala Mountain

Meemure area zoomed

The team…on the peak

We have planned to get down to Udagaldebokka village in our return journey. Then we searched to get down directly from Kehelpothdoruwa peak to Udagaldebokka village but attempt was unsuccessful due to acute angle of the mountain after one level. Only option was to follow our pathway to Velangolla pathana and then go through routine pathway.

Getting down directly to Udagaldebokka village was not easy. Then we gave up it.

Good bye Kehelpothdoruwegala

.	Getting down to Udagaldebokka by routine pathway

Foot pathway was scenic through the forest

No tired at all.

Notice at Yahangala estate

One and half years ago this foot pathway was not that much clear. Now it is clear.

First house we met at Udagaldebokka. Last year in our journey we had a warm welcome here by Bandara Mama and his wife. But now this house is abounded and they are living at faraway.

Unique appearance of Udagaldebokka village

Once we reached at Udagaldebokka we had a bath from a “Peella” (පීල්ල). Then we walked another 5-6km from this isolated village to reach Udaththawa to have a bus.

View from Udagaldebokka village. Note the appearance of Kehelpothdoruwegala is different now. A-Yahangala B- Kehelpothdoruwegala. C-Thelambugala.

Thanks for reading.

Sri Pada(ශ්රීd පාද) /Adam’s peak one of my favorites places in Sri Lanka. After having seven visits to Sri Pada I wanted to do it in a combination of trails during off season. I selected Kuruwita-Erathna trail for climbing up and Rajamale-Sandagalathanna (සදගල තැන්න) route for getting down.

Thilanka and I reached Kuruwita around 12pm and got a three wheeler to Adawikanda trail head.

Rain started once we reached to Adawikanda but it couldn’t delay us as we had rain coats. We two started the hiking about 1.45pm amidst rain.

Kuruwita trail. It is shown in red arrow, goes parallel to the Kuru River. Black star shows the starting point of trail head. Red star shows the trail end at Adam’s peak.

Trail head.

Starting from Adawikanda.

First bridge we crossed.

Heavy rain brought water streams over the foot pathway.

.	A tree has fallen on the pathway

Foot pathway is covering with bushes.

Crossing of this water stream was a real challenge for us. Arrow shows the way we have to go.

After checking the depth my friend carefully got into the water stream.

First resting place of the trail-“Jambolagahayata Ambalama” (ජම්බෝලගහයට අම්බලම) -1.6km from trail head.

The list shows the donations to build this place.

Details.

Heenpiduruthalawa (හීන් පිදුරුතලාව කන්ද) Mountain is pouring with waterfalls following rain.

Less clear foot pathway.

When we reach Jambolagahayata Ambalama rain was not there but mist was on its way.

Seasonal waterfalls are everywhere.

“Danger zone”-Advices not to go out of the pathway.

Iron bars were helpful as pathway was slippery following rain.

First set of cement footsteps.

Reaching the second resting place-“Dayimangala Ambalama” (ඩයිමන්ගල අම්බලම)-2.6km

“Dayimangala Ambalama”

Heenpiduruthalawa is covering with mist.

Our next resting place was Warnagala-colorful rock. Warnagala waterfall can be approached by two ways: One is following the foot pathway near to Warnagala Ambalama (වර්ණගල අම්බලම). You can observe a gate opposite to quarters of Warnagala power plant. That road also directs to Warnagala waterfall. This road goes over the large pipes carrying water to the turbines.

Quarters of Warnagala Hydro Power plantation.

Warnagala waterfall. It was quite difficult to reach. Origin is Kuru river (කුරු ගග).

Another waterfall is situated closer to Warnagala waterfall.

Due to diversion of water for Hydropower, no water down to the water falls.

Unusual rock formation.

Warnagala Ambalama and temple-2.8km

Warnagala Ambalama. One of important resting place as it is spacious.

Reaching Warnagala temple.

Buddha statue of Warnagala.

God Sumana Saman ( සුමන සමන් දෙවියෝ).

When we left from Warnagala mist was all around us and it was around 7pm when we reach our next stop-Seethagangula (සීත ගගුල). There were two resting places before and after Seethagangula. Surprisingly it was not difficult to cross Seethagangula even after heavy rain.

Another slot of cement footsteps after Warnagala. This is still bit rare in Kuruwita trail.

Entering to peak wildness sanctuary.

Totally misty.

On top of Warnagala.

“Kunudiya Parwathya” කුණු දිය පර්වතය

Seethagangula-5km from trail head

Reaching Seethagangula Megoda Ambalama (සීත ගගුල මෙගොඩ අම්බලම)

Seethagangula Ambalama and boutique.

Crossing Seethagangula.

Seethagangula area.

Seethagangula Egoda Ambalama (සීත ගගුල එගොඩ අම්බලම).

Next milestone of the journey was Madahinna temple (මැද හින්න) and Ambalama. I was checking the place where foot pathway from Maliboda (මාලිබොඩ) joining the Kuruwita trail and found it about 100m away from Medahinna.

Madahinna Ambalama (මැදහින්න අම්බලම) and Temple-1275m height-7.7km

This came across just before Madahinna Ambalama. We stayed there for a while.

Madahinna temple.

Maliboda trail joining with Kuruwita pathway.

Then we were expecting Indikatupana (ඉදිකටුපාණ) and resting place.

Few benches were found before Indikatupana.

Mist was captured like this.

Indikatupana/Geththampana (ගෙත්තම්පාන) -1500m height-9km

At Indikatupana. Note the collapsed building in front of Ambalama.

Remaining from season.

Passing Indikatupana.

Now rain clouds have gone away and moon was shining. It was so beautiful to see surrounding environment is bathing in moon light. We reached Galwangediya around 12pm and had our dinner.

Half moon.

View under moon light.

Galwangediya (ගල්වoගෙඩිය) -10km from trail head.

Why it is called Galwangediya.

Galwangediya boutique was in good condition.

Black arrow shows the Rathanapura-Palabathgala road. Red arrow shows the Kuruwita-Erathna road. They meet at Galwangediya junction.

