We were planning for this adventure since few months back and fixed the dates for the best time to go that was April 13, the weather was excellent.

Early in the morning we started our Journey from Kandy town to Nuwara Eliya by a van and reached Hortan Plains around 0930. We are a team with 5 crew, all packed with 45L /20L back packs.

Started the hike at 1030 and was enjoying the beautiful scenery of Hortan Plains and we could clearly see the Kirigalapoththa in distance.

When we were crossing stream Belihul Oya we mixed-up with the trail and then identified the correct right turn from this point as the left is another connecting trial.

Full length video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta1AD8qqCTo

This is part of the first segment of Belihul Oya [Turn right from here to connect with the Kirigalpoththa trail]

From this point the trail moves in to thick forest patch.
Fill your water bottles in this stream, it’s good to drink without treatment, even though there were few other small streams there was no water when we were crossing and could get only at the last water source.

Horton Plains Entrance Permit can be obtained at the visitor center.

Waypoint K04

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At the summit of Kirigalpoththa – reached the summit at 1400hrs

At the summit of Kirigalpoththa

Knuckles Is my Second favourite Destination .I have been there for 7 times now. From a long period of time I needed to take my parents on a trip .So I was thinking about a scenic but a place with easy tracks. So did my dear friend SANKETHA. He also wanted to take his parents and family to a scenic but less adventurous place where everyone could enjoy without getting tired.

So I bet there is no place better than Deanston for that purpose. Trust Me …Hiking Mini Worlds end and walking 2km to the base of Dothalugala (Till the camp cabin) was an easy task for heart patients like my mother and Sanketha’s Father. So Deanston was in our both minds and we did the arrangements quickly by booking the FD bungalow (From Battaramulla Office).

Some Information

Battaramulla Forest Department Office 0112875540
Deanston Office (Kumara) 0813885227

Rates: Deanston Bungalow – Rs. 2016/-per night, Dothalugala Camp Site & Cabin –Rs. 4400/- Per night

We Met at Pelawatta around 5.30 a.m. on 28th morning and proceeded. Stopped for breakfast at Ambepussa at famous” JINADASA THALAGULI HOTEL “At Kadugannawa our car had a breakdown so I request Sanketha to go forward and purchase all the goods we needed for the stay at Bungalow. Also I inform him to take his parents and Family to Mini Worlds end trail as we were getting late. Also informed the caretaker of the bungalow about their arrival as I had the papers ( Booking ) with me.

So After finishing all the shopping at Hunnasgiriya they had reached the Forest bungalow about 1.00 p.m. (They were caught to rain closer to Theldeniya). After taking lunch they have done the Mini Worlds end Trail. After repairing the car we came to Deanston around 3.30 p.m. and we started Mini worlds end hike at 4.00. It would have been better if we all could do the trail together but gloomy weather conditions did not allow us to take that decision. ( Note Both our groups took the left path to ascend and right path to descend in the circular track )

Sacred Dalada Maligawa. This time couldn’t go inside due to lack of time

Two waterfalls seen far away closer to Hunnasgiriya ( near 36/37 km Post )

They have started the Mini World’s End Trail PHOTO : SANKETHA

They met a notorious fellow too PHOTO : SANKETHA

Mini Worlds End observation Point PHOTO : SANKETHA

Misty Mountains PHOTO : SANKETHA

Sanketha’s Mother ,Father and Son PHOTO : SANKETHA

Happy Man ……..The Notice board mentions the surrounding peaks and other attractions PHOTO : SANKETHA

We started at 4.00 p.m. Whether was bit gloomy

Pond

Group Photo

Mini Worlds end Drop…..It was drizzling

View from observation Point

Happy couple

We finished the hike at 5.30 (Our return was quick due to rain) and came to bungalow. Sanketha’s Mother, Father and wife warmly greeted us and discussed about morning incident. Unfortunately I forgot to give Sanketha some Alum when we departed at Kadugannawa so they were infected with leeches. After having a wash we all had hot milk coffee and gave the menu for dinner. Till dinner it was a family gathering. My parents and Sanketha’s were chatting about various things while sanketha and me were busy on studying the info. One thing really confused us was the altitude of Dothalugala peak was given as 1500m although it’s mentioned in our trail guide as 1400m. We realized it next day. The reason is the trek is not up to the peak it’s only up to an observation point where altitude is 1400. We had the dinner around 8.30. Started the chat again had another plain coffee to avoid the coldness. We said goodbye to each other and went to sleep

I would like to mention about the Dormitory too. It’s more than worth for just Rs. 2016/-. It has two bed rooms 4 beds in one and 5 beds in the other. Both contained attached bathrooms. Rooms and bathrooms are clean. Only minus point is the beds are storied ( Thattu Andan) where someone has to climb to the top . It has a visitor room where someone can have a relax chat, Conference room with chairs and so many boards on the walls giving details about knuckles peaks, villages, flora & Fauna etc. It contained a separate dining area. Kitchen and caretakers room is closer to dining area. Mind you the caretaker Kumara is a very humble and helpful guy and his food is very tasty. Normally you have to bring kerosene for the electricity but they gave us hydro electricity as it was raining at that period. The garden is full of orchids and other beautiful flowers .Also there is a small stream behind the bungalow where one can have a cool bath. (No space for swim) . When you look from the garden the peak Dothalugala is seen majestically and in the other side the forest office. Hope this info is enough for the time being and you should come and experience what I mentioned.

At the conference room PHOTO : SANKETHA

Two storied beds PHOTO : SANKETHA

We all woke up around 6.00 a.m. and enjoyed the beauty of the surrounding. After having breakfast we started walking towards Dothalugla Base. The view of the mountains was magnificent. But we faced a heavy leach attack. So we all applied alum and continued. Around 9.30 a.m we reached the Camp cabin. After some refreshments Sanketha and I decided to do the Dothalugala circular trail keeping the others at the open area. I asked my father also to join with us if he liked. He happily joined. We gave others the key of the camp cabin so as to stay inside if it rained.

Peak Dothalugala was trying to hide from us using the mist cover

Sunrise from forest office end

flowers

Beauty

So many orchids

Different

flowers

More flowers

Water stream behind the bungalow

Flowers closer

New to me

Starting to walk towards Dothalugala

Entrance

Another 1.8 kms more to camp cabin

You can do this with a 4WD.But walking is better and it’s easy too

Road to Meemure is seen far away

Relaxed walking

Hi Hi Sanketha took him to give a hiking experience .But due to leeches he refused to get down

Family photo

Misty Mountains

Scenic

Around 9.30 we were at camp cabin

It has two separate rooms

Inside a room. See no beds, chairs or tables. It’s made for having shelter if rained

Separate kitchen

Open area .Left is the starting point of Dothalugla trail. To the right is the path to camp sites and the waterfall

Group Photo

Starting the hike .As in the trail guide and the sign board we started from left and finished from right end ( Total distance 4.5 km )

I loved the view

My father is like a forest officer

Kuru Gas ….one of my favourites

Water streams every where

Mist every where

Tiny cascades

Path is well maintained

There were some earth slips

Natural path

People were cleaning the path

Came to the peak within one hour

At the peak

Cow boy De Dothalugala

Elevation. This is not the original peak but the highest point in the trail made by FD.

Mountainous forest

lovely

view

wow

Two Organizers

This path was much scenic but much difficult than the left path. So remember to stick to the trail guide

Water was flowing along the path

Closer to the trail head

Came back at 11.30 p.m. One of the few friends who accompanied us .We treated them with biscuits

Then We all went to the camp site . To reach it one should climb down ( To the right hand side from the open area ) for about 100m and walk a little  left  from a T Junction . If you go right, downwards further for another 50 m you will reach the waterfall with a natural pool

Camp site with a great view. Now there are three camping beds

View from camp site

And the waterfall which is another 100m down. Natural pool is safe for bathing if you can bear the cold

Front view

Around 12.00noon we left the camp site and started walking towards the Deanston bungalow. We reached there around 1.00 p.m. After having lunch and packing our bags we said goodbye to Deanston around 2.30 p.m. We did not forget to visit the Information centre of deanston office

Coming back

Yahangala was sen clearly in the return journey

More views

Back to road

Information centre ( Up Stairs )

Information -Click Image to Enlarge

Information – Click Image to Enlarge

Information – Click Image to Enlarge

Remember this – Click Image to Enlarge

Our humble caretaker is in the middle

It was a memorable journey for both my and Sanketha’s Family members. They enjoyed a lot. Now not only of mine and Sanketha’s  , Knuckles is a very good friend of them too. They want to visit knuckles again and again……….Hey Knuckles You are such a charming fellow……….We’ll come back again

Hey Charming Knuckles ! We’ll come back again

Thanks for reading

I was soo into climbing Kiribathgala that I could not wait till the optimum weather to try to do it….

The best season to climb Kiribathgala is in the month of February… Usually villagers reserve February 4th to climb this mountain… And one can get the added advantage of proper footpath during February,(but still needed a local person) But I could not wait and decided to do it in month of October and waited till the morning showers were over. We were hoping to climb down before the evening showers….

Previous day was shiny and rain free which made me believe it will be an easy task to climb it…. But with the faces of the villagers at the start of the hike we knew that this would be a hell of a day….It needed at least 1-2 weeks of sun shine to dry up the mountain due to forest cover…

To get back to the main topic…there are 3 paths to climb Kiribathgala

1. From Palamadulla(Lellopititya), Pathakada passing Pulun Falls- Distance is great but difficulty level is less
2. From Gamekanda via Uda-erabadda, Dela from Thiriwanaketiya Agalawatta road- Distance and difficulty level-moderate
3. From Wanniyawatta via Watapotha-Nivithigala or from Pelmadulla-distance is very less and difficulty level-extreme (bit exaggerated…)

We choose the 3rd route which has the least distance but has the Greatest of difficulty out of three paths….

