Giants of Siyambalanduwa- Govindahela (558m) and Diggalahela / Degal Hela (480m)

Year and Month	Diggalahela- 14th of August 2014 Govinda Hela-10th of August 2019
Number of Days	Separate two days
Crew	Diggalahela-Myself and two guides Govinda Hela-Keshan, Kasun, Thiwanka and Myself
Accommodation	Not applicable
Transport	By bus and hiking
Activities	Hiking, Sightseeing and Photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Diggalahela: Colombo->Moneragala->Siyambalanduwa (සියඹලාණ්ඩුව) ->2th mile post-> Helamulla (හෙලමුල්ල)->Diggalahela-> Back to same route->Colombo Govindahela: Colombo-> Siyambalanduwa-> 9th mile post->Govinda Hela->Back to same route->Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Govinda Hela (558m) 1. There is a hotel at 9th mile post junction and can have breakfast and lunch. 2. Better inform the priest at Buwanekaba Pirivena (බුවනෙකබා පිරිවෙන) before you start the hike. 3. Carry at least 1l per person for the hike. There are no water sources on your way up. 4. It is an easy hike and we spent about two hours to reach the top. 5. There are different viewpoints on top of the rock. 6. The water at ponds is not suitable for drinking. 7. No risk of trap guns or wild elephants. 8. No need a guide. 9. Dry season is the best time for hike at this region, better soon after rain in February or March. August is extremely dry and not good for photos. Diggalahela /Degal Hela (480m) 1. There is no proper foot path to the top of Degal Hela. Therefore better have a guide for this hike. 2. Carry at least 1l per person as we didn’t find any water resource. 3. No risk of trap guns or wild elephants. 4. Deegalhela is also an easy hike. We spent about two hours to complete both peaks. 5. There is a panoramic view point on top of Degal Hela.
Related Resources	Trip reports on Govinda Hela Trip report on Diggalahela-Diggalahela the rock of Siyambalanduwa (450m) and Bingoda cave complex!
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Giants of Siyambalanduwa- Govindahela (558m) and Diggalahela / Degal Hela (480m)

Govindahela and Diggalahela are two isolated mountains seen to Siyambalanduwa-Ampara (A 25) road. I have been at Govinda Hela twice and recent visit was happened few weeks back. I have a fainted memory on Diggalahela hike as it was happened almost 5 years ago.

Govinda Hela (ගෝවින්ද හෙල)/ Westminster Abbey (558m) (7.034519, 81.546660)

This box shaped rock is situated closer to 9th mile post at Siyambalanduwa-Ampara road. It has a historical value as folklore says a regional King call Buwanekaba has built a castle on top of this rock during Polonnaruwa era to protect Ruhunu kingdom from foreign invasions. British rulers have called this rock as Westminster Abbey due to it’s similar appearance to famous British church.

Classic appearance of Govinda Hela / Westminster Abbey.

Longitudinal view of Govinda Hela over Jayanthi Lake / Pallan Oya reservoir.

View of Govinda Hela from Degal Hela

Govinda Hela / Westminster Abbey in metric map. Note they haven’t mentioned it as Govinda Hela. And heights of mountains are mentioned in feet not meters.

Govindahela and Diggalahela in Google map.

Starting point of the hike is situated behind Buwanekaba Pirivena (බුවනෙකබා පිරිවෙන) at Govindu Pura, 100m away from 9th mile post junction. We met the priest at temple before the hike and kept our bags at temple premises. As usual two dogs also joined with the hike but they couldn’t complete the stuff due to the ladder part.
The path to top of Govinda Hela was shady and well paved foot path was seen with stone steps intermittently. There were small steel bridges and ladders connecting rocky parts. As whole area was dry we didn’t notice any water source on our way up. Sulang Kapolla (සුළ0 කපොල්ල) is a view point come across on our way up.

Box shaped rock is seen behind Buwanekaba Pirivena.

Pagoda at Buwanekaba temple.

Getting to well paved path

Stone steps

A cave

Notice

Trio of the journey: Kasun (left), Keshan and Thiwanka (right)

Shady path covered with dry leaves

Artistic

Clear foot path

.	First and highest ladder of the journey.

At Sulang Kapolla

View from Sulang Kapolla

Along the edge

After a leisure hike of two hours we were able to reach the top of Govinda Hela. Govinda Hela has multiple view points with different views. The first and commonly visited view point has small Dewalaya, Buddha statue, scattered ruins and couple of ponds. We could get the view of Muthukandiya Lake, Maragala range and Moneragala, Lollhela, Velihela, Diggalahela, A25 road and surrounding of Govindu Pura.

