Year and Month February 2015 ( 2,3,4 ) Number of Days Two and half days Crew Total: 8 Persons Six Wonderers ( Hi King , Stunt Prince , Silent Worrier, De Waterfall Hunter, Notorious Major & Jumbo ) Two Villagers as guides ( Suresh & Kadol ) Accommodation Village House and Camping in the jungle […]

I just checked out the time table of trains so that it’d give us a sense of times so that we could take precautions. These new Chinese trains are very quiet compared to the grumbling old German ladies. However I don’t think when it comes to performance, technology and endurance, the Chinese can come anywhere near. I’ve seen how they operate in my Exclusive Journey on the S12 some time ago. Hasi took over the meals with the help of his wife. Even though she wanted to join us, a sudden illness confined her to the house. We were very excited, especially Hasi as this was going to be his first ever rail hike. I could imagine how he felt coz it was the same when I was getting ready for my first rail hike.

We started out at 4 AM on day 1 and move towards Ratnapura on Horana Road. On the way we schemed to move towards Ampara and may be towards Trinco later on. We took a quick breakfast from a small wayside shop on the Horana road at about 6. We had passed Maha Saman Devalaya at Ratnapura so many times but never stopped since we always have been running with a another destination in mind. It was 6.45AM when we reached the Ratnapura Maha Saman Devalaya and there was almost no people there.

Both of us were looking for a getaway and this time we selected central hills rather than the usual dry zone. Went through the internet and finally found a nice place close to Nilambe. And yes the place was well worth and the perfect location with a window view towards Piduruthalagala western reaches (my kind of place). Though the food was terrible the surrounding environment made us forget it.

We took a tuk-tuk and headed along the Punagala road. The morning was chilly and the smell of wet earth wafting through the air was surprisingly good. This is another way to the iconic Lipton’s Seat. Usually people take the Haputale-Dambethenna road but this is also an alternative should you happen to start from Bandarawela. After about 5km, we came to a ‘Y’ junction where the Punagala road continued to the left while the right one goes to the Lipton’s Seat. It’s nicely carpeted and in good condition compared to the Punagala road.

I’ve been to Lipton’s Seat couple of times so decided to skip it for now. We carried on along Punagala road for about 3 more kms till Doolgolla where Doolgolla Ella is located. She’s at the edge of Craig Estate very close to the main road. You can see her from the road as well. There’s a shop and an estate signage just passing a bridge. That is where you have to stop and then take the tiny footpath to the right to reach the base of the falls that is only about 50m away.

Nilambe is a popular place in our area due to the Natural beauty. Exploring this area was a long waited dream for me. Our School Gang initiated the idea of visting the area along Nilamba Oya. This trail was done at during the period of February 2011.

It was Awurudu holidays and the weather was playing tricks on our minds but we didn’t want to let this holiday pass away without doing any hikes. There were two options it was either knuckles or sinharaja. So we decided go anywhere depending on the rain pattern. I was really motivated to do Knuckles after seen that Niroshan had covered all 5 peaks within a day and that was an inspiration for me (I’m sure you could read about that adventure in near future).

We passed the idea this way, that way and the other way and still got nowhere. After what felt like an eternity, we came to the conclusion that we need minimum two nights. We couldn’t anyway afford more therefore settled at two. Having arranged everything we set off on the dawn of Saturday, 21 February. Just a word on the way we were given the instructions by the Nagrak Management. They gave us the account details promptly to deposit money and other than mentioning about the electricity which is available from 6pm to 12 midnight, there was no other information given. It’s a major lapse from their end because the way Fishing Hut Management (click on the link to check the info sent by them) sent out the information was simply brilliant. They had gone to great trouble to put everything in writing so that there was no misunderstanding. We knew exactly what was they were giving and what we had to take. Further, what we could do and shouldn’t do. It was just great and I feel Nagrak Management failed to meet those standards. They have some catching up to do and do it fast coz that small lapse could lead to very unpleasant things and disappointments.

Ah it’s time to do another “Secrets of….” album and this time I wanted to do one on Badulla. Look out for the new additions when you guys pay a visit to Badulla again.

We all get these impulsive thoughts of doing things out of blue moon every now and then. Something like that happened when we visited Eli Hatha deep inside the Sri Pada Forest Reserve off Uda Maliboda in the first week of February. That journey, one of the dreams of Hari, turned out to be a great success, probably the best ever. During this journey I kept thinking of visiting the Most Sacred Mountain, Sri Pada via Uda Maliboda trail, one of the six known paths to the summit.

I was longing for it by the time we returned from Eli Hatha and didn’t wanna do anything else but that. So when I presented the thought to Dodam, my mate for the Beloved Lakegala, he seconded it with no second thoughts. So we fixed it for the 15 & 16 Feb. Thanks to Hari, I got the contact number of Yasawardhane mama, a real nature-loving gentleman who is very friendly, humble and helpful. When I called him to check the status of weather conditions and the trail, he gladly offered to help us. I, being the cautious type, asked if he could find a guide for us at least till we reach the Kuruwita trail but he said that there was no way we could go wrong yet promised to get someone at least for a part of the journey.

Although I reached to SriPada in many times by various ways, I was eagerly waiting to reach there by using “Dehenakanda way” for a long time. When I said my idea to my friend of Lakmal who lives in Rathnapura, he also wasn’t walk to Sri Pada on this way. However we selected a date after the exam for this journey & get aware the crew.

Another Random weekend and nowhere to go suddenly decided to visit Meegahakivula but in my wish list there were only two places. Early morning I reached Loggal oya to witness a lovely sun rise and from there I proceeded towards 16th mile post of Meegahakivula road and took the left hand turn towards Arawa.