Ohiya is a rural village and one of the most scenic and coolest places in Sri Lanka. Normal temperature is less than 12 Celsius. It’s a lonely and sleepy town. The entire town consists of two boutiques and the railway station only. Nearest town by road is Boralanda (10 KM). Nearest Petrol shed is Welimada (22 KM).

We started our journey from Nuwera eliya to Nanuoya station in the early morning. There was a train from Nanuoya to Ambewela station at 9.20am. It took 30-45 minutes to travel from Nanuoya to Ambewela.( 8Km) Elgine water fall can be usually seen when you are travelling in this railway route.

We all met at Avissawella at sharp 11.00 as discussed earlier. We took a bus to Deraniyagala and got in to the Uda Maliboda bus which left Deraniyagala at 12.30 p.m. After reaching the Udamaliboda tea factory we hired two Tri wheelers to the base of First fall. After spending some time there we visited the second fall after a tiring walk through a footpath. But the journey was rewarding. We had a safe bath in the base pool and had our lunch there.

Finally the monsoons seem to be over and it was all what I needed to stretch my muscles a bit. Following my last visit to Ihala Galagama I jotted down the name of beautiful mountain range called Havagala which is linked to the Ravana folklore “The arrow released in war games by King Ravana is said to have pierced seven mountains and penetrated two more mountain peaks.

This was arranged as a family trip as I wanted to take my parents and my brother and his wife to a relaxing, less adventures place close to nature. They had been complaining that “Umba hamadama thaniyama trip yanawa..Apiwath enkkan yanawako” So I picked Kanneliya . Our plan was to visit much easier (with minimum duration) trials as Cave, Giant creeper and Anagimala falls and stay the night there and return home next day. In fact I returned same night as I had an exam next day.

Bunch of people at our office decided to climb Sripada off season back in 2007. I’ve involved in many hikes before, but I knew 12KM + is not an easy one. We arrived at Erathna day prior to our hike and stood at one of our colleague’s relatives place.

December, my favorite time of the year. So as usual, I wanted to go see my beloved N’eliya no matter what the weather is like. All my friends warned me against heavy rain and landslides for no avail. As my friend Lasantha’s hometown is Welimada, I decided to go there with my friend Sanjeewa who will soon be leaving for US.

Since I landed at Iginiyagala I have noted one abnormal dome shape rock close to Pallan oya and one day while I was wondering around the dam of Senanayake reservoir I asked a school boy about this rock and he said to me “ඕක උඩ නටබුන් තියෙනව සද්ධාතිස්ස රජ දවසෙ කරවපු” which lit a bulb in my brain matter and the next thing he said is that he has a friend who knows in and out about this rock.

So finally I decided to tackle the rains, it was not a pleasant experience but my desire and the outcome made it pleasant at the end. On day one when I arrived at Welimada it was around 1pm and it was drizzling at that moment and I had to face a major obstacle which was a bus strike at that moment, somehow got in to a CTB and went towards lunuwatta.

My No 1 is Sacred Sri Pada (done 5 times so far) other is Knuckles Range (2 times so far) and I’ve made my mind to visit these places at least twice a year. When I visited Knuckles(Meemure) last September I felt like giant mountains telling me “Hey Young man Come and see us again “

I have heard and seen some stunning images of a waterfall in a rural village in Uva long ago and I was tempted to visit this waterfall which is the 3rd highest in Uva and winning the 7th place considering all other waterfalls in Sri Lanka. So again it was a gamble with overcast conditions. First day I decided to spend the night at a friend’s place close to Madulsima.

This whole idea of a “night climb” was in my mind for a while and was wondering where to try it out first. After evaluating the trails I have done already finally it was decided that I should try it on Bambarakanda first. The intention was purely based on excitement and the urge to try something different without following the same course as usual.