Initial path lies through small tea plantation. But after 100metres of tea we entered the forest. From there onwards, its steep climb until we met the massive rock of Kiribathgala. It took us more than 1 and half hours to reach there…

Kiribathgala range as seen from Colombo-Badhulla highway close to Lellopitya covered in mist

Kiribathgala range as seen from Wanniyawatta @ start of the hike… The great rock is the one I mentioned earlier…

Kiribathgala range as seen from Doloswala kanda in Nivithigala

The Tea patch at the initial stage…

Tough climbing till the great rock….

Seasonal fall we met along the way. if it was proper fall would have stand @ 50m in height with three sections…

Our team consisted of 3 ladies and 2 gents with me and our fellow villager. But as the hike proceeded we all understood that this is not a hike for ladies sparing in the month of February. But all the ladies climbed up to the great rock not wanting to give up. But then came the “Tarzan” part. We realized that to get to the top we had to use the “wal” as ropes and climb up at a degree more than 70-80.On top of that the floor was still slippery. We had to leave the ladies with one of my colleague in a small cave we met on the way and I started to climb up with the villager. It was extremely challenging.

More than 70 degree angle…

Had to use the roots along the edge of the rock….pure nightmare….

Within 45 minutes we were able to reach the top of Kiribathgala. First we were met with bamboo forest. Due to very few of visitors except Wallapatta hunters there was no footpath at all.

Along Bamboo forest

No footpath at all…

There are plenty of observation points at top of Kiribathgala…. Actually if one walk from one end to the other end it would measure at 2 kms which is mostly flat surface.

There is cave on top of the mountain if one is planning to spend the night or can put up a tent. Sorry as I don’t have snaps of the cave. There is a stream with bathing spots on the top. So no worries even in dry February as These streams feed Pulun Falls of Pathakada and Hal Falls in Haldola throughout the year.

Can you appreciate the Sheer drop….

What a view….

Towards Ratnapura….

Towards Kalawana…Doloswalakanda range with Walankanda mountain range at distance

Lonely tree….Towards Kahawatta……

Mist is setting in….

Aftermath of the hike…..

We climbed down n slight drizzle and finished the hike in 6 hours….

Thank you for reading…..

It has been a few months since we did something adventurous and we were itching for some action. We were clear from the beginning on what we wanted to do; it had to be at least a 3day hike, away from civilization and most importantly we didn’t want a guide or a clear trail. Although we knew what we wanted finding a hiking trail that we like proved to be much more difficult than we initially imagined.

After looking at all the possibilities we finally agreed on the Bridle Trail in Horton Plains. The only problem with this trail was that it was only a 2day hike whereas we wanted the hike to be at least 3days. One possible way would be is to find a path from the Diayagama trail to the base of Agra Bopath Mountain and form there find our way to the start of the Bridle trail this would add around 10km to the Bridle Trail making it a 3day hike.

They say that rivers/streams are the highways in the jungle and I fully agree with this. In my opinion the easiest way (perhaps not the safest) to travel in a jungle is to follow a stream. I have done this quite a few times and it has paid off. To find a path form the Diayagama trail to the base of Agra Bopath I first needed to find a stream and to find a stream I needed to find a valley. Thanks to Google earth and Garmin BaseCamp finding the valley was easy and by analyzing it further we realized that there was a high probability that a small steam was there.

Once the trail was decided it was time to fix the dates, Kasun was upgrading some of his gear and so was I and since we both thought that this hike would be a good chance to try our new gear the trip was postponed till the new gear arrived. This delay was also a blessing in disguise as it gave us plenty of time to study the terrain and plan the trip in great detail.

Day 1 Marked in Blue, Day 2 Marked in Yellow & Day 3 Marked in Red – Click Map To Enlarge

Please note that all photographs published in this report were taken by Kasun and full credit should go to him for photo documenting this trip.

Day 1: Diayagama Trail (2.5Km) > Followed a stream up to the base of Agra Bopath Mountain (5Km)

The night mail from Colombo arrived in Ohiya around 4.30am and after disembarking, myself and Kasun went across the street from the station and went in to Mr. Gamini’s shop to have breakfast he served us hot roti and sambal. To be honest we thought that the roti was a bit stale and he had just warmed up some old roti and served us. Anyway after managing to eat one roti each we asked him about transport to Horton plains. Mr. Gamini offered to drop us at the Diayagama trail head for Rs.1000/= we took him up on his offer and went to up to the Diayagama trail head passing the Visitor centre in one of his three-wheelers.

The walk down the Diayagama trail was easy and according to my calculations we should find a stream coming from Agra Bopath around 2.5Km for the trail head. Weeks of analyzing Google earth and maps paid off as the stream was there on the exact spot we predicted.

In the beginning Kasun didn’t want to get in to the stream, he wanted to travel parallel to the stream without getting his shoes wet!! But after traveling this way for some distance (250M) it was becoming very clear that we had no option but to get in to the stream as the vegetation was getting denser.

Day 1 : Marked in Blue – Click Map to Enlarge

The Road from Ohiya

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Diayagama Trail Head

Agra Bopath in a Distance (our Target for the Day)

According to My Calculations the Stream Should be Here

And Here it is !!

Me with The North Face Conness 52

Kasun with his Deuter ACT Lite 40+10

Dense Vegetation

It’s time to Get Wet

The water initially felt a bit cold but as our feet grew accustomed it didn’t feel that bad. We didn’t encounter too many obstacles just a few cascades and one waterfall (marked as WF546 on the Google image). JUST A WORD OF CAUTION: TRAVELING UP/DOWN STREAMS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS; YOU ONLY NEED TO MAKE ONE WRONG FOOTING TO SUSTAIN SERIOUS INJURY.

Leftovers

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Peaceful at Times

A Little bit Challenging at Times

Within “Acceptable Level of Risk”

WF546 (Level 1)

WF546 (Level 2)

Avoiding a Waterfall

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.	The Road to Heaven

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2Km up the stream we saw a rather large savanna patch and at the end of it was another waterfall (marked as WF625 on the Google image) in haste I immediately came to the conclusion that this is part of the Great savanna that we were looking for and without climbing the waterfall we could go left and find the Great savanna. Kasun had his doubts form the beginning but I insisted that we go up the savanna and see. So we climbed out of the valley and almost went up to the edge of the savanna just to find out that it was a dead end !!

After nearly wasting 1hour we came back to the Waterfall (WF625) and had to find a way to climb around it. After overcoming this hurdle we were back following the stream a few more cascades later we came upon another waterfall (marked as WF660 on the Google image) after passing this it was becoming difficult to follow the stream as it grew narrower and narrower so we were traveling parallel to the stream

Time was ticking by and yet we haven’t found the Great savanna patch that we were looking for (we were planning to camp at the base of it). It was almost 4.45pm when we decided that we have to give up finding this savanna and we needed to make camp before it got dark. It was a hard decision to make but it was the correct thing to do.

The tent was setup and we put an additional fly sheet just in case it rained. While setting up the tent we did not clear the ground of the weeds that were there as they would act as a buffer between the tent and the cold earth making it a little bit warmer inside the tent.

Once all this was done, supper was prepared on our little stove. By 6pm we had had our supper and the campsite was prepared for the night. But, there was one problem. I did not bring my sleeping bag because I wanted to save space inside the pack and also to reduce weight instead I brought a sleeping bag under layer to keep me warm and to stop stones from pricking. This mat was strapped to the back of the pack and when we stopped for the day we realized that it has fallen some ware along the trail. Kasun came up with a simple plan, we had some extra large heavy duty garbage bags and we also found large heaps of dried grass close to our campsite so we filed out a garbage bag and made a large mat to sleep on.

Mistaken Identity

Heading the Wrong Way

WF625 in a Distance

WF625

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.	At the Top of the Waterfall (WF625)

Cascades

More Cascades

Some More Cascades

Many More Cascades

Still a Long Way to Go

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No Option but to Set up Camp

Day 2 : From Agra Bopath Base to Kirigalpotha Trail (1.1Km)> On Kirigalpotha Trail (900M) > Bridle Trail (4Km)

Day 2 : Marked in Yellow – Click Map to Enlarge

After a peaceful night’s sleep we got up at 5.30am and started to pack. By 7am we were packed and ready to start our 2nd day of hiking. Our plan was to travel up to a small savanna patch marked as Waypoint 15 of the Trail Guide. According to my calculations this should be a good place to camp and there should also be a water source.

But before any of those we needed to find the Grate Savanna patch and then find the Kirigalpotha trail !! I and Kasun were divided on this, he thought that we need to travel further down the valley to find the Grate Savanna patch and I was insisting that we only had climb out of the valley and we will find it. So we finally agreed and climbed out of the valley as I suggested and to our relief we did find the Grate Savanna patch !!

We knew that the Kirigalpotha trail was at the other end of this Savanna patch so we continued crossing it and ultimately found the Kirigalpotha trail. Once on this trail we continued towards the Visitor Center after continuing for 900M we came to the Belihuloya crossing, there we had our breakfast and headed back in to the jungle towards the Bridle trail.

Good Morning !!

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Start of Another Day

Climbing Out of the Valley

Yes We Found It !!!

