For years I have been passing Hunnasgiriya while going home from Monaragala and almost always I would not forget to have a glance at an unknown cascade plunging down Kunckles forest reserve. Repeatedly seen this cascade was enough to stimulate me. January 2016 needed an account opener and the best way of doing it was by hunting cascades.

Ritigala is the highest mountain of Nothern plane of Sri Lanka. It has significant archaeological and biological value.

The day I did the ‘Nil Diya Pokuna’ exploration, I was eager do the Kululangala too. Once I thought should have done with Nil Diya pokuna exploration, but this can be done in one shot (not on the same day). I buzzed trip partner, Kasun Janaka. He is always ready for adventures trips. So read the trip report by Ashan and called Methananda to check the weather. Everything was on the positive side. And also I remembered Kasun Des was telling about Budupatunna.

On 16th December I went to Athimale to find details about poor family in Athimale. I took Athimale bus from Pettah Bus Stand at 10.10 p.m. It reached Monaragala at 4.30 a.m. Again it leaves Monaragala to Athimale at 5.00 a.m. It reached Athimale at 6.15 a.m. After that I took three wheel to went to see that family. After get all information from that family I left Athimale from 9.30 a.m.

We went this tour 23-25 of December 2015 by intercity AC train which leaves Colombo Fort at 5.35am and reaches Jaffna at about 12.15pm. Seats can be reserved prior to 45days. Government servants eligible for 1st class warrents can also reserve this train.
Try to reserve as early as possible if you plan to travel in high season. Train journey is quick and really comfortable.

Year and Month 2014 November & 2015 June Number of Days 2 ( November 22 – 23 & June 28 – 29 ) Crew 25 – 30 (between 6-75 years of age) Accommodation Temple Premises Transport By hired Bus Activities Religious , Photography Weather Too Hot Route Colombo -> Dambulla -> Habarana -> Polonnaruwa -> […]

Minneriya National Park is one of our main tourists attraction for Elephants watching. This is my attempt to watch Elephants with a boat ride at Minneriya Lake.

This was going to be my last journey while I was at Monaragala. Our main target was a hot spring in Maduru Oya Park but unfortunately we had to turn towards plan B. We took off towards Henanigala entrance and to reach it we took the road bordering Ulhitiya – Rathkinda reservoirs starting from Mahiyangana – Maha oya road. The monsoons had started early this year so we were bit worried about the road conditions but fortunately it was not a big issue.

Wellawaya was not only a place of work for me it was also a paradise location for me to explore around. I have been to many places around this region but yet there were few more remaining sites that I needed to visit. This is a brief report on those..

I did the sensible thing on Ashan’s advice and hired a tuk-tuk. The driver was a friendly person called Ranga and we drove up to the last house where you have to start walking along an irrigation canal for about 400m. The path is now well paved and easy to reach the falls. We met one Mini Hydro Power Plant and Ranga informed that it is now redundant after the main power supply came to the area and he went onto say that the village used to have three such power plants. However all of them have been made redundant since the arrival of national grid. Hurrah!!! I felt like dancing.

We could also see the rocky hill where Kurullangala is. The memories of our back-breaking journey in the recent past sent a shiver down my back. Ranga said that there’s even a path from the top of the Wisari Ella to the Rakkiththakanda Cave Temple where we went last time before the hike. Project sites of Uma Oya could be seen in the distance and the water in the streams has turned into an unusual white color after the ammonia mixed with it as a result of tunnels dug out to take water for the Uma Oya Project. That was quite visible even to the naked eye.

Last month I heard about a missing news of Rev Thero Ellawala Medhananda and then I search information about this matter. Then I contacted a person in Thorawa and told him that I will come there as from Sunday Lankadeepa journalist. Without telling anything he was arranged every things for us. Then the chief theor of that temple Rev Sangananda and 04 of well experienced villagers has participated to our journey and they took the lead at all.

I started my journey the previous day morning, around 3am and after a mixed bag of a day, ended up here at Monaragala sleeping off the weariness of the journey. Well, that’s all about the previous day for now. You can read more about it and the next day in the next report. For now, let’s concentrate on the present and see where I’m gonna take you this time. Waterfalls – one of the sweetest words in English. My heart starts beating faster and leaps with joy every time I hear that word. “You look like the cat that got the milk”, my friends say when they see me. It’s something beyond a passion for me.

It was first week of Jan 2015 when I did my last waterfall hunt and since then there was nothing much when it comes to waterfalls. I had to be content with other attractions while the rains played havoc with all of us. The patterns of the rains have shot to hell making it extremely unreliable and unpredictable. Is it the El Nino or the Global Warming to be blamed? I’ve no idea but I can feel we are heading towards the hell if anything like that exists. If you don’t know what a hell really is, just listen to the Red Indian Leader Seattle for a second.