Nuwara Eliya is one of the main tourist’s attractions of Sri Lanka among foreigners as well as locals. Though people visit at Nuwara Eliya, they know about few places there. This is my attempt to list most of the tourist’s attractions at Nuwara Eliya with a small description which would be help full for someone in future.
Rests of the places were mentioned in part-1.

1. Galwala Falls (6.978289, 80.780360)
This has become an almost seasonal fall situated in Lady McCollum road. It is visible to the main road and has 23 m height. The proper Galwala Falls (Galwala Upper Falls) is situated somewhere in upstream and it needs permission to visit there. One of the streams origins from Western slope of Piduruthalagala forms this falls. A tank has been built on top of the waterfall and water is diverted in the town below.

Galwala Lower Falls

Galwala Lower Falls

Top of waterfall

Galwala Lower Falls

Surrounding view from Galwala Lower Falls

2. Piduruthalagala summit (7.000875, 80.773344) (2524 m)

It is the highest peak of Sri Lanka. Though it is the highest peak no need strenuous effort to climb there as no permission to walk over there. Top of Piduruthalagala is a high security zone where number of communication towers and radar towers situated. Therefore you have to drive up to the summit (No permission to get down from vehicle on your way up and enjoy the view). You don’t need prior permission to visit there. The highest point of SL is marked as a monument / plaque but it needs prior permission to visit there. Just verbal permission is enough.
I still can remember my first visit to Piduruthalagala summit in 2011 soon after finish the civil war. I had to do so many paper works to get permission from Ministry of Defense at that time. But I was lucky enough to visit at the highest point as I had some army contacts at that time.
My second visit happened in 2017 and we didn’t need prior permission.
Piduruthalagala summit provides nice view towards surroundings in a clear day. The distance from Nuwera Eliya to Piduruthalagala summit entrance is 2.2 km. Then it is a 5.5 km drive to the summit.

View of Piduruthalagala Towers from Nuwera Eliya Town. It is crowded with communication and radar towers.

It is placed at junction….

Through Piduruthalagala forest reserve.

Mountainous forest……

On our way up to Piduruthalagala…..

Unknown waterfall falling down from Piduruthalagala forest reserve

On top of Piduruthalagala mountain

Transmission towers on top of Piduruthalagala

Transmission towers on top of Piduruthalagala

Transmission towers on top of Piduruthalagala

The view from Piduruthalagala. Towards Nuwera Eliya town and Hakgala peak

Sandathenna Mini Worlds’ end, Nuweraeliya Town and Hakgala Mountain

Hakgala Mountain can be easily identified with it’s unique shape

Gregory Lake is seen

Sri Pada from Piduruthalagala

Our team on top of Piduruthalagala

3. Single Tree Hill Mountain (2105 m)
Single Tree Hill Mountain is the 10th highest peak of Sri Lanka with 2105 m height. It is situated at Nuwara Eliya town and the single tree hill road starts at Nuwara Eliya-Badulla road (6.961053, 80.767535). It is a gravel road through tea patches and passes Swarnagiri Maha Wiharaya and end up at summit. The summit is occupied by communication towers and tea patches. You can view Piduruthalagala Range, Hakgala, Gregory Lake, Sandathenna area, Namunukula etc. on your way to the peak Sri Pada with surrounding mountains, Uda Radella and Hatton side can be viewed from Single Tree hill, just before the summit. This road becomes a foot pathway and it continues till Shanthipura village at Kikiliyamana Mountain. It was just a walk from Nuwara Eliya town to top of Single Tree Hill Mountain. You can drive up to the temple and road condition is not good after the road.

Single Tree Hill Mountain with towers

Road to Single Tree Hill

Road is good up to the temple

Shrine came across on our way to top…

Hakgala Mountain and Towards Mipilimana. Conical Hills is seen at right corner of the picture.

Entering to Swarnagiri Temple

The temple

Stupa

Inside Swarnagiri Temple.

Sri Pada. Dell Mountain is in front of it.

We have passed Swaranagiri Temple and continued along the estate.

Hakgala

Closer view of Hakgala Mountain.

Towards Gregory Lake…. Sandathenna can be seen beyond Gregory Lake.

Gregory Lake, Sandathenna (right side) and Namunukula pop up.

Following gravel road to Summit

Uda Radella Mountain with towers

Towers on top of Single Tree Hill

View from top of the mountain

On top of Single Tree Hill

Mount Dell and Sri Pada Mountain

The shrine on top of the mountain

Partially built greenhouse…

4. Grand Hotel Nuwera Eliya
Grand Hotel in Nuwera Eliya is an icon of this misty town. This was the bungalow of Sir Edward Barnes who is the inventor of Nuwera Eliya town and governor of Sri Lanka (1824-1831). He has sold this bungalow to a private company in 1883 and Grand Hotel was built related to this Bungalow.
Grand Hotel is a four star hotel and the oldest hotel in Nuwera Eliya. Nuwera Eliya Grand hotel has 154 rooms with six super luxury rooms.

Nuwera Eliya Grand Hotel with garden.

Entrance of the hotel

Ancient paintings displayed at hotel

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5. Glen Falls (6.965953, 80.760228) (10 m)
This 10 m tall waterfall originates from the northern side of Single Tree Hill Mountain. Due to excessive clearance at top of Single Tree Hill Mountain, it has become a seasonal waterfall only during and after rain. We drove along the road next to Araliya Green Hills at Nuwera Eliya and had a closer approach to Glen Falls. Better go in a rainy time to get the full picture of the fall.

Distance view of Glen Falls

Closer view of Glen Falls with low water level.

Glen Falls.

6. Harasbedda Mini world’s End (7.062686, 80.886330)
Nuwera Eliya is blessed with Great World’s End at Hortain Plains and Mini world’s End at Sandathenna. This is another world’s end situated closer to Nuwera Eliya, actually situated at Harasbedda.
Drive along Nuwera Eliya-Udupussallawa road and turned to right at the junction after Harasbedda junction. (This by road passes behind Youth crop building at Harasbedda) (7.056917, 80.879377. When you drive along this road, you will come across another by road to left side which ends at Mini World’s end. There is a safety railing around the World’s end.
In my first visit to this place it was covered by the mist. Second visit was clear and a villager helped us identifying surrounding structures. Unfortunately there is no sign board to direct the place.

The road to Harasbedda in a misty day

Harasbedda Mini World’s end

The view from Harasbedda Mini World’s end

The view from Harasbedda Mini World’s end

View from Harasbedda MWE

Immediate view from Harasbedda MWE

Immediate houses below Harasbedda MWE

Immediate houses below Harasbedda MWE

Pinnakatiya and Kotambe areas

According to the villager we met, this mountain with Pinus has a place called “Ahas Hathapma”.

Landscape viewed to mini world’s end.

Landscape viewed to mini world’s end.

Narangala is far away

Towards Udupussalawa

Meepanawa waterfall

A common finding with grass

Mini World’s end with mist

Mini World’s end with mist

Thanks for reading 

වනහාමිගේ ගල්ගුහා

හොරණ නගරයට ඉහළින් පවතින ඇල්ලේ කන්ද ගැන බොහෝ දෙනෙක් දනී. නමුත් එහි ඇති වටිනාකම් ගැන බොහෝ දනා නොදනී. අප අදටත් ඇල්ලේ කන්දේ සැගවී ඇති හිරඤ්ඤමළය සොයා යමු. රයිගම් කෝරළයට අයත් භූමිය කඩවත් පොතට අනුව අතීතයේ බෙදී පැවතියේ හිරඤ්ඤමළයට සහ පානබුන්න දනව්වටය. මහා පරාක්රුමබාහු රජ සමයේ එතුමාගේ නිලධාරියෙකු වන අලකේෂ්වරාභිදාන අලගක්නෝණාර නම් ඇමතියෙකු විසින් මෙම සම්පූර්ණ හිරඤ්ඤමළයත්, පානබුන්න දනව්වේ කොටසකුත් එක්කර රයිගම් රාජධානියට පදනම දැමීය.