Kirigalpotha Trail Should at the End of the Savanna Patch

Beauty of the Savanna

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Finding the Kirigalpotha Trail

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.	Belihuloya Crossing on the Kirigalpotha Trail

We continued towards Slab Rock Falls (Marked as “WF739” on the Google image) and after having a quick look at it we continued on our quest to find the Jeep track (Bridle trail) this section of the trail was densely over grown. We had a nightmare of a time trying to find the Jeep track.

After a bit of a struggle we did come across a very broad trail which clearly looked like a Jeep track!!

If the path was this clear this is going to be “a walk in the park” or at least that is what we thought!! After traveling less than 100M on this clear trail the trail suddenly became overgrown and full of thorns cutting a path through the thorns became a very painful challenge. Since we had no other option we continued to follow this trail and cut a path just enough for us to squeeze through

Found the Old Jeep Track (Bridle Trail)!!

A Walk in the Park or so we Thought

The Nightmare Begins

Never Ending Nightmare

Finally an Open Area

The Concrete Bridge in the Middle of the Jungle

After battling with thorns for a considerable distance we suddenly came out to a clearing and found a Concrete bridge in the middle of no ware!! Then it was back it to the thick jungle till we came to a savanna patch. From the planning stage our plan was to camp here unlike the previous day we came to our destination with plenty of daylight left (around 2.20pm) and we found a stream at one end of the savanna along with a small waterfall (around 15ft high)

Our camp was setup close to the stream in a place which was well protected from the wind. Since we didn’t have much to do we explored the area a bit and started to prepare our supper around 4.30pm and had an early meal and went to bed around 6pm

Emerging from the Thick Jungle on to the Savanna Patch

The Savanna Patch (Waypoint 15 of the Trail Guide)

Clear Skies a Grate Blessing

The Waterfall Near Our Camp Site

Haven

Cooking

Nothing like Corn Beef & Magi for Supper

View from the top of the Waterfall

On Top of the Waterfall

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Day 3 : Bridle Trail (8Km) > North Cove Division (1.3Km)

Day 3 : Marked in Red – Click Map to Enlarge

By 6am we were up and after munching on a few bars of Mars and packing our gear we were ready to leave by 7.30am. Kasun was insisting that we abandon the Bridle trail and find our own way by following a stream. I was reluctant at first because the thought of getting in to a cold stream early in the morning with shoes didn’t make much sense. But his point was that following the Bridle trail was boring and I had to agree with him on that it was becoming a bit boring. So after looking at maps and studying the contour lines we figured out that the stream that we were camping next to could lead us out of the forest or we could join the Bridle trail further down.

Traveling down this stream didn’t pose too many complications the water was flowing lazily and it only had a few small cascades that we had to tackle. Around 1.5Km from camp we climbed on to a vantage point to get a better look at our surroundings and to our surprise saw a mining site not far from where we were. The site looked like a working mine but when we got there we did not find any miners. Form the mine there was a small but clear footpath heading in the direction of North Cove So we changed our plans and decided to follow this mining trail.

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Mining Trails

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After coming across several abandoned mining sites the trail eventually led us to Mahadeniya and to our surprise the mines at Mahadeniya were also abandoned!! We were interested in talking to some of the miners and at the same time were glad that nobody was there as we were not sure if the miners would consider us as hostile. From there we followed the trail up to Mahaeliya and found that this large mining site was also abandoned!! (Later we learned that the STF was carrying out a raid on the mines on that day and word has been sent to the miners form the estate workers)

Continuing along these trails we finally came out of the forest around 2pm and found ourselves in the North Cove Division of the Loinorn Estate about 1.5Km away from the North Cove Cabanas. From there we continued along estate roads and after walking for around 1.3Km we found a van which travels from the Estate to Bogawantalawa town as soon as we reached Bogawantalawa town there was a bus that was preparing to leave to Hatton. Once we reached Hatton bus stand we immediately found another bus that was going to Colombo and we boarded it and reached Colombo around 9pm.

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Mahadeniya in a Distance

On the Way to Mahadeniya

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He’s Got His Lunch

Towards Mahaeliya

A Frog in a Gem Pit

Surely We Must be Close Now

Entering North Cove Division

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The End

Thanks for reading.

Tour Highlights:

1. Kirigalpoththa Trail
2. Thotupola Trail

I woke up and lowered the blanket covering me and a rain of needles hit my exposed skin. Oh dear, I’m in HP, it suddenly dawned on me. There was a light moving out of the room and it made me feel jittery. Getting out of the bed and landing my feet on the ground sent another dose of needles up my body. It was so cold (probably around 10-degrees) and I followed the light out of the room to find Ana already up and getting ready to make some coffee. The time had just gone 4.30am and I was shivering when I entered the kitchen. There wasn’t any sign of the bungalow keepers (they can’t have ever had their guests waking up at 4.30am) and I waited with my feet up for a steaming cup of coffee.

Atha and Prasa were still sound asleep and I went back to wake them up. It was very cold and we sipped at our scalding coffee hugging ourselves so tight. The caretakers got a shock when they appeared around 5.30am to see us up and about. I guess this was a great shock for them and they got very busy making our breakfast while we washed in the freezing water and got ready to leave while the sun was beginning his painting class towards the east.

After a hot hot Roti and many curries breakfast, we set off towards the Farr Inn with some more packed boiled eggs and sandwiches. About 2km into the drive, we saw a herd of Sambar Deer to our left and stopped to take their pics. The tip of KGP could be seen in the distance while mysterious Agra Bopath kept herself covered with mist. Thotupola was showing her twin peaks to our right with a bright sun glowing the grass towards her.

We reached the Farr Inn and saw the first wave of vehicles coming from Pattipola Entrance and all the tourists were heading towards Gonagala Falls and World’s End. We showed our permit and was given the green light to carry on our trail. Thankfully, there was no one else to do the KGP trail and we started our journey merrily.

Good morning!

We’re ready to go

Hern the Hunter?

Not really

Whole family of them

Ok, no more pics after this…

Gorgeous colors

Agra-Bopath

Comms tower at Farr Inn

The Farr Inn covered by trees

Took forever to take this as there were people milling about all the time

Gigantic Ferns

KGP Trail – Uphill

We started the isolated trail while the sky was royal blue and had patterns of pristine white clouds like cotton wool on a painted canvas. There was a herd of Sambar to our right but ran away at the first sight of us. They were not so forward like the begging few in and around the Farr Inn and Bungalows. The invading Ulex plants were scattered about just like the last time we visited which was a very sad thing to see. There are a lot of dangers to the HP such as Polythene, Invasive Plants and fish species such as Rainbow Trout. To our surprise, we saw quite a number of crows (2 were permanently stationed at Ginihiriya Bungalow) and according to the officials, they are a huge threat to endemic reptiles, such as Rhino Horn Lizard (An Katussa), Smooth Lanka Skink, Common Rough-Sided Snake (Le/Dalawa Madilla), etc. as they feed on them and their eggs. We were told the number of Rhino Horn Lizards is decreasing every day due to the existence of the crows.

We urgently have to do something to eliminate these crows before they completely wipe out these endemic species from HP. Ana kept going at a steady pace and I was suddenly scared he’d outrun us to the summit. We reached the stream that crosses the path and spent a few minutes resting. It was a very welcome break and if you take the left path parallel to the water stream, it should lead you to the Slab Rock Falls but we didn’t attempt it as our priority was KGP. We decided to give it a go supposing we had some time to kill on our return journey and always the weather permitting.

The path there after was in and out of forest patches and bordering the Bamboo plants. We came across gorgeous looking Binara Flowers (We came across them on top of Lakegala too) and stopped at every opportunity to take snaps and breaks. This is when while I was following the rest of the group Atha suddenly stopped me and pointed at the grass to the side of our path. I saw nothing at first but he slowly pointed at it and whispered in my ear “An Katussek”. Despite my numerous visits to the HP, I’d only once seen a Rhino Horn Lizard before but well before I knew about things called cameras. This was a great opportunity as the fella was among the grass blades. The camera had a tough time focusing through the grass blades (wish our point-n-shoots had manual focusing) and after it felt like ages, managed to take a few decent shots.

We left the fella and continued our journey before entering the muddy patches. We saw the paw-prints of the leopard at many places along the path and were hopeful to get a peek at the fellow. Even though Tony was so lucky to get a look at one of them at our last journey, he was way too scared to stop and take a picture. He nearly ran all the way to the summit and fell over the edge. The muddy areas were not so difficult to cross and we entered the forest. The path that was full of Nelu Flowers last time was devoid of any flowers and most of the Nelu Trees were at their last stages. We heard after the flowery season, the trees wither and die.

There were a few still with purple and light green flowers but not a lot. However, we came across some beautiful orchids and white and blue flower that grows on the roots almost along the ground. It was a very beautiful one and bloomed in clusters. We then saw some bones of a Sambar that had probably been hunted by the leopard but couldn’t have been recently. The climb in the middle was a bit challenging and we had to stop frequently to take our breaths. The depleting oxygen levels made the work laborious.

We reached the base of the KGP having crossed the last stream. This is where you have to replenish your water canteens as there’s no stream to have water. We had our brunch too, the half boiled eggs had broken and been oozing the yellow out. We managed to dig in our sandwiches in the yellow gravy and have it. The Jeewani kept us going all the time and we made some more for the final assault. After a long and tedious hike, we arrived at the observation point, short distance below the summit panting like a pack of hunting wolves. As usual the view was unobstructed and panoramic. The tinge of purple was missing from the trees below due to the end of Nelu Season. The slope reminded me of Lakegala but she was far steeper than this.

