Ambokka (අම්බොක්ක) is a range situated at border of Kurunegala-Matale districts. It is seen to most of nearby peaks and Dambulla-Kurunegala road. My first journey to Ambokka peak was happened in 2014 under misty condition. Here we (Anupama and Myself) hiked to Kondagala (කොණ්ඩගල) peak and we didn’t see anything beyond Kondagala due to mist.
In 2018 Ashan and Chamara has conquered Ambokka and they were able to reach the highest of the range which was beyond Kondagala.
Locals called Kondagala (7.612199, 80.577645) as Ambokka and it is not the highest point of the range. The highest point of Ambokka (7⁰36’18.2N, 80⁰34’39.3E) is called as Selagama Kanda (සැලගම කන්ද) by villagers.
This our journey to highest point of Ambokka from Ambokka village.

Kondagala. Popular peak of Ambokka

Kondagala-2014

How Ambokka is seen to nearby mountains

From Kadigala

Ambokka is seen over Dewahuwa Lake

From Makulussa

From Karanampotha

From Beliyakanda

Selagama MWE and Ambokka on our way to Karagahathenna MWE

From Dolukanda

From Bisogala

Metric map of Ambokka

Click image to enlarge. This was taken from my previous report. Black star is the highest point of Ambokka.

This was the second day of our two days trip to Dambulla and Melsiripura. We have stayed at Melsiripura following waterfalls hunt at Ranamure. Due to tight schedule, our plan was to start the journey as early as possible. Somehow we were able to reach Ambokka village by 7.30am. Here we followed the road runs from Melsiripura to Ambokka ancient Pathhini Dewalaya via Millawana estate. Ambokka village is known to Anupama and therefore we have parked the car there. Our trail head started from Ambokka estate. This was based on our previous experience but locals do this hike from Ambokka village. We had to walk from the place we parked the car to trail head, probably 1km.

Vehicle was stopped for a snap at Millawana road. This road is beautiful and shady

The view of Ambokka from Ambokka village

The view of Ambokka from Ambokka village. Click credit-Keshan

Ambokka Ambalama

Walked back along the road from the place we parked the car to trail head at Ambokka estate.

Morning selfies

We have filled our bottles from the stream on our way to the estate. Then we followed the forest patch next to the estate and reached upper section of the estate. As it was Sunday nobody was there. Next was to enter the forest section situated above the estate border. We came out of the forest patch to an open area with Mana bushes (7⁰36’54.0065’’N, 80⁰34’31.8511’’E). This reminded us our first journey to Ambokka through Mana patches.

Stopped for breakfast at Ambokka estate

Ambokka village with paddies. Click credit-Keshan

Ascend through the forest patch

Ascend through the forest patch

Coming out of first forest patch. Click credit-Keshan

First Mana patch we came across. Click credit-Keshan

Ascend along the Mana patch

Ambokka RMW. Click credit-Keshan

Again beautiful paddies. Click credit-Keshan

The view. Click credit-Keshan

Next was a long stretch through a forest patch with boulders and Nelu bushes (7⁰36’45.1796”N, 80⁰34’33.5816E’’, 7⁰36’43.3264”N, 80⁰34’35.2207E’’). After the ascend we have reached the ridge of Ambokka range but this point was beyond Kondagala. Kondagala was the previous highest point we have gone. Therefore we didn’t need to go to Kondagala again in this journey. This opening was a small plain with beautiful view.7⁰36’39.425N, 80⁰34’38.5522E’’

Ascend on boulders

Nelu

The way through Nelu…..

Team

We have reached a plain in between Kondagala and true peak of Ambokka. Click credit-Keshan

We have reached a plain in between Kondagala and true peak of Ambokka. Click credit-Keshan

The plain. Click credit-Keshan

The lonely tree.

Kondagala. Click credit-Keshan

Towards Nalanda Reservior. Click credit-Keshan

Karagahathenna. Click credit-Keshan

True peak of Ambokka is situated behind

The true peak of Ambokka

Towards Kondagala

Love this plain

This plain was situated at 1000m attitude and we have spent about one and half hours to reach here from trail head. The true peak of the range was seen ahead of us. According to Ashan’s experience, we knew the rest of the hike is going to be hard. Basically the hardest part of the hike was this stretch (7⁰36’28.3849’’N, 80⁰34’339.036E’’). We had to go through Nelu bushes and bamboo was the most difficult. Thick newly grown bamboos were obstructing our way to the peak. As it was a tiresome exercise to separate bamboos by hand we decided to go underneath it. There were small openings in between Bamboos which were like our resting places. After spending another two hours we were able to reach the highest of Ambokka range. This place had a rock directing to Salagama area and some letters engraved on it’s side.

Thickly grown Nelu…..

Coming out of Bamboo

A break. Note the true peak is further ahead

Another break

Don’t forget to smile through your difficulties

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Small open area at Ambokka highest point. This place is just enough to pitch couple of tents.

Highest point of Ambokka range

Highest point of Ambokka range

Anupama loves this mountain. Somehow he was able to reach highest point. Click credit-Keshan

The group selfies

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This shows our path to Ambokka true peak

There was slight haziness around and we were able to view Salagama side, Selagama Mini World’s End, Nawugala, Yatawaththa, Wilshire, Etipola, Makulussa, Karagahathenna, Gammaduwa, Sandamadala, Hawarimana, a part of Nalanda reservior from Ambokka highest point. The view on Kondagala side was not clear. We didn’t have that much time to spend here as I had to be at Colombo late evening. We were able to make return journey in three hours time. Here we almost followed the same path to descend by using Google maps.

View from highest point of Ambokka. Towards Selagama. Selagama MW situated in between two peaks. Click credit-Keshan

Paddies at Selagama. Click credit-Keshan

Wilshire and Etipola

Towards Karagahathenna and Gammaduwa.

Somewhat clear picture of Gammaduwa, Karagahathenna, Hawarimana peaks (left side) and Sandamadala

Towards Rusigama side and Nalanda reservior

.	Letters engraved at Ambokka highest point. Pc-Kasun Lakmal. This might be surveyor’s point.

Letters engraved at Ambokka highest point. Pc-Kasun Lakmal. This might be surveyor’s point.

Coming down….

Thanks for reading 

During my previous visit to Sasseruwa the rainy weather conditions halted my uphill hike to a mid point so after a long pause it was time for completion. Since the sun was blazing during the mornings we decided to hike up early as possible so after reaching the ancient Budhdha statue we started hiking up along the adjoining foot path.

Metered map

path

Res vehera kanda as seen from Galgiriya

Res vehera kanda

famous res vehera statue

There is a clear foot path towards a lovely rocky plain and from here, one needs to pass a cave to reach another huge rocky area where the foot path vanishes to thin air.

first view point

Nikawewa side seen

Galagiriya

arrows were there up to a mid point

through the cave

along the rock

wow	crawling up

.	Kinihirakanda seen

the summit

huge obstacle

From the rocky plain the summit could be seen easily but to reach it from this point we had to tackle a difficult terrain with vines. Last bit of the hike was through short and dry forest cover. The summit consist of 3 huge boulders and after hanging around a bit we headed towards the northern edge where ruins of a pagoda could be seen.

last climb

summit

.	galagiriya, Degadathurawa and nikawewa kanda seen

Kalankuttiya wewa , mullanattuwa wewa,

towards Kekirawa, kala wewa , balalu wewa

gedaragala pathana, beliya kanda, menikdena, kadigala , arangala

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giant

Attaragalla – Andiyagala

near by Kathnoruwa tank

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summit pano

From the summit one could appreciate Nika wewa kanda, Galagiriya, Atharagalla kanda, Kinihira kanda, Ritigala, Degadathurawa, Kala wewa, Balalu wewa, many near by tanks, Gedaragala pathana, Menikdena, Kadigala, Arangala, Katnoruwa, Siyambalangamuwa tanks and towards meegelewa, etc

After a brief stay we rushed back to the temple to taste a yummy “Thembili” before departing towards our next destination. It only took around 3 hours for the whole exploration and if you are interested there is lot to see in this ancient site (refer my previous report ).

other end

Ritigala

north end pano

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Katnoruwa, Siyambalangamuwa tanks and towards meegelewa

Ranamure (රණමුරේ) is a small and isolated village found in Knuckles forest reserve. Ranamure is the starting point like Etanwala for Duwili Falls trail. Tributaries of Ranamuru Oya (රණමුරු ඔය) debut from the plain called Aswedduma (අස්වැද්දුම) and flow through Ranamure village. On it’s way to Ranamure village this stream forms number of beautiful cascades. Ashan and Chamara have explored these beautiful waterfalls. I was waiting for the ideal time to explore these cascades.
We have selected a day in the middle of monsoon rain to visit Ranamure waterfalls as they were showing their maximum colors.
Keshan, Kasun and Myself started the journey from Colombo and Anupama joined with us from Kurunegala. We have followed the route from Dambulla to Bakamuna and then drove towards Pallegama. The road condition from Dambulla-Bakamuna is not in good condition compared to our last visit to Ranamure.
Pallegama (පල්ලේගම) is a newly established town to replace old sunk one from Moragahakanda reservior. We have drove along Ranamure road and found a spacious place at a house to park the vehicle.
According to Ashan’s description there are 12+ waterfalls along this stream and some of them have separate names put by villagers. We also adhered to his nomenclature of these waterfalls.

We followed Ranamure-Duwili Falls foot pathway and exit the village. Most of the time this foot path runs parallel to Ranamuru Oya. After few hundred meters from the village we off trekked the path towards Ranamuru Oya and came to top of 9th fall. There was a foot path on left side of the stream to reach the base of 9th fall.

The journey begins

9th Fall (7030’01.5N, 80049’27.2E)

The first waterfall we encountered.

9th waterfall

9th waterfall

9th waterfall

Here we have decided to walk upstream on right side of Ranamuru Oya. There was a foot path (not clear sometimes) in right side of Ranamuru Oya. Our next encounter was another tall waterfall numbered as 8th fall.

.	Upstream walking along right side of the stream

8th Fall (7029’59.8N, 80049’22.2E)
This waterfall is about 30m in height and a fallen tree was obstructing it’s base. We have crossed the fall with aid of this tree.

Majestic 8th waterfall

8th waterfall

Cross the waterfall with aid of fallen tree

It was an ascend on right side of the stream again and we came across two minor cascades above 8th fall.

View of Ranamure…On top of 8th fall

On top of 8th fall

A waterfall above 8th fall. (7029’58.3N, 80049’20.5E)

A waterfall above 8th fall.

Second waterfall above 8th fall. (7029’57.9N, 80049’20.3E)

Close-up

Simply beautiful

We returned back to Duwili Falls path as there was a significant distant and ascent between 8th and 7th falls. 7th fall and Bambarungahana Ella (6th) are situated closer to Duwili Falls pathway.

