As there was a long week end and (earlier months we were mostly abroad), we decided to explore the vicinities of Ranapura. We like many have been passing the town many times but not seen its historical and other important places. With my wife and son and daughter joining us with her husband and two kids we started off towards Ratnapura on 30July afternoon after lunch. We booked the Deer Park inn close to town to stay the night over.

Someone asked one day what was I really liked to see. I had no hesitation answering that question. Waterfalls, I declared confidently. But, I added, I’m not that choosy when it comes to traveling. Almost everything from Waterfalls to Mountains to Archeology and Paintings is appealing to me. I’m very much a cosmopolitan traveler. When Ana said that he would be visiting Kurullangala, I readily agreed to join forces.

Kurullangala has been a very hot topic ever since it was discovered by the Swallows’ Nests Poachers. Afterwards one of the media group went and videoed the place rousing the curiosity of the nature lovers and environmentalists. As a result many people (well not as many as you think but a good number of them), including the archeological department, took the trouble to visit the place. If you still haven’t come across what Kurullangala is, lemme give you an overview.

Matale district is blessed with number of beautiful waterfalls. Waterfalls in Bambaralla and Riverstone are most popular. Following waterfalls are situated closer to Matale town, still have got less attention.

Knuckles range is the all rounder in Nature sites. Why I am telling this because of its vast variation in climates, flora, fauna, geography etc…..Also there are hundreds of trails which can be categorized from easy to strenuous. Dangerous Lakagala, Tough Duwili Eli at Kalupahana, Strenuous Knuckles peaks, Moderate Manigala and easy Deanston are some examples….So you can satisfy any of your friends or loved ones at knuckles. Irrespective of their age, fitness level or other parameters ,Knuckles consist of one or more suitable trails for any of them. That’s why I called it as “THE ALL ROUNDER “

Few years back after the war there were some terrifying incidents in the East especially about vandalism of Archaeology sites by local ethnic population. One of those sites was Sagama Pagoda that was bulldozed and destroyed which lit up a big ethnic issue at that time. I thought it would be nice if I could visit this area and try to explore these sites to give the needed awareness. As always the Book of Ellawala Medananda thero was my guide. So me and my wife left towards Pottuvil early as possible to have some breakfast before initiating a hectic adventure.

Year and Month Jun, 2015 Number of Days 2 Crew Ana, Atha, Prasa, D and Me Accommodation Bambarakanda Rest Transport By Train, on foot and by Van Activities Hiking, Photography, Relaxing, etc… Weather Excellent (Gloomy towards the evening) Route Colombo->Ohiya by Night Mail. Ohiya->Bambarakanda on foot. Bambarakanda->Ohiya by Van. Ohiya->Colombo by Train. Tips, Notes and […]

The bus ride as usual is no worse than a roller coaster. I can still remember my first experience in the Jaffna-Kurikkattuvan bus when I visited Jaffna in 2013. These drivers don’t believe in driving slowly and they keep their foot firmly planted on the accelerator. No stopping or slowing down but keep going at the speed of wind. Fortunately the road from Jaffna to Kayts is under construction and most of it is finished. However it got really interesting when we turned towards Velanai and from there to Kurikkattuvan. The road is not in good shape especially the long Pungudutivu causeway. There are so many pot holes but the driver tried to go above them rather than slow down and take it easy.

The result was that we didn’t have our bottoms on the seat for second or two at a time. The bus would fall into a pit and down goes the seat leaving the bottoms hanging in mid-air. Then the bottom starts its downward journey but by then the fallen bus had started its upward journey thanks to the shock absorbers. This meant the bottoms going down would meet the seats coming up and have this collision. I just gave you the description of a fraction of a second process. This kept going on and on until I couldn’t feel my buttocks anymore. I kept touching them after getting down to make sure I had them still on me.

Hi everyone here I am once again with another fairy tale. Hope you enjoyed the last one when we looked around the heart of colorful Jaffna wandering along the bicycles infested streets. This time I’m taking you towards more rural areas with many more things to see. My friends and I have visited most of these places before and I guess you must have read some of their narrations. However I’m gonna bring them all back and hope you will find something better. Now you must be wondering where we are going. We’ll cover the northern part of Sri Lanka from Mathagal (Dambakola Patuna) to Manalkadu. There are many interesting places to visit and hope you will like what you see. It took me one full day and two half days to cover all of these but I’m hoping you would be able to visit them in less time after reading this.

I used all sorts of transport options from a tuk-tuk, a bicycle, public transport (bus and train) and a motorbike ride from a friend of mine. If you have your own vehicle, it’d so much easier to get around but how long it takes is purely up to you. A little bit of Tamil will certainly help but you can get by so long as you can act well and show them what you want with your face and arms. Ok, if you are ready, let’s see where we are going, shall we? I’m gonna put them in the order I visited but you could plan the best course of route after reading through. By the way, at the end, remind me to tell you what I have missed seeing as well so that you could add them also to your list.

It has been some time since I headed towards Ampara and this year my plan was to try and visit many more unheard places around Digamadulla. Previously I had done some exploring in this region (Uhana, Inginiyagala, Lahugala) but there were few places around Damana which I missed. I did this trip on two consecutive days all alone and with the aid of Ellawala Medananda theros book.

They had started ploughing and the fields looked like gigantic cakes cut into equal size pieces. Finally we arrived at Palaly and waited for the signal to get down. There were only about 10 people in the plane and when I went out to the exit, the second to leave, I got the shock of my life. I walked along the center isle of the aircraft and bid farewell to the airhostess and just poked my head out of the door and oh my goodness! Crack-crack-crack. There was this 100-foot long red carpet laid very straight right from the foot of the steps, elite commando soldiers stood either side in their signature maroon berets and carrying MP5 submachine guns. Half a dozen cameramen were scattered covering every angle. Couple of well-dressed civilians was waiting anxiously with garlands decorated with purple orchids. Another couple of high ranking army and air force officials wearing their full military suit decorated at the breast with many medals and stars on their shoulders stood at attention. At the end of the red carpet were half a dozen vehicles comprising of two luxurious white Toyota Prado Land Cruisers and four escorts open backed Land Rovers with more commandos. It took all of five seconds maximum to take in this VIP welcome standing just out of the door on top of the stairs. I must have looked ghastly white for one of the air force personnel came and motioned to get down and led me and my colleague who was already waiting at the foot of the stairs to the side.

he planning for our cycling adventure began early May 2014 and when I suggested to my friend Dhanushka, he was totally in despite not knowing what we were about to experience. We knew it would be a hard ride especially ascending 6000 feet on bicycles. Preparation stage included servicing the bicycles and getting them ready for the long tour.

Lankagama Waterfalls was in my to-do list for a long time and last year we went all the way up to Kosmulla Duwili Ella at Neluwa but couldn’t proceed beyond due to lack of time. (My Trip Report : Scenic Rakwana Mountains and Kanneliya Forest)