අද රයිගම් කෝරයට අයත් උඩුගහ පත්තුව, කුඹුකේ පත්තුව හා නැගෙනහිර මුංවත්තේ බාගේ පත්තුව එදා අයත්ව තිබුනේ හිරඤ්ඤමළයටය. පාන බුන්නදනව්ව ගැන පැපිලියානේ සිට පානදුර දක්වා වූ කලාපය අයත්ව පැවති බව පැපිලියාන සෙල්ලිපියේ සදහන්වේ. අපිට අවධානය යොමු කළයුතු අතිශය වැදගත්ම සෙසු දනව්ව වනුයේ හිරඤ්ඤමළ දනව්වය. 2පුරාවිදුදරයෝ හිරඤ්ඤ මළය ගවේශනය කලහොත් ඉතිහාසයේ විසල් පැතිකඩක් නිරාවරණයවේ. දෙවන පරාකුමබාහු රජුගේ ඇතියෙකුවන දේව පතිරාජයින් විසින් හිරඤ්ඤමළයේ පතිරාජ පිරිවෙන කරවන ලදී. මෙය අද මෙය වර්තමාන හොරණ රජමහා විහාරයැයි මතයක් ඇත. මෙහි විසිරී ඇති විශාල නටබුන් පුමාණය එයට සාක්ෂි සපයයි. මෙය අපිට තවත් සනාත කරගත හැකි පුවතක් වන්නේ මහා වංශය දක්වන්නාවූ ආකාරයටම කෙසෙල් හේනාවේ මාළිගයක් කර වාසය කරන ගමන්ම පාලමක් හා පතිරිජ පිරිවන කරවූ බව සඳහන් වීමෙනි. කෙසෙල්හේනාවට ආසන්නම මහා පිරිවෙනක නටබුන් හමුවන්නේ හොරණ රජ මහා විහාරයෙන් බව අපි කව්රුත් දනිමු.මහා විජයබාහු රජුගේ සටන් විස්තරය දක්වන මහා වංශයේ 55-57 හිරඤ්ඤමළයේ රෙමුණ බලකොටුව ගැන සදහනක් කරයි.

රෙමුණ කුමරුන් පැන්නගල හොරණ කළුතර පාරේ පවතින විසල් ශේෂ කන්දක් බලකොටුව ලෙස සකස් කර ගත් මරමස්ථානයකි. මේ ඉතිහාස මූලාස්රේ අනුව හිරඤ්ඤ මළය හෙවත් හිරන්යවය මලය පිහිටිය යුත්තේ රයිගම් කෝරළයේ හොරණ ආශ්රිේතව බවයි. හිරණ- හොරණ බවට වර්තමානයේ පරිවර්තනය වී ඇති බව අපට වාග් විද්යාමත්මකව පෙනී යයි. එසේනම් පතිරාජ පිරිවෙන ආසන්නයේ මෙම නගරය පැවතිය යුතුය. මන්ද මහා පිරිවෙක භික්ෂු භික්ෂූනින් වහන්සේලාට යැපීම පිණිස සත්කාරක පුරවරයක් මේ ආසන්නයේම පැවතිය යුතු පවකි. මෙයට ආධාර සාධක හිමිවන තවත් සෙල්ලිපියක් හොරණ තදාසන්නයේ පවතින පොකුණු විට කොඤ්ඩඤ්ඤාරාමය නොහොත් ගලේ දක්නට ලැබේ. එහි පවතින්නේ අසල පැවති මහා වෙළදපළක ලැබෙන්නාවූ ආදායමෙන් කොටසක් විහාරය වෙත පිදිය යුතු බවකි. එසේනම් අනුරාධපුර යුගයේ පටන්ම හිරන්යැ මළය ජනාකීර්ණව පවතිය යුතුව ඇත.

හිරණ්යව මළය යන්නෙහි වචනාර්ථය හිරණ්යස කන්ද යන්නය. නොඑසේනම් හිරණ්යේකගේකන්ද යන්නය. එසේනම් එය පාලන මධ්යළස්ථානයක් හාදුර්ගමය බලකොටුවක් විය යුතුය. එවැන්නක නටබුන් හමුවන්නේ හොරණ නගරයට ඉහළින් පවතින ඇල්ලේකන්දෙනි. අදටත් හිරණ්යයක නම් යක්ෂයකු පිලිබද රයිගම් කොරළයේ ජනප්රහවාදයේ ඇත.මේ අතරින් යක් පැටියාගේ කතාව විශේෂිතය. ඒ හිරණ්යනක නම් යක් පැටියා මවගේ වෑයමෙන් නොව සිය වෑයමෙන්ම දනිපණි ගා උපන් බවකි. වැදෑ මහ සිය මුවෙන් කඩා ලිප් ගල් තුන මත වාඩීවලු. මේ දුටු යක්ගෝත්රනයේ රැහේ ඇත්තෝ බියපත්ව තම ජනපදයෙන් පහළ සොහොන් ගල් ගෙයට පන්නා දැමුවේලු. මෙසේ යක් පැටියෙක් යැයි කියන්නට හේතුව හිරණගේ මව දිතී දරුවාගේ පියා සැගවීම නිසයි. මෙසේ හිරණ්යික හා ඔහුගේ මව දිතී දුරාතීතයේ ජීවත් වූ ගල්ගුහාව ලෙස සැළකෙන්නේ හොරණ වණ හාමිගේ ගල් ගුහාවයි. ඒ හා සැබැදි අපූරු ජන කතාවක්ද පවතී. සැවැනි පැරකුම්බා රජු පළමුව රජ වූයේ රයිගමය. මෙකල ඉස්ලාම් ආක්රසමණයන්ට හසුවීමට අකමැතිවූ කාළිංග කුමරියක් බ්රමහ්මණයෙක් යැයි වෙස්වලාගෙන නැව් නැග හෙළදිවට පැමින හිරඤ්ඤ මළයේ (හොරණ) ඇල්ලේ කන්දට පැමිණේ.

ගම් වැසියන් සමග එක්ව සිරිපා කරුණා කිරීමටද බ්රාළහ්මණ වෙස් ගත් මේ තරුණිය යයි. මේ බ්රා හ්මණයා ගැන සෙවීමට සිතූ රජු වෙස්වලාගෙන පැමින සැගවී බලාසිටියි. ඇල්ලේ කන්දේ දිය ඇල්ල අසල දියනෑමට ඇදුම් ගලවද්දී මේ බ්රාලහ්මණයෙක් නොව සුංදර තරුණියක බව රජ දැන ගනී. අනතුරුව රජවාසලට ගෙන්වා ඇගේ තතු විමසා තමන්හා විවාහ වීමට කැමති දැයි අසයි. ඇගේ කැමැත්ත ලැබුනිසා සයවන පැරකුම්බා රජ ඇයව විවාහ කරගනී. ඇතම් අය කියනුයේ මැගේ නම හොරණෑවති බිසව බවය. ඔවුන් ඉතා ආදරයෙන් විවාහ දිවිය ගෙවුවද පසුව කොට්ටේ වාසය කරද්දී මේ බිසවට කුෂ්ඨ රෝගයක් වැළදේ. (වසූරිය යැයි සැලකේ) බෝවන රෝගයක් වූ නිසාවෙන් ඇයව රජ මාළිගයෙන් පිටමන් කිරීමට සිදුවේ. මෙහිදී ඇගේ කැමැත්ත වන්නේ තමන් බ්රා හ්මණ වෙස් ගෙන සිටි හිරණ්යැමළයේ ගල්ගුහාවට යෑමටයි. රජු එයට අවසර දී ආවතේව පිණිස දැසිදස්සන්ද එහි යවයි. මේ වනගතව සිටින බිසව ගැමියන් හැදින්වූයේ වනහාමි යන නමිනි. ඇගේ මරණයෙන් පසු රජු පැමිණ ගෞරවණීය ආදහනයක් කළද ප්රසදේශවාසීන්ගේ මතකය අදටත් වනහාමිගේ ගල්ගුහාව නමින් පවතියි. පසු කාලයේ පෘතුගීසි, ලංදේසි බලපෑම් වලින් පසුව ඉංග්රී සින්ට හිරන්යගමළය ඇතුළු කුඹුකේ පත්තුවද හිමිවිය. වනහාමිගේ ගල්ගුහාව පැවති ඇල්ලේ කන්ද රබර් වතු යායක් බවට පත්විය. පසුව ඇල්ලේ කන්දේ දිය ඇල්ලේ ජල පෝෂකයේ වතු කම්කරුවන් සඳහා නිවාස සකස්කිරීමෙන් තවදුරටත් භූ පරිසරය වෙනස් විය. නිදන් හොරුන්ගේ අවදානයට මිස බලධාරීන්ගේ අනවදානයට ලක්ව මේ මහාහැගි ඓතිහාසික රයිගම් උරුමය වියැකෙමින් පවතී.

GPS Location – 6.728832,80.063087

Caves marked at Satellite maps

At Nirosh’s village

It can see to the Highway

The pond near his home

Another view

The water

Famous for flowers

Entrance to the caves. This is the main landmark of the beginning

Thick forest patch

More to go

The path

The cave

Outside view of it

Like some ruins

Inside colors

View from the distance

It’s so nice

Nature

Lovely view

View from the inside

Leaves

Our machine

Surrounding

Searching for the nearby villages

The return path

Along with the rubber estate

Calm and nice environment

More to go

Flowers

End of the journey

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

There are many mountains situated around the Kurunegala – Dambulla main road and I’m still unable to climb most of them due to the lack of free time and availability. However, I had to visit one of my office friend’s function and I wanted to go there on my motorbike. Since I had enough time to explore the beauties around the road I used that time to explore some mountains over the route and I visited those areas to grab details for future hikes with my friends.

