As Knuckles is a well known mountain range in Sri Lanka we felt guilty for not going hiking in this range. So after a few cancellation we decided to do this hike however. We got into a Colombo – Kandy bus from Mawanella around 06.45 am. We reached Kandy railway station around 7.20 am and wait for Matale train.

We conquered the mountains, this time we thought of a different ENV, the beach !! Here we came across the world’s most beautiful camp site!! A double water front camp site on white sand among Mangroves !!!

This is part of my dream trip and part of Harinda’s dream. On my way to Kehelpothdoruwegala climbing I heard about a foot pathway from Kalugala to Meemure. Harinda has noted a foot pathway from Alugal Lena to Meemure in his Alugal Lena trip. We wanted to combine these two trails and do it in two days with camping at Alugal Lena.

The surrounding countryside looked parched and many Mana patches had been torched by people for some reason beyond me. So it was a mixture of dark green patches of trees scattered across the sun bleached yellowish hills. The ravines below showed signs of life with houses and plots of paddy fields. The charred areas where Mana was burnt added to the already vivid painting. In no time we reached the “Padi Seeya” (100 steps) where there is a steep downhill path through the tea bushes. Already there was a person coming up and a lady holding a baby girl closely behind him tackling the steep ascent. I spoke to him and he was very cheerful and even bothered to show me a worship place of the estate workers high up on top of a rock. The child, even though being carried by the lady right through, looked exhausted as a result of the heat and the continuous swaying. I managed to take a pic of her (one of the few must-have requirements for me during a journey) and we carried on.

This was a journey I did more than a year ago and my focus was on some places close to Mahiyangana and Bibile – Medagama. On an overcast day I took a bus towards Padiyathalawa from Bibile and again took a bus towards Mahiyanganaya. Just before Wewatta temple there was a road to the left with Uva province tourism notice board directing towards Murungagala Archaeology site.

I was able to visit at following places at Welimada in two days. Bomburu Ella and climbing to top of Bomburu Falls, Ravan Falls, Sthreepura cave expedition, Mana Falls, Ganethanna RMV, Ulugala RMV, Keppetipola fort, Diwrumpola Temple. Famous Bogoda wooden Bridge (බෝගොඩ ලී පාලම) and Boralanda government farm (බොරලන්ද ගොවිපල) are also closer to Welimada. I couldn’t go there.

The book COLLIN’S CAMPING & HIKING MANUAL was a great help to us especially because we were beginners. So now we knew how to go and what to do on a camping expedition; next was finding the location, that’s when we came across the Sri Lankan Adventurer’s hang out while surfing the net; the Lakdaun Forum. There we came across a trip report to a Mountain called Havagala which any one can climb to the summit and camp there; the stunning images quickly grabbed our mind, this is where we will go.

We took a Welimada-Bogahakumbura bus (alternatively you can take a Welimada-Boralanda bus which will take you to the turn off towards Alawathugoda) and got off at Bogahakumbura town and hired a tuk-tuk to reach the destination which was about 3-4km away. Surprisingly enough most of the people knew about the waterfall even though it’s not a prominent one. The road is under construction and in a somewhat bad condition.

We reached the Alawathugoda village passing the Community Hall where we had to walk as the road had been concreted and left to rest. It was a good 600-800m walk which took its toll on Podi who kept panting all the way. Unfortunately there was very little water and it made us feel very down. Well, you can’t always be lucky and see them in full flow I guess.

This was a long awaited trip for Wuminda and me. I could gather enough information about Mannar and places on the way to Mannar by reading Lakdasun reports. We started the journey from Colombo around 7.30am due to my job commitments. On the way we have visited some other places and reached Mannar around 8.30pm. (I will discuss it later by a separate report). We were warmly welcome by Mr.Rohan at Four Tees Inn.

රුහුණු කතරගම දෙවියන්ගේ පිහිට ප්රාaර්ථනා කරගැනීමට කතරගම දේවාලයට එන බැතිමතුන් කතරගම දෙවියන් පිදීම සඳහා යන තවත් අනුහස් ඇති ස්ථානයක් යාල වනෝද්යාgනයේ පිහිටා තිබේ. ඒ සියඹලාව හෙවත් කැබිලිත්ත දේවාලයයි.දෙවියන්ගේ කැලය ලෙස අතීතයේ ජනයා හැදින්වු මෙම ඓතිහාසික භූමිය පිහිට ඇත්තේ යාල වනෝද්යාිනයේ කළාප අංක 3 කොටසේය.

eading Sri’s report made a few of us think of getting the wheel chair that was needed by the little boy in Kohonawala. With Sri’s help we made contact with the Hamuduruwo to get a bit more information. During the conversation he spoke of many older people who had bad eye sight but were unable not get spectacles. So could we arrange for something to be done about it?

After reading several posts in Lakdasun we decided to do this hike. But holidays were just passing and finally we decided to make this on a weekend. So we took the Ratnapura bus from Mawanella early morning. But when we reached Bus stand they said as it was a holiday the bus will not run. So we got into a Colombo bus and get down from Kegalla.