Arriving at this point was a major milestone and we savoured the moment to the fullest. We then took the path through the trees towards the summit. There’s a very dangerous path along the rock near the edge. Please don’t take this as it can lead to disasters should you lose the footing. Further, there’s a short stretch that you need to climb up along a rocky surface. Be very careful there too and try to avoid windy periods. It took us close to 5 hours marking it probably the slowest of all and Ana may have set another record being the oldest to reach the KGP summit.

We celebrated with stream water and Jeewani with what’s left of our sandwiches. We had the whole KGP for ourselves and felt like we were lost in a world devoid of any humans. The view was great and we could see the Ambewela Windmills, Dayagama Tea Factory and many more. However there were some thick clouds coming towards us and we decided to start the downhill journey as we didn’t want to get wet and be on that rocky slope when the rain came with winds. You can watch the video of us just off the summit and Ana hilariously saying that we’d reached the Kirigalpolla. This was what Tony used when we first reached and did a short video, he was dead scared and forgot the word Kirigalpoththa and instead said Kirigalpolla.

Video of KGP

Ready to go… that 7km is not correct. It’s about 5.5km to the summit… (7km could’ve been using the old path)

We had the path to ourselves while World’s End path was busier than Pettah

Here comes the heavy guns

KGP and Agra Bopath closer to each other

Cotton wool sprinkled royal blue canvas

Ana among the thorny Ulex Plants… (note the GoPro Camera he’s wearing)

Agra Bopath – The unsolved mystery

The dead and the alive together

Endless plain

Not sure if it’s edible

The stream that we had to cross

Despite the rains, there was very little water

Through the bamboo

Kirigotte Balal Adi? – Nope, it’s Kalu Paswala Divi Adi

Two sexy girls

That color is simply uncopiable

Can you see the fella?

Here a close up. Can see the Horn clearly

One with no grass blocking the view

The path through the bamboo

Close up of the paw mark

Taking the paw mark on his lenses

Sitha Pera

To our right was this open terrain and beyond that is Agra Bopath

Few Nelu flowers remaining

Orchid

Close up

The sky through the tree cover

Not Bandura, but something similar

Very beautiful but no idea what they are

Hope you can remember this from my previous trip report. It was very fresh then but now it’s like limestone

The bones I told you about

Some more

Life on the dead

Dead Nelu trees making an arch for us

Beautiful sky all the way

Close up of the bunch of flowers

The summit of KGP is over there

A dead bird?

Just before the final assault

The view on the way up

Commonly seen orchid type

Very common

Finally at the viewing point

The expressions say it all

Clear view

Steep slope

The tricky bit I told you about

He was merrily shooting away

The rocky bit that might be slippery and can be challenging to cross in heavy winds

The trees closer to the summit

Typical summit point

Yeah, we did it finally… with two records probably

KGP Trail – Downhill

The downhill journey was more or less uneventful save for the threat of looming clouds. Fortunately, it didn’t rain until we were back inside the vehicle heading towards the bungalow. Mother Nature had been keeping an eye out for the happy wonderers. However, we were let into a secret by Ana (don’t tell anyone what I’m gonna tell you). He’s planning on competing for the triple jump in Rio in 2016 and was training for it. We noticed he kept jumping over obstacles every now and then and then realized his ulterior motive.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story from here onwards. We came across a snake (my first at HP) called Le Madilla, I guess the same one called Dalawa Madilla as well. I might be wrong but looks like both are the same. The downhill journey took only half the uphill time and we beat the rain and got into our vehicles heading off to the Bungalow for some well-deserved rest. On our way, we met another begging Sambar who was very desperate for something to eat but we flatly refused any. He then asked for at least some money so that he could go grab something such as those jaw breaking Roti from the canteen. We refused that too fearing the bugger might wolf down the note without going to the canteen.

We skipped lunch altogether and waited till evening for a hearty dinner and as usual went to bed just before 8pm coz this was our second but sadly the last night at Ginihiriya. We had Thotupola Trail planned up for the morning.

The steep slope

One of the fellows in disguise

Mind your head

Le Madilla, not poisonous at all – Not Sure? Touch it and see

The triple jump champion ready to cross

Simply beautiful

The muddy path

Prasa explaining the size of a leopard to Ana

Wading through the muddy path

Another orchid?

Wild berries

The SL team leader for Rio 2016

Entering back into the open

Furry

Crossing the stream back

Plenty of them

Very old Leopard Poo

Nearly finished our journey

Prasa complaining about the distance

Good bye Agra Bopath

Reminds me of the first journey too

Farr Inn in full

The modern Thomas Farr…

Click image to enlarge

Sri Lankan White-Eye

Another

Upside down

He was constantly coming out of the hiding to feed on the garbage left by the tourists

Prowling along the drains

The one on our way, coming towards us looking for something to eat

“Anything to eat?” – asked he

Begging look

Backing out knowing we wouldn’t give anything. “At least give me 50 bucks, I’ll go get a roti from the canteen”

View through the windscreen

Maha Bovitiya

Up close

Closer to our bungalow, the darkness made the pic not so good

Another one looking at us

Trying to get up the tree

Whole lot of them

Thotupola Trail

I got up after a deep sleep to find Ana had as usual beaten me to it. He was up and about when I got up and walked into the kitchen. The water was already boiling and he was ready to serve coffee for which I was very grateful. The scalding liquid warmed my body and bungalow keepers were not yet accustomed to our early routine. Prasa, who’s a very late riser, managed to stir up slowly and opened his eyes bit by bit as if they were glued shut. We had to get ready real fast as the time was running out.

Finally Prasa managed to defeat the overwhelming force of sleep and get up. The breakfast was in full swing as Abeysinghe brought a wave after wave of fried eggs to go with coconut sambol and sliced bread. We kept eating and Abeysinghe kept running back and forth with fully laden trays. After our bellies reached their bursting point, we decided to pack the things and be ready to leave. The sun was still fighting the clouds and the mist kept coming in covering the whole surrounding with her thick veil and I was worried if we would get a good view from Thotupola.

Having thanked our caretakers we left for Thotupola in the thick mist. The path was fully covered in mist but Ohiya Road being less crowded compared to Pattipola didn’t make it that hard on driving along. Passing the Farr Inn we saw to our right a herd of Sambar out for a morning stroll. The mist was too thick for our cameras to make out them clearly (I keep saying those cameras are not as even half as good as our eyes). All of a sudden, two males started fighting with each other with their horns and I managed to do a small video.

Video of Sambar Fighting

Passing them around the head of Dayagama Trail, we met a jungle fowl who was on the hunt looking for some breakfast despite the mist. The cold was that much we could feel it going right across the bones to the core. Having reached the trail head in the end, we stopped to get ready for the chilly hike. The mist was still so thick and we saw the dying Nelu Trees after the blooming season. The legend goes on as follows:

“Long ago in India, Prince Rama lived in exile in the jungle with his beautiful wife, Sitha. When the sister of the powerful king of Sri Lanka, Ravana, once visited the jungle of Rama, she was mistreated. Returning home, she complained to her brother, Ravana who swore revenge. Taking his mythical plane, he flew to India and kidnapped Sitha and came to Sri Lanka. The aircraft first landed on the peaks of Thotupola Kanda, meaning the “Landing Site” in Sinhala.”

Well, I’ll let the pictures do the talking from now on. However, Ana was in top gear and we had to restrain him from running to the top. It took us very little time compared to the long and arduous journey of KGP. The mist kept clearing from time to time giving us that panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. However, Sri Pada decided not to show herself for some unknown reason. We were treated for a super-duper view when we visited Thotupola Kanda last time to see the Nelus in full bloom.

The team and Abeysinghe at the left

Here they are

Watching the others getting ready to fight

Here they go

In the open

Closer look but not in good quality

On the prowl

The legend (Click image to enlarge)

The path in the morning

Some clearing

Plenty of flowers

Macro

Some more

With the dew collected off mist

The Dhal Tree

Closer to the summit

Here’s the team

Ravana Rawul

The view was not so great due to the mist

Maha Rathmal in the distance

Zoomed in

With my shadow

Ana kept going ahead of everyone

Some of the remaining Nelu

Some bones off the path

The mist had enough of us

Life on the dead

Will have to do something about these, they were along the Thotupola trail too

Towards Ambewela

The cluster of windmills

Giant Ferns

Beautiful center

We left HP, rather sadly, and got on the way back towards Nanu Oya. We met a large group of Black Monkeys closer to Pattipola that gave a good opportunity to Ana and Atha to capture them. Closer to Ambewela Farm, we stopped for some fresh milk where two doggies were waiting hungrily. They too received a full cup of fresh milk for their good behavior. We made good time but the stretch between Nanu Oya and Radella Short Cut was not yet completed as I mentioned in the last report.

I was eagerly waiting for another encounter with St. Claire hoping against the hope she’d have a full quota of water but I was disappointed for the umpteenth time. She was falling in her sorrow state and we didn’t stop by. Nevertheless, we stopped at Devon Viewing Platform for a cuppa tea. Unlike our going on the 04 Oct morning, when Devon was fully obscured by the mist, she was in full view and we once again enjoyed this falling beauty. The artist at the platform kept working away at his canvas with different strokes.

After a freshly fried potato patties and tea from the tea center, we left for Colombo. I kept wishing there was more time to spend at HP but every good thing has to come to an end sometime. This really was a dream come true as I finally managed to spend a night at HP after so many visits over last 15 years. It was great having Ana, Atha and Prasa, we really had a ball.

Hopefully, there’ll be more journeys like this in future. Until such time, this is Sri signing off for the time being.