At junction.

After passing Galwangediya we reached Haramitipana (හැරමිටිපාන) temple. Now the foot pathway was luxurious with cement footsteps.

Haramitipana-1700m elevation-10.1km

Entering to Haramitipana temple.

Haramitipana Saman Dewalaya.

Standing Buddha statue at Haramitipana.

Passing Haramitipana.

Meelamalakandura (මෑල්ලමලකදුර )-Don’t know the reason for the name.

Adiyamalathenna (ආඩියාමල තැන්න) -11.3km
We met first human existence of this trail at Adiyamalathenna where two army soldiers talked with us. Now the light of Sri Pada peak was seen and we climbed towards Ehela Kanuwa (ඇහැල කණුව).

Adiyamalathenna Ambalama.

Connecting to Hatton road.

Two lines for devotees.

“Ehela Kanuwa”
The rock pillar on which devotees apply lime. It is believed sin of “Kodu” people (People who worship Sri Pada in first time) would go away by this activity. This is a rock pillar in Rathanapura road and wooden pillar in Hatton road.

“Ehela Kanuwa.”

“Dolosmahe Pahana” (දොලොස්මහේ පහන) at Ehela Kanuwa.

“Mahagiridamba” (මහගිරිදඹ) -The Great Rock climb.

Starting “Mahagiridamba” climbing.

Climbing “Mahagiridamba”.

Reaching the destination.

We reached the peak of Sri Pada around 2am and spent our night at resting place. Early morning about 50 foreigners came from Hatton road and gathered for sun rise. We were the only Sri Lankans were there except guides of tourists.

Sun rise-ඉර සේවය

Waiting for sun rise.

Just before sun rise.

It is started.

.

.

.

.

.

Now it is completely out.

Surrounding beauty

.

Bells.

Hatton rail and Peace pagoda.

Painted on sky.

“Kunudiya Parwathaya”. Height-1580m.

From left to right-Thotupola mountain (තොටුපොල කන්ද), Agrabopath (අග්රා බෝපත්) and Kirigalpoththa (කිරිගල්පොත්ත). Giants of Hortain plains.

Sri Pada Maluwa.

Seethagagula waterfall- (සීත ගගුල ඇල්ල)

“Bana Samonala” (බෑණ සමොනල) / false peak. It is called false peak due to similarity to Adam’s peak. Height is 2010m. It has two peaks.

Bunch of flowers

Mausakelle reservoir (මාඋස්සාකැලේ ජලාශය).

After enjoying the sun rise and surrounding view we started to get down along Hatton road and then entered Rajamale-Sandagalathanna trail.

Getting down

This plate you will come across on the first step of Mahagiridamba of Hatton road. In 1960-1970 Walker and Sons company has made these steps of Mahagiridamba.

“Bagawa Lena” (බගවා ලෙන)-This will come across in left hand side of Hatton road when you coming down.

Stone inscription found in “Bagawa Lena”.

Details of stone inscription.

Found in Bagawa Lena.

“Ehela Kanuwa”

We were not alone in getting down.

Mist

Getting down.

Sun rays.

Mahagiridambaya.

At the end of “Mahagiridamba” of Hatton road we came to the starting point of Rajamale route.

Rajamale-Sandagalathanna route
It will end at Rajamale division of Moray estate and a plain called Sandagalathanna will come across on your way in this route. It is considered as the least distance route to Sri Pada if you can come to Rajamale by a vehicle. It is not difficult to find the starting point of this trail just after the Mahagiridamba of Hatton road. Initial 100-200m would be narrow and then foot pathway is much clear. We could finish the trail by about 3hours.

Yellow arrow shows the starting point of Rajamale route. Note iron bars of Mahagiridamba are over and only cement foot steps are there.

Initial part of foot pathway is bit narrow.

Beautiful morning.

Mountainous forest.

.	Inside the forest.

Entering to Sandagalathanna.

Religious beliefs.

Different view of Adam’s peak from Sandagalathanna.

Leaving from Sandagalathanna.

Water streams are common in this pathway.

The way through woods.

It was a real fun to walk in the forest in early morning.

Last water stream we came across.

Entering to Rajamale division of Moray estate.

When we came to Rajamale it was difficult to find a transportation mode to reach a bus route. Although three wheels are there drivers were working at estate. Then we were directed to a shortcut to Nallathanniya about 3km distance. Later some estate workers showed us another pathway to descend to Maskeliya-Nallathanninya road. Somehow we reached that road after spending another 3hours in Moray estate.

Rajamale trail- Red star shows Adam’s peak and black star shows probably trail end. Red arrow shows the way we descended to Nallathanni-Maskeliya road.

Few snaps taken in our way to Maskeliya road.

Moray estate.

Rajamale division.

Single tree.

.

.	Another waterfall.

Waterfall found at St. Andrew division of Moray estate.

Thank you for reading.

Another one of those trips hastily arranged after seeing we have an extra couple of days off after the sinhala & tamil new year festivities.
This time our plan was to go on a camping trip to meemure, thereby making use of the tent I bought about 1 ½ years ago but has never been used.
So on the 16th 2 of us left Delgoda at 4am picking up the 3rd member on our way from Dambadeniya. By about 6.30am we were at kurunegala and proceeded towards ibbagamuwa as we intended to take the dodangaslanda – yatawatta road to matale.
The 38km distance from ibbagamuwa to matale was a gradual ascend. The scenery as we gained elevation was breathtaking.

Sun rise on the yatawatta-matale road

scenery along yatawatta-matale road

scenery along yatawatta-matale road

After having breakfast at matale and buying some rations required for our stay we headed along the kandy road where we took a left turn towards the kandenuwara –kabaragala –madulkelle road. The journey was a continuous uphill climb along one of the most scenic roads I’ve travelled. The drive up to Rangala along carpeted tea estates and the views were simply breathtaking.