Further, I had a quick hike to Waduwa Ketu gala as it was very easy and I explored the others and were able to identify many known mountains and destinations which were climbed previously too.

Via Badagamuwa Forest

On the way

This part is very much famous on drivers

Under the shades

Kotagala Mountain & Moragasgoda Mountain

When I travelled along the Dambulla road suddenly I saw the Kotagala mountain and turned to the left at the nearest road which directed to the base of the mountain. The road located parallelly to a canal and surrounding was covered by paddy fields. I travelled to a certain distance and noticed another small mountain located near to the Kotagala but in the opposite side of the road. Came to the base of Kotagala and got some information from the boutique at there.

The road to Kotagala and Moragasgoda mountains is the opposite road

Along that road

There is a canal along to this road. Moragasgoda Kanda is on the left side and the Kotagala is on the right side.

Kotagala Kanda seen (left one)

A clear view of Kotagala

Moragasgoda Kanda

The road along with the canal

Moragasgoda (left) and Kotagala (right)

The road

I witnessed

Both mountains have seen again on the way to Dambulla on the main road. The right small one is Moragasgoda and the right one is Kotagala

Seen again with another known one

The Canal

Madahapola Mountain

This is a small mountain that was connected with Karanampotha mountain. There was a mountain range from Madahapola and Karanampotha which is having a grassland ground as seen.

Seen Madahapola Mountain

On the way to the Madahapola

The alone path

This road is mostly to the mountain

Karanampotha Mountain

This was another destination that I need to tick off from my bucket list. This can be identified due to the oval shape of the mountain.

Karanampotha Kanda seen

The range from Madahapola to Karanampotha

Here is the giant

Sub road to the mountain

Turned left from the main road

Karanampotha Kanda

Karanmpotha was seen by passing it

Notice the shape

It’s far away

A closer view from the main road

Beliya Mountain

When I passing Galewela I have noticed the Beliya Mountain from far away as the shape of it. I stopped at a small pond near to the mountain and captured some pics of it too. This was also in my list and hope to experienced these hike in the next couple of years.

Seen far away

Here is she

The pond

It was beautiful

Pano view of the pond

I witnessed

Getting closer

Beliya Kanda

Passed it too

Pano with Beliya Kanda

Manikdena seen

Here is she

Border of Gokarella

Bathing place

Reached Dambulla

Dambulu Gala

Ambokka & Newgala Range seen

Seen on the return journey

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

When I searching for the mountains above 2000m I found this beauty around Chariot Path which is nearly height for more than 2100m. After postponing for about 3-4 times I got prepared this hike with my brother in law and Sajith. We left from Ja-Ela at 12 midnight and met Sajith at Yakkala about 12.30 am and we left to Pussellawa. We came to Pussellawa around 4 am and slept for 1 hour until the sunshine. It was nearly a 2 hr sleep and we started our journey to Perattasi through that gravel road and we took about 2 hr to reach Perattasi old hospital.

After we having a cup of tea and some buns from that boutique we left to Chariot path via the footpath and we came to the top of the Chariot path within 45 minutes and suddenly I saw a known friend already came there a few minutes ago. That is Sri Abeywickrema (Member of Lakdasun). Sri with one of his friends and we had a chat and discussed the mountains above 2000m. After a few minutes, Sri went back to his vehicle and we started our real journey to explore the Perattasi Mountain which is having a lower peak and the summit.

Perattasi lower peak (7.078643, 80.728209) marked in metric maps as 2075m and the Perattasi greater peak (7.075998, 80.733069) is about 2130m range. There are only a few distances within those two mountains and it is not a hard hike too. Luckily we had a dry season and unfortunately, there were many thrones on the way to the Perattasi summit. However, we were able to walk along the mountain edge for about 1-2 hr and came to the lower peak and then saw the greater one which was hidden for this lower one.

There was a small gap (windy gap – 7.079654, 80.730968) at the end of the lower peak and the base of the greater peak and I noticed a freshwater stream there too. From aside, we can see Mooloya and the other side Ramboda area. There was about a 30-minute hike from that base to the summit of Perattasi/ Perettasi Kanda and we were able to reach there easily since there was a huge rocky plain.

Perattasi Mountain summit was fully covered by a huge rocky plain and from there we can see many other known mountains and destinations too. We have identified three plains below the mountains which was aligned to the Piduruthalagala side and another giant close to Ramboda. However, we spent a few hours and captured some photos and left this giant. As I saw there might be some locals have been the Perattasi mountain summit as there was some evidence of camping.

The hike was much easy due to the dry season of this area and it was without mist too. Then we had a clear view of everywhere. We finished our hike in the evening and reached the car around 5 pm and left Perattasi via the Ramboda Bluefield tea factory and were able to reach Yakkala at 12 am.

However, our Madusanka and Sanira visited the same mountain right after one week and they were able to capture some colorful photos since they had DSLR cameras. Since I was unable to measure the altitude at the top of the Perattasi summit due to the battery level of my phone and Madusanka was able to capture the altitude as 2130m and it is much clear that the height is almost near 2130m at the top of Perattasi Mountain.

Chariot Path, Lower Perattasi Mountain and Greater Summit marked in Google terrain map

Our tail and the summits marked on the google satellite map

Red is lower peak marked as 2075m and the black is the greater peak of Perattasi

The train we had

Journey to the Chariot path

There is the destination

Over the sunshine (Sanira’s Pic)

The scenic road

Footpath to Chariot path

Came to the top of the ground level of the Chariot path. I was at the edge of the mountain

Unique rocks and lower peak seen

Closer view of the design

Mountains near Kothmale reservoir and the holy peak seen

Lower peak is seen

The first destination is there

Surrounding (Sanira’s Pic)

Small trees (Sanira’s Pic)

Steps (Sanira’s Pic)

A guardian of Chariot Path (Sanira’s Pic)

Piduruthalagala Seen (Madusanka’s Pic)

Capturing (Sanira’s Pic)

Through the dry forest (Sanira’s Pic)

More beauties (Sanira’s Pic)

Giants and giants (Sanira’s Pic)

The photographer (Sanira’s Pic)

Kothmale Reservoir

Zoomed

Towers at Kikiliyamana

Enjoying the views (Sanira’s Pic)

Keep walking (Sanira’s Pic)

The guardian (Sanira’s Pic)

It’s so nice (Sanira’s Pic)

Madusanka was there too (Sanira’s Pic)

The summit seen (Sanira’s Pic)

Rocky plains (Sanira’s Pic)

The giants (Madusanka’s Pic)

The mountain edge (Madusanka’s Pic)

Views (Madusanka’s Pic)

See the drop (Sanira’s Pic)

The Perattasi Lower peak (Sanira’s Pic)

Nature designs

Zoomed (Sanira’s Pic)

Little more to the lower one (Sanira’s Pic)

Dangerous but beautiful (Sanira’s Pic)

Colors (Sanira’s Pic)

The edge of the range

Sajith was there too

At Perattasi lower peak

Another destination

See the edges and designs

The dry range

A fish mark at the top of the Perattasi Lower peak

There is our target. The greater Perattasi Mountain

The gap (Sanira’s Pic)

Evidence of previous visitors

Designs (Sanira’s Pic)

Water stream at the Gap

The gap, Mooloya side

Ramboda side

Beauty

The stream

They were at the top of Perattasi greater peak

Wedamulla side

Kukulagala

Rikillagaskada side

We were there

Perattasi greater peak

It was really nice

Surrounding at the top (Sanira’s Pic)

Near the gap, Perattasi Mountain is in the back (Sanira’s Pic)

Dry forest

Grasslands over there

Rocky plains

Rocks everywhere

Looking back

On my return journey

Dried pond

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

Again here , it is me with another trip report . In this story again Aluva (Aluvihare) , my friend plays the major role. Aluva and me always needed to hike Thunhisgala down since we covered beautiful Kotaganga Cascades and Alugal-Lena during our last visit to knuckles mountain range. Our intention was to cover Thunhisgala and Duwili Eli via KMP Wadiya and end up in Ranamure. Aluva collected relevant information for the hike including a .kmz file of the trail. Furthermore , having Shamal who followed the same trail earlier in our team was a bonus. Since this trail cannot be covered within two days , we had to find a long weekend (weekend with a holiday). Since all of us were in our training at different places , we had to wait until a public holiday reaches. Finally , we fixed 13^th , 14^th and 15^th of September for the hike since the 13^th Friday was Binara Full Moon Poya Day.

