It had been almost six years since I last visited Wilpattu. My last visit was in 2006, few weeks before the tragic incident of the landmine explosion which killed six visitors who where on safari. The park was pretty much out of bound since then until the end of the war in 2009. Even after it was re-opened I wasn’t able to plan a trip due to various constraints. This is when a firend at work invited me to join him in a three day trip to wilpattu. I couldn’t have been happier!

We were able to get a booking at Aligama Village. It was not a place recommended by anyone and it so happened that it came up on my Google search and we just liked the details on their web site. The main attraction was that it could accommodate only a small number of people – 2 cottages and 3 rooms – and we wanted “a quiet place that was green – away from all mankind”, so to speak! They responded very quickly to my email and booking was done in no time.

Kokmote campsite is located 2 miles away from the Kokmote bungalow at very close proximity to the Modaragam Aru River(branch of Malwathu Oya) , the tents were put up. Due to lack of rains, there was not much water in the river. However, we did not have any problem with washing, bathing and collecting water for toilet purposes. There was a toilet at the campsite.

Early morning on the 30th December we started heading south on the E01. It was my first time on E01 and I couldn’t have asked for anything better! Cutting across paddy fields, rubber plots and forest patches, E01 was virtually emerging from a sea of mist. Even though the scenary was heavenly, capturing it on camera at 100kmph was not easy. The dirty windshield did not help the cause either.

It has been almost a year since visiting Mannar and I was tempting to go there again, especially in the middle of the migration season. I have called Mr. Laurance, the owner of Four Tees Guest Inn, many times since the season begun, but couldn’t go there due to some concerns. This time I was very determined to go there and ask my friends to join me from about month a go.

Last week end I had opportunity to spend two days in tiny jungle hamlet in foot of the Knuckles Mountain Range. Here is that memorable story. We leave Kandy at 11.00 a.m. in the morning and reached our destination after four hour journey and our crew was 08.

We had to go to Kandy for a “bana” and an “arms giving” and since the”bana” was on Saturday night I made a plan and went on Friday night and reached Kandy at 11.45 pm and stayed at my Sister in law’s place in Katugastota . The following day I started alone at 5.30 am as my wife and daughter was more keen on shopping at the city centre and went via Theldeniya and Digana and arrived at Deanston at around 7 am.

We organized this hike as a university tradition. There were seven secret members for organizing the hike. We started the hike at about 9 in the morning from the Faculty canteen with a guide dog “White Fang” . Then we entered into Hanthana forest reserve with sudden a rain fall. We had to face a terrible leech attack at the start. We came to a huge area with pine trees. Then we climbed through the tea estates to a plain area of the mountain range. We had our lunch there.

Leaving park office we drove along the Yala main road to paranaganthota (a.k.a Parana Thotupola) where we crossed Menik River and entered Block 2. Our camp site was “Nuga Sevana”, one of the newer camp sites established on the bank of the river. It was only a couple hundred meters away from Paranaganthota (පරන ගං තොට).

We started at 5 am and reached Sinharaja via Mathugama/ Kalawana (Kudawa Entrance) at 7am. Unfortunately we had to park the vehicle 1 km before the ticket office at the regional forest office as a bridge was under construction.The climb to the park entrance was steep and by 7.30 we were inside with the tracker Somapala( 045 7210845)

The trip wasn’t planned extensively but was well executed at the end. The trains were booked from the Fort railway station just that morning. Third class sleeper-rest was our choice (quite economical) and due to the fact that it was a Monday evening of a non-vacation time we were able to book the train on the same day. We were able to get contact details of a cab to do the day traveling in Nuwara-Eliya. Pello Resort was booked by one of our group mates.

I was away from Sinharaja for too long……. It had been more than a year since the previous visit. Its a place which you can’t stay away from for long so I had to some how squeeze a two day trip in July. It was going to be Thihela’s first visit to Sinharaja as well. We left Moratuwa around 8.00 in the morning. With no stops, we straigt away drove to the Blue magpie lodge. We reached there just passed noon.