View towards elkaduwa/kandy from kandenuwara road

Views along matale-kandenuwara road

.	Waterfall with little water

Taking a break to enjoy the stunning scenery

Matale town(360m above msl) from a 1000m above msl

Posing for a picture

More views

World’s best tea

.

.	Lunch was from jothi hot pack

Unknown waterfall @ madulkelle

Huluganga Falls

Top part of the falls

Bottom part

Distant view of jodu ella/ twin falls

A close up

More scenery along the way close to rangala

Raiding a mynah nest

.

A waterfall seen close to rangala

Badly wanted to have dip but time wasn’t on our side..

On the way to rangala

From rangala our intended route was through Thangappuwa to Loolwatte but due to conflicting information (some said the thangappuwa – loolwatte road was damaged by earthslips and was not motorable) given to us by locals we decided against it and turned back towards teldeniya to take the hunnasgiriya – loolwatte road to meemure.

Topmost part of a waterfall seen on the left of the main road @ hunnasgiriya

Middle part

Bottom part

Heading towards loolwatte from hunnasgiriya

@ loolwatte

Waterfall seen at loolwatte..this can be seen from udu dumbara as well..

Panoramic view from loolwatte

.	@ corbett’s gap

.	Waterfall seen on the way to meemure

It was around 5.30pm when we reached meemure and contacted ‘navarathne mama’ as he had promised us to help find a place for us to set up camp when I contacted him for the first time two days earlier and for the second time a day before. But when we contacted him upon our arrival at meemure he was less willing to come by and told us to ask someone who is around to help us to which we found none. The excitement of our first camping trip was suddenly gone when we felt we were helpless and was in a state of despair. After asking numerous people one person directed us to the road where the famed ‘suriya arana’ film shooting places was located. So finally we headed in that direction with a glimmer of a hope in finding a place to camp. While heading on that road we were relieved to finally find a person to help us. This person showed us the numerous places where the film was shot and also a place to set up camp on top of a rockbed beside the river.
It was already dark when we finished setting up camp. After having a dip in the river for about an hour we prepared our dinner and by about 10.30pm we were off for the night.

Right after setting up tent and a fire..

Preparing dinner

With the not so fond memories of the previous evening still weighing on our minds we decided to cut short on our trip and leave meemure after breakfast.

.	Lakegala bathed in morning sunshine

.	A morning dip

Carrying our stuff back

Carrying our stuff back

Leaving meemure

On our way back we took the time to visit rathna falls at hasalaka.

First glimpse of rathna falls

Rathna Falls

Rathna Falls

.

.

Sunset over yahangala

We were back home around midnight a bit sad that we had to cut short on our trip. This will be etched in our memories forever as our first camping trip but mostly because of the breathtaking sceneries that we experienced while driving through the knuckles mountain range.

Year and Month	January, 2014
Number of Days	3 Nights and 4 Days
Crew	3 Guys (between 25-30 years of age)
Accommodation	Camping – Horton Plains Campsite 3
Transport	Jeep – Alternatively, you could take the Badulla Train and get off at Pattipola. (more details below)
Activities	Camping, Trekking, Photography & Relaxing
Weather	Good Clear Weather on Daytime. It Rained on two nights but overall manageable weather.
Route	Colombo -> Awissawella -> Dehiowita -> Karawanella -> Kitulgala -> Ginigathhena -> Hatton -> Thalawakele -> Nanu-Oya -> Ambewela -> Pattipola -> Pattipola Entrance – Horton Plains National Park (approximately 200km)
Tips, Notes and Special remark	All campsites are located within around 500ms from the Horton Plains Wildlife Centre and all sites consist of a permanent toilet (squatting) and garbage disposal facilities. If you have a lot of equipment to carry its best to get there before afternoon so you can setup your camp and be prepared for any weather changes. No plastics or polythene is allowed within the park, the officers at the gate would check your bags occasionally but are not that strict, in any case if you bring any plastics please make sure to dispose them accordingly at the garbage pit at the site, don’t leave them scattered in the campsite. Nights in Horton Plains will get really cold, so make sure that you take enough warm clothes including socks and warm gloves if possible. Make sure to take a raincoat, as it rains often, you would at least get caught in a small drizzle. You are not allowed to make campfires, but the officers would not come to check on it at night but it its advised to take a gas-cooker to cook food ( with smaller gas cyclinder) as it is harder to make fires with the constant mist and rain. Don’t shout and sing very loudly disturbing the peacefulness. When we camped there was another group who were singing very loudly disturbing visitors and were evacuated by the Wildlife Officials. – respect nature…
Related Resources	Attraction: Horton Plains (Maha-Eliya) – Heaven on Earth, 2100m Above Sea Level Discussion: Contact Numbers of Forest Department and Wildlife Deparment for Reservations
Author	NaveenM
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread A Quick Guide to Horton Plains Campsites

We recently concluded our camping trip to the campsite 3 in Horton Plains and spent 3 nights and four days. We have camped at sites 1 and 2 before and when we wanted to book site 3, we didn’t really know if these were better than the others, so decided to include a small comparison also with the report so that you can choose the sites as you prefer.

The idea behind this post is to offer a quick insight into the 3 campsites in Horton Plains. We had camped out on campsites 1 and 2 in the past several years, but this year when we wanted to camp out on site 3, we weren’t able to find any detailed comparisons on all three sites.

To put things in perspective this is the latest update from January 2014 when we finally managed to visit campsite 3.

Booking the Campsites

You would have to visit the Wild Life Department Office in Battaramulla to make a reservation to any of these campsites. It would cost you LKR 2500 per day, and you could accommodate upto 10 people. If you are travelling by a vehicle they will charge you a vehicle fee at the park entrance which would be around LKR 280.

Wildlife Offce Contact Number – 0112888585

Getting There

If you are travelling through public transport, its advised to take the Fort-Badulla train and get off at Pattipola or Ohiya stations, from there its a ascending hike of around 9kms, but if you are taking a TukTuk it will cost around LKR 1500-2000, which is worth-it if you are carrying lot of camping gear.