Ranamuru Oya closer to Duwili Falls trail.

Crossing the fence.

7th Fall (7029’42.6N, 80049’08.6E)

With 7th fall

7th fall

Bambarun gahana Ella / බඹරුන් ගහන ඇල්ල (7029’34.5N, 80049’03.3E)

Bambarun Gahana Ella

A part of Bambarun Gahana Ella

A part of Bambarun Gahana Ella

We were back to Duwili Falls path and came to the junction where Angunukole Falls path starts. (7029’22.86N, 80048’49.2E) The Left is Angunukole Falls path and right is Duwili falls path.

Where Angunukole path starts

We followed Angunukole falls path and came to an opening area where three streams join together to form Angunukole Falls. This was like a waterfall junction. (7029’13.8N, 80048’50.8E).

Waterfall junction

Open area with three streams join to form Angunukole Falls

At waterfall junction

Top of Angunukole Falls

A fall at waterfall junction

Cross section

Cross section

Here we followed the most left side stream (far one of Duwili falls trail) and found another beautiful waterfall above Angunukole Falls.

First waterfall situated above Angunukole falls (7029’09.4N, 80048’52.9E)

First waterfall above Angunukole Falls

Cross section

As time didn’t permit, we have turned from there for the first day and came back to waterfall junction. Then we have explored Angunukole Falls. But for the sake of clearance of report I would like to mention other two waterfalls situated just above waterfall junction. (Actually we explored them on second day).
I have noted another beautiful waterfall just above this junction when we fly the drone. It is situated at the middle stream of these three streams. There was another small but beautiful waterfall situated parallel to this fall but in other stream (one in right hand side)

Second waterfall situated above Angunukole falls (7.486878, 80.813718)
This waterfall we got to know by the drone. It is situated just about 20-30m from waterfall junction. As it’s angle is about 900 bit difficult to capture the upper part.

Waterfalls junction and the fall situated just above it.

Closer view of above mentioned waterfall

Second fall situated above waterfall junction.

Second fall situated above waterfall junction.

We moved further lateral to this stream and came across another small but beautiful fall created by another stream.

Third waterfall situated above Angunukole falls

Third waterfall situated above Angunukole Falls

Third waterfall situated above Angunukole Falls

Upper Angunukole Falls / අගුණුකොලේ ඇල්ල (7029’16.1N, 80048’53.5E)
Upper Angunukole Falls is the second highest waterfall of Ranamure cascades. It has two steps and we reached base of second steps. There was a fainted foot path to it’s base and this foot path branches before waterfall junction. To get the full view of this cascade you have to go to left side of the fall.

Lower part of Upper Angunukole Falls

Lower part of Upper Angunukole Falls. Upper part is also seen.

Upper Angunukole Falls

Two parts of Upper Angunukole Falls

Upper Angunukole Falls with two steps.

Upper Angunukole Falls

Waterfall junction and Upper Angunukole Falls

Drone picture of Upper Angunukole Falls

Lower Angunukole Falls (7029’18.9N, 80048’53.5E)
Lower Angunukole falls is situated about hundred meters downstream of upper Angunukole falls. Here we descend parallel to the stream.

The one between Upper and lower Angunukole Falls

Lower Angunukole Falls

Lower Angunukole Falls

End of the first day

Exploring Alakole Falls

We have noted a part of Alakole falls by the drone capture at waterfall junction. Therefore our wild guess says it should be situated one of the streams join at waterfall junction. This was our main task of second day. We walked upstream parallel to above mentioned left side stream and after few hundred meters the roaring sound of Alakole Falls was heard.

Alakole Falls / අලකොලේ ඇල්ල (7029’00.5’’N, 80048’516E) and (7028’58.6’’N, 80048’50.3E)
This is the queen of Ranamuru Oya cascades. It has several sections. The main part of Alakole falls is about 50-60m tall.

Main part of Alakole is seen to the drone

At base of Alakole Falls

With Alakole Falls

We two with Alakole Falls

Alakole Falls

Alakole Falls

We have accomplished our main target of the second day. Then we walked away from Alakole falls in it’s right side and came across a clear foot pathway. It brought us to an open area (7029’03.2’’N, 80048’40.8’’E). Here we wanted to reach the top of Alakole Falls and further explore to reach upper parts of it, but it was not successful. We heard the sound of a stream here and we descend parallel to it in view of reaching waterfall junction. On our way down a set of stones were noted at the side of the stream. There was a foot path closer to this stream and eventually it came to “Galpoththa” where Galpoththa fall is situated.

The open area we reached

Set of stones kept at bank of the stream

Reaching Galpoththa Falls

Here we understood, the foot pathway we followed is the one branches at Galpoththa to reach Alakole Falls. So there are two ways to reach Alakole falls. One is to follow the left side foot path at Galpoththa (what Ashan did) or walk upstream from waterfall junction (what we did). And this stream forms most right side two streams come to waterfall junction. Somehow they all meet at waterfall junction to form Ranamure Oya.

Galpoththa Falls / ගල්පොත්ත ඇල්ල (7029’14.7’’N, 80048’46.1E)

With Galpoththa Falls

Galpoththa Falls

Galpoththa Falls

Galpoththa Falls

We were back to Duwili Falls foot pathway from Galpoththa and descend to Ranamure village. According to Ashan’s report there are three more waterfalls after the 9th fall. We were rushed to explore them as a rain was on it’s way. We were able to watch two cascades below the 9th fall but rest of the exploration was not permitted by pouring rain.

A cascade below 9th fall

A cascade below 9th fall

A cascade below 9th fall

Front view of it

It finishes our two days journey to Ranamure Oya. We have visited 12+ waterfalls along Ranamure Oya in this journey. On our way to Naula from Pallegama we stopped at Kanda Pitawala Lake (කන්ද පිටවල වැව) to have some snaps.

Kanda Pitawala Lake

Kanda Pitawala Lake

The bunt of Kanda Pitawala Lake

The spill

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Thanks for reading

This is all about famous Bathalegala rock and some tourists attractions around Pilimathalawa.

Bathalegala / Bible Rock /බතලේගල (7.188574, 80.434758) (797.7m)

Directions: Colombo->Mawanella-> Aranayaka-> Gewalapitiya->Hathgampola->Bathalegala Road->Bathalegala

Bathalegala is one of famous destinations among travellers as it is an easy hike. It is nicely seen like Sigiriya when you drive up at Kadungannawa. My first visit to Bathalegala happened in 2009 and it was the first hike with Ashan. I still can remember the extreme wind we felt on top of Bathalegala.
This was my second visit to Bathalegala after 11 years. Our main objective was to travel to Nuwara Eliya and this was kind of on our way task.

How Bathalegala is seen to nearby other mountains
The unique appearance of Bathalegala made easy to identify from nearby mountains.

On our way to Samasara Kanda

View of Bathalegala from Ura Kanda

Early morning we have arrived to Mawanella town then turned to Aranayaka road. Google map gave clear directions to Bathalegala and we stopped at Hathgampola junction to buy some buns. As I mentioned above, the road condition was not that much good at Bathalegala road. Therefore we have parked the vehicle somewhere before the trail head and walked up. (It is about 3Km from Hathgampola junction to trail head)
It is almost an ascend from the trail head to top of Bathalegala. First it was stone steps and then cements steps aided by an iron bar. This foot path comes to a mid-point of the rock. If you follow the left side you will end up at view point of Bathalegala while the temple is situated at right side of the rock.
There were evidences of camping on top of the rock. As it was a gloomy day we were not able to view that much nearby structures. Samasara Kanda, Kukulpitiya Gala and Ura Kanda were identified through the haziness. In a clear day you can view Kabaragala, Rakshawa Kanda and Asupini Ella in addition to above mentioned mountains.

Different view of Bathalegala on our way up….

At trail head……500m from here to the top.

Trail head…mentioning it as a forest reserve.

Stones laid foot path

Cement steps

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Some more to go

Selfies at middle of the path

The junction. Evidences of camping

Ura Kanda

Foot path directs to view point

On top of Bathalegala

Estate roads

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One of the view points

Another view point

At drop

Selfie on top of Bathalegala with background of Ura Kanda

The drop

The drop

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This time the top was calm compared to my previous visit and it allowed me to fly the drone. We were able to view a different angle of Bathalegala.

Aerial view of Bathalegala

The top of Bathalegala. Foot paths and temple end are clearly seen here.

Different view of Bathalegala

Different view of Bathalegala

We are on top of Bathalegala

The drop

Another angle of Bathalegala

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Then we followed the same foot path and came to the other end of the rock which is occupied by the temple. There were a lot of constructions at this end and nobody was at the temple at that time. A sign board directed us to a “Len Wiharaya” (ලෙන් විහාරය) which is situated below the rock level. There were two caves at this path and one is converted to a shrine house.

A large excavation at top might be a work of treasurer hunters.

Directions to Len Wiharaya

Steps to Len Wiharaya

Cave-1

The cave temple. Cave-2.

Inside the cave temple.

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Bo tree and Stupa were situated closer to other end. It was a good place to view Kukulpitiya Gala and Samasara Kanda.

The Bo tree

The bell and Stupa

.	Towards Samasara Kanda and Kukulpitiya Gala.

We followed the same foot path in return journey to reach the trail head.

I would like to mention about following attractions under this report.

1. Ranawana Temple
2. Kadungannawa Rock Temple
3. Pahala Kadungannawa Ambalama
4. Gadaladeniya RMW
5. Lankathilaka RMW
6. Embakke Dewalaya
7. Nelligala International Buddhist Center

Ranawana Temple /රණවන පුරාණ රජමහා විහාරය (7.271480, 80.564194)

Directions: Colombo-> Kiribathkumbura-> Ranawana Temple

Ranawana Temple is a newly built one though it is mentioned as Raja Maha Wiharaya. It is situated about 1km from Colombo-Kandy road. Road condition is satisfactory and here are ample parking spaces.
The special feature is there are number of life size sculptures depicting the life of Lord Buddha and other Buddhist historical events. The foot path directing to the top of the rock lies between these sculptures. On top of the rock there is a giant Buddha statue depicts the walking posture, which is the only such type. In addition, there is a raw of sculptures of eighty Arahath Thero as well.
Ranawana temple is visited by a lot of pilgrims daily.

Ranawana RMW

Entrance to the temple

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Stairs

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Buddha statue with walking posture

Buddha statue with walking posture

.	80 Arahath Thero

80 Arahath Thero

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Kadungannawa Rock Tunnel / කඩුගන්නාව ගල විද්ද තැන
Kadungannawa tunnel was built by Engineer Captain W.F. Dorson in 1880 while building Colombo-Kandy road. In colonial period some say this mountain wall separate the law land from the Kandyan highlands of the country. It is the way to overcome Kadungannawa pass. Currently the road goes above this tunnel and it is kept as a monument.