Five members of our team (except me) started the journey from Katubedda while I started mine from Minuwangoda. Since there was no point in joining with them at Nittabuwa (Nearest town to Kandy Road) on 13^th  early morning , I decided to reach Peradeniya  on 12^th  night , stay in the “Jennings Hostel” with my Pera friends and join my team at Kandy on 13^th morning. As planned, I left to Peradeniya around 7 pm from Minuwangoda and it was around 11.30 pm when I reached the hostel. Then I got bit chatty with my friends and slept around 12.30 am , since I had to meet my team at 6 am. I woke up around 5 am and left to Kandy after saying good bye to my Pera friends. It was around 5.45 am when I reached Kandy and my team didn’t arrive yet. It was around 6.15 am when they reached and the journey from Moratuwa to Kandy wasn’t a good one for them. Since they had to wait in the long queue to catch a bus where they could stay seated until Kandy , they decided to take the Mahiyanganaya Semi Luxury bus which was bit more crowded in order to reach Kandy on time.

We took a bus to Waththegama from Kandy and reached Waththegama around 7.30 am. Unfortunately we missed early morning bus to Bambarella and the next bus to Bambarella was at 8.45 am from Waththegama. Since we had plenty of time , we decided to take breakfast from the restaurant which was next to the bus stand. It took another half an hour to complete our breakfast. We were totally ready for the journey when it was 8.15 am. But the problem was , we had to wait another half an hour for a bus. But the conductor of Gomara bus which left Waththegama around 8.15 am told us that we could use Gomara bus until Y junction which was 2 km before Gomara bridge and it was half an hour walk to Lebonan Estate from there onwards. We decided to do as he told. We reached the Y junction after an hour and 15 minutes and walked towards Lebonan Estate along the road which provided us so many scenery views until Gomara Bridge. According to my memory it was around 10 am when we reached Lebonan Estate which was next to Gomara bridge. We saw some vehicles were passing us to the direction where we came and that caused us to decide that there were some groups at the lead. Since this was a long holiday as mentioned before , that wasn’t a surprise. But the regret of KMP Wadiya will be crowded , haunted in our minds. Anyway , we went to see the beauty of the Lebonan Estate waterfall 01 and started our hiking journey around 10.45 am. As all the beginnings of my hikes , this was also became difficult , but after hiking another half an hour I got into to my hiking mode. Technically , it took half an hour for my body to enable hiking mode. After that , it was just a normal hike. We reached the Rathnagiriya peak area around 12 noon and we took our lunch there , which was bread and onion sambol prepared by Vinu’s Mom. It was really delicious and because of that it got finished in few minutes. After that we started our journey again around 12.20 pm. Since we were late , we hurried up and reached KMP Wadiya around 5 pm.

On the way to Lebonan Estate

Lebonan Estate Fall no.1

Crew at the waterfall – Random

On the way to KMP Wadiya – The crew at Dalu Maduwa

On the way to KMP Wadiya – Somewhere in Knuckles range

On the way to KMP Wadiya – Near Rathnagiriya Peak

On the way to KMP Wadiya – A delicious lunch

On the way to KMP Wadiya

On the way to KMP Wadiya – Too much green

As we assumed before , KMP Wadiya was crowded. We were disappointed and searched for a place to set up our tents. Finally , we set up tents near the narrow passage in front of the front door of KMP Wadiya. Three of us went to prepare the dinner while other three were setting the tents. Unfortunately , tents were not in a good condition to sleep. There were some mud inside the tents and we had to clean those as well. After cleaning all those , we three joined with other three and hurried up preparing noodles and tinned salmon for the dinner. We mixed both and ate it with another onion sambol packet brought by Vinu. We finished our dinner quickly and got into the tents to have a discussion about the next day plan because we heard a rumor about an event. They told us that there will be an event near Duwili Eli and the organizers may bring 50+ people for camping there. According to my knowledge , it was impossible to camp 50+ people near Duwili Eli. Although we went there , there was a risk of losing a place to camp.  But in the other hand there was huge chance of becoming that rumor a lie. But without taking any risk , we decided to just hike the Thunhisgala down and returned to homes. After finalizing the decision , we felt into a deep sleep inside our tents.

I suddenly woke up hearing some dew drops on to the tent. I looked at my phone and it was around 5.30 am. Still the darkness and the mist ruled. I got out of the tent in order to see this darkness and mist mixture which gave me a mysterious feeling. When I woke up , most members of other groups had already woken up. They were packing their stuff since they were willing to go to Duwili Eli. I found a friendly guy there and had a little chat with him about that rumor we heard. Unfortunately , he hadn’t any idea about that too. But he told me that if we were able to get down to the Dumbara Ella , we may find a place to camp. That was true. If there will be an event in Duwili Eli , they should reach there within 2 days. Because of that it may be possible to find a place near Dumbara Ella. I was motivated and with that motivation I woke up all my team and told them the story. After having a quick chat , we all decided to go to Duwili Eli. We prepared green gram for the breakfast and lunch and packed our stuff in a hurry. But it took us bit more time to packed our stuff. Because of that , we left KMP Wadiya around 7.30 am. We hid our stuff near the junction where we took right path to Thunhisgala and the left path led to Duwili Eli. After a serious hike we reached the Thunhisgala peak and that was wonderful. We were able to see most of famous areas in knuckles mountain range from there since Thunghisgala is situated in the middle of the range. We stayed another half an hour at the peak and returned back to the place where we hid our stuff.

At the KMP Wadiya – Where we set our tents

At the KMP Wadiya – Posing the famous photo

On the way to Thunhisgala – Through cardamom bushes

On the way to Thunhisgala – View point before Thunhisgala peak

On the way to Thunhisgala – Gan bokka

On the way to Thunhisgala – Perfect views over Knuckles Range

On the way to Thunhisgala – Perfect views over Knuckles Range

On the way to Thunhisgala

On the way to Thunhisgala – View of the Thunhisgala peak from the view point before Thunhisgala

On the way to Thunhisgala

On the way to Thunhisgala – Few meters away from Thunhisgala peak

On the way to Thunhisgala – Few meters away from the peak

On the way to Thunhisgala – Perfect views

On the way to Thunhisgala – Perfect views over Knuckles Range

On the way to Thunhisgala – Vinu pointing at Thunhisgala peak

At Thunhisgala peak with a guide uncle who came with another group

It was around 10.30 am when we got on to the path which led to Duwili Eli. On our way , we took our lunch and hiked in a hurry. Actually , there wasn’t a clear foot path to Duwili Eli from Thunhisgala junction. Because of that we followed the GPS trail we had. The trail wasn’t hard , it was  just a walk most of the time. We knew that it was unable to reach Dumbara Ella with the time we started. On our way , we decided to reach the top of the Duwili Eli cascade no. 1 cave and camp there. After some serious walk and sometimes a hike , we ended up at the top of the cave around 6 pm where we wondered since it was completely dried. There was a very little water drop to the left corner when we stood up facing the Duwli Eli drop. We hurried up to set our tents and started to cook noodles and tinned salmon for the dinner. After taking our dinner we had a chat for a while about the calmness in this place and then went to sleep.

As usual I was the one who woke up early and it was around 5.30 am. I got off from the tent and watched around. But it was only darkness around me. Slowly the sun rose and that sun rising was one of the memorable sun rising I have ever seen. Then I woke others up. From yesterday evening onwards , I felt like a little shivering and the morning I confirmed that I had fever. So , I took some medicine in order to complete the journey. Then we prepared green gram for breakfast and lunch and packed our stuff to leave this beautiful place. After having some memorable photographs , we left top of the cave and got in to a serious descend to the Duwili Eli cascade no.1 Cave and other cascades (since the cave was just under us , first we had to got down a bit more away from the cave and hike a bit to reach the cave).

