රුහුණු කතරගම දෙවියන්ගේ පිහිට ප්රාaර්ථනා කරගැනීමට කතරගම දේවාලයට එන බැතිමතුන් කතරගම දෙවියන් පිදීම සඳහා යන තවත් අනුහස් ඇති ස්ථානයක් යාල වනෝද්යාgනයේ පිහිටා තිබේ. ඒ සියඹලාව හෙවත් කැබිලිත්ත දේවාලයයි.දෙවියන්ගේ කැලය ලෙස අතීතයේ ජනයා හැදින්වු මෙම ඓතිහාසික භූමිය පිහිට ඇත්තේ යාල වනෝද්යාිනයේ කළාප අංක 3 කොටසේය.

Ritigala the giant of ancient capital Anuradhapura stands tall with an altitude of 766m and is the best view point of north central Sri Lanka. Ritigala is an important asset to us in terms of history, folklore and bio diversity. It is the birth place of Malwatu oya and during the North – East monsoons it receives heavy showers more than any other place in the region. Most of the time there is a veil of mist covering its summit.

Just after Hari’s Doowili Eli Hike, I received a call asking if I’d like to join him for a leisure journey as he felt he deserved a break after the mighty hike. I too didn’t mind one so long as it met my expectations. Fortunately, Hari managed to convince Sanketha too to join and we decided to go to Elpitiya where one of the least heard and explored Andahelena Falls is located.

He’d come across Malaka’s Trip Report about this waterfall and the nearby Monastery, Diwankaralena and we thought it’d be a good opportunity for us to visit them at a snail’s speed. He set the date for 15 May and it turned out I will of course not have a break as Tony and I were to visit waterfalls in Ratnapura and Deraniyagala on 13 and 14 May.

We set off around 6.30am on the 15th May in Sanketha’s car and I was grateful for that coz 550+km on two consecutive days sitting on the back of Tony’s old bike had taken its toll on me.

Although I describe all these waterfalls under Rathnapura-Kalawana road, they are situated some distance away from the main road except Rajanawa Falls. Road condition of Rathnapura-Kalawana road is good following constructions. But road conditions are not good in some byroads.

How can I start? As you may aware Sri Pada and Knuckles are my favourite places on earth. I used to visit them at least 2-3 times per year. If I talk about knuckles it’s a vast area covering more than 30 mountains, more than 20 isolated villages, so many waterfalls and caves large variety of flora& fauna etc. Importantly in this range you can find waterfalls cascading over caves. One example is Sera Ella in Puwakpitiya area.

Around 4.30pm, the clouds arrived thick and fast and we heard the distance rumble of thunder making us run all the way back to Nava mama’s house. If I had any hope of doing Lakegala, this nearly made it the last nail of the coffin. Having come back and lying in one of the mattresses cursing the rain and thunder with all the bad words I could think wasn’t gonna help my cause but I kept at it. The sky split into many pieces with lightning and I decided to call it quits.

Around 8.00pm, everything settled down and thunder and rain vanished without a trace of them being just a short while ago and my hopes soared into the sky. I went and asked Nava mama, “Mama, shall we go no matter what happens? To hell with this rain and thundering.” He must’ve sensed my state and very reluctantly agreed. I came and broke the news to Dodam and asked if he’d wanna join the hike regardless of what happens and he jumped in. That settled everything in under 5mins and we were ready to go.

Sometime ago while traveling on Ampara – Siyambalanduwa road I saw a giant box shaped rock and got to know the name “Govindahela”. I was fascinated to climb it but had literally no information about it. Later found an article on Lakdasun forum written by a foreign lady who climbed the rock. But that article was not very encouraging as her experience turned out to be a very tough and difficult one. A couple of years later suddenly there came a report on the forum by – of course – Ahsan, who had climbed it, alone, with not much hassle and once again I started living in my dream.

We stopped to take a few pics of the morning sky painted with gorgeous colors. The shadows of trees added to the beauty with the contours of the mountains in the distance. I wouldn’t have minded walking along this road at this time as it felt heavenly. However, time was a luxury we couldn’t afford at the time as we had planned something unprecedented even in Nava Mama’s standards. KCC at Deanston was still in darkness and no sign of activity there. It’d’ve been grand if we could be at the mini world’s end when the sun is rising. We could’ve got a super panoramic view towards Ududumbara, Hasalaka and Mahiyanganaya. I had to restrain myself so hard not to venture into the trail without this early and there was no way to get permission.

Passing Loolwatte tea shop made me crave for yet another coffee but we simply wanted to get to Meemure as soon as we could and start on our first hike. We stopped nonetheless at Corbet’s Gap for a few pics of the mountains which were rising majestically to a clear blue sky. From then on, it was a downhill journey along a circular road that entwines the mountains like a giant snake. It’d already gone by 6.30am and we hurried. There were a few places where the road was terrible but we had a somewhat higher ground clearance enabling us to pass without incident. Reaching Kaikawala concrete bridge, we saw a monk who’s going collecting his meals (Pindawatha Wadinawa). He simply stepped out of the road, without even looking back and kept looking downwards till we passed.

There are a few monks who stay meditating in this part of SL as it’s so beautiful and calm. We even came across one such place deep inside the jungle on our way back from Gala Muduna later in the day. Closer to Nava mama’s house, we got the first glimpse of the gorgeous Lakegala. Whoa, what a beauty she is despite being continuously harassed by unforgiving sunlight and intermittent rains.

The initial plan was to travel somewhere around Mathale and Reversten, with a bunch of officemates. But everyone seemed to be busy, visiting relatives for the new year. Knowing that it would be a crime to spend the holidays at home, I decided to visit Hiyare, Kottawa, and Kanneliya. This is my 1st ever solo travel experience 🙂

Kumana was on the list for too long. So we thought of giving it a shot this time. Though the dry season is not at its peak yet, Kumana was extremely hot when we visited. The sightings were not the greatest, but we had enough sightings and more importantly had a great time especially at the awesome Gal Amuna campsite.

Madunagala/Mahapalassa is getting tourist attraction (both local and foreigners) due to presence of hot water springs. I have noted few recent reports in Lakdasun forum and stimulated me to visit there. When I was searching information about hot water springs, I could find some other tourist attractions of this area.

After reaching Uda-delwala, there is a gravel road to right as one pass the temple of Uda-delwala. This road can only be managed by a 4wd vehicle or by a three wheeler. Otherwise one has to walk 1 km to reach the starting point of the hike. We were lucky as one boy volunteered to guide us. Otherwise we might have spent hours looking for the waterfall as some places path was not clear.