.	Kadungannawa Rock Tunnel

Posing with the tunnel

The parking

Pahala Kadungannawa Ambalama /පහළ කඩුගන්නාව අම්බලම (7.252852, 80.497393)

Pahala Kadungannawa Ambalama is a historical wayside rest come across at Colombo-Kandy road just before Kadungannawa tunnel. It was built at 19th century and it was a popular stopover for horsemen and merchants travelling from low lands to Kandy. It resembles Kandyan era architecture and currently renovated by Ministry of tourism.

Front view of Pahala Kadungannawa Ambalama

Side view of Pahala Kadungannawa Ambalama

Renovated by Ministry of Tourism

Passengers are resting at Kadungannawa Ambalama

Gadaladeniya RMW /ගඩලාදෙණිය රජමහා විහාරය (7.257521, 80.556064)

Directions: Colombo->Pilimathalawa->Gadaladeniya Road->Gadaladeniya

Gadaladeniya RMW with an ancient monastery is found on the flat rock at Diggala in the district of Kandy. Gadaladeniya temple is situated in 1km from Kandy-Colombo road.
This temple was built by King Buwanekabahu IV in the year 1344. This temple was built according to South Indian architecture. Though this temple is known as “Gadaladeniya “today, an inscription identifies this temple as “Darmakeerthi Wiharaya” which is the name of the founding monk.
The main shrine room has seated Buddha statue under a Makara Thorana and four standing Buddha images.
Next to the shrine room is a Devale dedicated to God Vishnu. By the side of the Vishnu Devale is a Stupa made on a rock. This believed to have been made by King Parakramabahu V. Four smaller satellite stupas are built on small shrine rooms around the main Stupa. This structure is called the Vijayothpaya or Vijayantha Prasada which is a mythical palace of God Indra.

The inscription mentioning the temple was found by Darmakeerthi Thero in 14th century.

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Another inscription

What it says

The main shrine room is under cover of steel sheets for protection.

Main shrine room

Seated Buddha statue under Makara Thorana. Note four standing Buddha statues around it.

Close up of Makara Thorana

Vishnu Dewalaya

Main Stupa and four satellite stupas around it.

The Bo tree

Other entrance

Lankathilaka RMW / ලoකාතිලක රජමහා විහාරය (7.234069, 80.564947)

Directions: Colombo->Pilimathalawa->Gadaladeniya Road-> Pamunuwa->Lankathilaka Temple

Lankathilaka RMW was built in Gampola Kingdom at the crest of a large rock named “Panhalgala” which overlooks Hanthana Mountain Range. King Buwanekabahu IV who reigned from 1341 to 1351 A.D chose Gampola as his Kingdom and constructed this Wiharaya with help of a South Indian architect Sthapati Rayar.
There is a preaching hall thatched with flat roof tiles at the entrance. The main Wiharaya was built using granite with a plaster covering, has three stories built on natural rock. Inside the wall and ceiling of the main image house are decorated by paintings belong to Kandyan Era. There is a rock inscription at temple premises. There are five Devale can be seen around the image house.
The main temple was closed at the time of our visits. It is situated about 5km from Kandy-Colombo road along the same line of Gadaladeniya Temple road.

Hanthana range is seen to Lankathilaka RMW

The preaching hall at entrance

The rock inscription at Lankathilaka RMW

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Lankathilaka Temple

Makara Thorana at entrance of the temple

Makara Thorana at entrance of the temple

Wishnu Dewalaya

Embekke Dewalaya /ඇම්බැක්කේ දේවාලය (7.218005, 80.567716)

Directions: Colombo-> Pilimathalawa->Gadaladeniya Road->Embekke->Embekke Dewalaya

Embekke Dewalaya is famous for it’s wood carvings, pillars and other structures. This Dewalaya was built in Gampola period of King Wickrama Bahu II. Embekke Dewalaya was dedicated to God Katharagama and built as a three-storied building. Currently it has one floor with two segments named the Digge (Dancing Hall) and Drummers Hall (Hewasi Mandappaya). There are about 514 total wood carvings found at Embekke Dewalaya.
Embekke Dewalaya is situated about 6.6km from Colombo-Kandy road along the same line of Gadaladeniya and Lankathilaka Temple road.

Entrance of Embekke Dewalaya-Hewisi Mandappaya

Embekke Katharagama Dewalaya –Diggeya

Embekke Katharagama Dewalaya-Diggeya

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.	Wood carvings of Embekke Dewalaya

Katharagama Dewalaya

Monarageya of Embekke Dewalaya.

Buddha statue

Nelligala International Buddhist Center (7.302237, 80.560151)

Directions: Colombo-> Pilimathalawa-> Godamuduna->Muruthalawa->Nelligala

Nelligala International Buddhist Center is a new addition to tourist attractions of Pilimathalawa. Road condition from Pilimathalawa to Nelligala Buddhist Center is good and distance is about 8km. Nelligala was started to build in 2015 but still constructions going on.
This is situated on top of a mountain with 360 views. There are Buddha statues (some of them are golden plated), stupas and a shrine house at this premises. The new addition of the place is the statue of God Saman.
You can view Alagalla, Bathalegala, Ura Kanda, Belumgala, Peacock Hills, Ambuluwawa, Piduruthalagala, and Hunnasgiriya Mountain from Nelligala in a clear day.

Entrance of Nelligala

Following steps….

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Golden plated Stupa

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Statue of God Saman

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.	Shrine house

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Towards Piduruthalagala range and Peacock hills

Sun rise from Nelligala

Alagalla

Bathalegala and Ura Kanda

Kabaragala

Ambuluwawa and Sri Padaya

Weheragala Ancient temple and Kadungannawa Belumgala

Kandy-Colombo road at Pilimathalawa

More and more mountains from Nelligala.

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We have visited the Bulathkohupitiya area recently while we going to another function of one of our friends. It was a clear day and had enough water level to feel nature’s voice in this magnificent environment. We have visited several waterfalls and fortunately, there was enough water at this time. Also, we have climbed up to the Olu fall and caught the amazing beauty hidden at the top area.

Refreshed Morning

Wee oya Waterfall

Lower cascades

Slow shutter beauty

The environment

Beauty

Another view of it

Through the leaves

Green Lights

Little bit dangerous bridge

The view

Time to leave

The view

Fall with the environment

Captured

Kithul Fall

Another view

Thak god there was little water flow

This was situated on the road

The Red Hunter

Valuable Plants

Punugala Falls

Goraka Falls

View from far away

Falling on the rock surface

Olu Falls

Lower cascades

Slow shutter view

Milky waves

The bridge

Beauty

Wall art

Small cascades

Flowers

The name board

Wawulagala

The Carpet

Result at the top

The beauty

Milky view

Upper Olu Falls

Side view

Here is she

Darkness

Iced water

Through nature

Flowers

Small cascades

The view

Malalpola Falls

Beauty

The view

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

Dumbanagala (දුම්බානගල) is a remarkable peak in Knuckles massif and my first visit to Dumbanagala happened in a misty day. It is hard to find clear photos taken from Dumbanagala peak as it is covered with mist most of the time.
Dumbanagala Chalet is a beautiful bungalow situated at base of the mountain. I have passed it several times on my way to Meemure and some other peaks of Knuckles range. It was my dream to stay at this Chalet and I coupled it with Dumbanagala hike.

Dumbanagala (1642m) in metric map.

Just add some pictures of Dumabanagala for sake of completion of the report.

View of Dumbanagala on our way to Sphinix-2 rock. It is like a mountain with head and tail.

How Dumbanagala is seen to Dothalugala camp site. This is completely other side of above picture.

Appearance of Dumbanagala to Meemure road. This was captured just after the Corbett’s gap. You can’t see Dumbanagala right at Corbett’s gap.

Closer view and colorful appearance of Dumbanagala at Balalgira.

This was kind of a leisure trip and we need to be relaxed at Dumbanagala Chalet. Luckily we were the only guests at Bungalow on that day. Harinda, Kasun Shanaka and Vinoda joined with me for this journey and on our way to Ududumbara we have visited Nelligala International Buddhist Center and Udawatta Kale.
Ududumbara-Meemure road was busy on those days as President’s visit to Meemure was scheduled few days later. Number of vehicles passed the road and some Lorries parked at Corbett’s gap.

Dumbanagala Chalet (7.374971, 80.851865)

This two storied chalet situated at base of Dumbanagala peak. It can accommodate about twenty guests at one time. Earlier it was full of foreign tourists and situation was changed with Corona outbreak. Rooms are faced to Koboneelagala and Dothalugala side. Care takers of the bungalow keep the place clean and tidy. It is a known hike to Dumabanagala from the Chalet. There is a natural pool at the corner of the premises to have a bath. (Unfortunately we have visited there at last moment).

.	Entrance of Dumbanagala Chalet

A bend at Meemure road

Dumbanagala Chalet situated at base of Dumbanagala

Two storied Dumbanagala Chalet

Dumbanagala Chalet

Dumbanagala Chalet-Living Room

Enjoying the view…..

Bed room. PC-Kasun Shanaka

Each room has an upstair with extra bed. PC-Kasun Shanaka.

Garden table

Wide open balcony at Dining hall is ideal for a large group

Evening at Dumbanagala Chalet

View from Dumbanagala Chalet…Sphinix-1, Aliyawatuna Ela peak, Koboneelagala and Dothalugala

.	Morning view from Dumbanagala Chalet

Each room has balconies

Towards natural pool

.	Natural pool

Aerial view of Chalet with the bend

Outdoor breakfast at Dumbanagala Chalet

Hike from Dumbanagala from Dumbanagala Chalet

According to my previous report, Dumabanagala is a mountain with head and stalk. Last time we got on to the stalk and walked on it towards the peak. There was a clear path on the ridge / stalk until the peak. Dumbanagala hike is a known activity of Chalet. As a result there is a clear foot path from the bungalow to the ridge. (Actually this path to their cultivations not mere to hike the mountain)
We had an early morning start from the Chalet at 6.45am. The morning was clear we refreshed with bed tea. Our main objective was to reach the peak before mist wraps it. The caretaker has briefed the foot path from the chalet to the ridge. Surprisingly there was a stone laid path from the Chalet to somewhat extent and then it was a clear foot pathway.

