It was a two day trip to beautiful Kotmale with its lush greenery, paddy fields and mountains and more importantly because Kotmale is steeped in history and tales of the past making it a very interesting place to visit.

The moment I read Bambarakanda trail reports on Lakdasun, the adventurer inside me kept saying “wanna go, wanna go, wanna go” like a mantra. So I tried to get a friend or two to join me but in the end I was left alone with no one to join me. Since I’ve already been to N’Eliya and around all on my own before, I thought of doing this too all on my own

This time we went on camping at Maha Eliya and climb Thotupola Kanda. Originally we planned a hike to Kirigalpoththa but due to time constraints and weather conditions we climbed Thotupola

One friend Tharaka out of blue moon asked if I would join with him for a trip to Handapanagala. I immediately wanted to know who was going as I’m always wary of people who go on trips as I consider myself more reserved and a nature lover than someone who goes on trips just to drink and waste time. However, after Tharaka’s repeated assurances that the crowd was ok, I was willing. Another reason was Handapanagala is very famous for its tank and the possibility of seeing my favorite elephants was very high.

We stopped at Wahalkada in Warakapola for breakfast. This turned out to be an excellent one. They serve buffet (a bit expensive – but once in a while on a day like this, it’s worth going for something like that) breakfast with a wide range of meals such as Egg Hoppers, String Hoppers, Rice and Curry, Rotii, etc… However, they serve Kenda which was one of the very best I’ve ever had.

It has been a while since I have visited few waterfalls, so on a Sunday I decided to have a quick tour around Rathnapura following Inter-monsoon showers. This quick trip was planned within 4 hours on the previous night of the journey. While planning was going on I gave a call to see whether Lahiru (another waterfall fan) was available and he was ever so ready for another waterfall hunt. At around 6am we met up at Avissawella and started on our quest in search of cascades which we mapped out on the previous day.

So it was 7 in the morning when we got off the bus at Mawanella with a crew of three, had our breakfast and hired a three wheeler to Uthuwankanda junction (1.5km from Mawanella), turned right at the junction to Uthuwam Mawatha. It is possible to travel in a vehicle along this road to get closer to the destination but since we needed to see the surroundings we started our journey on foot from the junction, after about 1km turned left to a concrete paved way which was heading toward Saradiyel Gala and about 500m ahead we found the trail head.

Buddama was a place I have never heard before until I was posted there for few months, this rural area of Monaragala district boarders the southern boundaries of Gal Oya National park. Most of the population has the same surname called Dissanayake Mudiyanselage indicating that most of them had been related to the ancestors Wellassa rebellion that fled to the valleys of Gal Oya and they are farmers by occupation.

“Dreams do come true” Finally after six months of planning and just before the monsoons the target was achieved. Maragalakanda may be an unheard unknown mountain for most of the travellers, so let me give a brief description on it. This 1111m tall mountain with four main peaks is located in the dry zone (Monaragala) of Sri Lanka and is one of those tall mountains isolated from the main central belt. It together with Monara gala, Athgala range & Uppukota forms a circle of peaks.

Since my friends and I had some free time amid closed universities, we decided to seek some adventure: a hike that was in our minds for a long time, an off season journey to Adam’s peak and we chose Kuruwita-Erathna trail.

My kids school vacation is almost end and I was busy with my new job unable to take them for this holiday but luckily I was able to get some off days on the long weekend of Binara poya. After reading so many beautiful trip reports from Lakdasun I was forced by myself to take my kids out of our routine destinations (Nuwara Eliya or a Down south hotel) to show them the beauty of mother Lanka and to make them love with the nature.

This was a very well planned trip as our friend Lasantha’s home town is Welimada. We decided to pay a visit to his place and visit many other places. This came as a blessing having toiled night and day at office for nearly 2 months. So Roshan, Buddhi and I got into “Podimenike” leaving for Badulla at 5.55 am from Fort on 07 July. Lasantha was to meet us at Welimada.