Few years back after the war there were some terrifying incidents in the East especially about vandalism of Archaeology sites by local ethnic population. One of those sites was Sagama Pagoda that was bulldozed and destroyed which lit up a big ethnic issue at that time. I thought it would be nice if I could visit this area and try to explore these sites to give the needed awareness. As always the Book of Ellawala Medananda thero was my guide. So me and my wife left towards Pottuvil early as possible to have some breakfast before initiating a hectic adventure.

Year and Month Jun, 2015 Number of Days 2 Crew Ana, Atha, Prasa, D and Me Accommodation Bambarakanda Rest Transport By Train, on foot and by Van Activities Hiking, Photography, Relaxing, etc… Weather Excellent (Gloomy towards the evening) Route Colombo->Ohiya by Night Mail. Ohiya->Bambarakanda on foot. Bambarakanda->Ohiya by Van. Ohiya->Colombo by Train. Tips, Notes and […]

I have been recently stuck with around the clock duty for 1 ½ months and I finally decided that I needed a break and the best way to relax things off was a hike and as usual I wanted to introduce a new location. There were many peaks in my long list but this time I wanted to do one with a superb view and after some map reading sessions I did plan out everything perfectly.

he planning for our cycling adventure began early May 2014 and when I suggested to my friend Dhanushka, he was totally in despite not knowing what we were about to experience. We knew it would be a hard ride especially ascending 6000 feet on bicycles. Preparation stage included servicing the bicycles and getting them ready for the long tour.

Haputhale is a beautiful city with great attractions like Liption’s seat, Adisham’s Bunglow, Waterfalls and etc. I really enjoyed the cool climate and natural beauties of the city.

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.