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| Year and Month | March, 2012 |
| Number of Days | 3 days (1 day adventure + 1 day for travelling) |
| Crew | 5 (between 24-36 years of age) |
| Accommodation |
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| Transport | SUV |
| Activities | off-road driving, Hiking, Photography |
| Weather | Excellent – There hasn’t been a rain in few weeks I guess. Good for hiking but not so good when you see Bambarakaanda Fall is crying for water. |
| Route |
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| Tips, Notes and Special remarks | Off-roading
Hiking
Everywhere
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| Author | bhathiya_m |
| Related Resource |
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| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
Everything was set for the journey and we took off from Moratuwa around 6 p.m., after a full day work at office. The idea was to travel somewhere close to Kalupahana and start journey in the next day early morning as we needed a full day to cover both off-road driving and hiking. We reserved ‘The Jungle Rest’ (just 500m away from the Belihuloya Rest House) which was situated away from the road as the name implies. The place was quite ok and affordable.
Next day we woke up early morning (but not as early as we planned) and had our breakfast there. We packed in to the SUV and headed towards Bambarakanda Falls. The fall was quite dry witnessing that there hasn’t been a rain for some time. As we drove along, the road condition soon became a rock paving and got worse but scenic. You may need to engage 4 wheel drive mode in some steep slopes, bends, rocks, etc. I chose to engage 4×4 mode in most occasions mainly to avoid wheel spinning, which is not at all good for tires. Occasionally you will need a guy to get down and guide the wheels through the boulders projecting out of the surface to avoid anything hitting the bottom of the vehicles, as the one we were driving was not modified particularly for off road tracks.
 Dawn – Moon over hills (View from the ‘Jungle Rest’) |
 The highest…. |
 Bambarakanda falls…. |
Around 100 meters from here the tarmac became gravel/ rock paving
 Gravel/ rock paved road… |
 Bambarakanda as seen from further up |
 The very first person we met… |
 Take care of you tires…. |
 Marshallers checking the road ahead ….. |
 Captured through the lenses…. |
 Captured through the lenses…. |
 Captured through the lenses…. |
 more …. |
 …. |
 Road condition…. |
 Landscape… |
 …. |
 Us… |
 At the V-cut |
 Short break near this natural pool… one was brave enough to dip in this ice cold water. |
 Some friends we met… |
 Getting ready for “Poojawa” |
 Suddenly we were in Horton Plains |
We reached Horton Plains Visitor Center by 12.30 p.m. and prepared for the second adventure of the day, hike to Kirigalpoththa. Bought some ‘Rotie & Wadei’ for lunch from the café at the Visitor Center and started the trek around 1.00 p.m.
 Vehicle passed the test.. time to test ourselves…. |
 Where’s the trail? |
 Rest after about 1.5 km… Should take right turn from here… (not sure where the left turn would take you) |
 Breathtaking view… just below the summit |
 Almost there |
 Picture won’t describe the feeling… |
We manage to reach Kirigalpoththa Summit by 3.30 p.m and started the descend after a good half an hour stayed at the top. Descend was much faster and effortless and reached the Visitor Center by around 6.00 p.m., when the cold and dark was reaching fast to HP.
The night was spent at pre booked bungalow at Ambewela Farm and the next day drove back home.
Lakdasun and the members should get a special thank for motivating and guiding us.
- END –