So after work on a Friday we took the bus to Kandy from Pettah and reached the city of Kandy late night around 23:00 hrs. However the Tuk-tuk drivers who were there at the bus station were quite supportive and they dropped us at our guesthouse. The reason why we decided to take a night out at a guesthouse in Kandy is to save the day time of Saturday without having to travel all the way from Colombo to Knuckles on Saturday which will consume atleast half of the day.

Mulagama cave was another random site I noted on a sheet of paper (1:50000 maps) within the Gal Oya Sanctuary and later on only I found the relevant details about it on Ellawala Medhananda Thero’s publication. I have been planning to visit this site for few months and I had been gathering information since then, finally my dream came true.

Iginiyagala is a well-known travel destination for most of us but have you’ll ever noted the mountain peak which forms one side of the dam? The summit of mount Iginiyagala(1035ft) is one of those most scenic points I have ever seen which is why I wanted to climb it so much. So together with few friends working at Ampara, I decided to give it a try on a public holiday

The moment I read Bambarakanda trail reports on Lakdasun, the adventurer inside me kept saying “wanna go, wanna go, wanna go” like a mantra. So I tried to get a friend or two to join me but in the end I was left alone with no one to join me. Since I’ve already been to N’Eliya and around all on my own before, I thought of doing this too all on my own

This time we went on camping at Maha Eliya and climb Thotupola Kanda. Originally we planned a hike to Kirigalpoththa but due to time constraints and weather conditions we climbed Thotupola

So it was 7 in the morning when we got off the bus at Mawanella with a crew of three, had our breakfast and hired a three wheeler to Uthuwankanda junction (1.5km from Mawanella), turned right at the junction to Uthuwam Mawatha. It is possible to travel in a vehicle along this road to get closer to the destination but since we needed to see the surroundings we started our journey on foot from the junction, after about 1km turned left to a concrete paved way which was heading toward Saradiyel Gala and about 500m ahead we found the trail head.

Buddama was a place I have never heard before until I was posted there for few months, this rural area of Monaragala district boarders the southern boundaries of Gal Oya National park. Most of the population has the same surname called Dissanayake Mudiyanselage indicating that most of them had been related to the ancestors Wellassa rebellion that fled to the valleys of Gal Oya and they are farmers by occupation.

“Dreams do come true” Finally after six months of planning and just before the monsoons the target was achieved. Maragalakanda may be an unheard unknown mountain for most of the travellers, so let me give a brief description on it. This 1111m tall mountain with four main peaks is located in the dry zone (Monaragala) of Sri Lanka and is one of those tall mountains isolated from the main central belt. It together with Monara gala, Athgala range & Uppukota forms a circle of peaks.

Since my friends and I had some free time amid closed universities, we decided to seek some adventure: a hike that was in our minds for a long time, an off season journey to Adam’s peak and we chose Kuruwita-Erathna trail.

My kids school vacation is almost end and I was busy with my new job unable to take them for this holiday but luckily I was able to get some off days on the long weekend of Binara poya. After reading so many beautiful trip reports from Lakdasun I was forced by myself to take my kids out of our routine destinations (Nuwara Eliya or a Down south hotel) to show them the beauty of mother Lanka and to make them love with the nature.

If there is a will there is always a way, the above text was quoted from my previous attempt to climb mount Wadinagala(බුදුන් වඩින්න ආ ගල = වඩිනාගල) which is the second highest peak of Gal Oya sanctuary. My desire was my driving force. As I have learnt over the years there are no dreams that cannot be achieved and this is one of those which I accomplished successfully. Wadinagala Mountain may be unknown to many people simply because it’s located in a wild life park.

The journey started from different locations by my friends. Kandy Bus stand was the meeting point. I started from Ambalangoda at midnight and reached kandy at 6.00 in the morning. The others were there on time. We took padiyapalalla bus. The bus arrived in padiyapalalla at 8.00 am. There was a small town to buy our foods and other basic needs. We took Mandaram nuwara bus from there at 8.45 am.