This trail is dedicated to my colleagues Nafly and Rachitha whom encourage me to do this hike. This was my 6th hike to Alagalla from my school days and I have done this for Nafly and Rachitha as they have not done it.

Alagalla is very famous among youngsters in Mawanella, Kadugannawa and Rambukkana zone. The Majestic look of it will make every hiker to do it. This is situated in between Kadugannawa and Rambukkana. This hike can reach by Ihala Kotte route also but which is a difficult one.

I was used to do this hike when I was doing cadetting in College. This trail is used by cadet platoon as maiden trail to every cadet so that every cadet will be tested in all areas like team work, rock climbing, hiking, leadership and teamwork etc.

As planned we have gathered in Mawanella around 1100h and we bought bread and other food items and we took a bus to Kadugannawa. When we reached Kadugannawa we found that the bus to Poththapitiya is went and it will come back again around 1315h. So we decided to take a three wheel and we paid 400 (it is 8.5 km far from KDG).

We got down in Pothapitiya town and we went through the estate route. First we came across the Tea Factory and we took the gravel road along with the tea factory. Side view of Alagalla can be clearly seen from here.

Tea Factory in Pothapitiya town

We walked through estate road and came to the 1st resting point. This is a place where you can take the water. There are 1 or 2 stock tanks which stores the water for the use of estate people.

Walking through the estate route……

Resting place …..

As it was mid noon and very sunny day we had our lunch there and had a nice nap on the concrete. We started our hike around 1505h. We walked through the road and take left and came to the place where tea has planted. You will get the last house at this point. From there we had walked along the road. This road will lead to a thick jungle.

Entering into the jungle

When we entered into the jungle we had to walk in an ascending way. As we were doing this hike after the Independence Day the path was cleared (usually the village people are doing this trail on 4th February and they clear the route) which made us even easy to walk.

In jungle…..

We took another interval in the jungle and start the trail. The jungle came to end and we entered into “Maana” plot. This was another ascending area but as path is cleared it was easy to us to climb up.

Starting Maana trees..

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Cleared path in Maana .. (Thanks to village people)

Finally we reached the place where the climax is starts. When we come to this point we experienced strong wind. We can see the Rambukana railway track from here.

Strong wind…

The final part is climbing a rock which is very ascending. We climbed this but to enter the top of the mountain we had to climb on several small rocks which are placed on the top of the mountain by the nature. This was a very adventures part we had to finish. A single slip will put you in Rambukkana Ihala Kotte Raliway station. So we carefully climbed between the rocks and came to the top.

The Risky Final part of the trail…

Close up view of final part

Team work…..

Give your hand buddy..

A slip will take you to Ihala Kotte.. carefull

It was an amazing view and no words will describe until you see it on your own eyes. We can see the complete view of Mawanella from here. More over we were able to see Rambukkana, Hataraliyadda, Pothapitiya, Kandy – Colombo Main Road and many more places.

Rambukkana railway track

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Ready for sun set …

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.	Vertical drop of Majestic Alagalla

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We took some photographs on top of the mountain. It was 1700h when we reached the top. So we rushed to collect some fire woods for our campfire. We walked to the next side of the mountain. You can found another rock here from where you can enter into the jungle and access next side of the mountain ( Hataraliyadda side).

But this rock was very deep descending and very dangerous again. Both climbing down and up are difficult but can be done ( I have done this when I came here with 15 – 20 boys). Some one has placed and iron “Uli” here so that you can put your rope and with the help of the rope you can climb. The rope I took for the trail was not enough in length. Its is better to take a 15 – 25 m rope if you are doing this part in your trail. If your crew contains more than 8 people then you can do this part even without the rope. Considering the worst scenario, I suggest to take the rope and avoid unwanted risks.

Hataraliyadda side…

Do this part when you have a good team

If you enter into this jungle you can walk to next part of the mountain which is a flat rock. As we were only 3 and it was closing for the sun set we decided to not to get down from that rock and to find alternative way to get the fire woods. Finally we decided to get down to the place where we enter into the top of the mountain through climbing small rocks and get some woods from that place. It is our lucky that we found a wood piece which iis already tried out by some one. So we got that and collect a few more woods. Then we tied the woods in the rope and brought up through those rocks.

Then we set the woods for fire to make our dinner. We have brought a boiled chicken. We add pepper, salt and “Miris kudu” (chili) paste and roasted the chicken.

Preparing the chicken for the roasting

Hmmm Dinner…..

We had the dinner with bread and served with sauce. The dinner was superb and enjoyed the spicy chicken with bread.
At last we had some biscuits and chat until 2130h. We never forgot to off the fire. The wind is too strong in the night. Unfortunately we were unable to get our tents on time so we had to sleep between the rocks. It was very cold in the night but we had a nice sleep.

Next day around 0530h we wake up and got ready for shooting the sun rise. We were able to see the sun rise very clearly and its beauty. After we took memorial photographs we started climbed down the rocks.
Just before sunrise

Art of nature….

My TAG Huer says 13 minutes more for the sunrise…

.	Ready to take a…

WOW	Catch it when it rises….

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Isn’t it beautiful

Black and White

Time to go back…

We were able to reach the tea estate with in 45 minutes (usually this trail can be done in 1 – 1.5 hour if you are not pausing for photograph or rest)

We came to the 1st resting point where we had our lunch and refreshed. Then we came to Pothapitiya town and had our breakfast in hotel.

Our team….

We did it…

From there we got into a Kandy bus which runs through Pilimathalawa. We got down from Pilimathalawa and One of crew member took the train to Colombo and we got back to Mawanella from there.