Take care and keep travelling!

Sayonara…

Sri.

Look at the beard

Another

Colombo-bound train at Pattipola

And then at Ambewela too

Where we stopped for a cup of milk

Lusty greenery and blue

Waiting patiently for some milk

They were working

No matter how many times you see her, you’d always see her in a different perspective

Full flow

The artistic point

Busy at work

Towards Watagoda

Colors

Bidding farewell

The map – click to enlarge

It is November the month before the official Sri pada season and I just couldn’t resist not visiting Adams peak before the crowds took over. I and Thinu were wondering whether to go to Sinharaja or Adams peak and suddenly the weather seem to be settling off so we decided to do an off season hike. Early morning we arrived at Kuruwita where we had breakfast and took the first bus (6.10am) to Erathna and from there took a trishaw to Adawi kanda (there is a bus to Adavi kanda at 7.45am). Sharp at 7 we started the hike and off we went through the overgrown mana section. The humid environment started to cause few problems within no time but we proceeded continuously. For detailed information on the trail please refer the trail guide. All the streams were in full flow and really didn’t have to carry lot of water. We came across three ambalamas close to each other and those were Jambola gaha yata ambalama, Daimangala ambalama & Warnagala ambalama. Out of these Daimangala was in good condition. After reaching Warnagala ambalama we took the foot path near the toilet which goes through the forest and ends at Kuru ganaga. The 150m path took us close to the beautiful Waranagala water fall and we did manage to explore another waterfall close by too.

adawikanda trail head of erathna trail

morning rays

welcoming

drops of dew on petals

first resting place

Heen piduruthalawa

over grown path

another beauty

one of those streams

a slimy snail

an orchid?

binara

Daimangala ambalama

crazy inscriptions

Bandura

Arundina

a common colour

Waranagala power house

in bad condition :-(

kuru ganga

close up

a cascade close to warnagala fall

Waranagala fall

After Warnagala it was an uphill hike and after a while we reached a flat area which ended at Seetha gangula ambalama. At Seetha gangula we refreshed ourselves and finished off our pol roti. We didn’t want to hang around because the risk of showers could make the crossing difficult. After passing Seetha gangula it was again an uphill climb towards Medahinna. Suddenly Thinuwan remembered that he forgot his specs at Seetha gangula and decided not to go back for it. So if you guys are doing this trail please look for it and check this forum post of his for more information. There were many steep ascends close to Medahinna and for the first time in my life I started getting cramps. Immediately we prepared a Jeevani and took some frequent breaks. From here onwards a walking stick came to the rescue. With difficulty we reached Medahinna where we enjoyed a well-deserved long break. In between Medahinna and Geththampana we found an area devastated by elephants few months back. After reaching Geththampana we did manage to view Kunu diya kanda for the first time but because of the thick mist couldn’t see Adams peak.

covered path

misty

crystal clear water

plenty of these

on top of trees

had a rest here

thunmodara

thinuwan crossing seetha gangula

large mushrooms

relatively flat areas

Medahinna temple

obstacle course

Elephant country

lovely and lonely

Geththampana roofless

kunu diya pawuwa as seen from geththampana

rituals

they were here

what view

lovely

Our next stop was Heramitipana where we were treated with a tea cup by two friendly ECB guys. Next stop was Adiyamalathenna and on the way to Adiyamalathenna we came across few chaps carrying bamboo from Palabaddala to bring up their stall for the season. For a very small amount they carry a lot of weight all the way to the top and they walked faster than us. At Adiyamalathenna we had some bread with soya and waited for an hour or so until the rain subsided. In the drizzling rain we climbed up to find out that the watcher and his friends who were enjoying some “bee dee” wouldn’t let us spend the night on top. I have never come across such a problem during my previous visit but it seems things have changed since then. With uttermost difficulty we decided to descend back to Adiyamalathenna. Fortunately the lights were up on Rathnapura trail though it was off season and it was an ease for us. On our way down we met Kena who were hiking alone along Kuruwita trail and we happily welcomed our new company. Our new companion Kenaman was a mobile canteen, he had brought food stuff to survive one week and we started trying out many combinations thanks to him. Though we slept early it was cut short at around 1 a.m. by the windy and cold weather. We were freezing so we put up a fire and started cooking, some “Kola keda”, Maggie and hot coffee which were able to make up our dropped mood.

makara thorana

getting ready for the season

peak wilderness

life on life

Nelu	another beauty

Adiyamalathenna

finally the mist cleared

misty view from maha giri dambe

cooking at 2am

At 4.30am we started ascending up for the second time within few hours and we reached the summit to find out close to 50 foreigners. Within few minutes the sun started to make patterns and give us a spectacular sun rise.

first shot ( note the lights)

three peaks of HP

Gawarawila side

awaiting

a pano

Maoussakele reservoir

Piduruthalagala

Hanthana range

sky on fire

first sight

here she is

in center ambuluwawa and the two mountains behind it are wiltshire and etipola of matale

kabaragala range and algalla seen behind it

wow

lovely

first rays

Dell range

Hakgala

Pettigala of balangoda

what a place!

the shadow between kunudiya pawuwa and heen piduruthalawa

rathnapura covered in mist

wow

twin peaks of bena samanala and kunudiya pawuwa

sapthakanya and kabaragala at its backdrop

ambuluwawa

peacock hills and its towers

uda maluwa

the sacred foot is behind this

the new bell

wow again

now its clear

Gawarawila plains

Kiribathgala

the extended team

We did start descending at 7.15am and on the way took a stop at a small boutique which was already in business. Had some tea and “Roti” from it before we started descending slowly. Two doggies did accompany us all the way to the Makara thorana. Just before the Makara thorana we came across the red bridge; passing it we came across the tea patch where we descended down to enjoy a beautiful waterfall. We named it red bridge falls J . Next stop was the waterfall close to Makara thorana which was bit low in water (Adams peak falls). We were greeted and welcomed by Mr. Anil who is a ranger at Nallathanni DWC office. We did have a bath and some lunch and said good bye to Mr. Anil and headed towards Nallatrhanni where we met Ganga another Lakdasun member and took off towards Hatton. As usual Hatton – Colombo buses were limited so we had to go all the way to Avissawella standing for 3 hours. That bus ride was like desert for our tired souls somehow at around 8pm we reached our destinations to end another successful hike to Adams peak.

getting down

a fern

grand fathers beard

lovely

drops of life

best friends

lovely petals

shops during off season!!

clear sky

the peak

Seetha gangula

yaka andu ella

sama chaitya

plenty of cascades

what a beauty

upper part

Red bridge falls

Adams peak falls

makara thorana

trail end at nallathanni

It was one of those weekends when you have nothing to do but out of nowhere you get a chance to visit some place that is out of bounds for many thanks to one of your close friends. That’s exactly what happened when I was without a thing to do on the 18-19 Oct weekend when Ana called out of blue moon asking if I’d like to join him for a relaxing holiday at Rozella. I jumped with both the feet and we left for Rozella on the 18th morning around 4.15am.

Day 01

After about an hour we stopped at Weerasiri Café and bought some Vegetable Rotties and one of their signature food items, Garlic Buns that are very tasty. They kept us going and we reached Rozella after some detour around 9.15am. We went for a walk in and around Carolina Tea Estate and it looked gloomy but the sun was shining down on us.

The hike walk was superb and we got some good pictures on the way. Afterwards, we got back home and had a hearty lunch. The mist appeared out of nowhere and pounced on us mercilessly covering the whole area. Unlike the last two times, we couldn’t even get a glimpse of Sri Pada that can usually be seen rising majestically into the sky. (You can take a look at my Previous Reports Here and Here). You can see the wonderful view point where we saw the Sri Pada, both during day time and at night)

The mist made sure that we wouldn’t have any more exploring and we sat down for an early and a hearty dinner with Ana’s version of Kohonawala Special Lunu Miris. It wasn’t the same but so much closer. It brought back the sweet memories of the isolated Kohonawala. Ana kept referring to the Lunu Miris as Dynamite which was quite fitting considering the taste of it. We went to bed early hoping for something exciting to happen the following day.

The view around Watawala

Closer

Icing on the cake

Plenty of food for the birds and squirrels

Cotton-wool sky

Ana’s Nest

Around the garden

Beans growing high

Busy at work

Plenty of them and I couldn’t eat one hundredth of them

Gorgeous colors

Peeping inside

Plenty more

Mummified Gas Gemba

Nature-made ponds

We took to the path for a hike and there’s our home in the distance

Most of the time it’s gloomy

On another day, Sri Pada would be seen over the tree canopy

Shannon Tea Factory in the far

Not missing these tiny details

Ready to plant

Looks as if done with a foot ruler

The mountains covered in the mist

Tea is the main player

Having a bath

These tanks are used for breeding fish

One of the buses that runs through the estates

Green in different shades against a gloomy background

Very tempting to have a bath

Closer

Not missing anything

Cascades in the middle of the estate

Sumptuous lunch

Here comes the mist

Covered the whole area in no time

One of the houses being built closer

Ideal for relaxing and having a nap

Mulligan Soup, full of all the nutrition

The dinner of Thosai, Ana’s attempt at Kohonawala Special seen too

Day 02

The next day early morning we went for another walk through the dew-covered plantation but still the clouds and the mist kept the Sri Pada hidden from us. However, for a fraction of the time, the holy peak revealed herself yet only partially. The whole surrounding was being bathed in the morning glow and it was like walking through a watercolor painting. Different shades of green mixed with sky blue and pristine white clouds added to the picture. Shadows of the mountains fell on the other mountains that gave a wonderful contrast in the whole picture.