On the way to Duwili Eli – Filling the water bottles

On the way to Duwili Eli

On the way to Duwili Eli – At an abandoned Wadiya

On the way to Duwili Eli – Near an abandoned Wadiya / Perfect view of Thunhisgala at the background

At the top of the Duwili Eli

At the top of the Duwili Eli – A group photo

At the top of the Duwili Eli – A group photo

At the top of the Duwili Eli – Rainbow over the Knuckles Range

At the top of the Duwili Eli – A camp fire

At the top of the Duwili Eli – Morning view

At the top of the Duwili Eli – Morning view of the camp

At the top of the Duwili Eli – Night cooking (Tinned Salmon)

At the top of the Duwili Eli – Breakfast (Green gram + Onion sambol)

On the way to Dumbara Ella – At the base of the Duwili Eli cascade no.1 (cave can also be seen at the up right corner)

After passing few cascades of Duwili Eli , we reached the famous Infinity Pool. Since Infinity Pool was supplied water by another water ways there were some water. After spending another few minutes there , we started to descend to Dumbara Ella. We were in a hurry since there was a little rain which haunts for half an hour and we ran out of time. After reaching Dumbara Ella we spent another 15 minutes there and descended to the Waddahena quickly. It was around 3 pm when we reached Waddahena (Waddahena is a junction where foot paths from Etanwala and Rambukolowa get combined in to one foot path which leads to Duwili Eli). We got our lunch there and some of us had a bath there too. We took Rambukoluwa path from Waddahena and reached Rambukoluwa around 5 pm (Rambukoluwa is a moved village due to Kalu Ganga water supply project , if you choose Rambukoluwa road , I recommend you to reach Rambukoluwa as early as possible since there can be elephants when it is getting dark). We hired two three wheelers from Rambukoluwa which we accidentally met while we were walking towards Hettipola Road. We reached Laggala by those three wheelers and we got our dinner from a restaurant there. After that we were dropped by a Dimo Batta Lorry which was another accidental meeting. From Dambulla we took a Colombo bus and ended our journey by adding another successful hike for the list.

On the way to Dumbara Ella – At the famous infinity pool

At the Dumbara Ella base

At the Dumbara Ella base – A group photo

At Waddahena Junction – Having a quick bath

On the way to Rambukkoluwa

Last part of this report doesn’t include much detail since it was about Duwili Eli. Anyone who is interested in reading more about Duwili Eli , I recommend you the report by Ashan ayya. And another point , I want to mention is that be careful when you choosing food for camping journeys. According to me the reason that I suffered from fever in the hike was eating too much green gram. As we all know it is a cold food. If you take that type of a food more times in more capacity , there is a probability to get suffered from fever. That’s all and here I am ending my report mentioning leave only footprints not plastics. Thanks for reading.

Summary of the trail we followed

Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya – Gampaha – මාලිගාතැන්න රජමහා විහාරය

The Maligatenna temple, Varana, and the Gal Vihara at Attanagalla were three historic places of Buddhist interest that we visited not long ago.

Not far from Colombo, about two miles from the Tihariya junction turning to the right, we came to Maligatenna rock cave temple, our first destination. We could see a small dagaba, right on top of a high mountain, shining white amidst the green foliage, set against a clear blue sky.

In the temple, premises are several caves, not very deep but with drip ledge brows, approximately 40- 50 ft. high. The caves are on different levels and sizes. As we walked up a few steps and went in, we could feel the coolness of the granite slabs beneath our unshod feet and the cool atmosphere within the cave.

The caves are at 3 levels, the largest being the main meditation center. They were established in the time of kings and dates back to the time of Mahinda Thera. As a center of Buddhism, it is well known from early times. This cave temple is also renowned for its association with King Walagamba who found refuge here when he was escaping from the Indian Chola invaders. Hiripitiya Rala had hidden King Walagamba here till he was able to form an army to counter Indian attacks.

To make these rock caves habitable, drip ledges were cut to take rainwater away from the steep rock surface. Many such ancient drip ledges could be seen at great heights on the huge boulders above the temple. Most of them were cut during King Walagamba’s time and it is amazing to think how this was done considering the sheer precipitous height of these rock caverns.

The large cave was made into a shrine room as an act of thanksgiving by King Walagamba, as he had been sheltered here. The king had ordered a Buddha statue to be made and even today we can see this 18 ft. reclining Buddha statue. When we were there, the high priest was chanting and there were some devotees seated on the the floor in an act of worship; while others came in later with offerings of fruit. There are also mural paintings depicting Jataka stories.

Outside, at the back of the cave, in a sheltered nook, is a skeleton hung up. This was meant for people to meditate on the transient nature of life and it is a philosophical reminder to man of the inevitability of death. It gave us a shudder when we saw it as we came upon it quite suddenly. A little way from it is a path leading to the top of the mountain which has the dagaba which we saw from afar. We started to climb with much gusto but found the pathway very rugged with jagged rocks and loose gravel making the climb quite difficult.

With difficulty, we continued our climb and were quite breathless by the time we reached the top. We were surprised to see here besides the small dagaba a fairly large rectangular pool full to the brim with water and covered with beautiful blooming white lilies. We stood a while gazing at this beautiful sight. It is said this pond never runs dry and that there is a hidden treasure at the base of the pond.

We came away happy that we had climbed to the top as it was quite an achievement and the panoramic view uplifted our jaded souls. We had one last look at the towering rock and Maligatenna temple jutting out majestically against the blue sky and then we proceeded on our journey.

By Sirancee Gunawardena
Sunday Times

Seen to Wathurugama Road

Here is a part of the destination

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Around the temple area

Staircase from the road

Reaching the temple

The temple

Surrounding

Pagoda

On the way to the top of the mountain

Obey the rules

On the way

The famous part

The footpath

Keep walking

The next famous part of the hike

Natural

Narrow part

This is the only hardest part of the hike but it is beautiful

The path

Little more to go

Reaching to the top

Over the shades

The top of the rock

Colombo harbor area can be seen

Surrounding

The nearby rock

Greeny

More to see

Sripadaya can see here too

Missed to climb this rock

Pagoda at the top

Top of the rock

Enjoying the surrounding

I witnessed

Another view

This is another rock in here

Forest

All the buildings of Colombo can be seen here

Monkey Kingdom

See the people over there

Believe that this is Gampaha area

Monkey Kingdom

Enjoying

Will climb both rocks on another day

Turning to Pilikuttuwa road

Pilikuttuwa Forest

Working place

There are owners at the top too

By pass to the Henarathgoda park

Near Gampaha town

Part of the river

Generating oxygen

Henerathgoda park is over there

This river directing to Jaela and then Negombo lagoon

My Previous visit to Pilikuttuwa and Varana temples.

Pilikuttuwa and Warana Temple Visit

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

I have visited Miyunu falls in August 2018 and when we plan to visit a nearby attraction as a family trip I suggest them Miyunu Falls which is known to me and the surrounding also beautiful. Also, I wanted to show them the beauty of Gawaragiriya road and finally, we were able to spend our evening at Miyunu falls. Because I wanted show a waterfall to my kids and it was successful.

Gavaragiriya Miyunu Ella Falls – ගවගිරිය මියුණු ඇල්ල

The 60-meter Miyunu Ella waterfall is one of the two large waterfalls lying in the Kukulugala Forest (KF) is situated within the Western boundary of the Ratnapura district, Sabaragamuwa Province; and is located 15 km away from Bulathsinhala town. This forest ecosystem, which covers an area of 6000 acres within the Ayagama secretariat division, can be categorized as a low land evergreen rain forest. The dominant tree species are Dipterocarpus sp., Mesua sp., Doona sp., Schumacheria castaneifolia, Artocarpus Nobilis, Calophyllum inophyllum, Mangifera zeylanica, Humboldtia laurifolia, Oncosperma fasciculatum and Canarium zeylanicum species. Kukulugala mountain, also known as “Horanae Kanda (හොරණෑ කන්ද)” in Sinhala, is 705m above sea level.

The area consists of a rich hydrological network which includes two large waterfalls called “Ritigas Ella” and “Miyunu Ella”. Additionally, two large streams that start from this mountain, “Thaberum Ela” and “Era-Hadapana Ela”, are the major tributaries that flow throughout the year.

The waterfall can be accessed by traveling 10 km from Ayagama or 18 km from Egaloya on the Gavaragiriya Road to Kolambewa (කොළඹෑව) and trekking about 500 meters from there onwards into the Kukulugala Forest.

The Miyunu Ella waterfall is created in 2 levels and water at the base pool is said the go through an underground tunnel appearing again somewhere downstream.

This waterfall has been the inspiration for the “Nil Diye Nalangana” of the popular poet Meemana Prematilake (1918-1956) and the waterfall is said to be his favorite place to find tranquility.

The turning point from the main road

The road

Parking

You can park the vehicles here

Here is the parking area and this is near the top of the fall

Top of the fall

The drop

Dangerous area

Its falling from here

Footpath to the bottom of the fall

Footpath

It’s clear but there are leeches during rainy days

This is situated near to the stream

Canal at the bottom of the fall

Here it is

They are enjoying

Full view of the fall

Miyunu Fall

Another angle

With the sky

Base pool

Surrounding

Water level is bit low

The lower part of the fall

Witnessed again

Closer view

Miyunu Ella

Top part

The rocky area

Natural

Ready for bathing

Good place for a bath

Shadows

The dam and the canal

Sanoj is enjoying

The team

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

I planned a trip with my family and relations which is for a one-day adventurous trip. I choose Sembuwatte lake as it is so beautiful and we can enjoy a different beauty while driving through the northern part of Kandy district. We spent our morning at Kelebokka and then the evening at Sembuwatte Lake.