A rough map of the 3 campsites in Horton Plains

Horton Plains Campsite 01

This is the closest campsite to the Wildlife Conservation Office. This is my favorite camping site out of all 3. If you are camping for the first time I would recommend to book this. It doesn’t have much space to camp out, but has easy access to constantly running stream of water, which will make your life much easier. It is also completely sealed off from the public eye, giving you much privacy.

The campsite is located on a small island like strip of land with water on three sides.

Getting there – below is the campsite 1

Getting there – below is the campsite 1

campsite 1, its covered by the stream from all other 3 sides.

Horton Plains Campsite 02

You could camp here if all other options are out. This campsite is located just across the hiking path to World’s End, so you will have visitors passing by your campsite during the daytime. So you will not have much privacy unless you are inside the tent. However, this campsite is located closer to the Chimney Pool, which is a great place to have a wash and a bath.

But I would recommend to avoid this if possible as this doesn’t have much privacy and on a weekend the path would get really busy with visitors. But if privacy is not a concern it is a great place to camp as it has easy access to running water.

campsite 2 – Water Bund at campsite 2 (other than privacy, its a great place to camp)

Horton Plains Campsite 03

This campsite is located between campsites 1 and 2, and has a lot of space to setup your tent. However, the only downfall here is that you would have to walk around 100 meters along the water stream to get to a decent place to have a wash, as water just in-front are stagnant and harder to access.

Since its not covered by larger mountains like on campsite 1, it has a great view at night and in the morning.

Campsite 3 is seen ahead, this is from the path to campsite 1 which is to the right

Campsite 3 is seen ahead- the picture is taken from where you can get access to running water, so you would have to walk a bit to have a good wash

Visiting Worlds End & Kirigalpoththa

If you are camping long enough we would recommend visitng worlds end at one end and Kirigalpoththa Mountain (second highest mountain in SL) at the other end.

Generally if you want to visit Worlds End I would recommend starting as early as possible, try to at least start your hike at around 6 or 7 so that you could reach there quite early. We started off a bit late and by afternoon the mist had gathered there and was no proper view.

End Product

3 days allowed us to create this time-lapse video capturing the breathtaking landscape of Horton Plains.

Special Thanks to Kelum, Varuna, Thinu & Thisara for the pics from our trips through the past few years.

It all started after seen an article on Lakdasun shared by Sheham about a worlds end in Seetha eliya. On that article it seemed like the mayor wanted to give the place bit of publicity and attract many visitors too. I wanted to visit it as soon as possible before the place lost its natural beauty thanks to our irresponsible public. Lahiru gave his confirmation few days prior and Amila was on the pending side until the very last moment. On a clear Saturday we got together at Colombo at around 10am(which was a very unusual time for us) and took a bus towards Nuwara eliya. At around 3.30pm we reached our destination where we immediately had lunch and packed some for dinner too. After collecting some more resources we took a bus towards Magasthota and got off at the end of Gregory lake from there we hired a trishaw which took us towards the potato farm where there was a locked gate.

The map of sandatenna – click to enlarge

Google earth view – click to enlarge

Seen the locked gate really disappointed us and after talking to one of those watchmen he got down the manager and with the help of one of Amilas contacts in Nuwara eliya we were granted permission which we strived for! The walk through the Potato farm was almost a 2Km one and at the end of it a small summit could be seen. The mist had already started to obscure the view and on top of that we had to face a major challenge, that was a heard of wild buffaloes. The gate keeper had already warned us that the alpha bull was a notorious creature and to justify his statement we were chased by him on three occasions. Somehow we survived that episode to reach the summit point where we intended to camp.

through the potato farms

it was misty

the landscape

towards the city

they finally left us alone

capturing the sunset

setting sun

the fire ball

It didn’t take much time to set up Lahiru’s spacious tent and we didn’t feel the low temperature much because we were so excited. When the moon appeared the fun begun. The cameras were put in to action by snapping slow shutter images, ghost shots and light paintings etc. all 3 of us really enjoyed the moon light before getting in to the tent to have our rice packs as dinner. At around 2am the breeze began to get worse and on few occasions our fly sheet got loose and went off forcing us to get out in that freezing climate to fix the damaged fly sheet. The breeze settled at around 4am and we felt a sleep to be waken by a shout from Lahiru who alarmed us about the spectacular sun rise.

moon was our light source

slow shutter

moon walkers

a ghost

the ghost that ran away

It was freezing but we were even more determined to capture a miraculous sun rise at the backdrop of namunukula. The scenery was mind blowing. I would be sharing some pics for you guys to feel what it was like. When the sky got clear we noted many landmarks including most of the peaks of central highlands and also an endless view towards Uva province (especially Welimada side). At around 8am we decided to pack and take off towards the gate with some stunning captures. On the way we had few halts just to snap a heard of Samber who were grazing in considerable numbers.

dawn over uva

nayabedda range

Namunukula the giant of uva

nayabedda close up

welimada plains

wow wow wow

the colours of a rainbow

lightning up gradually

pano no 1

pano no 2

welimada plateau just like a painting

hakgala and totupola partly covered to it

the drop

here she comes

beauty

picture post card for me

rise up quickly

amost 100 percent

on fire

our camp site

capturing the moment from the platform

what a view

best place to camp

the drop towards bombura ella

perawella paddy fields

angled

summit of SL

we are going there……….

breathtaking

beauty at its best

kandapola reserve

morning rays creating wonders

blessed to see these type of scenery

the drop towards welimada is now clear

meepilimana range including conical hill, waterfall point etc

Kikiliyamana

joy	saying good bye

last little peep

the platform which was coming up

plenty of samber

through the potato plantations

landscape

hakgala range

lonely tree

alarmed of Amila’s presence

where they were plenty of samber

grazing

more to walk

finally stable signal reception

the empty 5L bottle

leopards foot print

kirigalpotta on the far right

potato

Actually we didn’t have a plan for the second day but after Lahiru suggesting that a visit to Piduruthalagala would be nice, Amila volunteered and arranged everything with few calls. After getting to nuwara eliya we hired a van towards the summit and on reaching the summit we received VIP treatment from the air force as well as army base camps. We were also granted the opportunity to wonder around and also visit the summit point. The weather was perfect and we had a superb view towards infinity on all sides and we didn’t forget to capture some of those landmarks from the summit of Sri Lanka. The road to Piduruthalagala looked like the high-level road. It was so jammed pack thanks to the long weekend, it seems like Piduruthalagala has become one of those places everyone visits during their Nuwara eliya visit (at least up to the car park). We got back to the town and had a brunch before we set foot towards our destinations. This was one of those superb relaxing journeys which will be in our memories for a while.

