Visit Gammaduwa/ Opalgala Summit

Year and Month	16-August-2016
Number of Days	One
Crew	04
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Double Cab
Activities	Hiking, Photography, Sightseeing, Nature Exploring
Weather	Good
Route	Colombo -> Kurunegala -> Ridigama -> Yatwatte -> Madawala Ulpotha -> Adawala -> Kubaloluwa Road -> Kalugalthanna -> Gammaduwa
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Carry enough water Do not try in rainy days Take necessary permission Do not climb on towers Beware of leeches Beware of narrow roads Better a 4WD or Motor cycle Ask the directions from local Do not disturb to the villagers Do not litter Leave only footprints
Related Resources	None
Author	Ranshan Fernando
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Visit Gammaduwa/ Opalgala Summit – 1325m

Gammaduwa is a famous destination in the northern side of the Knuckles forest reserve. I had an opportunity to visit Gammaduwa with Nirosh’s office crew as they have direct access to the transmission towers for business purposes. Karagahatenna is the nearest peak of Gammaduwa and both peaks are reserved for telecommunication transmission towers, hence entering the premises is not open to the public.

However, when I checked this mountain in Metric Map it shows the Opalgala mountain with a height of 1325m. Whether the estate is called Gammaduwa, the actual name of this peak is not Gammaduwa and it is the Opalgala Mountain. Opalgala is a beautiful village situated near to this area and we had some memories at Opalgala as Sandamadala Hike and we have seen Gammaduwa transmission towers at the summit of Sandamadala too. Also, I had a special privilege to climb up on a Tower and see the surroundings as I was requested to identify the nearby peaks as a traveler.

Reaching to Gammaduwa estate and the nearby is a scenic tour as the roads are under the shades of giant pines and trees. Roads are almost gravel and bit difficult to climb up the mountains through narrow bends. Since we had a 4WD, we didn’t feel the difficulty as we are focused to see the beauty of the environment.

Marked on Metric Map

Google Terrain view

The scenic roads

Beautiful road

On the way

Pines patch

Surroundings

See the beauty

Scenic road

Summits

More to go

Valley of mountains

Nature

Hidden plains

Narrow road

More to go

See the difficulty

The valley

Want to walk over there

Reaching

Here is the end of the journey

Towards Karagahatenna and beyond

Gammaduwa Towers

Trees

Newgala, Selagama Mini World’s End and Ambokka in the middle of the frame

Nature

Environment

More peaks to climb

I got this rare chance to climb up the tower but I cannot publish many more photos of this activity since it is not ethical to influence people on this type of risky thing. Because there are many harmful damages to our body can be happened from the signals of these towers.