Sambuwatta Lake is a beautiful man-made reservoir located in Elkaduwa, Matale. The lake is bordered by Cambell’s Land forest reserve and situated at an elevation of 1,140 m. The misty and chilly atmosphere with pine trees and tea-covered slopes surrounding the lake make visitors feel relaxed and tranquil.

What puts the lake at the top as a leisure and family travel destination is the plethora of adventure activities available such as zip-lining, swan/motor boat riding, canoeing and hiking. Bathing and swimming in the lake, however, is not allowed since the lake is fairly deep (30 – 40 ft), there is a separate pool built for that purpose.

The road leading to the lake (Sembuwatte Lake Road) off Wattegama – Elkaduwa – Matale road (B461) is not in a favourable condition, especially the stretch that lies beyond the factory. This narrow and winding road stretches about 04 km from the main road to the lake. About 03 km in, there is a dilapidated tea factory (Elakduwa Tea Factory) and a small office, where you should stop to buy tickets.

Long vehicles like 54 seat Leyland buses/Coaches should be parked here. Small vehicles can safely be driven beyond this point up to the lake and park at the lake premises. Owing to the narrowness of the road, it can be heavily congested during holidays.

Essential Information

• Ticket prices 
  • Locals: Rs 200
  • Foreigners: Rs 1,000
• Opening Hours : 08:00 AM – 06: 00 PM
• Accommodation
  • Polo Bungalow :  Rs 15,000  ( 12 pax)
  • The Summer huts:
    • Rs 1000 per person in a group of  min 10 pax
    • For a group less than 10 pax: Rs 7,500

Source – https://www.thingstodosrilanka.com/listing/sembuwatta-lake/

On the way

Mountains far away, Bathalegala and Ura Kanda

More to see

Some more

Unnamed waterfall

It was tall about 20m+

Obstacles, My father and my uncles ready to clear it

I also joined

We cleared it fully

Main Notice

The road to the Lake area

Parking area and the tea factory

Sembuwatte Lake

Kelebokka viewpoint seen

Swarn boats

Its so beautiful

There were many visitors

The area

Surrounding

Through the pines trees

We all tried this zipline

Its enjoyable

The zipline

Our people

With my little princess

Its getting dark

This is our family

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

We had our final trip of the year 2017 to the Knuckles forest as we did more than 15 tours in Knuckles during the year 2017. Hence finally we have chosen the easiest destinations in Knuckles and in the evening we planned to spent with Rathna Ella and Kaluwa Watunu Ella.

Dothalugala is a famous destination in Knuckles as the legal campsite also located over there. We went through the Dothalugala nature trail and few of us were going out of the trail for a few minutes to reach the summit of Dothalugala mountain which is height about 1574m. After we complete our trail we headed to Rathna falls and later on we explored Kaluwa Watunu Falls in the latter part of the evening.

Previous Trip Report to Deanston Mini World’s End / Ketapathgala No 2

Marked on Metric Map (Ketaptatagala No. 2 means Deanston Mini World’s End)

Red star is Dothalugala summit and the Red circle is Deanston MWE

Footpath to the trailhead from Meemure Road

Hike started

Flowers

Environment

Surrounding

4 x 4 footpath

Its clear

More to go

Scenic road

This is the amazing part

Lonely

Kobonilagala Seen

Flowers

The bungalow near the campsite

Sandeeptha is posing

Part of the team with the Photographer Nirosh

Wall	The campsite

Environment

Environment

Mist is coming

Dothalugala Fall

At the top of the fall

Its small but beautiful

Low water level

Slow shutter

Bathing

Another one

Dothalugala trail

Keep walking

Flowers

Misty environment

A little man

Beautiful footpath

Dark forest

Mist was there

Walking

Flowers

Environment

Environment

More flowers

Adjusted trees

Wet

Mist

Its mentioned

The path

Its clear

Covered by mist

Keep walking

End of the hike

Environment

Environment

Walking along the Meemure road

Meemure Road to Hunnasgiriya

Tihara

Many Goats were there

Environment

Time for a break

On the way to Hasalaka

Passing 18 bends

18 Bends

More to go

Ratna Ella (Navarathna Ella) Fall – රත්න ඇල්ල (නවරත්න ඇල්ල)

The 101m Ratna Ella (Navarathna Ella) fall is the highest in the Kandy region and the stream that serves it irrigates the paddy fields of the surrounding villages.

Superstitious villagers say that there were seven vessels filled with precious stones hidden close to the fall, but that five have now been found. However, anyone attempting to find the final two will meet an untimely death at the bottom of the fall.

From Hasaka go to “Ratna Ella wasama” village. From this village there is a pathway along a small stream. after about 3km you will come across a bunt which is built across the Hasalaka Oya. There is a another footpath (just before the bunt on the right hand side) from here to the Ratna Ella.

There is another 30m waterfall in the vicinity called Kaluwa Wetuna Ella. This waterfall too can be reached on the same foot path.

Village near the Rathna Fall

Their lives

Saw it

We came

Rathna Fall

Zoomed view

Slow shutter

Another angle

Top part

Full view

Enjoying

Kaluwa Watunu Ella

Kaluwa Wetuna Ella Falls – කලුවා වැටුන ඇල්ල

Kaluwa Wetuna Ella is a 30 meter waterfall lies hidden deep inside the jungle in Hasalaka on the jungle track to its big brother, 101 meter Ratna Falls.

From Hasaka go to “Ratna Ella wasama” village. From this village there is a pathway along a small stream. after about 3km you will come across a bunt which is built across the Hasalaka Oya. There is another footpath (just before the bunt on the right-hand side) from here to the Kaluwa Wetuna Ella and Ratna Ella.

Slow shutter

Nirosh was there

Its getting dark

Full view of Kaluwa Watunu Ella

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

I did my first visit to Mannakethi Falls in 2012 and later I have visited it for only 1 time up to 2016. But in 2016, I had to visit it for more than 12 times and mainly with my HSBC staff members. However, I took only one hike to publish this post as this shows the wooden staircase which is not available now.

Once you go to the top of Mannakethi Falls, just have to walk upward of the stream. There are many natural adventure activities in this place as sliding, jumping, and swimming too. But always be careful when walking on the slippery rocks and beware about flash floods during rainy days.

Following the forest footpath

The crew

Crossing the river

Helping hands

Supporting each other

Informing the dangerous parts

Helping

Mannakethi Fall view from the top

Group Photo

Along the river

He is an expert in Swimming

Upper Mnnakethi Fall

This cable is no longer available

Another group photo

Enjoying

Swimming

The staircase

Climbing it

Its so strong

This is also a cool adventure

Milky Water

The river

Ready to natural slide

He was started

Enjoying

It’s so fun

It’s safe too

Another group photo

Walking more

Bathing

Nice environment

Flat rock

Adventures

Swimming

Jumping

Sliding

Water pits

Adventures

Top part

Final group photo

This cable is not there now

Helping hands

Final group photo

End of the hike

Time to leave

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

Kallebokka 3600 viewpoint (height: 1,175m) became a trending destination after it was promoted by a certain TV programme. The summit is located right on the border of Matale and Kandy districts and shares the same ridge that forms Hathale min-worlds end and Hunnasgiriya mountain. The said ridge extends to the north and joins with western massif of Knuckles.

On a clear day, visitors can observe Central Highlands, Kandy City, Sembuwatte lake and Knuckles Mountains.

A Camping site and 02 estate bungalows are available for visitors to stay but need to be booked early. There is a half-finished Hindu shrine at the center of the flat summit and a hut made using sticks to enjoy the vistas. It’s better to visit in the mornings to enjoy the unobstructed views for mist tend to cover the area in the afternoons.

The viewpoint is a privately owned property of Kallebokka Plantations (Sri Lanka state plantations corporation) and can easily be reached via Kandy (32km) or Matale (26km).

Directions from Kandy

Katugastota Madawala (Bambarella Rd) Madulkelle Kabaragala Kandenuwara

[ Google Maps Directions ]

Directions from Matale

Driver down the Kandy road about 1.5 km and turn left to Kabaragala road.

Madulkelle Kabaragala Kandenuwara

[ Google Maps Directions]

By Bus

Get to Wattegama and take the Kabaragala bus which will take you by the turning point.