towards Piduruthalagala

on the way scenery to piduruthalagala

few friends on top of piduruthalagala

kabaragala as seen from the summit

horton plains as seen from piduruthalagala

adams peak as seen from piduruthalagala

summit of SL

Rupavahini towers

ugly nuwara eliya

towards mandaram nuwara

wow	gampola ambuluwawa

summit pano

ragala side

Shanthipura the highest villege in SL

towards uva

Sandatenna where we camped

Gregory lake

Nuwara eliya as seen from the summit

Thanks for reading!

“What on earth are you hammering the keyboard so much for?” – One of my colleagues doesn’t approve my constant tapping.

“Just writing a report, you silly” – I retort.

“How many reports have you written so far?” – He’s trying to take the mickey out of me.

“Well, I don’t know. Why do you ask?” – I’m beginning to lose my cool.

“You don’t know? You’re constantly tapping on the darn keyboard but don’t even know how many reports have you done? What a funny thing?” – The bugger is relentless.

I quickly checked and found to my own amazement that there are 46 reports published under my name. Oh dear, have I seriously written that many? I asked myself.

“46” – I casually replied wanting this stupid conversation to be over.

“All of them on-line? You’re counting the ones you’ve not even written right?” – Dear God, I seriously wanna hammer this fella.

“No you snob, it’s 46 online and I’ve some unpublished ones as well” – I quickly checked and found there are 2 more to be published and 1 to be written.

“Seriously? Let’s have a look.” – God save me and my soul. I had to get this over with so decided to just let him have a peek at my desktop.

After looking through them he asks “What are you gonna do about your Half Century?”

“What half-century?” – Since when this bugger started talking in Greek?

“Your 50th report buster, what else?” – Holy Moly Guacamole!!! That one. “I ain’t decided anything yet. But now that I know, gotta do something special”.

“Oh yeah, you gotta do something very special. I’ll be waiting for that report” – What about the other reports, I felt like asking but decided to get on with my work and with that finally the end of conversation.

Wow, 50 trip reports in just over 18 months is something I’d never dreamed of. That night at home while glancing through the news I heard a magical word. Baththalangunduwa!!!

Just managed to switch it over to the proper channel and got the news. There were people and reverends protesting against taking over Baththalangunduwa fishing island from the native villagers so that our power-greedy corruptive politicians can make money by selling it to some foreigner. B’Gunduwa has been a fishing village for generations and the people who stay there have migrated from the western coastal areas such as Negombo, Chilaw, Puttalam, Mannar, etc. They feel it’s their birthright to do fishing from this island located roughly 16 nautical miles from the mainland Kalpitiya.

B’Gunduwa was not a stranger to me thanks to the Beach Traveler Program which is one of my all-time-favorites. In his tour around SL along the coast, the beach traveler (Nishantha Kahawita), travels to B’Gunduwa and spend a night there. Since then, I always wanted to go there. His program had helped me in the recent past to find places to visit and I marked it under top-priority list. However, over time, other trips made it push further back in my list.

So when I heard this on TV, everything fell into place like a long lost jigsaw puzzle. Couldn’t think of a better time to go there like the present due to two reasons.

1. Need something special for the 50th episode.

2. If the powers-that-be decided to take over this island, then no amount of protest will save it. (Having a quick look of the recent past proves this point).

So I immediately called one of my long-standing travel partner Sheham and submitted the proposal. Sheham, being Sheham, jumped in the idea and said yes without even consulting his business calendar. Next in line was the Uncle Tony but he was having a difficult time with his job and said he might not be available. Hariya had also shown a keenness to visit the island but had to give up at the last minute co he had to do the watcher man at home. The other old fella, Athua agreed to come and I just called Kasun as well. I’m thankful I called him coz he saved the day by bringing one of his friends, Asitha as Athula had to pull back due to a personal problem at home. (Second time you missed out Atha).

Day 01

So on the 8th morning, around 2.00am Sheham picked me and we drove to Wennappuwa to pick Kasun and Asitha. E3 made it really quick and when I called Kasun somewhere in the middle of E3, he was still fast asleep. Our reaching soon his friend’s place put things in motion but we politely declined an offer of cuppa coffee from Asitha’s mother as reaching Kalpitiya ASAP was top priority. I’m now a bit worried about having to waste time for flat tires and other unpredictable problems after our delay in my Rail Hike Stage 5. The going was pretty good as the roads were isolated, no poisonous gases emitting from decades old engines. Our conversation was running wild with all the topics from Area 51 to Spies of Russia to the origin of Amazon River. It was so interesting as 4 different people talking in turns about various things. The night simply wore on and we found all of a sudden that we’d reached the Kalpitiya turn off.

It was 40km from there and the road is very wide nicely done passing the Puttalam Salt Factory and staff quarters of doomed Norochcholai power plant. At certain parts the road is still being constructed, especially the bridge about 1-2km off the turn off. We made good time and closer to Kalpitiya saw a statue of a donkey on the roadside. Gosh, not an actual statue but a very still donkey in the dark. Surprisingly those donkeys at Kalpitiya area seem to be too lazy even to move a hair on their body. Wonder how on earth they manage to stay like that.

We found ourselves at the Fishery Harbor of Kalpitiya. Our entering into the premises woke the security officer and he came running to see if a boat is coming along the road instead water. I’m sure he must’ve relieved to find it’s just a car. We told him that we were planning to go spend the weekend at Baththalangunduwa (refereed as BG hereafter) camping. He was very fascinated and gave us a lot of information about the island and Kalpitiya. It was lucky that we talked to him because we prevented a near catastrophic end to our magnificent journey.

