Kawudagala/Small quoin is a rock situated at Polonnaruwa-Welikanda area. It has good archaeological value.

So this was a learning curve for Ana and his team when they explored possible materials for marking the path to the summit of Namunukula (NMK). We discarded the idea of Polythene and Laminated Sheets as they too would ultimately add to this ever-growing collection of waste which the Mother Nature can’t digest. We discarded the idea of using those aerosol cans for paint the rocks to mark the path too. As it’d ruin the beauty of the nature and those toxic ingredients in them might harm the tiny species. After a lot of deliberation, we decided on wood. Yeah, the best option given the circumstances as it is environmentally-friendly, long-lasting and easy to find. To make it blend with the environment (not to camouflage, mind you), Ana had them painted in green.

To make it more useful, he added some environmental messages on to them with a picture of an eagle with piercing eyes to inform that we’re watching your dirty work if you happen to litter, poison or harm the Mother Nature. So he got together with one of his longtime friends, Stefan (the fella who conquered Kurullangala with us), Deepani (another environmental enthusiast cum veterinary) and his one of daughters for this venture. Sadly I’d made prior arrangements with Hasi for another journey, not a conservation project, thus missing this journey.

After tackling Bopaththalawa in the morning we decided to head towards the elusive Dell Mountain. I saw this mountain for the first time when I was hiking Great western 6 years back and ever since that I have been staring at it on my successful attempts to Adams peak.

We were planning to use a car and a van for the trip, but when I contacted Ashan, he discouraged the car. So we exchanged the car to a cab.
The van was from a cab service and naturally came late. The cab went early and reached Fishing Hut by mid day enabling my sons and grandsons to have a dip in Battulu Oya before lunch.

I didn’t able to go for camping or hike since my last camping trip in HP because of bad weather. Then the rain season stopped in Badulla area. So I planned to visit Namunukula and camp there. I waited for this hike for long time. On the 1st day morning my brother and I went haputhale station and took night mail train to badulla.

I planned this type of trip after seeing Thinuwan’s Night hike, he did it on 2012. So I decided to have this experience.
We left from Kottawa at 8.30pm by our motor bikes a came to the Kalupahana junction at 12.15pm. After that we went to the Bambarakanda fall and parked our bikes over there and started our NIGHT HIKE at 12.30pm.

Ella Rock is more popular among foreigners than locals, I can safely say. Almost all the foreigners who visit Sri Lanka go to Ella (they pronounce it as Ela rather than Ella with double Ls). It’s said that Ella is among the three mostly visited places in Sri Lanka by the foreigners after Dalada Maligawa and Pinnawala. Climbing Ella Rock was (before our journey) said to be a relatively easier task and there was no guide needed. So we too decided to attempt it without a guide. I don’t usually like to do any hike without a guide as the pros always outweigh the cons of having a guide even though we have to pay him some money. I believe it is money well-spent as those people who guide us will learn to protect those environmental treasures instead of trying to make easy money by destroying them.

Now to find the correct trail to the Ella Rock. Please follow this and you’re not going to miss your way. Walk past Kital Ella Station (when coming from Ella) and continue for about 300m until you find a road to your left hand side. It’s not quite prominent when coming along the railway line so keep an eye out for it. It’s just a gravel (rather earth) road and take it and after a 50-100 meters it’ll cross the stream that feeds the Ravana Ella (not the Bambaragama Ella found on Ella-Wellawaya Road) with a concrete bridge. You can of course see the Ravana Ella when coming from Ella towards Kital Ella. Now just follow this road all the way to the summit. Fairly straight forward, isn’t it? It’s about 2-3km moderate hike to the Ella Rock.

I knew about these caves from Niroshan’s trip report and I thought to explore these caves. The actual name of this cave complex is “Rotupihilla Limestone Caves”. There are five main caves and those are situated in different places.

Objectives of this trip were to visit at famous view points of Haputhale and Koslanda and camping at Pilkington point of Punagala. I have been at Pilkington point and Millennium point 7 years ago but it was a gloomy day.

I wanted to do something new so decided to go through Google maps and thought of heading towards Bogawanthalawa on a Saturday morning with Chamara. First day we had a failed attempt on Kotagala mountain which we only managed 60%. So after a tiring attempt we decided to call it a day and we lodged at Bogawanthalawa.

As soon as you hear the name Sri Pada, there’s this calm and soothing sensation which goes through your system as if a nice cool flow of water through a parched throat. That mountain is so special even her namesake alone is enough to make us feel reinvigorated. I don’t think there exists any such mountain in the whole wide world that has been worshipped and visited as much as this despite her location in a tiny out of the way island in the Indian Ocean with nothing below it until the frozen Antarctic Glaciers. This is very special and it further proves by it being chosen to leave the footprint of one of the most respected and enlightened philosopher that walked on this earth some 2600 years ago, Gautama Buddha.

Since then, this has been worshipped by millions of devotees every year between Dec (Unduwap Poya) and May (Vesak Poya). However the situation has become a bit alarming due to the unprecedented crowds that gather to visit and worship the sacred footprint every year. If you were following the media (and supposing they were reporting the truth), there were reports of some 800,000 people visiting on long weekends and somewhere in April that figure rose to some 1.5 million. There were so many who were planning to go from Hatton but due to the large number of people ultimately ended up climbing from Kuruwita. Just imagine the plight of those people who were only prepared for an easy ride of 4-5km yet were forced to do 12+km. Most of them had been in tears by the time they had reached Galwangediya.

Diyaluma (220m) is the second highest waterfall in Sri Lanka and its situated at Beragala-Wellawaya road. Turn right from the Beragala junction and proceed about 23km to the waterfall.