Both of us were looking for a getaway and this time we selected central hills rather than the usual dry zone. Went through the internet and finally found a nice place close to Nilambe. And yes the place was well worth and the perfect location with a window view towards Piduruthalagala western reaches (my kind of place). Though the food was terrible the surrounding environment made us forget it.

It was Awurudu holidays and the weather was playing tricks on our minds but we didn’t want to let this holiday pass away without doing any hikes. There were two options it was either knuckles or sinharaja. So we decided go anywhere depending on the rain pattern. I was really motivated to do Knuckles after seen that Niroshan had covered all 5 peaks within a day and that was an inspiration for me (I’m sure you could read about that adventure in near future).

Ah it’s time to do another “Secrets of….” album and this time I wanted to do one on Badulla. Look out for the new additions when you guys pay a visit to Badulla again.

Another Random weekend and nowhere to go suddenly decided to visit Meegahakivula but in my wish list there were only two places. Early morning I reached Loggal oya to witness a lovely sun rise and from there I proceeded towards 16th mile post of Meegahakivula road and took the left hand turn towards Arawa.

Would you believe if I said there is a rain forest in the dry mountain zones of eastern Sri lanka??? Yes there are two large patches of forest with plenty of “Hora” trees bordering “Kiri oya” (tributary of Kumbukkan oya) which is enclosed by two mountain ranges. It’s located in the Valley of Udakiruwa in Lunugala. Since I heard about this place for the first time from a friend I wanted to go there and finally I did manage to pay a visit recently.

Mysteries are to be solved and this time we made sure to put an end to this long lasting mystery. Galagama falls which is very well marked on many maps is a glamorous beauty hidden in the wilderness. It all started many years back when a discussion was started in our forum regarding this mysterious fall. Few years back when Lahiru and I decided to reveal this mystery we ended up with a failure.

Would you believe that if I said there is a mini Horton plains in the peak wilderness. Yes that’s true this beautiful savanna plain first came to my notice during an Adams peak hike in 2009 and after seen it for the second time in 2013 I started gathering information about this mysterious plains. Once there was a newspaper article but without any pictures of the plains and reading it urged me to explore this unseen territory some day in my life. It is said a Bison like buffalo called “Gawara” once lived here long ago and hence the name Gwarawila was given. It is also said that once the Haldumulla route to Adams peak fell across this plains of Gawarawila too.

So this was my second visit (previous visit) to Jaffna this year and I would re visit this lovely land at any given time because there is so much to see. This time my main objectives were to visit two populated islands in Jaffna and also to show around my wife the beauty I experienced during my previous visits. On the way to Jaffna we did stop at Iranamadu to have some tea. We reached Jaffna at around 9am and refreshed ourselves before exploring the peninsula.

I have heard that Jaffna is like paradise especially after the monsoons so I wanted to witness it myself. Since I have visited all of those main attractions around Jaffna I was more focused on some mysterious caves plus bird life. (By the way I did visit Jaffna on the next weekend too will update you guys on that expedition in my next travel log) We had many plans during this weekend but the bad weather made us differ the plans. We were left stranded and no other option other than heading towards Jaffna where Amila’s hotel is been currently completed.

It was the end of North – East monsoons and the sun was shining on mother Lanka. Since this was the ideal period to do a hike around Nuwara eliya, we decided to attempt to conquer the 9th highest peak called Mahakudagala which was once a part of Piduruthalagala reserve. Kamalawarna decided to join me with all of his lenses on this hike and I was happy to find a companion at the last minute. We reached Nuwara eliya around 7am and took the Udupussellawa road. Just before Brookside we took the high forest road until we reached Mahakudugala factory. While we were finding a place to climb up we came across Gopal who volunteered to show us the path.

It was the period of heavy monsoons and we managed to find few days which was perfect to travel. On day one Kasun & I got together and headed towards Balangoda to try and do a complete copycat of Niroshans trip. After having breakfast from Balangoda we took the road towards Kalthota and at Tenjentenna took the carpet road to the right to reach Kuragala.

The North – East monsoons were setting in almost after two years so it was time to hunt some cascades around Dambethenna. There was an old trip report from Priyanjan which guided me through this adventure. I took a bus from Haputhale towards Dambetenna and got off at the tea factory. From here onwards my guide was the kmz file given by Priyanjan in his trip report. Better to refer that otherwise you would not see or find these beauties.