We were planning to camp in BG and return on the afternoon ferry the following day, Sunday. However, we weren’t aware of the fact that the ferry is not functioning on Sun. Even when I called the Mark Boat and told them our plans, we weren’t told about this. I guess it was a miscommunication on both parties coz we emphasized on the dates 8 and 9 instead of Sat and Sun. Thanks to the security guy we got to know this before the journey and had to resort to abort the camping and spending the night somewhere else. I felt so down but thankfully Sheham came up with the idea of camping somewhere close by and doing the Puttalam-Mannar stretch on the following day.

None of us had done it before so it was a very welcome idea and we all embraced it with both hands. You know there’s a saying that “Everything happens for good” and we too thought as much and at the end of the journey figured it really happened for good as we managed to cover a whole lot of things in that 48 hours instead of only camping at BG. We had our breakfast of Tempered onions mixed with chilies, tomatoes and boiled eggs with sliced bread. The morning sun was creeping over the horizon and lit up the jetty full of different sized boats arrived in the night after a long stretch of fishing. Suddenly Kasun shouted and looking back I saw this glowing lava ball like Sun appearing at the edge of the horizon. What a sight it was!

I simply forgot the breakfast and Kasun ruined his hanky trying to wipe the curry-stained hands to get at the camera. We savored it to the max while the crows were coming in numbers sensing a free meal. There were a few dogs too and they had a rough time chasing the greedy crows. We shared the last bit of our bread with them coz the sunrise filled our heats and lifted our spirits. Finally we were ready to rock ‘n’ roll.

Tour Highlights:

1. 6-Hour ferry ride in total

2. Baththalangunduwa, a world of its own

3. Documentary on the Fight for Water in BG

4. Dutch Fort, Kalpitiya

5. Camping at Thalawila

6. Drive through the Wilpattu along Old Mannar Road

7. Doric House

8. Dutch Fort, Arippu

9. Portuguese & Dutch Fort, Mannar

10. Biggest Baobab Tree, Pallimunai

11. Pics of My Sister

12. Collection of Panos

We decided to visit the Kalpitiya Dutch Fort before the departure of ferry at 8.30am. When went to the entrance about 200m away from the jetty the navy officials informed us the visiting hours are from 09.00am till 5.00pm. Then we told them about our failed attempt at camping on BG and won’t be able to make it on time to see the fort. Then they said even till 5.30pm it would be ok so we left for the jetty yet again.

Longest Ferry Ride to date

I called Sujith and told him that we were at the jetty and he too was very confused about our miscommunication but could do nothing at the time. However he promised to inform the manager of the Ferry about us and give us a bit of breathing space in case we were a bit late on the return journey. Paul came and talked to us and the two helpers on the ferry were very cheerful and pointed us to sit on the shady side and took care of our 2 5-litre water bottles.

There were a lot of people waiting to get on board and many sacks of different kinds of goods were also being loaded into the cargo bay underneath. This ferry is the only connection between the island and the mainland. You could even say it’s the lifeline of those people. There are a plenty of small fishing craft that can run between the two but for those fishermen doing it between the island and the mainland is very costly, about Rs. 3500/- – Rs. 4000/- worth fuel which is way too much for their liking.

So the ferry is the only viable method of transporting people and goods in between. However we felt that there’s too much dependent on this single ferry giving a kind of monopoly to the owners. Just wondering what it would be like if the ferry stopped operating due to a malfunction for a few days. I hope they have replacement in place but didn’t see any sign of it. We boarded and sat along the shady edge. The layout is kinda funny coz the boat is three-tiered. The bottom (under the waterline) is the crew quarters, washroom and cargo bay. The mid-section above the water line is the passenger hold. Passengers sit on a wooden platform that provides little or no comfort (Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess) especially when the sea is rough. Thankfully it was nice and calm when we were on board. Above it is the roof-cum cargo-passenger hold without a shelter. I guess it’s a good viewing spot especially in the morning run but you’re bound to get sun burned due to direct exposure.

We were relieved to be on the shady side as the boat finally laden with so many essential items and about 50 people left the safety of the jetty into the Dutch Bay. It’s actually the extension of Puttalm lagoon along the arm of Kalpitiya Peninsula on the left and Eluwankulama and Wilpattu Jungle on the right. If you wanna look for BG on the map, just look right across the Kudiramale Point to the left about 5-6 nautical miles off. The navy boys look less busy now the terrorists are wiped off the face of our country. However, they have to stay vigilant as the stinking Indians continuously breaching our sea areas and the biggest threat for our youth, the illegal drug smuggling too seems to be happening across Negombo via Jaffna along the North Western coast.

About half hour into the journey somebody yelled “Dolphins” and we were so excited and forgot for a moment that we were sitting at the edge of the boat. There were about 5-6 dolphins jumping but we couldn’t take clear shots of them as the front of the ferry had a row of people sitting. I managed to get a quick pic of a dolphin but not prominent enough. Unfortunately our ferry wasn’t in the mood to hover about and see them and sadly we passed them behind. It was my first encounter with dolphins and what a sight it was.

There were a number of tiny islets full of Kadolana trees scattered along the arm of the peninsula and the mainland too. They looked green against a blue-grey-emerald green lagoon. I found the team talking to someone and found he’s a fisherman from Negombo located at BG returning to the island. His name was Nissanka and provided us with valuable information. There was plenty of time to kill and we kept chatting with him while shooting the odd picture. All of a sudden we saw a group of Pelicans flying towards us, they were not so big and we had difficulty identifying them at first. After that there was a single Pelican so skinny flying overhead that I named the Somali Pelican.

Video 01 – Just a short video of the ferry journey.

