Sinhala New Year is a special time of the year and we decided to spend the holiday in a relaxing way but as usual we ended up loitering around. Early morning we reached Kurunegala and headed towards Ridi viharaya which is one of the most famous sites in this region because of its archaeology value.

Time to solve a mystery and this time it was a success. Uma oya falls was another mysterious fall marked on Sri Lanka road map just like Galagama falls. Somehow with the help of Priyanjan I did locate it on Google earth and paying a visit was the next step. I have been loitering around Badulla for some time now and on two other occasions I did cover up few places around Badulla, Bandarawela & Wiyaluwa.

We got into 14th Saturday night mail from Colombo and reached Idalgashinna station at about 4.30am with chilling cold. After inquiring about climbing pathway we headed to the mountain around 6.30am. It was a brightened day and surrounding view was beautiful. First we climbed up through the tea estate and reached the end of the tea patch where Pinus trees start. There was no foot pathway within the Pinus forest. After about fifteen minutes we reached the second highest point where it provides good view towards Koslanda, Beragala, Haldummulla and Belihuloya.

Early morning weather was good but upper peaks were slightly covered with mist. But surrounding was misty on our way up and we reached the camp site around 3.00pm. For hard luck we couldn’t have any of the pictures I showed in above report. We pitched our tent and prepared our dinner. It was extreme windy on top of second peak and it was a sleepless night.

We started the journey on May 3rd around 4 AM. At around 11 AM we were able to reach Hunnasgiriya. On the way at Mawanella we had our breakfast. It took more than half an hour to reach last 8 Km since the road is in bad condition. But we are able to tackle it with high ground clearance car. We showed our pass to officer in Deanston and directly heading to campsite which is about 2 KM away with our backpacks, tents and gas-cooker.

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.

Seeing the country from the highest point in Sri Lanka has been in my wish list for a long time. A holiday at Nuwara Eliya in April saw us heading towards Pidurutalagala one sunny morning. At 2525 metres, Pidurutalagala is the tallest mountain in Sri Lanka. The climb to the top is now easy as it is motorable but the summit point is out of bounds unless prior permission has been obtained. The check point at the base allows vehicles to the top in an orderly manner to prevent overcrowding at the summit.

This is when Ana called and asked if I would like to join him for a hike. Well, this is what you call being lucky and without so much as a second thought I jumped in. Well what would you do if it turned out to be a journey which you had done twice before within the last year? I don’t think many would have been fancy to take on that offer but not me. I don’t mind visiting the same place over and over again because everytime it’s a different experience. After all, we eat the same thing again and again, do the same boring things day after day so why not see and visit the same place every now and then, I keep asking myself. So when he suggested to do the Kirigalpoththa Trail once again (for the third time within a year), I felt elated quite different from many others.

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.

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.

Year and Month 2015 March 16th Number of Days One Day Crew 02-Nirosh and Niroshan Accommodation Uma Guest House-Uwa Thanna (Previous day night) Transport By bus and then climbing Activities Mountain climbing and Photography Weather Excellent Route Kalupahana( කලුපහන ) -> Beragala (බෙරගල) -> Back to Colombo Tips, Notes and Special remark Start the journey […]

We stayed the night at Panwila guest house and started the journey from there around 5.30am. By 6.15am we reached Thawalanthanna and kept our unnecessary stuff at Thilaka stores to start the journey. Three wheel driver agreed to bring us for another 1km along the gravel road and then started walking. (There is a foot pathway to cut this distance). Knuckles Mountain was clearly visible without mist covering.