Just walking slowly taking these wonderful sceneries in, breathing fresh mountain air was all a human being needed to unwind and with a hearty meal at the end to make it complete. You can feel the whole body is beginning to relax and all the pressure inside you is being released slowly, your thoughts become clearer, muscles start to loosen, and you feel like floating inside a bubble. After our morning stroll, we had yet another wonderful breakfast as you must when you go for relaxing. The food plays a key role when you want to unwind and enjoy some quiet time.

Here comes the morning

Dew on the leaves

Can see the Sri Pada in the distance, let’s try and get closer

There she is, but only partially visible

Great colors

Like blue berry but not sure if edible

Very tiny ones

Picturesque

Not missing much

Wow

Great scenery

An airliner passed overhead with the typical smoke trail

Unbelievable sights, however, nothing comes closer than seeing it with one’s own eyes

The shadow of the mountain covering the half of the pic

Look at the patterns of the sky

Silhouette

More of the paintings

Some more

Another pond in the marsh

We headed straight ahead

Close up of a very common flower, unfortunately, don’t know the name

Endless view

Here we are back again

Deep red

Breakfast of, Kurakkan mixed Rotti, Ana’s Special, Kollu Curry

Templestowe Estate

This is when, after breakfast, we got the chance to visit one of the most picturesque estate bungalows I’ve ever seen. It’s called Templestowe, rather unusual name but a breathtakingly beautiful place. So Ana I drove to the estate which is located about 4km from the Rozella Station. The drive was so pleasurable as we passed well maintained estate road bordered by plenty of plants and onto our left was a marshland which used to be a lake according to the Managing Director.

We reached the bungalow and while Ana was talking to the MD, I was so busy taking pictures of this wonderful place. As my report name suggests, this really was a little heaven on earth. There was a large lawn cut and maintained beautifully. The whole garden was full of various fruit trees and endless collection of flowers even though most of them were not yet blossomed as it wasn’t the season. I wished it was April coz all the flowers would’ve been in full bloom.

There were dozens of Sitha Pera (one of the guava specie) trees which were full of ripened guavas that tasted both sweet and sour. Dozens of parrots were roaming around taking bites at leisurely and when a dozen or so birds munch on these fruits, it makes a very loud noise and you’d wonder what on earth that is.

You can see the videos I took of those parrots below.

Video 01

Video 02

They were very colorful, bright green with red necklace-type strip around the neck on males and some red feathers on all of them. Well, I’ll let the pictures tell the story here after.

Here we are

The lawn in front

The mighty bungalow with more than half a dozen bedrooms

Towards Watawala

Maha Bovitiya with her lusty purple

One of the rare blooms

Even the thorns are red

Bunch of yellow and whites

Closer look

Amazing colors

Will probably bloom in a day or two

Flower creepers running wild

How about a swing with a steaming cup of coffee

More vivid colors

Bright colors

“Hey dude, what you looking for?”

Some more beautiful but unknown plants

A group of them, the color of flame

Through the portico

A bit of the history, this is a gigantic squatting pan, wonder who used that

Behind the mammoth bungalow

Fully organic

The standard guava

The bungalow beyond the lawn

Guess what? Mushrooms

Purple buds

Huge Sitha Pera, some call it Ambul Pera too

Full of fruits

Some distinctive colors

Before the misty hit

Greenly velvet mountains

Various plants throughout

Some more vivid colors

Ana having a word with the MD

Hadn’t seen this thorny Rambutan like fruits before

The bright orange

One of my best moments

Had always wanted to take a pic like this

The path bordering the garden

Here’s the first of many

Note the red feathers

A pair of them

Hiding away from me

Very cheeky fellows

Just plucking a fresh guava

Using the foot to help eat properly

I nearly twisted my neck imitating the fella

Here comes the mist

Just see the patterns made by bamboo pots

Heap of them

Interior of the bungalow

That fireplace is no longer used, probably due to the increase in the temperature over time

Where we had lunch

Long corridors

Map of the estate

The mist covered the faraway mountains

The color of love

Great medicine

Here are the ripe guavas I told you about

A big one

Bunch of them

Through the man-made arch

Some more parrot show

Just flew off before I took the pic

This was way up on a tree

Look at how the body is twisted to find the best fruit

Here is a clear one

Portrait

Simply loved the way they kept munching at them with those strange actions

Screaming at me

Here Ana with Mahesh

The mist invaded around 12.30pm and stayed there for about an hour playing with me. The plants were soaked in the dew that it brought and it gave a sexy look to them. After yet another hearty meal we decided to call it a day and bid farewell to our host, Mr. Mahesh Katugaha who was great. As always, this was one of those leisure journeys one should do in between those strenuous and arduous hikes. It will simply revive you both physically and mentally.

I was wondering whether I should put all this in a report but decided to share the relaxing experience with you nevertheless. It’s been a great holiday, one I enjoyed thoroughly. We got back home just before the dark, ending the 48-hour calm and quietness and entering back into the hot and humid concrete jungle full of noises that pierce your eardrums.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the soothing report but don’t blame me for not taking you for the actual journey. Hopefully you too will get some cozy journeys like this every now and then.

Take care and enjoy the life while it lasts…

Au Revoir,

Sri.

The map – click to enlarge

Google earth map with the lake – click to enlarge

Perfect weather conditions in hill country means it’s time to do some hikes. I just had to pick up two places in my list and execute. First day it was Hanthana range and few of my lakdasun friends did accompany me on that superb hike. For my next day execution Only Nishan said yes. So next day early morning both of us got in to a Padiyapelella bus and headed towards Rikillagaskada where we had our breakfast. We were going to climb a unique mountain range in the central hills. Kukulagala which overlooks Rikillagaskada town like a lonely giant. Been an isolated mountain from others makes it a perfect outlook point in this region. I knew this mountain was special since the first time I saw it two years back. As usual there were no literature on it but Google earth and some map reading gave me two routes to access this.

From Rikillagaskada we hired a trishaw to get to our destination. The road that we took to reach the lake close to Udawatta which is close to the summit point was miserably terrible. The trishaw driver did some great 4wd stuff to take us there through Wewethenna watta. The ride through the pines plot was simply awesome. We did note the towers close by but since we decided to climb up from the lake we proceeded until we reached it. We halted at the lake and went towards a tea patch where we found some Forest department guys planting trees to help the mountain range gain its past glory. They showed us a foot path which took us to the edge of the pines plot where the rocky part of the mountain could be found. After a short walk through the pines we reached an open area with splendid views there is a clear foot path from the towers side which leads to the summit and we stuck to it. We had to tackle many boulders before reaching the summit point of Diyathalawa which is also known as Kukulagala.

Kukulagala as seen from Loolkandura James Taylor seat

Kukulagala as seen from Chariot path

Kukulagala as seen from piduruthalagala summit

the lake where we started the hike

he insisted on stopping the trishaw so he could slide along the pines :-P

off we go through the tea patch

Entering the pines

bit more to climb

started producing spectacular scenery

Rikillagaskada town

Hanthana range also seen

on top of rocks

nice view points

the lake where we started

The first thing we noted was the engravings of few foreign Surveyors during the early 19 hundreds. It’s fascinating since I have come across C. Erskine’s name previously too when I hiked Kokagala at Padiyathalawa. This guy continues to impress me; he must have had a totally different view those days compared to what I had on that day. As I guessed this mountain is so unique that even surveyors used it as one of their measurement points in the past and even in recent history. This triangulation point was the perfect lookout for us who wanted to enjoy few beautiful reservoirs from bird’s eye perspective. The summit must have had a mountainous forest long ago and some flora found on top of it justifies the theory. Tea and pines had played there role in destruction of its native habitat and formed this totally foreign landscape which we see on this present day.

Let me try and summarize what we saw starting from Kandy side we saw Hanthana, Hunnasgiriya , Gombaniya, Knuckles, Theldeniya, Victoria reservoir, Meda maha nuwara kanda, Nawanagala, Dothalugala, Dumbanagala, Kehelpathdoruwa, Yahangala, Hunnasgiriya, Kokagala of Padiyathalawa, Mahiyangana side, Randenigala reservoir, Loggal oya reservoir, Sora bora wewa, Madulsima range, Namunukula, Narangala, Bandarawela side, Rikillagaskada town, Padiyapelella, Walapane side, Hanguranketha, Maha kuda gala and Ragala range, whole of Piduruthalagala range (different view), the gap where Mandaram nuwara is located, Delthota side and many more landmarks which I cannot recall. We spent some good time on top of it before deciding to call it a day and descend.

looking towards Piduruthalagala from the summit

Piduruthalagala summit

C. Erskine the surveyor has been here in 1910

Ambeek another surveyor has been here in 1924

pano towards uva and randenigala

pano towards rikillagaskada

on right namunukula and on left narangala

mahakudagala peak and ragala range

mighty and lengthy piduruthalagala range seen towards hewaheta

victoria reservoir and hunnasgiri peak

dried out mahaweli ganga

Gombaniya and yakungegala

knuckles mountain

hunnasgiriya peak at Pannila

sloped on left is dumbanagala, flat range is dothalugala, dome shaped and camouflaged is medamaha nuwara peak, pointed and far away kehelpathdoruwa, two peaks together is nawangala, far right yahangala

Rikillagaskada hospital zoomed

mahaweli valley

far away range is madulsima range, close by range is randenigala range, far away loggal oya and kokagala also could be seen faintly

what a view!

isn’t it a beautiful place?