Starting the journey….Harinda is back to the track after a long time

Stone laid path from the Chalet

We had an early start

It was a beautiful morning

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Foot rest

Stone laid foot path becomes a clear foot path

Foot path was vanished at this hut

We couldn’t trace the foot path after a particular small hut and we were back to our Google maps. There were a small unclear stretch with an ascend after this hut till we reach the ridge. Then we could trace the foot path on the ridge of Dumbanagala. There was a gradual ascend along the ridge and we have passed some Bamboo section and Nelu bushes to reach the head of the mountain. Once we reached the open area, surrounding was blue and clouds were at the level of mountain.
Some of major peaks popped up above clouds: Knuckles five peaks, Alugal Lena, Hunnasgiriya Mountain, Piduruthalagala Range and Mahakudugala.

A giant tree

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Through Bamboo

We have reached the open area….note clouds are below the level of mountain.

Knuckles five peaks and Alugal Lena

Hunnasgiriya Peak

Mahakudugala (left) and Piduruthalagala range (right)….Second Line Mountains

Heading to the peak

Reaching the top….

The beauty of the peak (7.383406, 80.855867) was destroyed by treasure hunters and a large excavation was carried at the top. This was revealed by Ashan in his journey at 2020. It is a work of local treasure hunters and police has closed this pit later. Again these people have dug the same pit and now a slight land slide happened on the side of the mountain.
We have spent two and half hours to reach the peak from Dumbanagala Chalet. Other than previously mentioned mountains we were able to view Lakegala, Gombaniya, Thelambugala, Gerandigala and Paddies at Meemure. Actually clouds were at the level of Dumbanagala and most the structures below that level were not visible.
It was an enjoyable time as I could accomplish my journey in some extent. We have posed at Dumbanagala with backdrop of Knuckles and Alugal Lena.

The pit made at the top of Dumbanagala by treasure hunters

Top of Dumbanagala

Bushes on top

Mountainous forest on top of Dumbanagala

මහ රත්මල්

Thelambugala???

Close up of Thelambugala

Lakegala

Lakegala

Paddies at Meemure

Towards Knuckles Five peak and Alugal Lena

Selfie on top…

Having snacks on top…

Gathered at Peak of Dumbanagala

Harinda is looking at the pit

Posing with Knuckles and Alugal Lena Mountain On Top Of Dumbanagala

Posing with Knuckles and Alugal Lena Mountain on top of Dumbanagala

Posing with Knuckles and Alugal Lena Mountain on top of Dumbanagala

It’s me….

I was able to get some fantastic aerial views of Dumbanagala and surroundings.

Aerial view of Dumbanagala. Note the slight landslide occurred from top.

Dumbanagala with backdrop of Knuckles five peaks, Alugal Lena Mountain and Gombaniya.

Another aspect of Dumbanagala

Different view

Common view

Dumbanagala

We were on top of Dumbanagala

Surrounding view

Surrounding view

Towards Gerandigala

We were back to the Chalet in one and half hours time and our breakfast was ready at that time. Following our outdoor breakfast we said good bye to the care taker of Dumbanagala Chalet and headed to Colombo.

Outdoor breakfast

Thanks for reading

I heard about this plain called Muwanthenna when I visited the true peak of Ambokka two weeks ago.
According to villagers it is a beautiful small plain spread over the slope of Ambokka Mountain. This description tempted me to visit there. Ambokka Mountain has two peaks: Popularly visiting Kondagala and highest point.
It was the Poya day of February month we have decided to visit Muwanthenna. Early morning we have reached Ambokka village and met a relation of Anupama. He suggested us to have a guide as it would be difficult us to find this plain alone.
There was a foot path behind his house to the area called “Jala Tankiya” (ජල ටැoකිය) and we have followed it. It goes through Ambokka estate and later it entered to a Mana patch. Later when I reviewed the map I have noted this foot path lies along the border of North western and Central provinces. Our guide was keen in showing a view point where rest of Kurunegala district can be seen. But it was not a good time as haziness was there.

Journey begins from Ambokka village. This is the place where we parked vehicles

කුරුටු පුවක් පුවක්

Guides place

Ascend along estate road

Entering to Ambokka estate

Clear foot path

Jala Tankiya Road

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It is a beautiful morning

Passing Ambokka estate

Follow a short cut

Foot path crosses the Mana patch

Foot path crosses the Mana patch

The view from the view point. Nothing we could see due to haziness

This is called Meepitiya Kanda situated just in front of Ambokka.

We were back to the foot path along the Mana stretch and came to a forest patch. Now it seems we are following a ridge of a mountain. There was a fairly clear foot path through the forest patch as well. After about 30 minutes walk we came out of forest patch to enter hidden Muwanthenna plain.

Jujubes at break

Entering to Muwanthenna

Muwanthenna (7.614849, 80.567227) is a small plain spread over the slope of Ambokka Mountain (Between 800-900m). There is an acute drop at Meepitiya side of Muwanthenna. A water stream starting from Ambokka flows through this plain. Having a water stream and grass are plus points for cattles. We have noted a folk of cattles feeding on grass but they were anxious by seeing us. Seems you can reach Kondagala of Ambokka from Muwanthenna side. (We have noted a group was approaching Kondagala from this side). We took about 1-1.5 hours to reach Muwanthenna from Ambokka village

Muwanthenna and Kondagala

Muwanthenna

Muwanthenna

View from Muwanthenna

Towards Ambokka

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The team at Muwanthenna

Cattles were feeding around the stream

.	The place is like a view point of Muwanthenna

.	Meepitiya Kanda

View of Kondagala from Muwanthenna

We have noted a set of villagers came on here to approach Kondagala

Clear view of Kondagala

Ambokka village and paddy fields. The tar road we followed to come to the village. Ambokka Ambalama is also seen.

Manikdena (left) and Arangala (right)

The stream crossing the grassy plain.

.	The plain ends here

.	Exploring more….

A jump at Muwanthenna

This circle shows the place of Muwanthenna at Google map. Click image to enlarge.

We have walked till edges of the plain to explore any significant. The upper part of the stream was clean and drinkable.

Let me show some drone captures of Muwanthenna

Right top of Muwanthenna

The slope of Muwanthenna

Muwanthenna and water stream

The slope of the plain

Posing

Quite distance view of Muwanthenna. Meepitiya Kanda is at back ground.

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Here you can see some other grassy plain at slope of the mountain. But those are smaller than Muwanthenna.

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We were accompanied to show two caves converted to houses situated at Ambokka estate by our guide on our way down.

A cave converted into a modern house.

A cave converted into a modern house.

It was around 12 noon when we reached the starting point. We had a bath from a stream and visited Ambokka Paththini Dewalaya as next activity of the day. Though it was a Saturday they have closed the Dewalaya when we went there.

Ambokka Sri Paththini Dewalaya /අම්බොක්ක ශ්‍රී පත්තිනි දේවාලය (7.629759, 80.569701)

This Dewalaya is dedicated to Paththini Dewiyo (පත්තිනි දෙවියෝ) who is a female god particularly for women and children. Ambokka Paththini Dewalaya is especially dedicated for subfertile women. The annual festival and procession of Dewalaya occurred during the month of August. There are statues of Paththini Dewiyo and Palanga Gurunnanse (පාළග ගුරුන්නාන්සේ) carved in sandal wood at Ambokka Dewalaya.

View of Ambokka peak from Paththini Dewalaya

Entrance of Dewalaya

Entrance to Dewalaya and historical mango tree

Paththini Dewalaya (Right-main) and Bandara Dewalaya (left-lower)

Ambokka Paththini Dewalaya

Paththini Dewalaya

It was closed at the time of visit. Murals are belong to Kandyan era.

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.	Muluthangeya (මුලුතැන්ගෙය) / Kitchen where Muruthan Bath is prepared in festival season

It ended another fruitful day around Ambokka area. As it was a Poya day we have spent the time to visit Nagala RMV in rest of the day.

Thanks for reading

AAT Sri Lanka planted a collection of rare plants in the Beddagana wetland park

The Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AAT Sri Lanka) conducted a tree planting and a clean-up event at the Beddagana Wetland park premises recently. According to the requirement given to AAT Sri Lanka, have planted over 50 rare plants inside the park where a new forest area is planned to develop.

Also, AAT Sri Lanka has placed 20 name boards at the park premises in the purpose of identifying the general names and scientific names of the trees and plants. There were about 20 staff members were participated in the event and they have planted all the trees and placed the name boards and had a walk inside the park while conducting a clean-up activity. Further, there was an interactive session with the team and the staff was able to gain great knowledge about the biodiversity around the park and the history of the area.

Welcoming us

The Path

More flowers

More to see

Introduction by Ms Narmadha

She is the Park Manager

Here we started planting

From AAT

Plants

Staff on work

AAT Staff

Planting more

Supporting to nature

Beautiful flowers

Hard-working

Planting more

Capturing the moments

Work on progress

Chamil is on duty

Sobi is also on duty

Fresh plants

Hard-working

They are beautiful

More to plant

Some of the species are, Antidesma ghaesembilla, Morus alba, Murraya paniculata, Asclepias curassavica, Bauhinia acuminata, Clerodendrum paniculatum, Duranta erecta, Hellenia speciosa, Hedyotis fruticosa, Woodfordia fruticosa, Annona reticulata, Tecoma stans, Saraca asoca, Osbeckia octandra, Mussaenda frondosa, Xanthostemon chrysanthus and Senna auriculata. Most of the plants are very rare and difficult to be seen in the city area; hence this would be a good opportunity for the people/ students for their educational purpose in future.

Beddagana Wetland Park was opened in 2016 at Beddagana, Kotte and it extends nearly 18 hectares of wetland surrounding Diyawanna Lake. This park is very much famous among the school students and researchers to observe birds, butterflies, mammals, trees, plants, and aquatic animals.

We did it

Few Marketing team members

More to plant

For nature

Fresh plants

Park visit

For nature

For nature

Famous bridge

Still in the morning

For nature

For nature

The plants we planted

The plants we planted

The plants we planted

The plants we planted

The plants we planted

Beauty

An educational session

During the session

Conducted by Ms Narmadha

Butterflies

More Butterflies

Walk started

This is the first time that AAT Sri Lanka has extended their corporate social responsibilities to the environment and it is also a valuable step to grow plants at the wetland according to the requirement of the park and the persistence of the plants are assured. AAT Sri Lanka is expecting to do more CSR activities this year to fulfill the social requirement under this pandemic situation.

