Knuckles mountain range has been a paradise for me since the first time I visited there via Deanston in 2009. The breathtaking surroundings, strong cool winds and challenging hikes had been tempting me to visit there again and as a result I decided to visit Knuckles again in the following year from Illukkumbura side. The story of our unforgettable journey is as follows

We left around morning 6.00 from Dehiwala with Bopath Ella to be our 1st sighting in mind. We reached Kuruwita around 8.00 – 8.30 and from Kuruwita took a left turn and travelled about 3kms to a village called Agalwatta where the fall is located. It was interesting to see that the area surrounding the fall has changed a lot from my last visit for this fall in 1996. Then as per our agenda it was Doovili falls in Kalthota, so we made a move towards Balangoda. After passing Pelmadulla town we were lucky enough to spot Kirindi Ella in distance from the main road (although I have seen images of this waterfall had no idea where it is located exactly). So we have to come back towards Pelmadulla town and took a right turn in Kuttapitiya road.

Just after passing Kurunegala we turned left to reach Arankele Monastery. The road was not that smooth, but it was ok. There were places where the road was quite damaged due to heavy rains on the previous night. If not for a van or off-road vehicle, it would have been impossible to tackle those obstacles.

We started our journey from Matara at 3.00pm in the evening and arrived at Wellawaya by 7.00pm. We spent the night at Wellawaya and planned to visit Diyaluma falls the next day. At 8.00am we caught a Wellawaya- Haputhale bus (Through Beragala) and got down near ice peella (අයිස් පීල්ල)- Nikapitiya road

During the leisure time I’ve spent @ my parent’s place, I’ve planned to visit the 126Km long Colombo Matara Southern Highway (HW), which is still under constructions and almost 99% completed in Galle Akmeemena area. This (HW) allows Sri Lankans to travel between the two towns in less than 1,1/2 hours journey. That is half the present travel time along the age-old narrow coastal road. Same day in the evening around 17:00hrs had a 2 hours visit to the Gall Dutch Fort/ Rampart to enjoy some play time with my 2+ years daughter & photography

This was something we wanted to do properly. Because every time we pass Ramboda area we never stop and enjoy these beauties properly so I and my friend decided to do the walk from Pussellawa to Palagolla. In-between we used public transport at some occasions.

Ella has always been a fascinating place for me and it is no wonder that we decided to go there again for the third time in 18 months to have a nice and quiet getaway with the family. We booked the Grand Ella Motel (GEM) which is operated by the Ceylon Hotel Corporation well in advance as Ella becomes a popular spot for tourists during the winter season.

This was a planned trip since 2009. Just didn’t have time to do it 🙂 . took a bus from Rathnapura and asked the conducter of the Wewellwatte bus to drop me near Dehena Falls. So Dehena falls was my first stop. I also found another road side waterfall just before Dehena falls called Hal Ella

We started after dinner, from Maharagama around 10.00 pm and reached Udawalawa Dam by 2.00 am. The barrier was closed. However after checking our credentials, they allowed us to pass through with a warning about the bad road condition. Closing the Dam at 10.00 pm seems to be a formality now.The road condition from Udawalawa to Thanamalwila was really bad. It was under construction and it took nearly 2 hours to pass that stretch. Our 5th member was to join us at Okkampitiya. We reached Buttala by early morning and reached his home for breakfast.

We left for Kaudulla national park for a Elephant watching safari and reached the park around 3.00. The park entrance was well maintained and there were some peddle boats which the visitors can hire and have a ride in the lake. But unfortunately we had no time. Then we started our safari. The driver took us straight to a place where he was informed that there was a number of elephants on that day. That was a herd of elephants with about 100-120 elephants. That was a stunning view. We enjoyed those 2 hours of our lives to the max

e were planning to do this trail for some time but we had to postpone it several times because of the continuous rain. Finally we thought of doing this on 1st of January as it’s a nice way to start the New Year. We took the Podi Menike night mail train from Colombo Fort on 31st night and reached Ohiya on the following morning. We started our hike from Ohiya at 6.30 am. And soon we witnessed some breathtaking views when the sun light came though the forests as beams. It’s really difficult to describe the beauty of these wonderful scenes.

Belilena Cave, which is about 8 km from Kitulgala high up in the Inoya Estate, is one of the larger prehistoric caves on the island, where the 12,000-year-old skeletal remains of ’Balangoda Man’ (Homo Sapiens Balangodensis) were found. The prehistoric settlements of the area date back to a very early period, as shown by recent cave excavations as well as those carried out at other sites. The earliest settlement dates back to around 32,000 years ago. Skeletal remains, microliths, bone implements, cherts and food remnants have been found in local caves.