Randenigala

spectacular scenery

the gap is where mandaram nuwara is located

awaiting the monsoons

Hanguranketha side

another set of visitors

clear shot of randenigala reservoir

rikillagaskada when its dry

paddy

the range of kukulagala

lonely survivor

last breathtaking snap

While descending we came across some locals who were climbing up with two monks to place a flag post. They had taken a difficult route from the forest below the pines and their faces confirmed it. When we got to the bottom we were greeted with a hot tea cup by the Forest department guys and ended up chatting with them for more than half an hour before departing towards Rikillagaskada. We said good bye to the trishaw guy who became good friends with us and he was even reluctant to take the hire fees because he enjoyed this hike more than us. After returning to Kandy both of us departed towards our homes with some wonderful memories of Kukulagala.

getting back down

pines

local hospitality

those old “belek” cups

small ones were in business

they had caught some small and big fish

water snake

the group of villages and the monk with the flag

we had lot of ambul pera

also some nelli

Kukulagala range as seen from Rikillagaskada

we were there

I took the 138 bus from Colombo at 6 a.m & reached homagama at around 7.30 a.m. Lahiru was waiting at Homagama town till I come. After having breakfast we started the journey from homagama station around 8.00 a.m. Though this was the very first rail hike in our life, we determined to do whatever it takes to make it a success.

We were not in a hurry to complete the hike, because it was not the time that mattered for us but, the experience.

34.5 Km from here

Checking for the safety

Just love this pic

The bridge before meegoda

She is coming

An accident

Roadside beauty

Another resting point

We came across “Pusweli oya” after passing Padukka station. There was a nice place to have a bath & that place was used by villagers also. After having a safe bath at Pusweli oya, we again on the track heading towards Avissawella. While proceeding towards Avissawella we had a chance to taste “Belimal with Hakuru” from a “dansela” nearby Watareka station as it was the Esala full moon poya day.

Time for a bath

Greenish

Bridge over “Pusweli oya”

A family on the track

Village temple

Friend on the road

At Gammana station we had our lunch that was prepared by lahiru’s mom. After having a rest for a few minutes, we again headed towards Avissawella. As we did this hike during Rambutan season, we felt that we have entered in to a very fruitful area. We saw rambutan & gaduguda trees bearing fruits on either side of the rail track.

Gaduguda

More to walk

By walking through a rubber plantation & pineapple plantation we did come across “Wak Oya” just before the Waga railway station. We decided to have a cool bath there for the 2nd time for the day. We spent around 30 minutes there & did come back to the track. From there onwards we speeded up our walk as we obviously knew that there is no any place to stay at night up to Kosgama. However, we had to walk for about 30 minutes along the dark rail track, passing Kosgama railway station, until we reach the “Mirage” rest house facing the Colombo – Avissawella road around 7.30 p.m.

Passing rubber estate

Passing pineapple estate

Wak oya

Old is gold

Life on the rail track

“Waga” station

Loitering at “Waga”

Walk along the dark

On the 2nd day we started the hike at 7.00 a.m. As the rail track was behind & 2 meters above the ground level of the rest house, we made a jump to the rail track to start our journey. We had to walk about 9.5 km to reach Avissawella from there. We did have our breakfast from a small boutique nearby Miriswatta station. The rail track from Homagama to Avissawella crosses the Colombo – Avissawella main road at Miriswatta, Puwakpitiya & Penrith. From Kosgama most part of this rail track is heading towards Avissawella in parallel with the main road. About 3km before Avissawella we did walk through a rubber estate, there we were attacked by leaches several times.

Crossing the border

Railway crossing at Miriswatta

Click along the rail track

Puwakpitiya – a place for a break

Temple nearby Puwakpitiya station

Just about to finish

Lahiru – My trip mate

Did it

We could reach Avissawella railway station around 11.00 a.m. However, an employee who had been attached to the station didn’t permit us to stay there even for more than 5 minutes. We therefore, walked to the bus stand & got in to Colombo bus.

Thanks for reading.

Waterfalls are like a virus in my blood, simply incurable. I keep yearning to go see them whenever possible and sometimes try to make time available despite having loads of other work to do. It doesn’t really matter if I’d seen them before. I’d always try to grab even a slight opportunity to go be with them even for a few seconds.

I hope you guys have enjoyed all my Tour de Waterfalls so far and I’m gonna bring you yet another one. I’m trying to do all I can to match or even surpass the 21 Stages of Tour de France with my Tour de Waterfalls and find I’m only 10 more short. The most recent addition to my old gang, Ana is a very keen traveler who’s very much like a walking encyclopedia with plenty of insights. We’ve done some remarkable journeys since our Rail Hike in earlier this year. Most recent being the marathon hiking in Horton Plains doing three major trails in three consecutive days.

So when I came up with the idea of visiting in and around Bambarakanda as the water levels were better than most of the time, Ana jumped in with both hands. Atha and Prasa the usual tough cookies that join me in many journeys too decided to have a go while my old uncle, Tony decided to break the ice saying that he’d skipped too many trips and now getting too jittery and old for these kinda games. After doing the initial planning and booking the Bambarakanda Rest and arranging Ranjith to be there to guide us through we set the dates and waited impatiently for the set date.

Just to let you know folks that I did a comprehensive Tour of Bambarakanda last year with Ranjith. It was all about walking, hiking and climbing up and down for three consecutive days that tested my poor legs to almost their breaking point. From that experience, I knew he was a very good guide who you can trust on a journey like that which is, for me, the most important thing. You can read about that by clicking on the link above.

Day 01

Having got together at our usual time, 3 am in Koswaththa we left for Bambarakanda while most of the rest of the country was dreaming and snoring. It was good to have the old uncle with us who provided the free entertainment along with Prasa all along the journey. We reached Bambarakanda Rest around 6.45am while the sun was lighting the surrounding mountains with his golden brown rays. There was a slight chill in the air and breathing this fresh mountain air is the best medicine for cold and sore throat which I was suffering for a long time.

I immediately felt better and at the sight of Bambarakanda Falls, the tallest girl in SL, made my day. She had more water, at least more than my last visit, and was looking radiant in the morning. We parked the vehicle and went inside for a warm welcome by Mrs. Mayakaduwa and her daughter Erandi who served us with tea and coffee. We were staying in one of the two cottages there. The walls were built using mud and had the look of a typical rural house. It can easily accommodate 8-16 people and has 4 rooms and a large living area and a verandah as well. Two washrooms are located at the back and with hot water.

We unpacked and got everything ready while they prepared our breakfast, Rotti with a Dhal Curry and Lunu Miris. Some cowpea was also served with freshly scraped coconut and we had a bellyful breakfast and were ready to go. It was so good to see Ranjith again and together we left for our hike that turned out to be tougher than we anticipated.

Tour Highlights: 

1. Bambarakanda Falls.
2. Lanka Ella.
3. Yahalathenna Ella.
4. Bambarakanda Upper Falls.
5. Diyaluma aka Jalaja Pahana aka Vismitha Falls of Sri Lanka.
6. Galkanda aka Nisansala Falls.
7. Surathali Falls.
8. Brampton Falls.
9. Ellepola Falls.
10. Collection of Panos.

There’s a new development at Bambarakanda Falls now as the Pradeshiya Sabha has built a path, viewing platform and a couple of toilets. They now have a ticket counter that charges Rs. 30/- from local adults and Rs. 20/- for kids.

Bambarakanda Falls

We bought the tickets and started walking along the now well cleared footpath. The closer we got to her, the taller she looked. The Pradehsiya Sabha seems to be doing a decent job of keeping the place nice and tidy even though our careless visitors had left many liquor bottles, beer cans and all the other junk. They were cleaning the toilets when we went past them. The path now has cement steps and a hand railing almost to the base of the falls.

At the base, they’ve built a viewing platform with plenty of space and even left a few cement benches for visitors to sit and enjoy the view. However despite their notice asking not to scribble on the surrounding, we saw many idiotic people have written on the tree trunks. Ana beat us all including Ranjith to the base and was merrily shooting away when we came up panting.

The sheer height of this beautiful lady is enough to make you feel like a dwarf, very tiny one at that. You’re bound to get a sore neck if you try to look at her from the top for a long time. The sky overhead was royal blue with a nice checked pattern in the sky with white cotton wool. The water drops kept splashing on our bare skin sending a chill down our spines. After a while, we left for Lanka Ella.

Good Morning Bambarakanda

Right on cue

Pine top

A4 seen

Hi Sexy Lady!

Balathuduwa and Gon Molliya Range

First of Red

There’s the second

And the third

This one is one of a kind

Where we stayed

From the front

The verandah

The reason why it’s called Jack Tree

The Oldies

Changing the attire

What a view

Armed with everything

Flowery frame

What a lovely pic

The top with the rock formation

Now cleared path

The bridge modified

Resting places too

Steps and the railing

Towards the base

She’s unbelievably beautiful

The triple layered base

Sheer height

Bending inwards

Base	The sky with cotton wool pattern

Team at the base of Bambarakanda. Pic by: Ana

Lanka Ella

The climbing up along the pine forest was full of needles and loose rocks which made walking very dangerous. Most of the times I wished we were like those mountain goats who can climb with no problem along any steep or slippery surface. Nevertheless, Ana kept going well ahead of us and we managed to cross the pine forest and enter the Mana patch that kept brushing at our bare skin and made it itchy.