The wetland

Inside of the wetland

The wetland

The other project

Hard-working

Preparing them

Our efforts

Preparing the boards

Need to fix them too

Work on progress

More to prepare

It’s not an easy task

They were ready

Fixing them

It’s my time

An important plant

More to fix

Fixed

Fixed

Works on progress

Sandal wood

More to fix

Under the shades

More to fix

Another one

Another angle

Another one

She was helped us too

It’s me

I’m on duty

Done by us

The Gang

Thank you for reading !
Sobasiri Team ©

Thelambugala is a lesser known peak of Knuckles range situated between giant Kehelpothdoruwegala and Galamuduna isolated village. When you are at Kehelpothdoruwegala it is situated along the opposite ridge of Yahangala side. Thelambugala first came to my notice when we camped at Kehelpothdoruwegala about 7 years ago. While we were approaching the peak of Kehlpothdoruwegala, Thelambugala with it’s awkward shaped parts were seen. In my revisit to Dumbanagala few months ago, again Thelambugala appeared through mist to remind me it’s a pending hike.

Back to commonly used sketch of Knuckles massif

My first capture of Thelambugala. It is marked by arrow. The awkward shape peaks also seen here.

Recent capture of Thelambugala when we were at Dumbanagala.

It was a blank Sunday we were thinking about a hike and Eshan strongly suggested to do Thelambugala hike. We started the journey from Colombo and it was kind of a round trip through Pothuhera and Rambukkana to pick up Eshan and Nuwan.
We have enjoyed the colors of morning sky while descend along eighteen hair pins bends. All the shops of Hasalaka town were closed at the time of our arrival except one night shop. It was the place for our breakfast. Then we followed the Hettipola road which was parallel to Hasalaka Lake and Minipe Canal most of the time. Yahangala was seen above greenish paddy fields and it reminded me the same appearance of Yahangala when we first visited.

Arrival to 18 hair pin bends at correct time.

Enjoying the sun rise from 18 hair pin bend

Enjoying the sun rise from 18 hair pin bend

It was a beautiful morning. Yahangala appeared above greenish paddies.

We have turned to Narrow Udawela road and followed the road to Udagaldebokka. Udagaldebokka is still an isolated village with no mortable road. Last place of the car can reach is Rankirimada. We have parked the car at Kapila Banda Mama’s place. The mortable road ended in about 100m from this place and foot pathway to Udagaldebokka started.
My last visit to Udagaldebokka was in 2013 when we descend from Kehelpothdoruwegala. Number of families live in the village is about 28 now. Though it has a small school only six students study there. Seems this village is at the vanishing process due to no mortable road and wild elephants. We have met few villagers going to buy their daily needs in the morning and returning back in the evening.
The foot path to Udagaldebokka is a beautiful shaded one and we have crossed couple of streams. It was a gradual ascend to Udagaldebokka and we spent about 1 hour to reach the village. Roaming wild elephants are the main threat and we have noticed some elephant dung on our way to the village.

Follow the path to Udagaldebokka.

It was a beautiful shaded path most of the time.

Elephant dung

The foot path crosses the open area. Main threat of wild elephants is here.

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Time for a break

We had a beautiful view towards Mahiyanganaya here

We had a beautiful view towards Mahiyanganaya here

Reaching Udagaldebokka

A house at Udagaldebokka

Solar powered lights are new additions

Here we got directions to Thelambugala from villagers. With the help of Google map and villagers’ directions we came to one Chena (70 25’29.4’’N 80o53’34.6’’E) where we got exact path to Thelambugala side. This Chena was full of Kurakkan, Thana Wee and Mustard. It was the harvesting time. I would like to appreciate the direction given by the man was at Chena. He described the path to the ridge of Thelambugala.

A man at Chena

Mustard

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We left Chena and entered the forest patch at the boundary. There was a foot path to be followed and crossed a wide stream. Then it was a gradual ascend through the forest along the foot path and we came to the ridge of Thelambugala in 1 hour time. (70 25’48.981’’N 80o53’11.32’’E) Once we reached this ridge we knew the direction to be followed. (Left side)

Crossing the stream

The forest was greenish due to recent rain

As there was a clear foot path we have enjoyed the journey well

Came to the ridge of Thelambugala

The journey along the ridge to the peak of Thelambugala took another one and half hours. Because there was no foot path in first few hundred meters and we had to go through thickly grown Mana and thorny bushes. Once we came out of the Mana patch we were rewarded with beautiful view. Then it was a gradual ascend along the ridge and there were intermittent open and forest patches. Here we came to a peak where the Thelambugala and those awkward rocky parts were appearing in front of us. Then it was a small descend from this mountain before the actual peak of Thelambugala. Final ascend was along the edge of actual peak of Thelambugala (70 25’17.63’’N 80o52’54.87’’E).
As the highest point of Thelambugala is covered with some thorny bushes we couldn’t move to the side of Kehelpothdoruwegala.
Thelambugala is a good view point with 360 degree view. Lakegala, Wamarapugala, Rehana Ketu Pathana, Thunhisgala, Alugal Lena Mountain, Gerandigala and Dumbanagala were seen in one side. Kehelpothdoruwegala, Yahangala and Velangolla Pathana were seen in other side and the plain beyond Mahiyanganaya appeared in other side. We were able to view most of the mountains at Knuckles as latter part of the day was clear.

View towards Lakegala

Gradual ascend along the edge

.	Here we came to a peak. Actual peak of Thelambugala and awkward rocky parts appearing in front of us.

There is a descend from this Mountain to start the actual hike of Thelambugala.

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There were some view points on our way up

The line of mountains: Thunhisgala, Wamarapugala, Lakegala. Meemure village is situated at the valley between this line and Thelambugala.

Final ascend to actual peak of Thelambugala

Towards Kalu Ganga reservior and Dambulla side.

Yahangala and Kehelpothdoruwegala

At the highest point of Thelambugala. It is covered with thorny bushes. Therefore we didn’t move to the side of Kehelpothdoruwegala.

Looked back to the path we came

Velangolla Pathana, Nawenagala, Gerandigala and Dumbanagala

The team on top

On top of Thelambugala

On top of Thelambugala

We are on top of Thelambugala

The black arrow shows the ridge we approached to Thelambugala

Close up photos of nearby mountains from Thelambugala (all photos belong to Shashi Gayashan)

A fall at Kalugala

Lakegala with two peaks

Kaikawala

View of Yahangala

Kalu Ganga Reservior

Wamarapugala

Alugal Lena Kanda

Paddies at Meemure

Karagahathenna and Gammaduwa (right)

Sudugala

Towards Mahiyanganaya

Udagaldebokka village

Some aerial photos taken from Thelambugala

Thelambugala with background of Yahangala and Kehelpothdoruwegala.

Thunhisgala, Wamarapugala and Lakegala. Meemure village and paddy fields.

Towards Yakunge Hela and Gombaniya

Gerandigala side

Kehelpothdoruwegala

Kehelpothdoruwegala, Velangolla Pathana and Yahangala

The ridge of Thelambugala to it’s peak

The front view….This is the view you get from Meemure side

.	Other side of Thelambugala

The peak

The rocky parts situated in front of Thelambugala are interesting

We followed the same path in return journey and got caught to evening shattering rain for half an hour. But we were able to reach the place we parked the vehicle by 4.30pm. It was another successful day.

Started to descend

On our way down

Get caught to the rain

Thanks for reading

There is a mountain range situated at Girithale area called Sudu Kanda as it’s in whitish appearance due to quartz stones. It’s whitish appearance is well seen at Google map as well. When you clearly look at Google map, Sudu Kanda spreads over three national parks: Kawdulla, Girithale-Angamadilla and Wasgamuwa. So it is one of the longest mountain ranges of SL. It’s height ranges from 200-300m and only at Wasgamuwa Park it exceeds 300m.

Sudu Kanda range. It extends over three national parks.

Note the whitish appearance of Sudu Kanda at Google map

Sudu Kanda was in my bucket list when I lived at Polonnaruwa but couldn’t accomplish it. Recently I have come across some photos of Sudu Kanda hike belong to my colleagues- Amal and Isuru. By further inquiry I found Amal has visited Sudu Kanda range in several times and he was my contact person for this journey.

Actually we have visited very small area of Sudu Kanda compared to this long range. This was the first objective of my visit to Pasikuda to stay at Malu-Malu resort. Early morning we have reached Girithale and met Amal and Gayan. Gayan was the guide of this short visit and he was a knowledgeable person of Sudu Kanda area.

We have driven few kilometers along Girithale-Bakamuna road and entered the forest reserve. There was a vague foot path into the forest and somewhat old elephant dung were there to remind us this as the elephant country. We have crossed couple of streams and Gayan instructed us to fill our bottles from one of them. It was a gradual ascend under forest patch. After about thirty minutes journey we came out of the forest and the hiked directly on whitish part of the mountain. As it was a mountain range there was no exact peak or highest point.

Get in to dry zone forest

Elephant Dung

Came out of the forest. Now we have to climb over this rock

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Creeping over the rock

Whitish appearance of Sudu Kanda

It was fairly a misty day and we couldn’t see any nearby land marks due to mist. We expected the sun rise from Parakrama Samudraya side but it wasn’t as expected. But the mist over greenish mountains created beautiful landscapes. The place we got onto Sudu Kanda had good open area to fly my drone. Drone pictures exactly showed the whiteness of mountain range.

On top of Sudu Kanda mountain range……

Nearby mountains covered with mist.

Towards rest of Girithale-Angamadilla forest reserve

On top of Sudu Kanda

On top of Sudu Kanda mountain range

Having a selfie with Amal and Gayan

Sun rise was not as expected

Sun rise from Parakrama Samudraya side

One of a ridge at Sudu Kanda

.

.	Newton’s third law

.

Aerial pictures of Sudu Kanda

Whitish appearance of Sudu Kanda

Whitish appearance of Sudu Kanda

Whitish appearance of Sudu Kanda

Sudu Kanda range extends

.	Sudu Kanda range extends

Sudu Kanda range

Black and White

Girithale-Angamadilla forest reserve

Mist over mountains….

.	We four at Sudu Kanda

Gayan had packed breakfast to share with us on Sudu Kanda. Then we have walked over the range to another nearby peak. It also had the same view. While we were in that peak Gayan has noted two “Labu tree”- ලබු ගස් at middle of the forest. These trees are highlighted from surrounding other trees due to bright greenish colour. They need us to show the giant root arrangement of Labu trees. Gayan has directly guided us into the forest again and we have followed a dry stream.

Another peak of Sudu Kanda….Our next target

Walking over the peak

?? Leopard pooh….

.

.	Rising up….

Reaching other peak….

Reaching other peak….

We are on top of other peak

This mark was noted on the tree. According to Gayan some JVP rebellions have hidden at this area in 1988-1989 periods. It might do by one of them.

Following a stream to search Labu trees.

වල් කහඹිලියා

බිම් කොහොඹ

Labu trees have giant root arrangement combined with tap roots to absorb water. These tap roots like bunch of hairs. I can easily hide within the roots of Labu tree.
Then we followed the same stream to join with the foot path to come to the main road. It was another fruitful half a day over Sudu Kanda.

Giant root arrangement of Labu trees.