Reached the top….

Pond situated at top

Diggalahela with dual peaks.

View from popular summit: Maragala range and Muthukandiya Lake. Valihela and Lollhela also seen.

Muthukandiya Lake zoomed.Velihela (most pointed peak) and Lollhela situated behind Muthukandiya Lake.

Maragala range and Moneragala. Madolsima range was seen behind this. But not clear in this picture

Buwanekaba Temple at base of Govinda Hela. And A 25 road.

9th mile post junction. Buddama road goes up.

The drop and towards Bibile. This is the rock edge is seen from temple.

Landscape

Watermelon is a nice fruit in dry weather.

At first view point

Busy with cameras

Ruins

Another pond

Next view point is situated right opposite to the first place and it also has a nice slab rock. All these view points are good camping spots and hope you will get beautiful sun set and sun rise. We were able to view Konduruhela, Pannelgama Lake, Navinnakanda, Ampara side, Pallanhela, Inginiyagala, Dhanigala in Gal Oya NP, Walasgala and Jayanthi Lake (Pallan Oya reservoir) from this view point.

Land marks here: Walasgala, Jayanthi Lake, Inginiyagala with two peaks,? Pallanhela. The range far behind must be Dhanigala at Gal Oya NP.

Zoomed view of Jayanthi Lake.

The drop and towards Ampara.

Landscape

Towards Pannelgama reservior. Navinnakanda is the range seen behind.

The drop

Konduruhela

When Jayanthi Lake and Inginiyagala were filled. Pallanhela can be seen at right side of the picture.

Then we moved towards third view point where Jayanthi Lake, Wadinagala and Inginiyagala side are seen clearly. It was like a circular path and we have moved closer to second view point where Pannelgama and Konduruhela were appeared back. The drop of Govinda Hela was beautiful in this side and I have never seen it in pictures before.

Scattered ruins came across on our way to third view point

Majestic Wadinagala

Dhanigala-Gal Oya NP is popped up…

Wild flower

පතොක්

Towards Pannelgama reservoir, Navinnakanda and Konduruhela.

A part of Inginiyagala reservoir.

Landscape

Suagaldevi Lake

Rock cut pond

Enjoyed the view from fourth view point.

Unseen drop of Govinda Hela.

Unseen drop of Govinda Hela. The second view point is seen from here.

Four man team….

A nest

After enjoying the view from different viewpoints at Govinda Hela we returned back to Dewalaya. It was bit hard to stay there longer as rock was heated with afternoon heat. We have returned to the starting point in an hour time. This was another successful day hike.

Returned back to Dewalaya.

Panoramic view from Govinda Hela. This was taken at my first hike to Govindahela.

Diggalahela (480m) / Degal Hela (දීගල් හෙල / දිග්ගලහෙල) (6.943410, 81.574054)

Degal Hela / Diggalahela is another rock situated at Siyambalanduwa closer to A25 road. I have hiked it five years ago and thought this is the high time to include it to a report. As this rock has two peaks, it is mentioned as Degal +Hela=Degal Hela.
I couldn’t find any historical value of Degal Hela though we have noted excavated pagoda on top of the rock.

Diggalahela / Degal Hela in metric map. Note height is marked in feet not meters.

Two peaks of Diggalahela are seen to 2nd mile post

Tempting peaks for hike….

Ashan has introduced a guide to hike this rock. Ajith who was Ashan’s guide accompanied me to Helamulla ancient temple which is situated at base of the rock. There were some stone pillars at Helamulla temple premises. I met Sena and another young boy at Helamulla and they were my original guides to Degal Hela. We started the journey behind the temple. It was again a hike through dry zone forest. Though there were few difficult sections, the hike was basically an easy one. We came across couple of caves on our way to the summit. I took about one and half hours to reach the summit of Degal Hela.

Helamulla cave temple

Stone pillars at Helamulla cave temple

View of the rock from temple premises

What a rock….

Get into the dry zone forest

Through the forest

A cave…

Over boulders

Reached to a view point

Landmarks we identified on top of Degal Hela were, Maragala kanda, Moneragala, Muthukandiya Lake, Wadinagala, Buddama, Govinda Hela, Ampara side, Lahugala side, Tharulengala, towards Yala, Buttala and Wellawaya etc. Then we have moved to the second peak and spent a time on there.