We could see the Wangedigala, Bala Thuduwa and Gon Molliya Range clearly to our left. Looking at Wangedigala brought back the memories of climbing down through the dense forest infested with many poisonous snakes and spiders all the way to the Seven Basins in my previous visit. It brought a smile to Ranjith’s face as well. The sky was very clear and had a few stray clouds scattered about. The mist hung stubbornly at the Gon Molliya summit and to our right.

We were walking along a valley and beyond the mountains in the distance lies the gorgeous Horton Plains, a place very close to my heart. The water stream that feeds Lanka Ella and then goes further downhill created another tiny falls. I can remember Hariya getting down to this in his solo visit but the water levels were not so great making me change my mind about getting down. The sun beat on us mercilessly in the open terrain. We walked towards Lanka Ella named by Mrs. Mayakaduwa’s husband who’s passed away some 18 years before.

The base pool of this falls is very much like Sri Lanka map thus making him name Lanka Ella. She had more water than my previous visit and we enjoyed some chocolate at this point while being splashed by this mischievous girl. The virgin water tasted ever so good and we took our leave after a bit hoping to get to the top of her on our way towards Yahalathenna Falls. We retraced our steps back uphill and then took a left and in no time reached the top of the Lanka Ella. There’s a whole pine tree kept across the water stream as a bridge but you need a bit of summersault skills too to cross this along that.

We got to the top and enjoyed some quiet moments. It felt heavenly to be in the midst of never ending greenery all around and a royal blue umbrella overhead. Time was getting shorter so we very reluctantly decided to go search for Yahalathenna Ella that’s located somewhat deep in the jungle.

There they go

What a place to make home

The ground is cluttered with pine needles

Tiring

Ana playing the alien

Scenic

Wangedigala

The modern Farr arrived at Bambarakanda

Wonderful patterns

The HP beyond all these

Just look at the colors

Gon Molliya

Endless

Rastha clouds

The lower Lanka Falls

Seen from afar

The water colors

Here she is

The base

The sky with beautiful colors

Look closer, the base pool has the shape of Sri Lanka

The top

Going down

Remember the triple jump champ going to Rio in 2016?

“See ya lady”

The sun bringing the purple tinge of the leaves

The never ending picturesque mountains

Ranjith, the trustworthy companion

Many colors with patterns

Here we go

Well, I’ve run out of words

You can see the path along the Mana

Perfect Pose

This bit was a bit tricky

Felt like a king

Some funny moments with grand poses. Pic by: Ana

The tail

Not edible

The water stream that makes Lanka Ella

Here the top

And plunging down

Yahalathenna Falls

She’s a hidden beauty and one needs to follow the path that runs across the water stream of Lanka Ella. After about half a km or so, you’ll enter the tea plantation and going another 200-300m along this, you have to get down to the stream and then follow it uphill for another 300-400m till you find the breath-taking Yahalathenna Falls.

Climbing down towards the stream was not so easy as the slope was way too steep and we had to be very cautious. Entering the jungle and going through that wasn’t easy. We were bothered by a few leeches on the way but not very much. The journey turned out to be tougher than we anticipated even though I had done it before. However, there was no stopping of Ana and the Co. who kept up their pace with Ranjith.

Prasa, as usual decided to walk sandwiched by the rest of the team not because he was scared but he loved the company of others. After a laborious task, we finally arrived at the beautiful Yahalathenna Falls who had more water. She was taller than Lanka Ella and we felt all the hard work was worth to be here. We waited about 20 mins admiring this beauty and decided to get back as the climbing uphill was going to be more challenging as the time was getting to noon.

The clouds getting together

Sheer climbing right throughout

Here comes the hero

Hathawariya

Big tree trunks

You can see how difficult it is

Yellow

The Yahalathenna with the cave in the middle

The water is pumping out

The base

Taking a break

Water making a big pyramid

Side angle

See ya lady

Bambarakanda Upper Falls

We climbed up about a km and reached the main road which is still in worse condition. They’d done the road some way beyond the Bambarakanda Rest but not for long. Climbing up took a heavy tall on the team and we stopped every now and then for a breather. After what felt like an eternity, we arrived on the road and sat down on the rocky ledge to give a rest for our battered muscles and bones.

The clouds gathered over the mountains bordering the Horton Plains and we knew the rain was imminent. Ana put on his raincoat while we sought the shelter under the umbrellas but after a mild drizzle it wore off and we felt better. The most tiring and challenging bit was yet to come as we took the downhill path through the pine forest towards the top of Bambarakanda Falls.

With a difficulty we arrived on the top to see the Bambarakanda Upper Falls. Just note that there’s yet another upper part of the Bambarakanda Upper Falls that you can see coming down from the road. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to get there, and we didn’t even try as it looked more dangerous. The Upper Falls is also about 30ft in height and has more water. Looking at the surrounding from the top of Bambarakanda is something you must experience.

To our horror, there were charcoal-grey clouds forming and coming towards us from Beragala-Koslanda side. The wind picked up bringing some water drops making us hurry with our picture taking and running to grab the umbrellas. This time it was for real and no stopping after a drizzle. We hurried up the path back trying to join the downhill path when all hell broke loose bringing heavy rains and winds. It was very hard to keep the umbrellas upright but the pine trees slowed down the rain somewhat making it not so difficult.

The pine needles got wet in the rain and we found it a little easier to walk on them but the loose rocks were an extreme hazard. You had to remain in constant alert and we kept walking looking at the ground like meditating monks to avoid any slip. The umbrellas provided very little comfort and we kept getting soaked in the ice cold water and Tony simply gave up and came in the heavy rains.

When we reached the ticket counter, the rain had eased and we saw the water coming from the top of Bambarakanda had turned into brown due to the mud washed down with the rain. It was past 3.30pm when we got back, being on the constant run for a good 8+ hours. We all were born tired and after a cold bath, went and had our lunch.

The evening wore off amid all the pleasantries and we settled down for the night after a hearty dinner in the comfort of our beds. It was very cold, about 15-16 degrees and we were thankful for those cozy and thick blankets.

Climbing out of the forest. Pic by: Ana

Exhausted

Not seen them before

Tea flower

Tree well

The uphill journey we had to take

The view

Taking a break

Here one of them I got

Dotted

Here it’s the men who do the plucking

Towards Walawe Basin

Tricky bit to cross

Here the water stream so far high that feeds the Lanka Ella

Wondering when to get to the road

Many cascades

Patterns on the rock

Getting darker

Laughing at a joke

The team. Pic by: Ana

The rain is heading towards us

Prasa telling many stories to Ana

Different kinda rock formation

Heaven is that way

Icing on the cake

One of the many hairpin bends

The Green Jacket

Made like a seat

Not much to go

Tony and Prasa heading in front

Framed pic of the road

Bambarakanda Upper Falls

From the front

Bottom

The top

This time it’s for real

Check the snaking road

The top of Bambarakanda

Just before the top

View

Finally at the falls

The sun is setting

The mountains in the twilight

Prasa animatedly talking about something

Day 02

We as usual were up and about by 5.30am and hurriedly did the morning chores. By 6am, we had changed into our hiking attire, deposited our baggage into the vehicle and were sitting down ready for the breakfast of Tempered Dried Fish, Coconut Sambol and Dharl Curry with Steaming Rice. Simultaneously we had our tea as well coz we wanted to leave as early as possible. From the dining room, we could see the never ending beauty of Bambarakanda Falls.

The mountains were under the shadow of other mountains but gradually the sun came up lighting the Gon Molliya, Bala Thuduwa and then top of Bambarakanda. It was a sight worth seeing million times and it will still not be enough to satisfy us. After the meal, having thanked Mrs. Mayakaduwa profusely for her great hospitality we left for Diyaluma Falls.

Here the colors

And now

Time to go

Diyaluma Falls

We reached Kalupahana and went up towards Beragala where we took the Wellawaya Road passing Koslanda to visit the 3^rd highest waterfall in SL, or the 361^st in the whole world (according to Wikipedia), the mighty Diyaluma. According to the notice board at the falls, she’s also called Jalaja Pahana and Wishmitha Falls of SL. This was something very new for us. However, the notice board mistakenly rates this being the 62^nd highest in the world. Wonder how on earth they came about that or who’s correct. Further, the Wikipedia states Diyaluma is the second highest falls in SL which is not correct as it’s the Kurundu Oya Ella. So the facts are varied and hard to pinpoint on one thing.

Passing Koslanda brought back the memories of the Meeriyabadda Landslides which stole around 3 dozens innocent human lives. Driving along the A4 looking at the Walawe Basin to our right was a magnificent view. We could see miles into the horizon bathed in the morning sunshine. All along the road there were signs of landslides and it must’ve been a very scary experience travelling along this road during that heavy rainy season.

We arrived at Diyaluma Falls around 7.30am and wow, what a sight she really was. Even though I’d seen see before, sometime in 2011, this was a completely different Diyaluma I saw. The foliage either side of her is now no more and below there’s a new bridge built. The menacing looking rocky boulder is spitting this gigantic water stream straight downwards falling nearly 700ft to the base crashing on the rocks all around.

Even Diyaluma has some sad stories behind her and one of the shop owners close by told us that he saw the tragic accident of one boy falling down while attempting to climb down her setting a new record time. Nevertheless, the beauty of this tall lady with long legs never ceases to amaze the passers-by. After having for ourselves nearly half hour and drinking a king coconut, we decided to go looking for the sexy Galkanda aka Nisansala Falls at Nikapotha.

Click image to enlarge

Here we go

Beautiful one she is

See the foliage that used to be around is gone now

The base

The thick top

Beautiful colors

Brilliant one

Next to the bridge

She’s devouring on something

See the kid on her lap

Good one