This is my 2nd Trip report. I had good feedbacks for my 1 trip report. When I’m reading trip reports of Havagala, I thought I will do this hike one day. When I’m doing Adarakanda Hike I planned my next camping trip. It was Havagala. I planned to do this hike on 2nd and 3rd of May. There was a long weekend so I came home and prepared for the upcoming Adventure.

Ever since the legendary Yal Devi was re-launched we wanted to visit the Peninsular by train but decided to wait a few months till the rush settled – especially during school holidays. Finally the dates were fixed for Friday 27th Feb – Sunday 1st March and train reservation was made. As it was not a long weekend booking both ways was not a problem.

When we visited Mannar in 2014 we took the route through Thantirimale and on our way we did note many Black archeology boards. Since we skipped on Thantirimale during that visit we thought of loitering around Oyamaduwa while the north east monsoons were ending its all island havoc. We knew that Thantirmale was a huge site with an endless rocky plateau so we left home very early and reached Thantirimale at around 6.40am.

During the last few years, majority of my excursions were around the central hills where the cool climates and breathtaking scenery of the tea country made me irresistible. Having so much left to explore in the other regions of the country, especially in the northern half, I decided to break the shackles and witness the unmatched beauty of the lagoon paradise, Jaffna peninsula. It was the first day of the “extra long” first weekend of February and at 5.30 am two of us were in the car heading towards Puttalam for a 5 day tour to Jaffna, the longest so far!

It was Vesak holidays and I wanted to visit some temples just like I did in 2013. Though I have been to Tinco as a kid I have not properly explored this region. So after some intensive planning with the aid of online and offline literature I was all set for this 2015 Vesak expedition. We knew that this was going to be a tough one especially with the extreme heat but we were up to the task. The added advantage was that every Buddhist temple was decorated for Vesak and it was easy to locate. The disadvantage was that it was too crowded since it was a long holiday.

The structure that houses the Samadhi Buddha was nearby and from the distance we could see the resemblance. There was another archeological officer mowing the courtyard with a hoe. I ran to the front of the building and stopped in midair when I saw this majestic thing. The most notable thing being the broken nose from the bridge towards the nostrils. Except that this resembled the Samadhi Buddha we know at Mahamewna Uyana. I forgot all about the warning that was given by the other officer not taking any pictures and started shooting away. The one cleaning the garden came and stood watching us but didn’t say a word. I then remembered the warning and looked at the officers sheepishly hoping they wouldn’t fly off the handle coz there were many incidents like that as well in the past. They didn’t utter a word, instead looked at me, rather us, surprisingly as if they couldn’t believe our presence.

Travelling the Delft, the largest island of Sri Lanka is dated on final day of my travel. There is a boat service which commence from “Kurikadduwan” jetty for this and our intention was to left from the first boat which started at 8.30 am. According to that three of us left from house very early and other guys join with us from Jaffna.

Year and Month 1-2 Apr 2015 Number of Days 2 Crew Only Me Accommodation Daya’s Place, Keeriyagaswewa. Transport By Train, Bus, Tuk-Tuk and on Foot Activities Archaeology, Photography, Hiking, etc… Weather Excellent. Route Day 01Nugegoda->Colombo Fort->Aukana->Res Vehera->Kekirawa>Keeriyagaswewa.  Day 02  Keeriyagaswewa->Kekirawa->Colombo. Tips, Notes and Special remark The Udaya Devi leaves Colombo Fort at 6.05am. Niroshan is […]

Ah I was just back after a long awaited visit to Trinco and was scanning through Google earth in and around Trinco area when I suddenly noticed an island close to Vakare and immediately I fell in love with it. The desire was so much that I decided to visit it during the coming weekend and Amila & Nalinda agreed on that idea

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.

This was my first ever visit to Mannar and one of the most awaited trips. Initially I wanted to join Niroshan on his Mannar journey but had skipped it because of my wedding. Though I missed out on it I did a good copycat journey. For further information on locations please do read his report. This will be more of a picture report.

The drive to wettambuyaya was quite effortless. The road via udawalawe is in good condtion, thanks to Ashan’s and suneth’s info via lakdasung we managed contact Ajith who is the contact person to take us to wettambuyaya, not even the local villages there are familiar with this place or its value. the service of guide is a must as there is about 6-8KM distance from the main road to “wettambugala” in “wettambuyaya”.