How large it is….

Tap roots to absorb water

Another beautiful creature of the nature

Remaining of old Toilet.

A beautiful aquatic plant

Sudu Kanda filled a half day of our journey to Pasikuda. We said good bye to Amal and started to drive to Malu Malu resort. On our way to Pasikuda we didn’t stop at any place as we were running out of time.

Malu Malu Resort and Spa
Pasikuda bay is a famous hub for hotels and Malu Malu is one of the popular places at Pasikuda. The hotel was crowded following weekend when we checked in for the lunch. But it was a lonely place once the crowd has left after their weekend enjoyment.
We have walked along the beach to Pasikuda public beach and Pasikuda elephant stones. There are three white rocks situated closer to the beach and this place is mentioned as Pasikuda Elephant Stones. We have passed busy fishermen area of Pasikuda.
Pasikuda public beach is situated other side of Malu Malu resort. We have enjoyed the sun rise from there.

Malu Malu Resort and Spa. Their popular picture. This is the restaurant of Malu Malu Resort.

Malu Malu at night.

Infinity pool of Malu Malu Resort.

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Silhouette view

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Walking over the deck

Pasikuda public beach

Sun rise at Pasikuda

From Pasikuda public beach

Pasikuda fishery harbor

Elephant rock

Beach in front of elephant rock

Beach in front of elephant rock

.	Right over Malu Malu Resort

The hotel next to Malu Malu

Pasikuda common beach

The beach closer to Elephant rock of Pasikuda

.

.

Thank you

There are few elephants in the peak wilderness sanctuary and they are strictly limited at the forest reserve and most of the time it is very very difficult to see them even in season or off-season. I had a dream of searching for them with a plan for 1-2 weeks but couldn’t able to fulfill it because of the workload.

However, I was lucky to witness a leopard and an elephant during our journey to Ballanbendigala. We were able to see a leopard on our first day from Hamilton estate to Ballanbendigala and I saw the backside of a running elephant on the second day near the Hamilton estate upper tea patch, also we heard their sound too. At that time, when we heard their sound we ran to the forest straight away as we heard that branches are breaking, and then only at least I was able to see one of the backsides of them.

Here, I want to share a collection of photos of the elephants in the Samanala Forest reserve to show that they are normal elephants as others in Sri Lanka.

My article published on Sunday Lanakdeepa on 11-08-2019

Pano view of the giants taken at the top of Paduruthalagala

Photos captured by Anil Vithanage ayya, the person who had enough memories and experiences about the elephants in the forest reserve.

His photography

Captured by Anil Ayya

Captured by Anil Ayya

As Anil Ayya said, these photos were captured by one of his friends.

A giant at a stream

Walking on the rocks

That friend

These photos were captured by someone and the area is the Seven virgin mountain range. This is a video and captured these shots.

Looks like a baby elephant

Walking

Like enjoying

Zoom capture

Another one

The area

Some more

Some more

Three Elephants

These photos were captured near the Lakshapana Estate and Anil ayya said that these photos were captured by him.

He saw the people

Turning back to the forest

Going to be hide

Difficult to capture as they are moving

There were two

On their journey

Another one

Another one

The distance

View

Another one

Another one

Elephant dung is a common thing that most of the devotees can be seen in Erathna- Kuruvita trail especially between Demala mala hinna to Geththampana. Also, there are some elephants who are always roaming around the area and especially some are hiking on Kunudiya Pawwa and Paduruthalagala.

Elephant Dung (Someone’s Capture)

Elephant Dung (Someone’s Capture)

We saw at the top of Ballanbendigala

We saw at the top of Ballanbendigala

Saw many dungs at the top of Ballanbendigala

At the top of kunudiya Pawwa

Seen at Paduruthalagala

At Paduruthalagala

Captured by Chamara

Captured by Chamara

The recent evidence of the Elephants at the peak wilderness was proved a few months ago as an elephant suddenly came into a village near Adavi Kanda and it has damaged few houses and wildlife authorities were able to send it back to the forest.

තෙබුවක කන්ද ගම්මානයට වන අලි

රත්නපුර – කුරුවිට,එරත්න ශ්‍රී පාද මාර්ගයේ අඩවිකන්ද ප්‍රදේශයේ තෙබුවක කන්ද ගම්මානයට ඊයේ (20th April 2021) කඩා වැදුණු වන අලියෙක් නිවාස 4කට හා වගාවට හානි කර තිබේ. ගම්වාසීන්,පලාබද්දල වනජීවී කාර්යාලයේ නිලධාරීන් හා කුරුවිට පොලීසියේ නිලධාරීන් හා එක්ව වන අලියා ශ්‍රී පාද රක්ෂිතයට පලවා හැරීමට පියවර ගත්තේය.

ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් පවසන්නේ,මෙලෙස තම ගම්මානයට වන අලියෙක් කඩා වැදුණු මුල්ම අවස්ථාව මෙය බවයි. ශ්‍රීපාද රක්ෂිතයේ වන අලින් හා ඇතුන් වෙසෙන බවට මීට වසර කිහිපයකට පෙර වාර්තා වූවත්, එය නිශ්චිතවම තහවුරු වූයේ මේ අවස්ථාවේ දී බවයි ගම්වාසීන් ප්‍රකාශ කළේ.

The News

Here is the giant

Going back to his kingdom

Near a house

Wildlife people were ready

Done by the elephant

Here are some books, written about the pilgrimage of holy footprint and about the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary.

Book – 1

Book – 2

Both sides

Book – 3

Book – 4

Collection of Books by someone

Book – 5

Book – 6

Book – 7

Book – 8

Book – 9

Book – 10

මුනි සිරිපා සිඹිමින්නේ කෘතිය ලියන්නට හත් වතා­වක් සිරි­පාදේ ගිය ලේඛ­කයා

සිය ලෞකික ආශා ප්‍රහීන කර වතුපිටිල හරකාබාන ඇතුළු දේපළ පවා අනෙකාට පවරා, අග්ගලා ගෙඩි සහිත “සැහැල්ලුව”ත් කරේ එල්ලාගෙන බැදි මං දිගේ රුහුණු රටේ සබරගමුවට ගොස් මහ හිමේට පිවිස දම්වැල් වල එල්ලී මහගිරිදඹය නැඟ සිරිපා වැඳි පැරැන්නෝත් – සුව පහසු වාහනයක නල්ලතන්නියට හෝ මරේ වත්තට ගොස් එතැන් සිට කෙටි පෙත්මඟක පහසුවෙන් සිරිපා කරුණා කර ආපසු එන නවීනයෝත් “සිරිපාදය” අරබයා පරම්පරා ගැටුමකින් තොරව පිළිගන්නා එක් සත්‍යයක් වෙයි. එනම් “එක් වාරයක්වත් සිරිපාදය නොවැඳීමත්- එක් වාරයකට වඩා වැඩි වාරයක් සිරිපා වැඳීමත් යන දෙකම අනුවණ කමක්” යන්නයි.

එහෙත් වේයන්ගොඩ නඟරයේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ ඡායාරූප ශාලාවක හිමිකරු වන, ඒ අපූරු මිනිසා එක් අරමුණක් වෙනුවෙන් මහ හිමය සිසාරා දුෂ්කර පෙත් මං දිඟේ ශ්‍රීපාදය වෙත අවස්ථා හතකදී ළඟාවී ඇත්තේ බොහෝ දෙනා අතර පරසිදු ඉහත කියමන අලුයම ලූ කෙළ පිඬක් ලෙස නොසළකා බැහැර කරමිනි.
“මගේ වෘත්තියත් එක්කල පුංචි ම හරි නිවාඩුවක් ලැබුණහම කැමරාවකුත් එල්ලගෙන ඇවිදින්න යන එක මගේ පුරුද්ද. ගොඩක් වෙලාවට රටේ නමගිය තැන් වෙනුවට එතරම් ප්‍රසිද්ධ නැති තැන් හොයාගෙන යන්න, ඒවාගේ ඡායාරූප ගන්න, විස්තර හොයන්න මම පුරුදු වෙලා හිටියා.”
මෙවර සිරිපා සමය ඇරඹුමත් සමඟ මට හමුවන විට ඔහු ගෙවමින් සිටියේ සිය ජීවන ගමනේ හැට හතර වෙනි වසරයි. එහෙත් තරුණයකු සේ කඩිසරව සිය ව්‍යාපාරයේ කටයුතු මෙහෙයවමින්, වරින් වර පැමිණෙන පාරිභෝගිකයන්ගේ අවශ්‍යතා අනුව විවිධාකාරයේ ඡායාරූප ගනිමින්, සිය කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයට මඟ පෙන්වමින් ගෙවෙන දවස අවිවේකී ය.

“මට උසස්පෙළින් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයට යන්න බැරි වුණා. ඊට පස්සේ පෞද්ගලික ගුරු වෘත්තියෙන් ජීවිතය පටන් ගත්තා. කැමරාවට හිත ගියේ එතැනින් පස්සේ. ජීවිතය ගොඩනඟාගෙන එනකොට ලැබෙන හැම විවේකය ම යොදාගත්තේ ඇවිදින්න.” “ඔහොම අවුරුදු දහයක් පහළොවක් ඇවිදින කොට මට නොදැනිම ලංකාව පුරා ගොඩක් තැන් වල ඡායාරූපත්, තොරතුරුත් මගේ ළඟ එකතු වෙලා තිබුණා. ඒ කාලේ රටේ තොටේ විස්තර හොයාගන්න වෙබ් අඩවි, ගූගල්, යූටියුබ් වගේ ඒවා තිබුණේ නෑ. පරණ පත්තර පොත් විතරයි තිබුණේ. මේ නිසා මේ විස්තර එකතු කරලා පොතක් කරන්න කියලා දන්න කියන අය මාව උනන්දු කළා.”

ඒ උනන්දු කිරීම සහස්‍රය එළැඹීමත් සමඟ මල්ඵල ගැනුනේ මෙරට සුවිශේෂී ස්ථාන පන්සියයකට අධික ස්ථාන ගැන විස්තර ඇතුළත් “සිරිලක ඇසු දුටු තැන්” කෘතිය එස්.පී.සරත් වීරසිංහ ගේ කර්තෘත්වයෙන් කළඑළි බැසීමත් සමඟ ය. ඉන්පසුවද ඔහුගේ හිතුවක්කාර හු‍ෙදකලා ගමන් බිමන් වලට නැවැතීමේ තිත තැබුණේ නැත. ඉස්පාසුවක් ලැබෙන හැම මොහොතකම සැඟවුණු ගමනාන්තයක අත්දැකීම් ලබන්නට ඔහුට හැකියාව ලැබිණි.
“මගේ තාත්තා වැඩකලේ රේල්ලුවේ. මම ඉපදුණේ වේයන්ගොඩදි. හැබැයි අපේ අම්මා රත්නපුරේ. ඉතින් පුංචි කාලේ ඇහෙන කතන්දර ගොන්නේ සිරිපාදේ ගැන කියවෙන කතන්දර, වගතුග විස්තර අඩු නැතිව තිබුණා. මේ නිසා සිරීපාදේ ගැන මගේ තිබුණු කුතූහලය වයසත් එක්ක වැඩිවුණා මිසෙක අඩුවුණේ නෑ.”

