I knew about these caves from Niroshan’s trip report and I thought to explore these caves. The actual name of this cave complex is “Rotupihilla Limestone Caves”. There are five main caves and those are situated in different places.

We started our trip on 29 January 4.00 a.m & we reached to Rakwana town around 7.00 a.m. From there we took Deniyaya road to reach Aranya. We passed famous 10 bends ( Wangu Dahaya ) & surrounding view was superb. We reached Aranya at 8.00 a.m & first we had our breakfast there.

We started our trip on 7 January morning & we reached to Badulla around 12.30 p.m. Firstly we searched room for stay. First we visit to Dunhinda Fall & evening we went to Muthiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya.

We travelled to Karandagolla Cave on last week. And I like to share some feelings that I really experienced from there.
Also most of people/FB pages/ Web sites distributing so many incorrect and wrong details about that.

Six years ago, on 14.10.2010, when I (newbie) requested assistance from Trip Planning Help center to plan a trip to Jaffna a prominent member advised me, “Bring back at least one postal address of a total stranger that you will surely meet somewhere up there. Write to him / her and develop a strong and trustful friendship. Encourage all the others who are with you also to do it. Please…….. If all the people who rushed to ‘see’ Jaffna since the A-9 opened did that, we would by now have made a lot of trust worthy friends. Think about it”

Last month I heard about a missing news of Rev Thero Ellawala Medhananda and then I search information about this matter. Then I contacted a person in Thorawa and told him that I will come there as from Sunday Lankadeepa journalist. Without telling anything he was arranged every things for us. Then the chief theor of that temple Rev Sangananda and 04 of well experienced villagers has participated to our journey and they took the lead at all.

The day I saw this expedition on Lakdasun (by Dhammika), I really wanted to do this. But, after reading trip report, I was scared. After doing some research and watching the documentary from ITN (Wenasa), I decided to take the risk, but I don’t want to go alone. I wanted at-least 5 mates, I was sure that Kasun Janaka will join. I have several trips with him. Another mate was Kasun Priyashantha.

So, we start our journey without having our breakfast. First up all we should walk from the top of the tea estate behind the railway station. It is about 250m from ths retail shop. Then we have to downward from the area to the forest. The forest (Hela) is fulfill with trees and rocks. We have to go down by catching the branches. Sometimes you might get fallen due to the ground instability.

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.

After reading few Lakdasun trip reports we were tempted to go on this hike. We knew it’s hard but going to be a lifetime experience. I was checking the weather situation frequently with Wasantha(Pitawala) and finally decided it’s going to be 5th to 7th June Duwili Eli can be reached through few roads. The routes I heard are Rambukoluwa, Walpolamulla, Ranamure, Meemure and Bambarella.

Year and Month 16 Apr, 2015 Number of Days 1 Crew Athula and Me Accommodation New Ranketha Rest, Polonnaruwa Transport By Car and on foot. Activities Archaeology, Photography, etc… Weather Excellent except for a shower between 3pm and 4pm. Nevertheless it was extremely hot with temperatures as high as 39 degrees. Route Pitakotte->Rajagiriya->Dematagoda->Katunayake (via E3)->Awariwatte->Minuwangoda->Kurunegala […]