Getting to the top
The road to the top is dilapidated and narrow. A 4wd vehicles would be ideal but Bikes and Three wheelers can also make the journey with some effort. Cars are not recommended and you can hire a tuk-tuk from this point for about Rs 1,000 – 1,500 for the roundtrip.

It’s an easy 1-2 hr hike (Elevation gain: ~300m) by foot so unless you’re with children or elderly, It is a highly recommended experience.

Follow along the road about 2km and you’ll arrive into a small village where Kellebokke upper division estate workers reside. At the entrance, someone will come forward and issue your tickets. Tickets are priced at Rs 100/= per person. It is high time, however, they implement a proper ticketing operation since the current process looks a bit shady.

Once at the top enjoy the panoramic views and try to identify the giants surrounding the area. There’s a nearby peak you can hike up as well for better views. The top can be windy, chilly and heavily foggy so be prepared for such conditions.

By the way, there are no restaurants at the premises so bring your own food. Make sure, however, to not leave any litter behind.

Some Essential information
Opening Hours : 06:00 AM to 06:00 PM
Entry fee: Rs 100/=
Telephone numbers for reservations (Camping site, bungalows) : 081-563 4911 / 081-563 3905
Kallebokka estate head office to book the campsite : 011-523 5187
Email: slspcke@bellmail.lk

info by – Website

On the way to Kallebokka

Main entrance

My little one keeps walking

Just the beginning

More to go

Came to the place

Surrounding

Took it first

Enjoying

Nice viewpoint

A fence there

Mist is coming

The factory

Nearby mountain

Still under construction

Roads

Lower area

Zoomed view

Knuckles giants

Misty road

Still preparing

The kovil

Nice edge

Mist Screen

Leave from the viewpoint, it’s covered by the mist

I witnessed

Misty path

Tea gardens

Part of the estate

Beauty

Capture

A spring

Fixed

Our boys

Landmark

Misty giants

Surrounding

On the return journey

Surrounding

Board

Our Elders

Kallebokka Factory

The path

The viewpoint

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

This the beginning of the SOBASIRI TEAM which is the combination of Me, Akila, and Malith, and later we welcomed Nirosh and Madusanka in 2014. This is not my very first adventure journey as I have started my adventure life in 2008 by visiting waterfalls around Kalutara area with my home town friend Jerom.

I was addicted to reading the adventure books written by Mr. Rodney Widanapathirana at that time and I planned this journey as per the story written one of his books. We three planned this journey as a 3-day trip but due to some reasons, Malith was not able to join us. Hence I and Akila decided to start our adventure life with this journey and we came to the area called Bambaragala just passing Udamaliboda I guess. At that time there were no barriers to visit that area and we parked our bikes at the powerhouse building and we got much information from a worker there. As per his directions, we saw the first fall and started our journey along the pipeline which is still under construction at that time. It was very much easy for us to identify the exact route up to the top of the 2nd fall and at a p[lace we got down through the forest to see the second fall but we don’t have enough ability to capture a single photo as we were not much close of the fall.

There are some funny stories of me during this hike as I was totally scared to the leeches in this trip and Akila was removing all the leeches hanged on my legs but currently, I don’t care about the leeches and by the time the fear of leeches was completely removed from me. But this journey reminding me of my behavior on the first journey and I still love this journey in my life. When we walk along the canal suddenly I saw a green pit viper slept on that 6-inch concrete bunt and fortunately Akila didn’t step on it. If so, our adventure journey might end up at the first hike and there will be no person called Ranshan in this field.

After we reach the top of the 2nd fall we spent some time and ate our foods and start walking along the river up to the 3rd fall. It was not much difficult as I have enough experience of jumping from rocks to rocks and walk along a river uphill. After we came to the 3rd fall again we have started to walk along the river up to the final fall. And we two were able to faster our journey and finish it by 6.30 pm in the evening.

After that, we continue our ride to Hatton for the next adventures of our journey.

At the dawn at Dehiowita where the road dividing to Deraniyagala

Early morning view of Seethawaka River which carries the water of Naya river too

Another view

Akila at the famous suspension bridge

Surrounding

The suspension bridge

How long it is

Sun rising

Mist over the mountains

Mist over the peak wilderness

Tea estates

Scenic road

Bends

There were so many small bridges along this road

Bunch of Mist over the sunshine

Our machines

The bridges without a safety fence, it is overflowing during rainy days

Iced cool water

Obstacles

The first fall of the Seven falls chain

It’s like a woman’s hair

Surrounding

Nice place to camp

Beauty

Top part

Dangerous pits

The beginning of the route to 2nd fall

The pipeline is still under construction

Environment

More to go

It is too hard for me to climb this as my first journey but for Akila it is easy for him.

The pathway

Here is the snake

Green Pit Viper

We have to walk along with this bunt

This is the bunt that we walked as the final part of reaching to the top of 2nd fall

2nd fall, we got down from here but not to the end

Here is the river

Dark but Fresh

Here we came

Resting

The food items we bought

The beginning of the pipeline to the powerhouse

Dangerous area

The drop of the 2nd fall

Full view

I witnessed myself as the start of SOBASIRI

Enjoying the beauty

Akila also witnessed

Happy face

Slides

Surrounding

Start walking along the river

Obstacles

Freedom

On the way

Calm and clean environment

Resting

More to go

Small cascades

Giant forest

Near to 3rd one

The fall

Walk along the river is easy for me but bit hard for him

Dark pits

Side view of the dried one

Rocked the rocks

I climbed the giant rock over here

Mini cascades

Enjoyable hike

Crystal clear water

More to go

Some more

End of the journey

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

Dhanigala mountain is actually an exploration by Travel with Chathura program as they captured an amazing circular photo of this unique shaped mountain. Hence I wanted to climb this mountain before get it rush by unethical travelers. However, I and few of my friends were able to conquer Dhanigala mountain and explore some more beauty than we saw on Chathura’s video.

Approximate location at Metric Map

Marked in Google maps

The track that our team used, recorded by Ranjith ayya

Drone view of the Alien Mountain (pic-Derana)

Drone view of the Alien Mountain (pic-Derana)

It has a unique shape and it looks like an alien ship was landed over there and the trees/ grass over that area was burned. And we can clearly identify it from the above photos as it shows the circle where there are no trees.

Early morning

On the way

Passing 18 hairpin bends

At dawn

Aralaganwila road

Nameboard-1

Nameboard-2

Nameboard-3

Nameboard-4

The Notice

The view

Giant is here

The circular

Our transportation mode

The temple

Closer view

Nice design

Archaeological site

Ruins

The view

Another angle

My sisters

Our target

Bo tree

Dhanigala over the site

Inside of the temple

Inside of the temple

Buddha statue

This area also affected by LTTE works in the war era and that is why most of the ruins damaged. Also, treasure hunters were there a long time ago and there is a big historical value over this site and the temple too. We had a chat with the head monk as we have informed him before the visit. He was very friendly and taught us some important info too.

At a nice place

Journey started

Dry forest patch

Along the line

It’s me

Dry forest

Plants

Surrounding

Tony ayya

Be careful

Small obstacles

Thrones

Roots

Small caves

Destroyed by treasure hunters

The rocky wall

Surrounding

This place was destroyed

Giant statue was destroyed by treasure hunters

The area

Cavegraphy

Closer view

Root designs

My family

Rocky wall of the circular

Water drops of the spring at the top of Dhanigala

Water

Top of the mountain

It’s like a waterfall

More to go

Another nature design

Another small cave

Here is it

Climbing the final part

Reaching the top

Let’s walk more

Surrounding

Nature styles

Walking further

At the top

Its like a small ground

The temple and the road

I with Thanuja

Water pit

The spring

It’s Nirosh

Birth of a water stream

Drinking water

An edge

So far (Zoomed Capture)

Man-made tank

Towards Maduruoya

Another cave has seen far away

Edge

Some letters

The road

Surrounding

See the water marks

Zoomed

Nirosh

Dangerous edge

Solar power panels at the top

Here are they

My family members

Dimbulagala

Some giants

Temple and the area

Green

Surrounding

Surrounding

Beautiful

Bhagya

The circular type path at the top

View towards Maduruoya

Where we came from

Akila

Surrounding

Omunugala

It looks like Govinda hela

Kamburagala/ Topagala

Pimburuththawa Tank

Over the tank

The view

Eastern side mountains

Over the Omunugala

It’s me

Beautiful area

Exploring

Photobooth

Maduruoya road

The environment at the top

Rocky plains

Walking path

Another part of the range

Keep walking

Akila again

Bhagya was there

Our selfie

It’s our message

Filling some water on the return journey

At the lake for a bath

Enjoying the bath

Sun setting

Sun set over the lake

It’s Our story

Pano 1

Pano 2

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

Hadurukkanda (හදුරුක්කන්ද)-794 m
Hadurukkanda is another mountain situated at Kurunegala area with height of 794 m and it is considered as the second highest mountain of Kurunegala district. (Highest of Kurunegala district is Bisogala-823 m). The lower part of Hadurukkanda is occupied by a tea estate and top is covered by the forest patch called Hadurukkanda forest reserve of 77 Ha. Hadurukkanda range extends towards Rambukkana side with Belgoda Kanda and Parape Hills. This is considered as an easy hike but I couldn’t do it though I have been at many peaks of Kurunegala District. There are two paths to climb Hadurukkanda: One from Indulgodakanda side and other one is from Udagammana side.

