Gombaniya is a mountain range and is located on the western border of Knuckles conservation its vegetation is almost similar to Horton plains because of its high altitude. The mountain could be reached from Rathnatenna (Alakolle estate) or Nelummale watta (Kabaragala side). The shorter but complex route is Rathnatenna side.

This was a journey I did more than a year ago and my focus was on some places close to Mahiyangana and Bibile – Medagama. On an overcast day I took a bus towards Padiyathalawa from Bibile and again took a bus towards Mahiyanganaya. Just before Wewatta temple there was a road to the left with Uva province tourism notice board directing towards Murungagala Archaeology site.

Atha picked me around 3.45am on 26th July and we then got Tony on board and took the Avissawella-Ginigathhena Road. It was good to be back with the old couple as it’s always full of many stories, most of them are hilarious. They kept at it right throughout and I hardly managed to get a word in edgeways. The Kelani River looked placid in the wee hours and the mist hung over her like a veil. We enjoyed her company most of the way. Reaching Nawalapitiya, the skies looked grey, heavily laden with rain clouds and I was thrilled as it meant more water for the waterfalls. You’d be surprised how low the water levels become even after a few days of rain.

This proved to be the case with Ramboda and surrounding waterfalls despite there had been a lot of rains even during last week. We took the Hapugasthalawa Road and then turned onto Harangala. As soon as we turned, there was a nice shop and we stopped for breakfast where they served hot, hot Coconut Rotti with mouthwatering Lunu Miris, delicious Kola Kenda and authentic Peni Walalu. We all stuffed ourselves to the tip and were on our way passing the Hapugasthalawa Tank.

It was in July 2013 when I celebrated my first year anniversary with Lakdasun, the biggest and richest bank when it comes to the Nature of Sri Lanka. I wanted to be with the ones I adore on my first year anniversary, the beautiful girls aka waterfalls. Since then, I’ve done a lot more travelling expanding my horizon, ticking the ever so growing to-do-list, adding onto my collection of waterfalls.

So if I was gonna celebrate my 2nd Year Anniversary with anyone but waterfalls, it’d’ve been a costly mistake as it was the waterfall season and most of the waterfalls along the slopes of western side mountains were in near full flow. I carefully picked the date and the route, Hasi, Dhana and Kassa nicely fell into my trap. So we were ready to go see some more waterfalls (the second of us four, you can check our Waterfall Hunt before here) in Nawalapitiya, Thalawakele and Pundalu Oya.

It was one of those random weekends and I didn’t have any scheduled places to visit so I headed towards Badarawela. It was almost 1pm when I got down at Halpe and my first place of interest was Gangarama temple. Though the Uva tourist board had put up a notice board, this temple didn’t have any historical importance. Next target was Yahalamaditta temple.

The book COLLIN’S CAMPING & HIKING MANUAL was a great help to us especially because we were beginners. So now we knew how to go and what to do on a camping expedition; next was finding the location, that’s when we came across the Sri Lankan Adventurer’s hang out while surfing the net; the Lakdaun Forum. There we came across a trip report to a Mountain called Havagala which any one can climb to the summit and camp there; the stunning images quickly grabbed our mind, this is where we will go.

This was a once in a life time trip and I wanted it to be a spectacular one. When one is in a romantic mood its always best to stay close to mother nature and far away from the busy world. This is what we did in our little paradise nation within 10 days. So let the pictures say our story. Our first and second day of relaxation was at Back of beyond Kahandamodara. This was absolutely the paradise we searched for. Two days of perfect harmony with many activities to pass ones time like boat rides in lagoons, cycling and etc. Thanks Yohan for building such a lovely place. The staff was simply the best; you don’t get good guys like them at 5 start hotels.

It’d been a long time since Harinda and I’d gone on a journey together and when he said that he was gonna get 6 days straight off, I decided to reap the benefits. Hari’s initial plan to visit “Eli Hatha” in Maliboda had to be called off due to intermittent rains and falling on a sudden plan B (in fact it’d been nagging at me for the past year or so), I suggested we visit Pitadeniya searching for some more waterfalls (possibly following Niroshana’s Steps) in and around Neluwa, Lankagama and Pitadeniya. As per Niro’s report, he’d mentioned about Wedan Ella (unfortunately not been able to visit her) on Neluwa-Thawalama Road. When I mentioned this to Hari, he said that one of his friends, Gabriel is from Thawalama and I prompted him to get the info about this Wedan Ella.

Rambukoluwa is a traditional village at Knuckles forest reserve. This might be a vanishing village in near future as they have planned to build a reservoir by crossing Kalu Ganga. Though Rambukoluwa is not covered by this reservoir, villagers are asked to leave the village.

Mighty Etipola Mountain drew my attention in two times. First experience was in our climb to Brandy rock (1130m) which was situated just below and front of Etipola Mountain. At that time we were wonder what is this Mountain. Then in my visit to Selagama mini world’s end, I noticed Etipola Mountain and it stimulated me to climb it.

We took a Welimada-Bogahakumbura bus (alternatively you can take a Welimada-Boralanda bus which will take you to the turn off towards Alawathugoda) and got off at Bogahakumbura town and hired a tuk-tuk to reach the destination which was about 3-4km away. Surprisingly enough most of the people knew about the waterfall even though it’s not a prominent one. The road is under construction and in a somewhat bad condition.

We reached the Alawathugoda village passing the Community Hall where we had to walk as the road had been concreted and left to rest. It was a good 600-800m walk which took its toll on Podi who kept panting all the way. Unfortunately there was very little water and it made us feel very down. Well, you can’t always be lucky and see them in full flow I guess.

Taking time off to relax saw us heading deep down south a few weeks ago. Our destination was Sella Kataragama where SLAF has chalets for its officers. Travelling was easy as we took E1 to Matara. The drive was a breeze! A short stop at Devundra was all what we needed.