There were an endless number of sea gulls crashing like a stone and catching fish and at times floating on the water with the waves like ducks. We got fooled at first they were real ducks. The average speed of the ferry was about 8-10km an hour. It recorded a highest speed of around 20km according to Sheham’s GPS. Time wore on and all of a sudden Nissanka showed us a distant communications tower which was at BG Navy Camp. Without even knowing we had moved from Dutch Bay to Portugal Bay but for me it was the same lagoon or rather the sea. However the water looks more clean and clear than it was close to the mainland. We could clearly see the ocean floor and the depth can’t have been more than 10ft. The water looked a gorgeous emerald green too.

There was thing that happened on the ferry I found so hilarious that I couldn’t resist laughing out loud. There was a group of travelers going to BG for a reason they didn’t know. Most of them were middle age fellas with pot bellies and a few kids with their mothers too. They were staring at us as if we’d descended that very moon from the mighty Jupiter. While we were talking among ourselves and with Nissanka, they looked at us open-mouthed as if we spoke Greek. The ladies (as usual) were very curious about what’s going on around and kept asking odd question from whoever was close to them. However, one lady found it too irresistible to wait any longer with her question and asked one of the ferrymen. I couldn’t help overhearing the most hilarious conversation in 2014.

The lady: “Meke Saththuth Innawada” – “Are there animals on the island?”

The ferry worker: “Apo Innawa” – “Of course, there are”

The lady: “Mokkuda Inne” – “What kind of animals?”

The ferry worker: “Ballo, Harak” – “Dogs and Cow”

I can assure you the real conversation in Sinhalese was far better than my sloppy translation. The lady was very serious about the question and the worker very sincerely replied to her. I couldn’t help laughing nonstop and soon had to divulge it to my team mates who couldn’t control their hysterical laughs.

The lagoon was too shallow so we kept going in an arc to reach the island coz the heavily laden ferry couldn’t risk of running aground. We kept sipping the lime and mint drink brought by Sheham and it was a godsend as we felt the heat taking its toll. There are two islands joined by a narrow sand strip which are Palliya Watta and BG. At times they get separated when the sandy bank is submerged in the tide. There’d been another island named Karathivu but now it rests peacefully under water. When the tide is out the sand banks might appear but the rising sea levels have taken care of it.

We saw just off BG some divers with face masks on as if they were snorkeling. Looking at the sea didn’t reveal anything to go snorkeling for and one of the fishermen on board solved that mystery to us. He said that those were fishermen doing a part-time job of collecting “Sangu”. It’s the Tamil name for “Hakgediya” or “Conch Shell” in English. Apparently those are a sign of good luck and sell like hot cakes among superstitious rich folks.

The sun is appearing in the horizon

Navy boat returning to the camp after a night patrol

Busy at work early in the morning

Just appearing

Wow	Fiery looking lava ball

Parked along the jetty

Very important notice

This craft (Sudu Duwa) was freed by the Indian Authorities after the agreement

1 million fine? Oh dear

Cubes of ice is being taken to the waiting fishing craft

Captured Indian vessels illegally fishing in our waters

Done a good job of building this

The Ferry

Another boat that carries tourists around

Team ready to rock ‘n’ roll

Peering at the Navy camp

Paul, the manager is overseeing things

Being loaded onto the ferry

Crowded

Leaving the jetty

Another Navy craft returning to the jetty, they moved dangerously close to us

The lush greenery islands

Another large fishing craft

Cheerful worker on the bow

Nissanka on the left

Trying to reach to the roof

First-ever Dolphin sighting

The sea gulls like sitting ducks

Cargo hold is providing shelters for workers and their close friends

Getting their catch to the boat

The mother ship with the Conch Shell collectors

Got you

Portugal bay water is more clean and emerald green

The comms tower in sight

Got there

Climbing down the ladder

The Uniquely Placed Fishing Island – Baththalangunduwa

After it felt like an eternity, we reached the BG but there was no jetty. Instead they had improvised a ladder along which you have climb down and jump to the sandy beach. I had to jump a bit further to avoid getting my shoes wet. The strong smell of fish hit us in waves but not so bad. I guess those fishermen might not be able to take that off them for a long time, might even be lasting a lifetime. There was a row of fishing huts where the 15hp-engined craft were parked under the shade of woven coconut leaves. The whole island looked less busy coz the fishing is done for the day and most of the folks were dozing after a hard run at sea from the early morning.

There were people inside those huts sorting out fish (mainly small one such as Hurulla, Salaya, Karalla, Keeramin and a new kind called Kohombaya which sounded funny), cutting them and adding salt to prepare for dried fish. To be honest I don’t think they welcome the outsiders but stay quiet. So should you ever go there, be sure to stay out of their way as much as possible. However we found some of the keen ones inviting us to take pics of their catch. The people at BG speak mainly Tamil and Sinhalese, however there’s some strange dialect unique to them but no name. It’s a mixture of Sinhalese and Tamil. The Sinhalese and Tamil speakers of the mainland find it difficult to understand this.

E.g. They’d say “Enge Yanne?” – Enge is a Tamil word meaning “Where” and Yanne is a Sinhalese word meaning “Going”. So they are asking “Where are you going?” in a mixture of Tamil and Sinhalese. Uncle Tony knows this a lot better, so should you ever come across him, do ask. He has some very interesting things to say.

So many interesting things and we enjoyed this unprecedented journey even though the sun was up and running full blast sending scorching rays mercilessly as if to fend us off. Walking along the fishing huts didn’t provide us with many landscape shots and we decided to go to the other side. We saw the makeshift wells made by digging holes in the sand burying plastic cans about 3-4 feet deep. No doubt the water is salty but they’re using that water to do cleaning pots and other utensils. The water off the beach is not so good due to garbage and rotting fish. I even saw a couple of toilets too. Wonder how they manage to dig holes without them collapsing on their own in the sand.

Crossing all this we reached the other side of the island which is about half a kilo meter and devoid of any construction. It’s a crystal clear beach but about 50ft off the beach is their main toilet too. So watch your step folks. Funnily enough it also doubles as their waterhole where they dig holes in the sand about 2ft deep looking for less brackish water. They use it to drink and bathe. The beach was however clear of the garbage save for a group of travelers who came with us in the ferry started drinking. Can you imagine the length people go just to get drunk? I was aghast.

