That was last May, one of my closer Moratuwa University friend Tharanga(At present he is a Civil Engineer in Singapore) sent me an e-mail mentioning that he would come to Sri Lanka for his vacation & please find a real place for resting & stress releasing as he was very busy with technology in heavy construction sites at Singapore.

A week end trip to Kalpitiya was planned as a family vacation. The main attraction was the dolphins but some detours to see interesting sites on the way were also in the itinerary.
We started around 4.00 am on a Saturday – just 3 of us in our car. En route to Palavi along A3, we visited the Munnewaram Kovil in Chilaw. The Munnewaram Hindu Kovil has many little shrines within the main complex; dedicated to various Hindu deities. Photography is not allowed inside the kovil.

We started from Colombo at 6.00 a.m. in the morning. Had morning Tea at Hingula and stopped for lunch at Loggal-oya. We reached Bulupitiya Junction [22km from Bibile town] around 3.00 p.m.
Few of us decided to walk [10km to the camp site from Bulupitiya Junction] watching birds and butterflies as older people and few others decided to go by the tractor. We reached the camp site by 6.00 p.m. We saw few birds and heard the “Painted Francolin” as well. Few Jumbos were there too close to the camp site.

On the 24th of December three of us got up early morning & went to Galle railway station at 0645 am to catch “Ruhunu Kumari.At about 0900am we reached to Colombo & got a bus to Galenbindunaweva from Colombo central bus stand. After completing a six hours travel we reached to Muriyakadawala at about 0300pm.Then asked the route to the Labunoruwa monastery from a villager. He was more polite & showed us the path. We had to travel about 03km to reach the entrance of the forest

It was Independence Day so we decided to get in to the wilderness and enjoy our day. We started our journey form Colombo at around 8.30am(planned time was 6.30am and when we came to Kitulgala it was already 12 noon. After buying lunch we came to the famous bathing spot behind the rest house to cross over the Kelani river, the sight was unbelievable their were like million Homo sapiens. Anyhow we crossed over to the peaceful opposite bank and the charge was 20/= per person.

This was a hike that we were planning to do since few months back, but lack of information was the main problem. At last we decided to this however, so on Friday we got into a Hatton bus at around 4pm and left to Bogawanthalawa but because we got late we decided to stay somewhere in Hatton(Hatton has many small places offering lodging services). Next day early morning (6am) we left to Bogawanthalawa & from there took a three-wheeler up to North-cove Cabana at around 9am. The Cabana was a wonderful place; we loved the place a lot. The caretaker was helpful in finding some guides who were Gem miners & we are thankful for the hospitality showed by the young assistant manager of the estate who we bumped into by chance!

It was 5.30 in the morning when we left this time and we never expected it to be a tiring day! Our plan was to visit all known Waterfalls around Uda-Maliboda. On the way to Deraniyagala we had a stop at Maha Oya which flows by the road and searched for the beauty called Thalkossa and yes we saw them and other Barbs and Dandi also! When we reached Deraniyagala our attention was taken away by the bus halt there were so many Vans parked, those were the only available transport for the people around Deraniyagala but from Deraniyagala to Awissawella there are buses until 8pm. From Deraniyagala we took the Noori route and after-wards we arrived at a junction where we took the right turn towards Maliboda via Nakkavita.

The event was organized as the 6th event of Adventure Sri Lanka flickr travel and photography group. As planed we left Colombo around 2 in the morning after going through few unexpected things on transport (Unfortunately it continued). We were travelling in three vans with 21 members of Adventure Sri Lanka group soon joined by three other members by a car at Seeduwa around three in the morning. We all started going towards Kalpitiya. On the way we looked for a place to get a short breakfast and tea.

Bundala National Park is an internationally important wintering ground for migratory water birds in Sri Lanka. Bundala harbors 197 species of Birds, the highlight being the Greater Flamingo(WHICH IS NOT SEEN RECENTLY), which migrate in large flocks. Bundala was designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1969 and redesignated to a national park on 4 January 1993. In 1991 Bundala became the first wetland to be declared as a Ramsar site in Sri Lanka. In 2005 the national park was designated as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO, the fourth biosphere reserve in Sri Lanka.

We booked the Luxury AC bus in advance and it starts near Isipathana College and costs 4000 Rupees Return. (Believe me it’s worth every cent we paid)
We went there by 9.30PM although bus starts at 10PM they checked IDs and then we packed our bags in to bags compartment in the bus. Bus left around 11PM. The bus is super luxury with reclining seats and headrest. But the bus has seal type windows.

We wanted to leave Colombo as early as possible but it didn’t start too well. We could only leave Colombo by 9.00am, its bit of a strange time compared to what I am used to. But it’s the way when you are travelling with a little one. We managed to drive without any major stops until Lellopitiya where we had stopped for lunch. First major target attraction was Kirindi Ella falls. The turn off for Kirindi Ella is just about 200m before the Pelmedulla town on to your left.

This time we got it all wrong we got in to a Badulla bus from Colombo and without getting off at Balangoda we got down from Pambahinna and had to take a three-wheeler up to Mulgama which was about 18Km but never the less the journey through the Samanala Wewa forest part was a totally different experience, we also had a stop to enjoy the view of Samanala Wewa. On the way to Mulgama We noted a huge water-flow across the road which was leaking through the mountain, now this is the famous leak of Samanala project, as we heard this water leak runs through a mountain which borders the reservoir.