I was on the foot board the whole journey, highly excited, enjoying it to the max. We passed many things and stations along the way. But one thing in particular got embedded in my mind. That was “Great Western Station”. The entering onto the Station area was grand and I can still remember that day. I’ve been viewing that picture every now and then and couple years back came to know about the GW Mountain which is surprisingly the 6th highest in SL.

Whenever I take my camera with me it will drive me to somewhere interesting and this was one of those days. Since I had some official work on a Saturday which I managed to finish within 2 hours, decision was taken to pay a quick visit to Olagangala(at Mahiyangana). Working in a remote area where plenty of archaeological sites could be found is one of those benefits I cherish.

During this journey I needed to visit at places in Warakapola-Karawanaella, Galapitamada-Nelundeniya and Ruwanwella-Galigamuwa roads. Ancient Seethawaka kingdom was situated over this area. Although I had a tight schedule before the journey, the evening shower ruined some of my plans.

This journey we did some times back, most of the members of the crew are members of “Dumbara Mithuro” Environmental and Cultural Society. The society is devoted for the conservation activities in the Knuckles mountain range. On the other hand expedition in the knuckles forest is another prime objective of the society.

කඹුරුපිටියෙන් උදේ 7ට පමණ ගමන් ආරම්භ කර අනෙක් සාමාජිකයින් 5 දෙනා සමග අකුරැස්ස, උඩුගම හරහා නෙලුව බලා ගමන් ගත් අතර මංජු සහ ජයනෙත්ති පිලියන්දලින් ගමන් ආරම්භ කර දක්ෂිණ අධීවේගී මාර්ගයේ වැලිපැන්න පිවිසුමෙන් පැමිණ පැලවත්ත හරහා නෙලුවට පැමිණ අප හා එක්විය. නෙලුවෙන් අවශ්ය ආහාර ද්රාව්ය හා අනෙකුත් භාණ්ඩ මිලදී ගැනීමෙන් පසු අප පලමුවෙන්ම නෙලුව ලංකගම මාර්ගයේ නෙලුවේ සිට 7km ක් පමණ දුරින් පිහිටි කොස්මුල්ල දුවිලි ඇල්ල නැරඹීම සඳහා ගියෙමු.

““Once upon a time, there was this fella who happened to come across this remarkable word and it stuck very deep in his mind. Everyone who’d either been there or heard about spoke very highly of her and this fella kept dreaming about it all the time. He didn’t have the means or the resources to visit her then and dream was the only option he was left with which he was very good at. On top of everything, Meemure wasn’t ready to welcome him just yet.

After Lakdasun 2nd gathering I got to know some wonderful people and was able to go on some trips with them. So my first trip after that was with Mithila, Ashan, Sheham, NG, Kasun , Theshantha etc. Interestingly that was my favorite place on earth “ Sri Pada”. Then I recently went on with two other wonderful members of LAKDASUN, SANKETHA and ATULA. Interestingly that was my second favorite place on earth , “Knuckles the Misty Mountains “

Year and Month March, 20113(26th, 27th) Number of Days Two Day Trip Crew 02 Accommodation Hatton Inn T.P. 0512222974,0779913924 Transport Bus, Three wheeler and by foot Activities Photography, sightseeing, hiking Weather Sunny day later had showers Route Hatton -> Thalawakale -> Agarapathana -> Dayagama -> Dayagama tea estate 6th division border -> Horton plains and [...]

Yakdessagala first came across my senses in 2011 while I was on top of Yapahuwa and again last year when I visited Wellagala rock. The temptation of conquering this rock surged after seen Dinesh Dekkers video which prompted me to do so ASAP! I must thank Anupama who guided me in every way he can to make our journey a success!

One of my intention of writing this report is to show you the heart breaking current states of the these precious waterfalls. There is nothing attractive in these pictures but you can compare the state of these waterfalls two years ago, with Ashan’s report and the pathetic state of same, today

This beautiful waterfall flows as a cascade from Handapanella Thanna (හදපාන් ඇල්ල තැන්න). Although books say it’s height is 23m, it is wrong as it is a collection of few waterfalls. Handapan Ella can be captured in Rakwana-Kalawana road (another route full of scenic views) in between 3rd and 4th mile post

It was end of the monsoons and everywhere seemed to be flooded. I did have few free days in hand but couldn’t think of a better thing to do other than a rail hike. Since I dint get a chance to do a long distance hike after last year’s 90km “Pada Yathra” I thought of walking 70km along the railway backwards from Badulla. Usually many hikers do not do the Badulla – Haputale stretch because nothing much to see but you won’t believe, there are plenty to see around.