Mahaweli River exploration is one of my dream trips. Mahaweli River flows from Hortain plains and ends at Trincomale. If someone wants to go along the river (by boat or foot) it is possible only from Mahiyangana (මහියoගණය) to Trincomale. From Central hills to Mahiyangana, the river is guarded by major reservoirs.
During dry season (especially August and September) it has low water level.
My friend Siraj suggested me to walk along the River from Manampitiya as he has noticed the river with low water level when he visited to Thummodara (තුම්මෝදර).

After hectic 3 months of studies and few “ordinary relaxing trips with family” I finally had little precious time to do some explorations. But as most us well aware that next difficult thing in planning a hike is finding partners. As I was free only on week days I decided to hike all alone. Then I needed to find a suitable place to hike as a lone trekker. I remembered Adara Kanda and contacted Ashan ayya, and got to know that the trail is well cleared and can do by myself.

The long weekend at the end of July was long awaited as it’s the only long weekend for 2015 until Christmas. We planned a train trip to up-country with cousins, an annual event during August school holidays. However for the 31st the train was fully booked so we had to reserve the train for the 30th – which gave us a bonus day to enjoy the cool climes.

Two years back I worked at Inginiyagala hospital and one day I came across a retired DWC officer who is well known because of the newspaper articles he wrote about Gal oya national park. Somehow we became friends and one day he mentioned about a special cave close to Mulgama where Vedda paintings could be found.

Rathnapura-Wewalwaththa-Balangoda road is 43km in distance and you can enjoy 13+ waterfalls in one day. This is my experience of waterfall hunting along this road. Enjoy it.
You can view following waterfalls along this road (order from Rathnapura to Balangoda)

Yakkuragala was an isolated mountain with height situated in Dambulla area in between Dambulla-Matale (A9) and Dambulla-Bakamuna (බකමූණ) roads. As it has no archeology or historical importance, no body tries to climb it. Locals only visit there to pluck “Gal Siyambala”. Later I knew they also miss their return pathway once they reach the mountain.

Villagers believe “Yak Ura’s” (‍යක් ඌරා)-Devil Pig’s footsteps can be seen on the mountain. Therefore it is called Yakkuragala. But actual Yakkuragala is situated closer to the main Mountain.

Konduru hela is a prominent peak in the east which could be seen easily from Arugam bay to Akkareipattu. Some people even mistake this as Thoppigala. It is located at one of the most isolated and unexplored area called Komari (Panama proposed) forest reserve. I had been eyeing on this peak for a while and during my previous visit I met a local guy called Ran banda who promised to help me if needed.

We got up and started packing our things and got ready. While Nava mama ran the hut keeping an eye out for the jaggery pot (remember it was kept boiling throughout the night) which was somewhat got thicker, Tony and I went out to wash. While we were washing, Samarasekara arrived as promised and went ahead to take down some of the toddy pots from the Kithul trees in the vicinity. We witnessed a beautiful butterfly as we were washing, who had come to put up a welcome show for the day.

Back at the hut, Samarasekara had taken a huge pot of fresh Kithul sap from one of the trees and was in the process of mixing it with the jaggery pot. While he was at it, we started making our morning coffee and breakfast of instant noodles. There was still plenty of the jaggery given to us the previous evening left so we savored it with our 3 in 1 coffee even though it had its share of sugar. Remember pure Kithul jaggery is good for anyone even for diabetic patients as it has no harmful sugary contents. Afterwards we ate our noodles with hot chilies plucked from a nearby plant. Well it was all set for us to get going and Samarasekara agreed to show us the path to a certain distance so that we’d have no trouble getting to our target.

Nalanda Rock (Arangala) is situated at Arangala-Naula with the height of 782m. It’s distance view is shape of an ear ring (Arungala (අරුoගල) ->Arangala අරoගල) gave the name Arangala. This isolated mountain is best seen when you travel from Dambulla to Matale via A-9 road, once you reach Naula bus stand. It has three peaks which makes the shape of an ear ring.

I haven’t been doing any hiking recently and I was starting to see leeches in my dreams too and finally it seemed like my dreams were converting into a reality. Krishani called me and asked for some information of a guide in Thangappuwa to do the Kota ganga trail. I asked her whether I could join them because this hike was in my long list and my request was accepted gladly by Krishani.

We went up cautiously as Nava mama fell the last evening coming down. We also found Tony’s hat fallen in his adventurous slide downhill. The tree cover was so thick blocking the morning rays kissing the earth. We came across another small cave-like place above us but not suitable for spending the night. From here we could see the sun falling on the Gombaniya and Knuckles Mountain Range. Sudugala which is towards the Kalugala was also visible. There was a thick layer of mist coming from Gomara side over the Knuckles. Nava mama said we could get a better view from the Hunugala so we didn’t stay long.

We went up until we came to the so-called Belumgala which is located to the left side of Hunugala. After maneuvering around the rock covered with vines, we got onto the top of Belumgala which wasn’t difficult at all. However the view was only towards the east from Udawannimana via Lakegala up to Galamuduna. The sun was almost up in the sky and taking the pictures of the eastern side was not so easy as we were facing the sun. Behind us was Gombaniya looking down on us and we could only see the top of her through the trees. Here are the pictures for you till now.

The historical legend of Sri Lanka starts from Vijaya, who was the eldest son of King Sinhabahu and queen Sinhasivali of Lata deshaya of India (Identified as present Rarh region of West Bengal) who landed at Thambapanni in 543BC with 700 followers. He became the ruler of the country starting the genealogy of kings of Sri Lanka. His administration was from Thambapanni, the area where he landed.