I have heard and seen some stunning images of a waterfall in a rural village in Uva long ago and I was tempted to visit this waterfall which is the 3rd highest in Uva and winning the 7th place considering all other waterfalls in Sri Lanka. So again it was a gamble with overcast conditions. First day I decided to spend the night at a friend’s place close to Madulsima.

We met 2 wild elephants on the road from Yala junction to Yala entrance. Van driver was so scared and we had to speak him through to reach the entrance. We reached the entrance by 6a.m. then our jeep came. Mr. Rupasinghe ( 0718424056- we highly recommend him .awesome person with 28 years of experience) in his old Land Rover. Jeep’s running condition is superb comparing to Indian jeeps which chases the animals away due to their sounds of the engines!!!

This whole idea of a “night climb” was in my mind for a while and was wondering where to try it out first. After evaluating the trails I have done already finally it was decided that I should try it on Bambarakanda first. The intention was purely based on excitement and the urge to try something different without following the same course as usual.

General attractions of Jaffna Penninsula are already covered adequately by forum members. So I don’t intend to repeat the same things other than exceptions. In fact, I was invited to join the trip as all others, except my wife, were first timers and in need of a guide. We started from Maharagama around 8.30 pm on the first day and reached Jaffna by 6.00 am on the second day. After checking in to our Rest, we immediately proceeded to Nagadeepa to avoid the expected mad rush.

I was waiting to do this trip for a long time and fixed 1st September with my friend although we new meemure was quite dry at that time. Thanks for Lakdasun and Nadegura for your nice trip reports.Those were very useuful. Although Public transport was available we decided to go on my bike as we get the chance to stop where we want and see the beauty of surrounding. We left Colombo ( Battaramulla ) at 5.30 a.m. reached Kandy around 8.30. On the way stopped at kadugannawa for breakfast.

On a peaceful day I arrived at Ampara and took the Maha Oya road towards Piyangala junction and got down near the temple. There were a fleet of steps which took me towards a well-built “Kutiya” with an inscription. At that time there were about 100 visitors howling around forgetting that this was a monastery where monks meditated.

We started our Journey early in the morning, had our Breakfast on the way. Since the weather was good we did not have any problems in the way. You have to turn to left just passing the Mohini Ella (15 Km sign is there near the Turn) to enter in to Murray estate, You have to travel about 8 kms to reach the Rajamale which is the border of the Siripa forest reserve.

It was in July while we were at Birds’ Paradise, Kudawa touring Sinharaja, Nimal the owner of the place told us about this wonderful place. He really is a nature lover and after realizing our enthusiasm about the nature, he encouraged us to visit this place and then and there we decided to visit in December.

Raxagala is the second highest peak of Dolosbage range and having different names. Locals called it Kinihira (කිනිහිර), Paththini amma kanda (පත්තිනි අම්මා කන්ද), Wangedi molgas gala (වන්ගෙඩි මොල්ගස් ගල )1: 50000Map shows it as Stentry box east. The idea of climbing this unusual shaped mountain came into my mind when I climbed Kabaragala-higest peak of Dolosbage range.When I searched it, I found a nice article in Sri lankan travellers. It gave me a good guidance.

Raigama, according to some historians, was the seventh capital of ancient Lanka, after Anuradhapura (4th century BC – 10th century AD), Polonnaruwa (10th century – mid-13th century), Dambadeniya (1232–72), Yapahuwa (1272–93), Kurunegala (1293–1341) and Gampola (1341–47). It is said to have been the capital for 68 years, until Parakramabahu VI moved to the comforts of Sri Jayawardenepura-Kotte in 1415 (Wikipedia.)

The primary purpose of this trip was to visit two different kinds of hydropower projects in Sri Lanka, to see the sites, equipment, mechanisms, etc. and learn about them. Enjoyed some other attractions on the way too. We got this opportunity as one of our friends is an engineer attached to Samanalawewa Hydroelectric power plant.

“It was the rainy season after the Buddha preached his first discourse to the five ascetics of Isipatana and due to the rains his preaching tours were cut down and he followed the ancient practice to spend the rainy season “Vas” in one place of residence carrying out his work on the Dhamma.