Avoiding the drinking party we kept exploring the beach and saw a navy water jet hovering about 3-4 nautical miles off. All of a sudden we came across a Star fish but a dead one. Never seen one before except on TV so this was a very nice encounter. There were plenty of them along the beach so we took pics of them both sides. Sea shells were very common and there were very artistic ones too which didn’t escape our exploring eyes and lens. Sheham kept reminding us about the time so we decided to walk about half a kilo meter further and take a sharp turn back to where we got off.

All of a sudden one guy materialized out of nowhere and was heading towards the beach. About half way back he squatted down and we knew what he was up to. After a few minutes he got up and left; no water or tissue. That’s the way they’re living with no hygienic facilities yet making a living and sending hundreds of tons of fish to feed us Sri Lankans. Then there were 3 guys coming towards us and we saw dug holes in the sand marking their waterhole. They were very cheerful guys and chatted with us while one of them dug the sand looking for water.

Digging water out of those sandy areas is such a cumbersome thing in a way yet very simple in another aspect. They just choose a spot clear of garbage or anything else and dig a hole in a circular way about 2 feet deep and another 2 feet in diameter. You have to do it very systematically so as not to have the walls collapsing on you. The water will slowly come up as if from a spring. Then using a small plastic cup they’d fill a larger container. According to those guys you can fill about 2-3 fairly large containers with a volume of roughly 10-20 liters.

Video 02 – The struggle to dig water at Baththalangunduwa.

They told us how difficult their lives were due to the lack of water and do switch on your headphones and listen to their story. However on the ferry Nissanka claimed that it’s so surprising that they even have this kind of drinkable water in BG coz it’s practically very small and nowhere to get fresh water. They gave us a clear cup of water to taste which Asitha sampled. He claimed it was not so bad. So it shows that miracles do happen. It’s very costly to bring water from Kalpitiya costing about Rs. 500/- for a gallon of water including all the transport costs. Just imagine how lucky we really are. Therefore please by all means save water and electricity. We offered them some of the mineral water carried with us and they very hungrily took it and gulped it down. Wish we had more water with us. They’re supposed to close the waterhole after as dogs and crows will feed on it dirtying it.

After witnessing this we decided to call it a day and head back to where we got off. It was so hot and sun was very much unforgiving. Nonetheless we were very much content deep down coz this was a life-time experience. There were many solar panels in their houses along with a few TV antennas as well. We then saw a generator near one house and the secret behind the TVs was solved finally. There were plenty of kids too playing around and can’t imagine their lives being stuck in a tiny island with nothing more than sea and fish. There were plenty of cows and dogs as well. I’d never seen such bored dogs coz they simply stared at fish and dried fish as if they didn’t give a toss. The dried fish was drying in the open as none of the dogs would bother stealing them.

Cats were no different. They too look fed up of fish and dried fish. I just imagine taking a few hundred dogs and cats from mainland and dropping them there for a few hours. They’d have a field day and need to be hospitalized for over eating. There was one shop selling the day to day items but we didn’t have time to venture into it. Having reached back where we were well before the ferry departure time gave us time to recollect our thoughts. The ferry wasn’t there which gave us a jolt but around 1.30pm it was coming towards us having toured around couple of other places dropping and taking cargo and people. The stop we got off is called Sinna Gunduwa (small Gunduwa).

It was time to go and we bid our farewell to this unique place and got on board the less crowded ferry. Once again we were lucky to get the seating on the shady side facing Wilpattu and Eluwankulama. Funny thing was there were quite a few small fishing boats catching up with the ferry bringing more passengers and cargo, mainly fish or dried fish packed tightly in cardboard or rigifoam boxes. It was so fun to listen to the exchange between boats and their dialect was completely off my limits. The going was more or less easier compared to the morning one as the waves were rolling along with us instead of towards us. I could figure out the beloved Gange Wadiya in the distance with the Navy RABS (Rapid Action Boat Squadron) camp clearly visible. You can read our Gange Wadiya Adventure over here if interested.

The Kala Oya and the Kumburawa River where the Elephant Tree (allegedly the second largest Baobab tree in SL) located were easy to distinguish. Aruwakkalu Limestone Quarry was also there and the destruction is clearly visible from the ferry. There’s a stretch about 4km all looking reddish at places among replanted trees. This is where they’ve dug deep and extracted the limestone for producing cement. This area is a frequent living place for the Camalian but this kinda destruction doesn’t help their well-being. It won’t be long before they’ll be extinct from this are. This exploration keeps on going at a more devastatingly speed. Repercussions of privatization are clear for all to see.

We got a big fright when I saw one of the workers unloading bucket after bucket of oily water from the below deck and went to inspect. To my horror water was leaking inside and the worker was working furiously to get them out of the boat as quickly as possible. The mainland was looming closer so we felt somewhat subdued. It was a back-breaking task but he kept at it.

Video 03 – Back breaking task of unloading water of the BG ferry on return journey.

We got back at the jetty around 4.30pm and said our thanks to Paul and his assistants. Got back to the car and had a long pull on the lemon and mint drink and headed towards the Kalpitiya Dutch Fort.

The fishing huts are all along the beach

Yet another fishing raft

That day’s cache

It’s the season of small fish such as Salaya, Hurulla, Karalla and Keeramin

Temporary shelters for the boats and people sorting out the fish

Few big ones too

Getting the dried fish ready

Imagine the taste of fried Karalla

Dogs and cats are nowhere near. They’re bored to death of the sight of these

Here’s the Kohombaya

Temporary well for washing the crockery

They are playing

Not many trees like these

Long stretch with plenty of coconut leaf roofed houses

Water buffalo? Up close it’s actually a dog in the water coz it’s too hot even for them

During the high tide all these areas get flooded with sea water

Very beautiful

Never thought she’d look this nice when I took it

One of the waterholes

Yet another waterhole but I initially thought it’s croc