ඒ කුතූහලය නිසාම, 2003 වසරේ සිරිපා වාරය ඇරඹුමේදී ‘ගල්පොත්තාවෙල රජමහා විහාරයේ” සිදුවෙන වත් පිළිවෙත් වල අයුරුව දැකගන්නට වුවමනාවක් සරත් වීරසිංහ මහතාට ඇතිවිණි. ඒ අරමුණ සඵල කර ගැනීමට උඳුවප් පෝයට පෙර දින අලුයම් යාමයේ ගල්පොත්තාවෙලට ළඟා වූ ඔහු එහි සිදුකෙරෙන වත් පිළිවෙත් දැක ගත්තේ ය. ‘කලින් දවසේ රෑ කොළඹින් පිටවුණු මම පාරෙ බස් එකේ උදේ පාන්දරම ගල්පොත්තාවෙල පන්සලට ගියා. ඊට පස්සේ දෙවි හාමුදුරුවො වඩම්මන පෙරහැරේ යන නන්නාඳුනන වාහනේක නැඟල අවිස්සාවේල්ලල හැටන් හරහා නල්ලතන්නියට ගියා. එතැන ඉඳන් මහ රෑම ඒ පෙරහරේ සිරිපාදෙ නැංඟා.”

එක් සුවිශේෂී අත්දැකීමක් ලෙස හුදකලා සටහනකින් සීමා වන්නට ඉඩ තිබූ සිරිපා ගමනක කතාව පොතක් ලෙසින් එළි දක්වන සිතුවිල්ලක් වීරසිංහ මහතාට ඇතිවන්නේ දෙවි හාමුදුරුවන් වඩම්මන පෙරහැරේ සිරිපා කරුණා කරන අතරමඟදී ය. ‘ඇත්තට ම ඒ වෙනකොට සමන් දෙවියෝ ගැන, සිරිපා පුද පූජා ගැන පර්යේෂණ ග්‍රන්ථ පළ වෙලා තිබුණා. ඒත් ප්‍රධාන පාරවල් තුනෙත්, අතුරු පාරවල් වලත් මං සලකුණු ගැන චාරිකා සටහන් එකතුවක් පළ වෙලා තිබුණේ නෑ. ඉතින් කන්ද නඟින මට එක පාරටම මේ විදිහෙ පොතක් පළ කරන්න ඕන කියල සිතුවිල්ලක් ආවා. හිතේ කොනකවත් නොතිබුණු අදහසක් රටතොට ඇවිදින මට ඉබේ ම ඔළුවට ආවෙ සමන් දෙවියන්ගේ ආශිර්වාදය නිසාද කියලත් අද හිතෙනවා. ”

ඉන් අනතුරුව යළි නිවෙසට පැමිණි ඔහු සිය අදහස තම චාරිකා සඳහා නිබඳ සහයෝගය දෙන, සහය සහභාගීත්වය ලබා දෙන මිතුරු කැල වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කළේය. හුදකලා චාරිකා වෙනුවට අරමුණක් සහිතව මහ හිමය ඔස්සේ වැටුණු වනගත පාරවල් දිගේ සිරිපා වඳින්නට යන්නට යෝජනා කෙරෙන මේ ගමනට ඔවුන් කැමැත්ත දුන්නේ දෙවරක් නොසිතා ම ය. එහෙත් වසරකුත් මාස පහක කාලයක් තුළ කෙරුණු මේ ගමන් බිමන් සඳහා ඒ සියලු දෙනා සහභාගී වූයේ වරින් වර ය. එහෙත් කිසිදු මොහොතක සරත් වීරසිංහ ව තනිව මහ හිමයේ යවන්නට ඔවුන් ඉඩ තැබුවේ නැත. ‘මගේ ගමන් සගයන් අතරින් කෙනෙක් ගණකාධිකාරීවරයෙක්; අනෙක් කෙනා නීතිඥයෙක්; හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකුත් ඉන්නවා; ව්‍යාපාරිකයෝ දෙන්නෙක්; තව කෙනෙක් ඡායාරූප ශිල්පියෙක්. මේ වෙනකොට කණ්ඩායමේ සමහර සාමාජිකයන්ගේ වයස අවුරුදු හැත්තෑවක්. ඒත් අපි පහුගිය සතියෙත් හොරකැලේට ගිහින් ඇවිදලා, වැවකින් නාලා එහෙම ආවා.”

ඉන් අනතුරුව පොතක් ලිවීම වෙනුවෙන් වන සිරිපා බිම සම්බන්ධ වැදගත්කම් සොයා යමින් ඒ ආශ්‍රිත ග්‍රන්ථ පරීශිලනය කරන්නට සරත් වීරසිංහ මහතා උත්සුක විය. ජාතික පුස්තකාලයට වරින්වර ගිය ඔහු පැරණි පොත් පත් සඟරා ද විමර්ශනය කළේය. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් සහයෝගය දී ඇත්තේ කෞතුකාගාරයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ධූරය හෙබවූ සිරිනිමල් ලක්දුසිංහ මහතා ය. ලක්දුසිංහ මහතා ද වේයන්ගොඩ ම පදිංචිව සිටින සරත් වීරසිංහ මහතාගේ අසල්වැසියෙකි. සබරගමුවේ වැඩිහිටියන්, ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලා සමඟ ද අදහස් හුවමාරු කර ගත්තේ ය. පැරණි රජ දරුවන් සමයේ සිරිපා බිම සමඟ කෙරුණු ගනුදෙනු, පුදපූජා, වත් පිළිවෙත් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු සොයනු පිණිස ‘මහාවංශයද” පරිශීලනය කළේ ය.

‘නිකම්ම චාරිකා සටහනක් වෙනුවට විමර්ශනාත්මක සටහනක් පොතට ඇතුළත් කිරීම තමයි මගේ බලාපොරොත්තුව වුණේ. ඒ නිසා පතපොත වගේම ප්‍රදේශයේ ගැමියන් හමුවී කතා කිරීමත් මම අනිවාර්යයෙන් සිදු කළා. මගේ විද්‍යා අධ්‍යාපනයත් මේ තොරතුරු ගවේශනයේදී පිටුවහලක් වුණා. පරීක්ෂණය, නිරීක්ෂණය, නිගමනය කියන සංකල්ප මත පිහිටා තොරතුරු සෙවීම නිසා හැම තොරතුරක්ම සාධනීය විදියට නිවැරදි ව ම උකහා ගන්න හැකියාවක් මට ලැබුණා.”

සිරිපා පියුම වැඳගන්නට බැතිමතුන් උඩමළුවට පිවිසෙන ප්‍රධාන මාර්ග තුනකි. ඉන් දුර වැඩිම පාර කුරුවිට-එරත්න පාර ය. අසීරු ම මාර්ගය රත්නපුර පළාබද්දල, පාර ය. කුරුවිට පාර ඉඳිකටුපානේදී පළාබද්දල, මඟට එකතු වේ. පහසු ම ප්‍රධාන මාර්ගය හැටන් – නල්ලතන්නිය පාර ය. දුර කිලෝමීටර පහකට අඩු ය. අප්‍රකට පාරවල්වලින් පහසු ම මඟ වන්නේ මරේවත්ත පාර ය. හැටන් පාරේ මහගිරිදඹය පාමුලට වැටෙන ඒ මඟෙන් වන මං හුරු අයකුට පැයකට අඩු පා ගමනකින් සිරිපා මළුවට පිවිසිය හැකිය. අසීරු ම මාර්ගය රත් ගඟ- දෙහෙනකන්ද මාර්ගයයි. එය ඇහැළ කණුවේදී පළාබද්දල පාරට එකතු වේ. කුරුවිට පාරේ මැදහින්නේදී එකතු වෙන දැරණියගල-මාළිබොඩ මාර්ගය අඩුම ජනාකීර්ණත්වයක් සහිත අප්‍රකට මාර්ගයයි. සරත් වීරසිංහ මහතා මේ හැම මාර්ගයක ම සිරිපා කරුණා කොට ඒවායේ දි හමුවන ප්‍රධාන මං සලකුණු ගැන විස්තරාත්මක සටහන් සහිතව ‘මුනි සිරිපා සිඹිමින්නේ” යනුවෙන් ගවේෂණාත්මක කෘතියක් එළිදක්වා ඇත්තේ 2005 වසරේ අගොස්තු මාසයේදී ය. පිටු 194කින් යුත් එහි පළමු මුද්‍රණය රුපියල් 350කට අලෙවි කොට ඇත්තේ කර්තෘ ප්‍රකාශනයක් ලෙස ය.

‘හැම මාර්ගයම අසීරු වුණත් ගවේෂණය සඳහා සිරිපා නැංග අපිට කටුකම අත්දැකීම් වලට මුහුණ දෙන්න වුණේ දැරණියගල මාලිබොඩ පාරෙදි. මමත් යුද හමුදාවේ සරත් විජේසිංහත් විතරයි ඒ ගමනට ගියේ. උත්සව කාලෙ නිසා අනෙක් අයට විවේකය තිබුණේ නෑ. අපි මාළිබොඩල දික්ඇල්ලේ කන්දට ගියේ හවස එකට විතර. මඟ පෙන්වන්න සහායකයෙක් ගමෙන් ගන්න හිටියට, ඒ වෙලාවෙ මැදහින්නට යන්න කිසිම කෙනෙක් කැමැති වුණේ නෑ; හවස් වෙලා වැඩි නිසා. පාරේ හම්බුවෙන අන්තිම ගෙදරින් තේකක් එහෙම බීලා අපි හවස තුනට විතර ගමන පිටත් වුණා.”
කඳු නඟිමින් බසිමින් යා යුතු මාළිබොඩ මාර්ගය සැබෑ ම ගිරි දුර්ග මඟකි. ඊට අමතරව හමුවන ප්‍රධානම උවදුර වන්නේ කූඩැල්ලන් ය. පළමුවෙන් ම හමුවන පන්දෙණිය ගඟත්, මැදහින්නට පෙර අවසානයට හමුවෙන සීත ගඟුලත් අතර දොළ පහරවල් කිහිපයක් ද තරණය කළ යුතුය.
‘ටික දුරක් යද්දි මහ වැස්ස. දොළ පාරවල් මඩ පාටට එනවා. මේ නිසා හිතුවට වඩා වැඩි වෙලාවකුත් ගියා. කොහොම හරි සීත ගඟුලට එද්දි රෑ වෙලා. සීත ගඟුලෙන් එගොඩ වෙන තැන එහා පැත්තෙන් පාරක් නෑ. එතැනදි පාර තියෙන්නේ ටිකක් ගඟ උඩහට වෙන්න. ඒක හොයාගෙන මැදහින්නට එද්දි, විදුලියත් නෑ. වාරෙ මුල් කාලෙ දාල තිබුණු කඩත් නෑ. අන්තිමේ විවේක ගත්තේ විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලේ උප ඩිපෝවක. ගඟේදි හරි පාර හොයාගන්න බැරි වුණා නම් අපි මහ රෑ අතරමං වෙනවා.”

