It was few months back when I saw a lovely documentary on Derana TV which was done by Chatura Alwis. The documentary featured a mountain called Dhanigala and its temple. Though I had been to the temple in 2013 I couldn’t explore the region much and this documentary made me recall a forgotten expedition.

Pada Yathra is an annual walk of devotees from Jaffna to Katharagama to worship God Kataragama. Majority of devotees walk from Okanda through Kumana and Yala National Parks. This is my experience of a volunteer medical camp to help devotees at Yala NP.

Just a brief word on HP, especially its buildings inside as most of you might not be aware of her past. Apart from the Farr Inn and the Anderson Lodge which were built by the English Planters during colonial era, all the other structures are results of the mega potato farm that saw HP lose most of her forest making it this grassy plain. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, well I’ll leave your capable thinking to decide. So these buildings had been used as storage for potatoes and fertilizers, staff quarters and other purposes. If you visit the Moon Plains where they still have a government-owned seed potato farm, you can get an idea what it must’ve been at HP before being named as a wildlife park.

So we planned alternative options to visit on the way and I was long overdue for a visit to Moon Plains and so was Hasi. We then planned to be there by 6.30am in order to get the best out of the morning rays. Hasi then came up with the idea of visiting Single Tree Hill aka One Tree Hill, the 10th highest mountain in SL with a height of 2100m. So that sealed the first day and we decided to reach HP afterwards. On the 25th Jun, we left home around 3am and having made excellent ground arrived at Nuwara Eliya by 6.10am.

Then this is not just an ordinary trip report which I used to write with details of places visited and other related information. It has more educational value, especially for school children. Victoria was one of the mega structures in those days. But most of us not much aware about the interesting story behind this mega project.

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.

Year and Month 11-12 Jun, 2016 Number of Days 2 Crew Hasi, His Wife, Gayan, His Wife and Me Accommodation Heenwewa Bungalow Transport By Car & Safari Jeep. Activities Safari, Photography, Sightseeing, Wildlife, etc… Weather Excellent. Route Colombo->Kottawa->Matara along Highway->Tissa->Yala and return on the same route. Tips, Notes and Special remark Remember first and foremost […]

I hope you liked the new version of report which I’ve introduced which sort of told you the story of our wildlife, especially the plight of them in Wilpattu thanks to a Government Minister who’d taken the law into his hands destroying many acres of precious lands belonging to the buffer zone of Wilpattu by giving it to his supporters. It’s just pathetic the way things happen even though the Ministry of Environment is under the President himself. We also saw how they started building Mini Hydro Power Plants at Handagiriya destroying many more cascades very recently. It’s just so saddening to see the people who’ve been elected to safeguard these things help destroy them for monetary benefits. I hope they will soon see the erroneous ways they’ve been handling our natural resources and get back on track to protect them. However the million dollar question is, “Will it be too late?”.

So, just like that journey, I’m going to plunge straight into business and leave the fairy tale stuff aside. I’m sure the story of the wildlife in Kumana, the farthest away from Colombo, is much more interesting than my vivid imagination. However, just a bit of foreplay wouldn’t be too much to bear I suppose. Well, the newest of our crazes has become the wildlife, probably due to the less appealing states of my beloved waterfalls. Thankfully Hasi too shares the same taste and ever since Wilpattu, we’ve started to manic chase of our wildlife.

Year and Month May, 2016 Number of Days 3 Days Crew 6 Accommodation Wildlife Department Bungalow – Heenwewa, Yala NP Transport Hired Jeep  / Jeep Activities Safari / Photography / Wild Life Weather Excellent Route Kottawa -> Southern Expressway -> Matara -> Thissamaharama -> Palatupana -> Kottawa Tips, Notes and Special remark It’s better to […]

There had been some discussions with Ashan, me and Nishan to do a Mega journey starting from Bambarella and reach KMP at Kalupahana then climb Thunhisgala and descend to Pallegama by exploring Duwili eli. Although I had been to Duwili Eli once from Etanwala, Thunhisgala was a dream for me. Ashan and Amila went for a two day hike to Thunhisgala but I couldn’t join them as I couldn’t take leave from my work place. So I missed their journey.

We stay 2 day’s in Mathale & next day morning we went to our next destination – Mawanella. On the way we visited Dalada Maligawa , Kadugannawa Railway Museum , Dowson Tower & Kadugannawa Mawela Viharaya.

Schedule is same. Early morning we started our walking & we visited places until 12.00 noon. After that we went to water cannel & having bath. We took lunch & went to room for little rest. Around 3.00 p.m we started our walking until 6.30 – 7.00 p.m.

Year and Month 23-24 Jan 2016 Number of Days 2 Crew Hasitha, Gayan and Me + Wildlife Tracker and Our Jeep Driver Senevi Accommodation Manawila Wildlife Bungalow Transport By Car and Jeep Activities Wildlife, Photography, Relaxing, etc… Weather Excellent but some showers in the afternoon on the first day. Route Colombo->Puttalam->Saliyawewa->Wilpattu National Park and back […]