This was my second attempt to walk along Mahaweli River and we started from Mahiyangana.

Medirigiriya (මැදිරිගිරිය) is located closer to Polonnaruwa and it has few tourist attractions. When you visit at Polonnaruwa you can pay a visit at Medirigiriya as well.

Yakdessagala is a mountain situated at Kurunegala district closer to Kurunegala town. It is said Kuweni (කුවේණි) cursed king Wijaya (විජය) from Yakdessagala and leaped from here. As Kuweni belonged to Yaksha (යක්ෂ), this peak is called Yakdessagala.

Previously I did hike from Kalupahana to Ohiya on foot and I wanted to do this on my jeep but I never planned to attempt this in 2015. All started when my friend Dharshana called me and said “machan must go somewhere because I haven’t been anywhere in 8 months”. He had been stuck with his PG degree so was desperate and this was the main reason why we did this plus Amila also joined us on the last moment.

The day I saw this expedition on Lakdasun (by Dhammika), I really wanted to do this. But, after reading trip report, I was scared. After doing some research and watching the documentary from ITN (Wenasa), I decided to take the risk, but I don’t want to go alone. I wanted at-least 5 mates, I was sure that Kasun Janaka will join. I have several trips with him. Another mate was Kasun Priyashantha.

So, we start our journey without having our breakfast. First up all we should walk from the top of the tea estate behind the railway station. It is about 250m from ths retail shop. Then we have to downward from the area to the forest. The forest (Hela) is fulfill with trees and rocks. We have to go down by catching the branches. Sometimes you might get fallen due to the ground instability.

Mahaweli River exploration is one of my dream trips. Mahaweli River flows from Hortain plains and ends at Trincomale. If someone wants to go along the river (by boat or foot) it is possible only from Mahiyangana (මහියoගණය) to Trincomale. From Central hills to Mahiyangana, the river is guarded by major reservoirs.
During dry season (especially August and September) it has low water level.
My friend Siraj suggested me to walk along the River from Manampitiya as he has noticed the river with low water level when he visited to Thummodara (තුම්මෝදර).

After hectic 3 months of studies and few “ordinary relaxing trips with family” I finally had little precious time to do some explorations. But as most us well aware that next difficult thing in planning a hike is finding partners. As I was free only on week days I decided to hike all alone. Then I needed to find a suitable place to hike as a lone trekker. I remembered Adara Kanda and contacted Ashan ayya, and got to know that the trail is well cleared and can do by myself.

The long weekend at the end of July was long awaited as it’s the only long weekend for 2015 until Christmas. We planned a train trip to up-country with cousins, an annual event during August school holidays. However for the 31st the train was fully booked so we had to reserve the train for the 30th – which gave us a bonus day to enjoy the cool climes.

Becoming an archaeologist had always been my dream and together with my like-minded friend Minol Peiris we contacted Dr. Nimal Perera of the Department of Archaeology to get our hands dirty on an archaeological dig. Dr. Perera encouraged us and said that he is currently heading the excavations of the Demala Maha Seya in Polonnaruwa and invited us to join.

Two years back I worked at Inginiyagala hospital and one day I came across a retired DWC officer who is well known because of the newspaper articles he wrote about Gal oya national park. Somehow we became friends and one day he mentioned about a special cave close to Mulgama where Vedda paintings could be found.

Yakkuragala was an isolated mountain with height situated in Dambulla area in between Dambulla-Matale (A9) and Dambulla-Bakamuna (බකමූණ) roads. As it has no archeology or historical importance, no body tries to climb it. Locals only visit there to pluck “Gal Siyambala”. Later I knew they also miss their return pathway once they reach the mountain.

Villagers believe “Yak Ura’s” (‍යක් ඌරා)-Devil Pig’s footsteps can be seen on the mountain. Therefore it is called Yakkuragala. But actual Yakkuragala is situated closer to the main Mountain.