පොතට අවශ්‍ය කරුණු ගොනු කිරීමෙන් පසු 2005 වසරේ සිරිපා වාරය හමාර වූ විගස ම මේ පොත එළිදක්වන්නට කටයුතු කළ වීරසිංහ මහතා එය පිළිගන්වා ඇත්තේ එවකට ශ්‍රීපාදස්ථානාධිපති හඳපාන්ගොඩ විමල නාහිමිපාණන්ටය. ඒ මොහොතේ කුරුවිට පාරේ සිරිපා කරුණා කරන විට හමුවන මර උගුලක් ගැන කතුවරයා විමල හිමියන් දැනුම්වත් කළේ තමන් ලද අත්දැකීමක් මුල් කරගෙන ය.

කුරුවිට පාරේ සිරිපා නඟින විට වර්ණගලත්, බේරුමණ්ඩියත් අතර හමුවන සීත ගඟුල කුරුවිට ගඟේ ඉහත්තාවයි. එය පුළුල් ගංගාවකි. සාමාන්‍ය තත්ත්ව යටතේ නිසංසලව ගලා යන කුරුවිට ගඟ කෙටි වැස්සකදී දෙගොඩතළා යන්නේ මාරාවේශවය. එවිට වැසි අඩුවී පැය කිහිපයක් යනතුරු එක් ඉවුරකට වී සිටින්නට වන්දනාකරුවන්ට සිදු වේ. මේ නිසා, දෙපසම විශ්‍රාම ශාලා දෙකක් තනවා තිබේ. සමහර විටෙක වැසි අඩුවන තුරු දවසක් දෙකක් විශ්‍රාම ශාලාවල ගෙවන්නට මේ මාර්ගය භාවිත කරන්නන්ට සිදු වේ. අතීත නඩ වලට මේ ඉවසුම තිබුණ ද නවීන නඩ වලට මේ ඉවසුම අපහසුවකි.
‘අපි කුරුවිට පාරේ ගවේෂණයට කරුණා කරද්දි හොඳට පැහැදිලිව තිබුණු කුරුවිට ගඟ ආපහු එද්දි මාරාවේශ වෙලා. පැය දෙක තුනක් අම්බලමට වෙලා ගත කරලා, එතැනින් පස්සේ ටිකක් වතුර අඩු වුණහම මෙගොඩ වෙන්න උත්සාහ කළා. ඒත් උත්සාහය අවදානම් බව තේරිලා පහු බැස්සා. හීනි කම්බියක් තමයි අල්ලගෙන එන්න තිබුණේ. ඊළඟ පාර එගොඩ වෙන්න යනකොටම කම්බිය කැඩුණා. ආයෙ පහු බැස්සා. පැය හයකට විතර පස්සේ තමයි එගොඩ වෙන්න පුළුවන් වුණේ. ඒ පැය හයට ම එතැන හිටිය එකම නඩේ අපි විතරයි. ගඟ මැදදි කම්බිය කැඩිලා ගහගෙන ගියානම් ඇසින් දකින සාක්ෂි එකක්වත් නැහැ. මේ අවදානම මම විමල හාමුදුරුවන්ට කිව්වා.”

එහෙත් ඒ ගැන අවධානය යොමු නොවූ නිසා, ඊට වසර කිහිපයකට පසු කුරුවිට පාරේ සීත ගඟුල තරණය කළ අම්බලන්ගොඩ නඩයක, ගැබිනියක ඇතුළු එකම පවුලේ තිදෙනකු හදිසි සැඩ පහරකට හසුව ගසාගෙන ගියේ සිරිපා වන්දනාවේ ඛේදවාචකයක සලකුණක් ඉතිරි කර තබමිනි.
‘මේ පොතට මට හිතාගන්න බැරි තරම් ඉල්ලුමක් ලැබුණා. මහා සංස්කෘතිය ඇතු‍ළත එතෙක් ලේඛකයකු නොවුණු මට පාඨක විචාරක ප්‍රතිචාර ලැබෙන්න ගත්තා. රූපවාහිනී වැඩසටහන්වලට ආරාධනා ලැබුණා. ලේක්හවුස් එකේ කාංචනා අමිලානිත්, ලක්බිමේ තිලක් සේනාසිංහත් මඟේ වෑයම අගය කරමින් පුවත්පත් ලිපි ලිව්වා. ඒ ලැබුණු ප්‍රතිචාරවල පිටිවහල නිසා මම මේ වන කොට පොත් දහයකට වඩා එළි දැක්වූ ලේඛකයෙක්.”
‘මුනි සිරිපා සිඹිමින්නේ” සිරිපා මාර්ග හයේ කතාව පොත මේ වන විට පිටපත් හාරදහසකට ආසන්න සංඛ්‍යාවක් පාඨකයා අතට පත්ව තිබේ. ආචාර්ය අත්තනායක එම්. හේරත් මහතාත් – දක්ෂ පරිවර්තකයකු වන සේනාරත්න වීරසිංහ මහතාත් තමාගේ උත්සාහය අගය කිරීම පිළිබඳ ව ආඩම්බර වන බව පවසන සරත් වීරසිංහ මහතා ජාතික තලයේ සම්මාන හිමි නොවුණ ද ලැබුණු මහජන ප්‍රසාදයත්, ප්‍රතිචාරයත් ගැන අවංකව ම සතුටු වන බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

පසුකාලීන ව පළ කළ පාර, නුවර පාර දිගේ, අපේ වැව්නියාව, මීමුරේ සනුහරේ, මුතු ඇටය හැඬුදා ආදිය ද සරත් වීරසිංහයන් අතින් ලියැවුණු කදිම ගවේෂණාත්මක කෘති ය. ජංගම දුරකථනය දුලබ සමයෙක, එහි පිවිස නෙක නෙක යෙදුම් හරහා තොරතුරු ලබාගන්නට පහසුකම් නොමැති සමයෙක ලියවුණු මේ කෘති වල අන්තර්ගතය විශ්වකෝෂයක තරම් වටිනාකමකින් යුතුය.

‘මම හොයාගත්තු දේ මහ සයුරෙන් ගත්තු දිය දෝතක් වගේ කුඩා ප්‍රමාණයක්. තව තවත් හොයා යනවා නම් සැඟවුණු බොහෝ තොරතුරු මතු කරගන්න පුළුවන් වේවි. අතීත තොරතුරුත්, මම හොයාගත්තු දේවලුත් පදනම් කරගෙන ආසාවක් කැපවීමක් තියෙන ඕනෑම කෙනකුට අලුත් දෙයක් හොයාගෙන යන්න පුළුවන් වේවි කියල හිතනවා.” ගවේශකයකු යනු තමන් දකින දේට ඔබ්බෙන් සැඟවුණු දේ සොයා යන්නට සමතෙකි. හුදු වාර්තාකරුවකුගෙන් මිදී ගවේෂණයක යෙදෙන්නට නම් ඉවසීමත්, හු‍ෙදකලා විමර්ශනයට ඉඩකඩත්, මානසික නිදහසත් යන සියල්ලම වැදගත් ය. පවුල් බරත්, ව්‍යාපාරික කටයුතුත් අතර ඒ නිදහස ලැබෙන්නේ එහෙමත් අයකුට ය.

‘හිටපු විදුහල්පතිනියක් විදිහට බිරියගෙනුත්, දියණියන්ගෙනුත් මගේ වැඩකටයුතු වලට ලැබෙන්නේ හොඳ සහයෝගයක්. මගේ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයෙනුත් ඒ විදියෙම සහයෝගයක් ලැබෙනවා. මගේ සංචාරක කණ්ඩායමේ හිතමිතුරන් වුණත් බොහොම ළෙන්ගතුයි. එතැනින් එහාට මගේ අසල්වැසියනුත්, යාබද ව්‍යාපාරික ස්ථානවල ව්‍යාපාරිකයොත් මම ගවේශකයකු බව නොදැනීමත් මගේ ගවේෂණවලට ගෙනෙන්නේ හොඳ පිටුවහලක්. ඔවුන්ට මම ඔවුන්ගේ අනෙකා මිසෙක විශේෂිතයෙක් නොවෙයි.”

උපුටාගැනීම – සිළුමිණ
Posted here

Book – 11

Both sides

Thank you for reading !
Sobasiri Team ©

2021 is a most challenging year as the whole world is fighting with Covid-19 and there were restrictions and a procedure in order to pilgrimage Sripada on this season. We had our first pilgrimage on 30th and 31st January 2021 without any letter but under special approvals by the divisional secretariat of Ratnapura as we are conducting a renovation program at Andiyamalathanna toilet complex.

Guidelines for the 2020/2021 Siripa season – Here

Here are some captures of our journey as we didn’t forgot to enjoy the environment.

Destination Seen

The holy peak

Yaka Endu Ella

Flowers

The path to the heaven

Beauty

පුරාණ හිම ගත වර්ණනාව

Paths

Beauty

Peace pagoda seen

Nature

Holy peak

A small fall

More to go

Birds

Flowers

Yaka Endu Ella seen

More to go

Steps

Geththampana

By-pass to Ratnapura route

More birds

From another angle

Yaka Endu Kanda and Ballabendigala seen as well as Eligoda Kanda and Dakinapura

Flowers

Mist is coming

Beauty

The shortcut

More	Beauty of nature

Birds

More

A Lizard

Here is it

Holy peak

Night view

Night at Andiyamalathanna

Our fire

KDP and Heen Piduruthalawa

Another giant

Bena Samanala

Both Bena

Northern Side up to Gombaniya, Knuckles, Alugal Kanda

Closer view

Sun rising

The giant of Sri Lanka, Kotagala and Dell in lower

Pano view

Colors of the sky

Another capture

Nature

Nature

Giants

More Views

Pettigala range

Sun rising

The colors

Views

More to see

Heaven

Maussa

Beauty