Dambadeniya is located in Kurunegala district, hiding a ruined ancient city. It has been the capital for more than five decades in ancient Sri Lanka. Much of the ancient city is still lied burring on a huge fortified rock. Dambadeniya was the third capital in ancient Sri Lanka. (1233 – 1283 A.D.) It was crowned by four kings. The pioneer King Wijayabahu-III (1233 – 1236 A.D), builds his royal palace on the rock at Dambadeniya & converted it to the capital of the country in 1233 A.D.

It was one of our spontaneous trips which we never had time to plan properly even! And guess what all the waterfalls were on the same bus route! Any how it was in our list to do’s! Three of us met at Puwakpitiya junction at around 8.30a.m. And had some breakfast and off we went! Luckily we got a bus that goes to Padukka via Thunmodara, so we got in to it and got off at Dambora(10Km away from Puwakpitiya) right near the waterfall! This 10 meter cascade is about 1Km away from Thunmodara bridge near Labugama reservoir and Labugam kanda(Highest mountain of Colombo district).

I would like to thanks our two guides “Gopal” and “Kalu Ayya” who gave remarkable help to us to make success this journey. I believe this information would be helpful for people who are planning and willing to go to visit Ali-Hatha (seven water falls). I have a kind request from those people; you may go, visit these places and enjoy your self, but please do respect to these places and keep it for our future generations

This was a trail that I was looking forward to do since I have done the other two main routes previously (Palabathgala & Hatton). All started when we met on 21st of march where I got to know many members of Lakdasun out of them Amal who is a member came up to me and asked me “are you planning to do the Uda Maliboda trail?” so that was the initiative for this journey! :-).

Outward bound:6.05 am train from Colombo Fort. A long long train which seemed to be going everywhere – Anuradhapura, Pollonaruwa, Batticaloa, Trincomalee…so make sure you sit in the correct carriage or your destination may change! Real great fun was watching the train ‘change tracks’ at the Polgahawela, Mahawa, etc. After the Anuradhapura carriages were detached, we suddenly found ourselves at the end of the train rather than the middle

This is actually a trip we went after reading Priyanjan’s post. We left Colombo on an evening to get to Bandarawela by night but unfortunately the bus broke down at Diyathalawa so we had a 4Km practice hike in the dark 🙂 We spent the night at Bandarawela rest house. Next day morning we left early and got in to a Poonagala bus which left Bandarawela at 7a.m, the route was through the tea estates and the view was also great

On that morning, it was 6.30am when we left from Veyangoda. Saman, Buddhika & myself were the initiate participants. We had to pickup Thusitha from Kaduwela & Mangala from Horana. How ever it was 10.00am when we reached Bulathsinghala, one of a remote town in Kalutara district. Since it was the last town we meet before our destination, we were busy to buy food & beverage for the day. From Bulathsinghala, we turned to the Paragoda road. Since it was in a country side, the environment was much beautiful, clean & quite.

Batalegala Kanda, situated in Kandy, and visible as you reach Kadugannawa Pass is shrouded in thick jungle from time immemorial. If you love Sceneries and want a one day hike Bible’s rock is a good place to be, we did climb this special rock few months back. It took us only 12hours to climb it and return back to Colombo.

We had breakfast and traveled back on the Thanamalwila road until we arrived at Buduruwagala junction (5Km from Wellawaya) from here it was 4Km towards Buduruwagala. We had to walk all the way because there weren’t any three-wheelers, but we never regretted. The walk was wonderful because we were able to enjoy the breath taking view of Buduruwagala Lake at sun rise. After about 1Km from the lake we reached Buduruwagala which was a very peaceful place in the dense forest.

Actually this was an official journey to Mahiyanganaya but we planned it out to perfection. We took the 11.45pm bus to Mahiyanganya (the bus was packed @10.45pm) and the journey was a long one and we never regretted the night journey because the road trough Hunnasgiriya was heavily under construction these days. After the bus tackled the 17 hair pin bends, it was time for us to get down at Gurulupotha. The time was 5.30a.m so we decided to have breakfast at a nearby Tea shop and started our journey towards the Seetha Kotuwa ruins at Gurulupotha (the path starts near to the Rest house).

There were few places that I have visited previously that I thought of visiting again. It was a bit of a different journey for me(out of the routine) compared to my previous once! I really wanted to see the sun rise at Maligatenna but I got a bit late, nevertheless I reached there at around 7am and climbed up until I came to the Meda Maluwa & set my self off to the top of Maligatenna. The scenery was awesome as always. As I know this is the highest place in Gampaha District and one can enjoy the breath taking view of Siyane Korale from top of it!

This trip report does not cover any really new sites…thought of writing it up to share some pictures and also as a thank you for all the information provided for this trip by Lakdasun. Its quite amazing how places we go so often can still turn up enjoyable surprises, and its also very nice to be able to visit areas which we did in our childhood but then were not so accessible till recently. The sea in the Yala area is not so safe, but the beach is really worth exploring. And if you know your zoology? Biology? It’s a tremendous advantage!