Outward bound:6.05 am train from Colombo Fort. A long long train which seemed to be going everywhere – Anuradhapura, Pollonaruwa, Batticaloa, Trincomalee…so make sure you sit in the correct carriage or your destination may change! Real great fun was watching the train ‘change tracks’ at the Polgahawela, Mahawa, etc. After the Anuradhapura carriages were detached, we suddenly found ourselves at the end of the train rather than the middle

The by-road started from the junction at Lunugala Police station, turned in to a hilly & narrow one within the first kilometer in distance. Condition of the road was acceptable because it had been repaired recently. Having climbing the hill, we came to a place known as Janathapura, a small village on a gap of two ranges of mountains. Janathapura was a three way junction. There were two roads at the western face of the range. (We came from the Eastern face).

This is actually a trip we went after reading Priyanjan’s post. We left Colombo on an evening to get to Bandarawela by night but unfortunately the bus broke down at Diyathalawa so we had a 4Km practice hike in the dark 🙂 We spent the night at Bandarawela rest house. Next day morning we left early and got in to a Poonagala bus which left Bandarawela at 7a.m, the route was through the tea estates and the view was also great

We met an elderly person and asked about climbing the Lakegala mountain. He said that season is not good for climbing Lakegala because of the strong wind. But we were not in a mood to give up the idea of climbing Lakegala. That night we camped in the jungle near Memure village. And it was a terrible night, because of heavy wind our tents were going to crash. We had to hold the tent most of the time.

We had breakfast and traveled back on the Thanamalwila road until we arrived at Buduruwagala junction (5Km from Wellawaya) from here it was 4Km towards Buduruwagala. We had to walk all the way because there weren’t any three-wheelers, but we never regretted. The walk was wonderful because we were able to enjoy the breath taking view of Buduruwagala Lake at sun rise. After about 1Km from the lake we reached Buduruwagala which was a very peaceful place in the dense forest.

We leave early in the morning from Colombo by car at around 6AM. Our destination for the first day was Haldummulla. On the way we went to Kiridi Ella at Palmadulla. But the waterfall is totally dry because of lack of rain.
Also on the way we saw the Surathalee ella at Halpe. There was some water in it. Because of this we have given up going to Bambarakanda falls.

Actually this was an official journey to Mahiyanganaya but we planned it out to perfection. We took the 11.45pm bus to Mahiyanganya (the bus was packed @10.45pm) and the journey was a long one and we never regretted the night journey because the road trough Hunnasgiriya was heavily under construction these days. After the bus tackled the 17 hair pin bends, it was time for us to get down at Gurulupotha. The time was 5.30a.m so we decided to have breakfast at a nearby Tea shop and started our journey towards the Seetha Kotuwa ruins at Gurulupotha (the path starts near to the Rest house).

We reached Medawachchiya by 4.00 am. From Medawachchiya to Vavunia, the road condition is not good mainly due to construction work. The stretch is only 26 km but it took nearly 1 ½ hours as the traffic is heavy and our car could not proceed at the same phase with majority of busses which came from all parts of the country. We reached Vavuniya by 5.30 am and proceeded straight to Omantai Army Check Point.By that time, dawn was arriving and we were surrounded by lot of vehicles going towards the same destination.

This trip report does not cover any really new sites…thought of writing it up to share some pictures and also as a thank you for all the information provided for this trip by Lakdasun. Its quite amazing how places we go so often can still turn up enjoyable surprises, and its also very nice to be able to visit areas which we did in our childhood but then were not so accessible till recently. The sea in the Yala area is not so safe, but the beach is really worth exploring. And if you know your zoology? Biology? It’s a tremendous advantage!

Drove from Colombo to Kandy, took the scenic route along Raja Mawatha, past Victoria, Randenigala and Rantambe reservoirs and along the Minipe canal to Mahiyanganaya. It was almost dark when leaving Mahiyanganaya after visiting the temple. From there to Rathkinda, we took a long route for the fear that the causeway at Ulhitiya might be flooded.

Started from Gampaha @ 4.30am in order to reach bandarawela before dusk knowing we had a long day before us. Was past kandy by 6.30am and padiyapelella by about 9am(road conditions were really bad). After getting directions from plenty of people, 1 person mentioned the above route (special remarks) which we decided to take. From padiyapelella took a road that led us to mathurata plantation tea estates to get to kurundu oya falls

The best time to visit these parks is during the drought season during July to September but usually yala is closed for visitors during the month of September so I thought of doing this trip on late August but then again when I checked with my contacts @ yala I came to know that this time the park will remain open so shifted my plans to September where the affects of the drought is much more severe so our chances of sighting leopards is @ high.