It was in July while we were at Birds’ Paradise, Kudawa touring Sinharaja, Nimal the owner of the place told us about this wonderful place. He really is a nature lover and after realizing our enthusiasm about the nature, he encouraged us to visit this place and then and there we decided to visit in December.

Raxagala is the second highest peak of Dolosbage range and having different names. Locals called it Kinihira (කිනිහිර), Paththini amma kanda (පත්තිනි අම්මා කන්ද), Wangedi molgas gala (වන්ගෙඩි මොල්ගස් ගල )1: 50000Map shows it as Stentry box east. The idea of climbing this unusual shaped mountain came into my mind when I climbed Kabaragala-higest peak of Dolosbage range.When I searched it, I found a nice article in Sri lankan travellers. It gave me a good guidance.

Raigama, according to some historians, was the seventh capital of ancient Lanka, after Anuradhapura (4th century BC – 10th century AD), Polonnaruwa (10th century – mid-13th century), Dambadeniya (1232–72), Yapahuwa (1272–93), Kurunegala (1293–1341) and Gampola (1341–47). It is said to have been the capital for 68 years, until Parakramabahu VI moved to the comforts of Sri Jayawardenepura-Kotte in 1415 (Wikipedia.)

The primary purpose of this trip was to visit two different kinds of hydropower projects in Sri Lanka, to see the sites, equipment, mechanisms, etc. and learn about them. Enjoyed some other attractions on the way too. We got this opportunity as one of our friends is an engineer attached to Samanalawewa Hydroelectric power plant.

“It was the rainy season after the Buddha preached his first discourse to the five ascetics of Isipatana and due to the rains his preaching tours were cut down and he followed the ancient practice to spend the rainy season “Vas” in one place of residence carrying out his work on the Dhamma.

On top of the Manigala we could see Doovili Ella far away towards the Kalupahana range. That day we all decided to visit this somehow. Eventually we could visit all other water falls in the poem and hiked Manigala peak 3 times after that, but we couldn’t go to Doovili Ella, because it is difficult to reach that. There were only a very few who have done this hike and it was difficult for us to gather some information as well

On a gloomy day I took a bus towards Bibile and from there onwards I took another bus towards Alawaththagoda on Lunugala Rd. After getting down from Alawaththagoda and inquiring about Alawaththagoda falls few people directed me further towards Arawakumbura for 1.5km’s after passing a huge bridge I came across a second bridge and continued upstream until I reached a beautiful waterfall called Alawaththagoda Naya Kadura Ella.

Jaffna was a place from my childhood – a place that had happy memories of unrestricted travel within the peninsula and meeting loads of friendly people. Language was never a barrier as my limited Tamil with lots of gestures managed to get what I wanted! But that was in early 1970s.

Since the monsoons begun my journeys around Uva-Wellassa has been hampered. So I finally decided to gamble with the weather and loiter around a bit. There was a long list of archaeologically important places around Buttala and Wellawaya which I have been planning to visit. And since it’s raining and less chances of mountain climbing or forest trekking the set up was ideal for some temple visits but I had to face some unique problems in doing so.

Once reaching Anuradhapura town by road and travel up to Jaffna junction_( Yapane Handiya) its KM199 from that point to Jaffna. At Ranbewa it’s connected to the A9 road extending from Kandy to Jaffna. The road came to prominence during the war
Once reaching Vavuniya the gate way pictured below is the entrance to the North the predominantly Tamil area.

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.

ll this started as my friend Yasa a keen wildlife enthusiast and the CEO of a private restaurant chain were planning to open their newest outlet in Anuradhapura and from last October, every weekend both of us were in and out to Anuradhapura to find a suitable location with the help of their Project Manager who was stationed in A’pura and all the time we used to go to Wilpattu on return journey for just a half a day run.