Now that I’ve taken it off my chest, let’s see what was in store for me upon arriving in Kumbalwela where the Ella-Wellawaya Road begins. It had gone 8am, much later than I’d planned but there was hardly anything I could do about the crawling bus, when we reached Kumbalwela and waited for a bus to get us to Ella. The under construction road was full of dust and waiting proved to be a huge challenge but after it felt like an eternity, there was a bus and we got in quickly.

My efforts to catch up on sleep became futile so had a tough time waiting till we reached Belihul Oya for breakfast. Pan Cake just out of the oven washed down with ginger-flavored plain tea brought the active adventurer in me. From there the journey became more pleasant. The Walawe Valley stretched into miles with vivid colors. Finally around 8.30am, we reached Kumbalwela and got off the bus. Then it was another sometime before a bus arrived for us to get to Ella.

So this was my second visit (previous visit) to Jaffna this year and I would re visit this lovely land at any given time because there is so much to see. This time my main objectives were to visit two populated islands in Jaffna and also to show around my wife the beauty I experienced during my previous visits. On the way to Jaffna we did stop at Iranamadu to have some tea. We reached Jaffna at around 9am and refreshed ourselves before exploring the peninsula.

I wanted to start my trip calendar of 2015 with some fresh waterfalls hunting following heavy rains of end of 2014. My first visit to Bambarakanda happened in 2010 and this is after 5 years. Bambarakanda area doesn’t have much rain during last two weeks. But feeding lands of these waterfalls-Hortain plains had such heavy rain. Therefore waterfalls showed their full phase in our visit.

I have heard that Jaffna is like paradise especially after the monsoons so I wanted to witness it myself. Since I have visited all of those main attractions around Jaffna I was more focused on some mysterious caves plus bird life. (By the way I did visit Jaffna on the next weekend too will update you guys on that expedition in my next travel log) We had many plans during this weekend but the bad weather made us differ the plans. We were left stranded and no other option other than heading towards Jaffna where Amila’s hotel is been currently completed.

Mostly used road is the one along A26 up to Medamahanuwara then turn into the Medamahanuwara-Adikarigama (B493) that runs through the Victoria dam. However we were skeptical about this due to landslides and resorted to the former choice. We finalized the journey around 8.30pm and decided to leave at 5am. Hasi’s wife and one of his friends, Gayan, too joined for the trip making it a full package for his car. We were excited and looking forward to the sight of the biggest dam in Sri Lanka.

Spills of Victoria are something you don’t get to see every now and then so this was going to be something unique and grand.

Road condition up-to Panamura is quite good with carpeted road…. But after passing 2-3kms road become old tar road with on and off road constructions. As there were no big pits on the road, easily motorable by a car with less speed. One has to beware of the edges of the road as road constructions and erosions have caused considerable height difference….

Year and Month 20th-21st September, 2014 Number of Days 2 Crew 9 ( 5 kids & 4 adults ) Accommodation Kalpitiya Coastal Environmental Centre, Kandankuliya, Kudawa, Kalpitiya  (0714436293 –Mr.Wanniarachchi) Transport 2 SUVs Activities Family trip Weather Excellent weather – sunny and bright Route Colombo -> Katunayaka Expressway -> along A3 -> Palavi -> Norochcholai -> […]

It was the period of heavy monsoons and we managed to find few days which was perfect to travel. On day one Kasun & I got together and headed towards Balangoda to try and do a complete copycat of Niroshans trip. After having breakfast from Balangoda we took the road towards Kalthota and at Tenjentenna took the carpet road to the right to reach Kuragala.

Little I knew about the mysterious mountain, which is quite close to my friend’s organic farm. Once he described about the caves with inscriptions, I was skeptical. All sorts of thoughts were running inside my head….. Would it be a new discovery? What kind of history would it unveil? Or are they simple inscriptions done by villagers? etc. I was eager to visit, but it kept on postponing for several months due to various reasons.

Back in October of 2011 I had this bright idea of cycling to Jaffna. The easiest way of doing this was to travel on the A9, but then again that would be so boring and the whole point of riding to Jaffna was not complete the journey from point A to point B but to enjoy journey and experience the solitude and the care free way of travel. The only road that meets my expectations is the Costal road; this road hugs the western coast line of Sri lank all the way to Jaffna!!

The North – East monsoons were setting in almost after two years so it was time to hunt some cascades around Dambethenna. There was an old trip report from Priyanjan which guided me through this adventure. I took a bus from Haputhale towards Dambetenna and got off at the tea factory. From here onwards my guide was the kmz file given by Priyanjan in his trip report. Better to refer that otherwise you would not see or find these beauties.

We left from Pasikuda around 11.30 a.m. and took A11 road towards Polonnaruwa. From Polonnaruwa we preceded to Minneriya & about 2 km after passing “Gunners Club”, we took the road in to right that leads to Kaudulla NP entrance & reached there at 2 p.m. & started to see the Museum established at the park entrance until our safari jeeps come from Minneriya NP