Hello everyone, hope you guys are doing great and had enjoyed our conservation effort at Horton Plains before. Well, we (rather Ana) simply couldn’t rest letting Ulex take control of our beautiful country, especially our beloved Horton Plains. So we went earlier (about 6 weeks before this) with a larger group of 9 people and worked for two days and cleared a substantial area with the help of couple of HP workers.

During that journey itself, Ana must’ve made a vow to come back to destroy more Ulex as we got yet another invitation from him to go back once again to clear as much of an area as possible. Well, all we had to do was say yes which we did with no hesitation. So our familiar bungalow was booked once again and we were counting days to go and fight this menace once again. Ana had brought the broken equipment from the last journey and had got them repaired, this time with more robust handles.

Finally I managed to convince myself and the crew that 5 and 6 of Sep are the best option remaining for us. I simply couldn’t afford to keep it postponing any further and decided to take our chances with the constantly changing weather conditions. I kept looking up the AccuWeather, Weather Channel and FallingRain for weather updates. Unfortunately our own Met Department is a symbolic white elephant and not as reliable or dependable as we would like it to be so we’ve no choice but to rely on alternatives such as the above. The rain patterns have shot to hell especially during the last couple of years probably due to the global warming and our irresponsible actions towards the earth. This has made it extremely difficult for farmers, fishermen and those who depend on the regular patterns of the climate.

Even the seasoned farmers, villagers or fishermen find it difficult to predict the weather conditions as a result. Usually you can trust those villagers’ expertise better than the state of the art equipment of the US Met Department but not anymore so we resorted to these web-based weather forecasts. It didn’t look good, not at all as it kept forecasting thunderstorms and heavy rains throughout. I was hoping against the hope for a clear window to make it safely to the summit. Anyhow, we were fully committed and there was no turning back. In the back of my mind there was this feeling of security that if your intentions are good and your behavior is acceptable, you’re going to be ok, especially at the Sri Pada. It’s said in the Buddhism that those who live by the Dhamma will be protected by the Dhamma itself. So we had faith we’d face no problems and if there was any, those powers that protect the area will take care of us.

I’m sure you might have come across theories by many pundits claiming the usefulness of Ulex in many of their theories. Most of these pundits (as Ana rightly put armchair critics) haven’t even been to HP to see the real danger posed by the Ulex. It was as if fighting the terrorists from AC rooms in Colombo. The biggest theory is that Rhino Horned Lizards take shelter in these plants and nest in them. Well how did they survive before these were introduced? HP is not the only place where they live so how do they survive where there is no Ulex? Why the wildlife department is so anxious to get rid of them if they were that useful? So we decided to leave all the theories behind and take some action instead. As Sash rightly put in the forum under the Video Journey, “It’s better to light a single candle than blaming the dark” which is exactly what we had in mind.

It was during one of those casual chit-chats that this idea of doing something about Ulex came up. By then I had climbed Kirigalpoththa 3 times (KGP) within 18 months and had seen the fast and furious spread of Ulex covering the path at many places. So Ana as usual spotted the benefit this would give to the HP and pursued it further exploring ideas. Finally after a few dozen emails and hours of phone conversations we managed to find the best possible way.

Previously I did hike from Kalupahana to Ohiya on foot and I wanted to do this on my jeep but I never planned to attempt this in 2015. All started when my friend Dharshana called me and said “machan must go somewhere because I haven’t been anywhere in 8 months”. He had been stuck with his PG degree so was desperate and this was the main reason why we did this plus Amila also joined us on the last moment.

Mahaweli River exploration is one of my dream trips. Mahaweli River flows from Hortain plains and ends at Trincomale. If someone wants to go along the river (by boat or foot) it is possible only from Mahiyangana (මහියoගණය) to Trincomale. From Central hills to Mahiyangana, the river is guarded by major reservoirs.
During dry season (especially August and September) it has low water level.
My friend Siraj suggested me to walk along the River from Manampitiya as he has noticed the river with low water level when he visited to Thummodara (තුම්මෝදර).

“Who’s been to the Dalada Maligawa or Tooth Temple?”

I know it’s one of the silliest of questions I could’ve asked you but I had to ask it to enter my fairy tale. I’m sure most of the Sri Lankans regardless of their religion have visited this magical place on earth where the Left Canine Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha that was retrieved from the sandalwood funeral pyre of Kushinagar is kept. This is also visited by many foreigners and as the statistics reveal it is the second place visited mostly after the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawala. At an estimate about 80-90% of all the tourists pay a visit to Dalada Maligawa.

“Ok now how many of you have been fortunate enough to see the Tooth Relic Dagoba?”

Two years back I worked at Inginiyagala hospital and one day I came across a retired DWC officer who is well known because of the newspaper articles he wrote about Gal oya national park. Somehow we became friends and one day he mentioned about a special cave close to Mulgama where Vedda paintings could be found.

Yakkuragala was an isolated mountain with height situated in Dambulla area in between Dambulla-Matale (A9) and Dambulla-Bakamuna (බකමූණ) roads. As it has no archeology or historical importance, no body tries to climb it. Locals only visit there to pluck “Gal Siyambala”. Later I knew they also miss their return pathway once they reach the mountain.

Villagers believe “Yak Ura’s” (‍යක් ඌරා)-Devil Pig’s footsteps can be seen on the mountain. Therefore it is called Yakkuragala. But actual Yakkuragala is situated closer to the main Mountain.

Konduru hela is a prominent peak in the east which could be seen easily from Arugam bay to Akkareipattu. Some people even mistake this as Thoppigala. It is located at one of the most isolated and unexplored area called Komari (Panama proposed) forest reserve. I had been eyeing on this peak for a while and during my previous visit I met a local guy called Ran banda who promised to help me if needed.

We got up and started packing our things and got ready. While Nava mama ran the hut keeping an eye out for the jaggery pot (remember it was kept boiling throughout the night) which was somewhat got thicker, Tony and I went out to wash. While we were washing, Samarasekara arrived as promised and went ahead to take down some of the toddy pots from the Kithul trees in the vicinity. We witnessed a beautiful butterfly as we were washing, who had come to put up a welcome show for the day.

Back at the hut, Samarasekara had taken a huge pot of fresh Kithul sap from one of the trees and was in the process of mixing it with the jaggery pot. While he was at it, we started making our morning coffee and breakfast of instant noodles. There was still plenty of the jaggery given to us the previous evening left so we savored it with our 3 in 1 coffee even though it had its share of sugar. Remember pure Kithul jaggery is good for anyone even for diabetic patients as it has no harmful sugary contents. Afterwards we ate our noodles with hot chilies plucked from a nearby plant. Well it was all set for us to get going and Samarasekara agreed to show us the path to a certain distance so that we’d have no trouble getting to our target.

Nalanda Rock (Arangala) is situated at Arangala-Naula with the height of 782m. It’s distance view is shape of an ear ring (Arungala (අරුoගල) ->Arangala අරoගල) gave the name Arangala. This isolated mountain is best seen when you travel from Dambulla to Matale via A-9 road, once you reach Naula bus stand. It has three peaks which makes the shape of an ear ring.

I haven’t been doing any hiking recently and I was starting to see leeches in my dreams too and finally it seemed like my dreams were converting into a reality. Krishani called me and asked for some information of a guide in Thangappuwa to do the Kota ganga trail. I asked her whether I could join them because this hike was in my long list and my request was accepted gladly by Krishani.