Athwelthota is a well-known place for naturalist simply because many endemic species being found in this immensely bio diverse area. My visit was mainly to hunt few waterfalls which belong to Kaluthara district. I previously visited the same location in January 2012 but the water levels were so low due to the drought at that time. There have been few on and off showers around the island and that was enough to motivate me to re visit the area.

Everything was set for the journey and we took off from Moratuwa around 6 p.m., after a full day work at office. The idea was to travel somewhere close to Kalupahana and start journey in the next day early morning as we needed a full day to cover both off-road driving and hiking. We reserved ‘The Jungle Rest’ (just 500m away from the Belihuloya Rest House) which was situated away from the road as the name implies. The place was quite ok and affordable.

Year and Month February 2012 Number of Days Two Crew 3 (between 23-30 years of age – office colleagues ) Accommodation Camping Transport Public Transport Bus, Train and Three wheeler Activities Photography, rock climbing, Hiking, Camping Weather Excellent Route Colombo -> Mawanella -> Kadugannawa -> Poththapitiya and return on the same route. Tips, Notes and […]

This time it was all about solving a mystery! Long ago there was a huge discussion in this forum about a waterfall called Galagama Falls which is marked on each and every SL map, but no one was aware about it other than few eye witnesses??. We decided to go in search of this waterfall of Belihul Oya, to solve the mystery.

Since we have been to Knuckles from Deenston, Meemure side and Riverston Illukkumbura side, this time we decided to explore knuckles from another side which is ‘Bambarella’ and hike ‘Knuckles’ mountain in knuckles range. And visit several uncommon waterfalls in the same area. It was a rainy season and we heard all those waterfalls are in full flow these days when we inquired from the people living in that area.

For a number of years my father has been mentioning the name ‘Nuwaragala’ and had told me that we should climb it one day. On a Thursday night, as I was about to go to bed he ordered me to make ready my backpack before I sleep and said that we would be going to Ampara the following day. I knew that it was going to be a tiring weeken

Since I got my appointment at General Hospital Chilaw, I was planning to visit this place and finally the day arrived (almost after 1 year). I left towards Hettipola and beyond to meet one of my friends. We packed up our stuff and decided to go in his Maruti rather than the bike because it was drizzling. The mountain can be seen to the Chilaw-Kurunegala main road Between Hettipola & Medagama junction

Brandy rock is a unique rock and similar to Bathalegala in shape, when seen from Alawatugoda while travelling (on left hand side) on A-9 route towards Mathale. The rock is close by to Mathale but it’s hidden by the Wiltshire/Etigala kanda which is bordering the Mathale town. This rock is a well-known hiking destination but unfortunately there’s very few online literature.

This rock is not a place to mock around and it’s not an easy hike at all, it’s also believed to be a holy place protected by the local god (ගලේ බණ්ඩාර දෙවියන්ගේ ගබඩාව). There have been many incidents where the god have punished travellers & locals who was wondering about with a bad intent (stung by wasp, elephant attacks, lost in the jungle, etc)

World’s End Lodge is situated in Lower Ohiya. The location is fantastic and the facilities are decent. This is my fourth visit to World’s End Lodge and I’ve found the facilities improving with each visit. This place is certainly not for someone looking for luxury accommodation but is a great place for anyone who enjoys nature.

Almost one week after the peacock hill adventure, it was time for another hike. Mount Kabaragala was an unknown mountain for me until one week back when I first saw it while I was on top of Monaragala. I had no idea about the geography and how to conquer it. Only few google images, survey departments map information and few photographs which I have taken few days back, were there for my aid. Kabaragala is unique in the sense it’s the tallest mountain peak of Dolosbage range and it has an almost flat terrain on top of it which makes you feel that you are walking in heaven.

Since this is the ideal time for hiking I thought of starting up by doing a scenic warm up hike. I left early from Colombo and arrived at Para deka (just before pussellawa) and took a trishaw towards Doragala junction. And continued uphill along the road, passing the tea factory until I reached the pines estate. From here onwards it was a 400m hike uphill on a well cleared path. Suddenly I was at the top at the base of one (out of four) communication tower