It was nearly a year and a half since we (Ashan, Amila, Hari and me) went on a bike tour covering Yatiyanthota-Seepoth and Parussella-Dedugala roads and saw many waterfalls. There were more than a dozen of them at the time making me think that the waterfalls headquarters were here. What’s more, there’s no need to go for treacherous hikes searching for these beauties as they’re more or less located either by the roadside or with a short hike.

So you’re blessed to go see more than a dozen of gorgeous falls within less than 12 hours that is something you won’t get anywhere else. So, having done it once didn’t stop me from getting back again. The intermittent rains made the thought more appealing and I managed to find Atha to accompany me after a numerous put-offs.

This is an unknown hidden beauty found in Doloswala Kanda area few meters from foot path to Pitakele from Doloswala Kanda….. It is roughly 30 feets in height and has three main sections. Amount of water is less now a day as there is a diversion for mini hydro plant. The name “Kamani” which some people in Doloswala unheard of given after a 16 year old girl committed suicide by jumping from the top of the fall few years back.

When Hariya called asking if we could go see Doovili Ella in Kalthota, I couldn’t have been happier. It brought back the sweet memories of our old gang doing a tour in and around Kalthota. Kalthota Doovili Ella is one of the most beautiful of all I’ve seen to date. She has this unique way of falling down very much similar to a pyramid. The whole Walawe River squeezed through that tiny opening with so much pressure creating millions of water drops scattering the entire area.

Even the base pool is nice and surrounded by some gorgeous rock formations. So thinking of the prospects of seeing her once again made my heart beat ever-so-faster. So we set our plans for the 6 Dec despite all the weather forecasts predicting heavy rains. As Hari hadn’t been to Kirindi Ella or Doovili Ella before, we decided to visit them plus another two, Kuda Ella and the evading Diyawini Ella that we missed due to lack of time even after going all the way to her.

I didn’t wanna turn around having come so close coz not being able to visit especially a waterfall going all the way is something that tastes bitter. It not only tastes bitter and it keeps nagging at me. Reluctantly, we decided to let Sheham go and Shareez and I walked up for another 1-1.5km along the road till we reached a sign board giving details about a Asupini Ella Village Project with half a dozen faces of politicians. The road forks into two here and you have to take the right turn that goes uphill.

Another 500m or so will take you to a stream that flows across the road. Pass this and you’ll come to a sharp right bend with a black wooden electricity pole on the left. On this about 6ft up is nailed a tiny board saying “To Ella” with an arrow. We were grateful for this and followed it. The path hasn’t been used recently, must be due to rain and was infested with leeches. We kept going uphill and Shareez who had had very little physical activities in this kind was ready to give up after a 1km or so.

Staying at home, doing nothing in my weekend can depress me to no end. It’ll further increase when the darn weekend falls on a weekday. There’s a limit that I can sleep so when I knew I was in for yet another useless two days of weekend, I wanted to scream my head off. Amid all the confusion I browsed Lakdasun looking for somewhere to go and I hit the jackpot after a few tries. Ritigala has always been a mystery to me as much as to anyone else. So the need to go see was like a sleeping lion in me, or rather a semi-active volcano, bubbling inside trying to burst the outer crust.

Having failed to find a mate for this hastily arranged journey, I decided to do another solo stunt. Thinking back, I’ve only done 2 solo stunts before out of all the journeys. So this came as the third and I hope it’ll be the last as travelling alone is such a bore. There’s no one to talk to and make plans, it can also be a pain having to satisfy the curious people who are only interested in getting information from me, not giving the information to me.

I immediately felt better and at the sight of Bambarakanda Falls, the tallest girl in SL, made my day. She had more water, at least more than my last visit, and was looking radiant in the morning. We parked the vehicle and went inside for a warm welcome by Mrs. Mayakaduwa and her daughter Erandi who served us with tea and coffee. We were staying in one of the two cottages there. The walls were built using mud and had the look of a typical rural house. It can easily accommodate 8-16 people and has 4 rooms and a large living area and a verandah as well. Two washrooms are located at the back and with hot water.

We unpacked and got everything ready while they prepared our breakfast, Rotti with a Dhal Curry and Lunu Miris. Some cowpea was also served with freshly scraped coconut and we had a bellyful breakfast and were ready to go. It was so good to see Ranjith again and together we left for our hike that turned out to be tougher than we anticipated.

This is not really a trip. It’s just one site. But thought of writing it up as it is one of those ‘hidden gems’ …and I have partiality towards it as I had been searching for it for awhile. Yes, one of those! And since it was not in Ashan’s zone he could not oblige has he so often does
First saw it as a small photograph titled ‘Nagathambarani, Tiriyaya’ in the book ‘Eloquence in Stone’ . ( Ashan renamed this book “gal potha” due to its size and contents!). This is the same book that gave us the clue to finding Budupatuna.

Perfect weather conditions in hill country means it’s time to do some hikes. I just had to pick up two places in my list and execute. First day it was Hanthana range and few of my lakdasun friends did accompany me on that superb hike. For my next day execution Only Nishan said yes. So next day early morning both of us got in to a Padiyapelella bus and headed towards Rikillagaskada where we had our breakfast. We were going to climb a unique mountain range in the central hills. Kukulagala which overlooks Rikillagaskada town like a lonely giant.

his is a special report on hot water springs of Sri lanka. This was a very tempting topic which made it so irresistible that I ended up visiting almost all of these remarkable sites in a short period. The hot lakdasun forum post was indeed my greatest guide on this venture. I would be adding few details on some hot water springs I visited during the past few years for the sake of completeness. Here are the documented hot water springs in Sri lanka.

I woke up and lowered the blanket covering me and a rain of needles hit my exposed skin. Oh dear, I’m in HP, it suddenly dawned on me. There was a light moving out of the room and it made me feel jittery. Getting out of the bed and landing my feet on the ground sent another dose of needles up my body. It was so cold (probably around 10-degrees) and I followed the light out of the room to find Ana already up and getting ready to make some coffee. The time had just gone 4.30am and I was shivering when I entered the kitchen. There wasn’t any sign of the bungalow keepers (they can’t have ever had their guests waking up at 4.30am) and I waited with my feet up for a steaming cup of coffee.

Atha and Prasa were still sound asleep and I went back to wake them up. It was very cold and we sipped at our scalding coffee hugging ourselves so tight. The caretakers got a shock when they appeared around 5.30am to see us up and about. I guess this was a great shock for them and they got very busy making our breakfast while we washed in the freezing water and got ready to leave while the sun was beginning his painting class towards the east.

It has been a few months since we did something adventurous and we were itching for some action. We were clear from the beginning on what we wanted to do; it had to be at least a 3day hike, away from civilization and most importantly we didn’t want a guide or a clear trail. Although we knew what we wanted finding a hiking trail that we like proved to be much more difficult than we initially imagined.

If we decided to go Meemure from Bambarella across Kalupahana but we had to change that. Because we hadn’t clear information about that way. So we chose Knuckles way across Alugallena way. Dear brother Niroshan helped so much to reach this target to me. We were ready to this journey without any guide, but we had great information & guidance from Niroshan.