Kukuluwa Temple is situated on top of Nirieli Kanda නිරිඇලි කන්ද (1500feet) in Rathnapura District at Ayagama (අයගම) area. There are three pathways to reach this temple; two of them are foot pathways. Even along other road also needs a good four wheel vehicle to reach the temple. Climbing to this temple is a nice experience and it reminds me the Kuruwita trail of Sri Pada. There for I decided to share my experience with others.

It’s such an amazing sight to watch them and one would never get tired of watching, no matter how many times they come across, this wonderful creature. It’s even more wonderful when you get to see them in their natural habitat such as the wild life parks and forests. Lately, I was itching to go see as many of them as possible and when Sheham came up with the idea of visiting Maduru Oya I kept jumping up and down till I was exhausted.

After a long journey we were finally almost on top. We reached an opening about 100ft below the summit where it gave a 180-degree panoramic view. This is where you can get the best view more than even the summit coz the summit point is covered to a certain extent by trees. We rested our tortured legs and had our energy bars and drinks giving us a boost for the rest of the day. I took hundreds of pics and managed to get Tony to do a short documentary too.

Waterfalls of southern border of Sinharaja rain forest and Neluwa can be classified as follows Waterfalls in Neluwa (4) – Thapolena Ella 1, Thapolena Ella 2, Neluwa/Kosmulla Duwili Ella, Thambalagama Duwili Falls, Waterfalls in Warukandeniya (3) – Aliboda Falls, Ratawal dola Ella (? Beraliyadola Ella), Beraliya Galanda Ella, Waterfalls in Lankagama (6) – Classic five waterfalls and Hathbinna Ella, Waterfalls in Pitadeniya (3)-Malmora Ella, Pathan Oya Ella/Wathugala Ella and Kakuna Ella.

We reached the Pahiyangala Temple around 6.30am and it was a fine morning with lots of cloud cover and sun fighting to pierce through them to lighten the world. We climbed the steps to the cave complex. Though there were only about 100 or so steps to climb, it was still a bit hard to swallow in the morning and we were panting by the time we arrived at the mouth of the place.

It had the typical ancient look about it but when I looked around, I was aghast. There were so many writings along the rocky wall. Now don’t get excited coz they’re nothing to do with the ancient value of the place but the stupid works by the idiotic tourists (no doubt locals). What a waste! It was so frustrating to see how much they have wretched this place. Having boiled our blood in the morning wasn’t going to help our cause so I tried to keep my cool and see around for some interesting captures. Covered in a hall like complex lies a giant Buddha Statue. It was so huge and looking very serene and all my worries and uneasiness vanished into thin air. To make it better, there was this small monk clearing the dead flowers on the stand in front and I took a nice pic of him standing in front of Lord Buddha.

I have to do a confession before writing this trip report. This trip was arranged by Sri with Some other lakdasun members on 23rd Saturday using Sri’s old Strategy, Face book conversations. I had notified my absence In advance as I had to report duty on Saturday. But I was free on 22nd Friday. Due to various reasons most of the other members also confirmed their absence expect the little boy Tony. So that trip was postponed.

It was a while since we walked around, so both of us decided to visit Dambadeniya and return back before dawn. Though Dambadeniya was not far from Chilaw we had to take 5 buses to reach there ;-D . Our main target was a famous rock called “Waduwa ketu gala” which has an interesting folklore. I never thought this could be climbed until one of our fellow Lakdasun members climbed it. So Lahiru was the one who gave me all the information I wanted before attempting this steep climb.

It was a longtime dream of mine to tackle the devil staircase. But because most of the travels went by 4×4’s on this road I was a bit skeptical how my vehicle, which is a 2wd(RWD) would perform. So on our way back from Horton planes we decided to travel via this road. Luckily there weren’t many landslides which could have made our journey more difficult. But the mist did block our view of the beautiful sceneries.

I have been closely following the topic “Nelu” since it first started appearing in the forum late October and with every report and every photograph the desire to see Nelu was becoming too irresistible. Moreover, the fact that the next sighting of Nelu will be in 2025 made this trip a “must do now”. Do not know where we would be in 2025 – grave yard/ hospital bed etc…etc??

Madakada proposed reserve spreads to 400hectaer. There are two peaks in this forest named as Nambapana-නම්බපාන (296m) and Sapugaha Kanda-සපුගහ කන්ද (203m). Nambapana water stream/ Nambapana Ela-නම්බපාන ඇල flows from Labugama-ලබුගම area and flows through this forest reserve and join with Kalu River (කලු ගග). It is commonly named as Nachchimale Dola (නාච්චිමලේ දොල).

We managed to reach Padiyapelalla via Kandy and Hanguranketha by about noon but the road condition was bad due to the road constructions that were taking place at that time.It was gloomy and raining in the morning which made us scared of a trip spoiled by rain. From Padiyapelalla we went to MA Eco bungalow at Elamulla and this stretch of road was carpeted and in very good condition. We were warmly welcomed by the manager of bungalow Mr. Janaka

“Among the carvings, there are 125 series of decorations, 256 liyawel, 64 lotus designs in Pekada, 30 decorative patterns on timber, roof members, making a total of 514 such exquisite carvings.”

“The ‘Madol Kurupuwa’ is one of the finest examples of medieval carpentry excellence. It is a wooden pin (this Madol Kurupuwa) which holds together 26 rafters at the hipped end of the roof of the Digge of Embekke Devale.”