Hadurukkanda in metric map

Part of Hadurukkanda is in next page of metric map.

Hadurukkanda in Google map

.

View of Hadurukkanda from different mountains.

From Bisogala.

From Andagala

From Ibbagamuwa-Kotagala

From Dolukanda

Hike to Hadurukkanda
Medhaka and myself started the journey from Colombo and planned to join with Anupama at Kurunegala. Medhaka was a new face for my travelling. Though Anupama has planned to join with us for the hike he couldn’t come due to unavoidable reason. We turned to Kandy road from Kurunegala and passed Mallawapitiya junction. Next turn was to Indulgodakanda road after Mallawapitiya junction (7.462657, 80.405455).
Here the winding Indulgodakanda road starts and we have passed Thempana reservoir as well. Indulgodakanda is the name of the village and Hadurukkanda is the name of the mountain. Just opposite to Indulgodakanda post office Hadurukkanda road begins (7.424645, 80.401175). It is a narrow winding road with bad condition. Here I don’t recommend a low ground vehicle for this road though real distance is about 2.3 km but we spent about 30 minutes. The trekking starts from the church called Our Lady of Lourdes’ church, Hadurukkanda (7.427987, 80.406532).

Our Lady Lourdes’ Church, Hadurukkanda.

Hadurukkanda estate begins just in front of the church. As there was nobody to get permission, we followed the estate road according to Google map. After passing the estate Bungalow we came across few estate workers and they mentioned about another group who are heading of us. At the end of the estate there was a “Budumadura” (බුදුමැදුර) where real hike started. There was a clear foot path through the forest patch with continuous ascend till we get on to the peak of Hadurukkanda. It was about 30 minutes hike from Budumadura to Hadurukkanda top.

View of Hadurukkanda from it’s base.

View of Belgoda Kanda and Parape Hills, Neighbors of Hadurukkanda.

The estate road we followed.

“Budu Madura” / Shrine house was the land mark to enter the forest.

Medhaka (behind) and Charith

Continuous ascend

Shaded foot pathway

The foot path

.

The summit of Hadurukkanda is covered with trees and there was a small open area towards Mawathagama side. The summit was marked by keeping a small Buddha statue. We have walked beyond the summit and found ruins of an old Stupa digged by treasure hunters. The foot path continued beyond the summit towards the other side of the mountain. As there was nothing to do on top of this mountain we started to get down. Though it is dry zone we have noted leeches on top of Hadurukkanda.

View towards Mawathagama side. The mountain is seen far away is Etipola (left) and right hand side peak is Wilshire.

Zoomed view of Mawathagama town

The summit of Hadurukkanda

The other group with children

Digged Stupa…

Getting down….

Note the forest boundary

Coming out of the forest

We have decided to follow the foot path in other side of the estate to reach the gate in getting down. On this way we came across small “Peela” (පීල්ල) and statue of god Hirugala Bandara. There were much open areas in this side to identify few land marks around Kurunegala town: Ethugala, Kiribathgala, Ibbagala, Wedaruwa Lake, Nathagane and Yakdessagala etc.

The view

The view towards Pothuhera side

Kurunegala Town and Kurunegala Lake are seen at center of the picture. A small piece of Ethugala Buddha statue is also seen. Nathagane and Yakdessagala were clearly identified. The other lake is Wedaruwa Lake.

Known peaks around Kurunegala Town

Hadurukkanda Forest Conservation

Statue of God Hirugal Bandara

පීල්ල

Wild beauties

Wild beauties

Couple of Mango trees.

Thempana Reservoir and “Ringana Gala” (තැම්පාන ජලාශය හා රිoගන ගල)
Thempana reservoir (7.447419, 80.405363) is situated at Indulgodakanda road. It is the source of drinking water to Kurunegala town since colonial era. This reservoir was built in 1830 for the purpose of supplying drinking water to an army camp.
Nowadays this reservoir is opened for public only on Poya days. “Ringana Gala” (7.2657 N, 80.2425 E) with Mota Kanda (මොට කන්ද) is situated on side of Thampana Reservoir. As we were not allowed to visit the reservoir on that day I flied the drone to get some aerial pictures of the reservoir.

Entrance to Thampana Reservoir from road. Mota Kanda with Ringana gala is seen behind.

Ringana Gala.

Thampana reservoir and Indulgodakanda road.

Mota Kanda with Ringana Gala

Mota Kanda and Thampana Reservoir.

Paddies at Mawathagama. Kurunegala area is also seen.

Our next target was to reach Ringana Gala which is situated at side of Thampana reservoir. Ringana Gala is a rocky opening made by two angulated rock. About 50 m below this opening you will come across a nice opening towards Thampana reservoir.

We came back to A10 road back and drove along Hotel Mandir Kanda road. This road is also not in good condition and few stone quarries are situated there. At the end, road branches to Hotel Mandir Kanda and to the quarry. First we went to the hotel (7.455368, 80.408592) and got to know about the foot path to Ringana Gala. Then we followed the road to Quarry and came across small shrine house under a Bo tree. (If you continued along right hand road will end up at an abounded Quarry). We have turned to left from there and found the vanished foot pathway to Ringana Gala. Actually there was a clear estate road at some point but Mana has grown to hide the road. Next the road branches to Ringana Gala and to top of Mota Kanda. First we went to top of Mota Kanda. Actually it has no view point but we have reached a slab rock on our way to the top, where you can see the surrounding.

Road branches: One to Mandir Kanda Hotel (left) other to quarry (right)

The road branches here again and we followed left side turn here.

Clear estate road

Stone cut pond

Upward road to top of Mota Kanda. Downward road to Ringana Gala.

The slab rock where you can enjoy the view.

On top of Mota Kanda. Actually it is just below Mota Kanda. Real summit has forest cover.

Towards Ringana Gala

Ringana Gala is opening of an angulated two rocks

Drip ledge

Side view of Ringana Gala

They are at Ringana Gala.

Ringana Gala

When we were there

Ringana Gala is considered as one of the places where King Walagamba hides. About 50 m below Ringana Gala there is a nice view point towards Thampana reservoir and surrounding. It was like a mini world’s end and we enjoyed a lot by posing here. This was the last task of the day.

Thampana Reservoir from view point.

Thampana Reservoir from view point.

When I was there.

The road and reservoir

Mountain just in front of Mota Kanda.

Thanks for reading

This was an unforgettable journey for me and my wife as we spend this vacation with our little princess. We planned this for 5 days by locating Nuwaraeliya and we rented a house via contact of our friend Madusanka. And the most wanted experience is the train journey at Expo Rail and Rajadhani Express. Hence we booked Expo Rail to reach Nanuoya and on our return journey, we booked Rajadhani Express. Unfortunately, this luxury train service is not functioning now.

We left in the morning train to Badulla via Expo Rail and it was like a journey at an airplane. Because we received all the meals and treatments from the staff and there was a special area as a view deck. That is an open area on the train and it was fully Air-conditioned and facilitated with a TV and wifi. We booked a house which has 3 rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room with over 10 perch garden. And that was situated above 2000m at Kalukele at a view of Hakgala, Horton Plains, Conical, Waterfall Point, Single Tree, Kikiliyamana, Piduruthalagala range.

I got the Madusanka’s motorbike for this entire tour and we went to Ambewela via Hakgala, Hawaeliya area, Gardens, Strawberry lands, Nanuoya falls and etc. Since we had our 1 and half year princess we didn’t go for adventures but we roamed around Galwesland National Park. On the final day, we came to Colombo by the Rajadhani Express compartment and it was also a unique served compartment but it is not good than the Expo Rail.

The viewing deck

This is the Expo Rail

Enjoying the experience

Inside the compartment, it was full of passengers

Passing Mirigama

Inside appearance

Surrounding

Scenery

Express Train

Straight line

Another giant on this track

At Peradeniya

Stopped for a rest

The tracks

Leaving now

Enjoying

Environment beauty

Passing Hatton

Hatton-Nuwaraeliya road

Another stop

Have seen the giants

The roof of the compartment