There was a hike to the Kahathaaththa Hela rock at Nilgala. During the time of King Dutugemunu, there had been a monastery on this rock. The ruins were to be seen. We also, saw the Nilgala aniket where the waters of Galoya gets transferred to help paddy cultivation. A few members in the group went bird watching from Kossapola Campsite one morning.

Most of us think that if we need to see wildlife and other interesting sceneries we must go away from our area. But if you are patient enough to explore your own garden for few minutes per day you will be amazed how much of beautiful creatures are found around you. Here are my own experiences. All of these were captured around my garden in Hikkaduwa and around. Unfortunately as I’m using a humble camera I missed most of the photographic moments of birds.

We took Galle road and we depart from home early morning 5.30 AM since we are planning to visit Weherahena and Wawrukannala temples in Matara as part of this trip. Took our breakfast at Koggala beach and drive towards Matara and arrived at weherahena around 9 AM. Since this is a week day (Monday) there were only few visitors to the temple and we had good chance to observe the Lord Buddha statue (It says tallest statue in Sri Lanka but not sure since Kandewihara Lord Buddha statue might be taller than that) and also Umang wihara (tunnel) art works as well.

Even though we live very close to the city of Galle, we didn’t explore the grandeur of the city very closely. So we decided to look close at the Galle Fort and explore the living beach of Koggala and Martin Wickremasinghe memorial folk museum.

We started our journey from Hikkaduwa railway station at about 8 am and got a bus to Koggala from Galle. We reached to the exciting beach of Koggala and had our breakfast at well maintained beach park about 9

This lodge is an isolated, quiet very simple place and it is far away from human habitat. It’s surrounded by huge trees and gives the real feeling of a forest. You will not be disturbed as there are no TV or telephones, except the hassle of your mobile phone. There are swings and outdoor showers. This is an ideal place for a relaxing holiday.

Then we moved towards Dedugala road which is one of the most exciting roads that I have ever came across. Narrow and lots of bends and enriched with lots of beautiful falls. First we stopped at Rikilla Falls which is about 5km from Bulathkohupitiya town. The imposing rock and the silver color waterfall is a striking spectacle for all those who travel along this road. Then we were able to see few beautiful falls along our way and many are seasonal falls.

A 3 day visit to northern part of Knuckles range, called Knuckles due to its mountains appearance similarity to a knuckles. Once we reached Rattota around 1.30pm. There wasn’t any bus to at least somewhere near to Riverstone. Three wheel and Van fares are very high. In Rattota town they were well organized and they asked same fare. I suggest using hired vehicle from home town or Matale would be a better idea. We finally got a bus from Matale to Puwakpitiya.

We were gathered into Colombo private bus stand on Friday night @ about 10.15pm to catch 11.45Pm Mahiyangana bus. Since it was a long weekend huge crowd was there. But we were lucky enough to get seats in 10.45 Bibila bus which was came unexpectedly late. Therefore it is better if you can reserve seats in advanced if you plan to go by Bus. We get off at the Gurulupotha rest house at about 5 am. There is a water stream, which is a branch of a Hasalaka oya is flow across Mahiyanganaya road. We had ‘Roti’ for the breakfast from a small hotel at Gurulupotha

An “Ambalama” can be described as one of an important public building in ancient Sri Lanka. There were series of “Ambalama(s)” located along the roads, being land marks & resting places for travelers for free. It was a convenience and comfort to people traveling far; going on pilgrimages or visiting relatives by foot or cart. Usually “Ambalam” were built in a chosen spots such as by the side of a paddy field or stream. Facility of portable water was provided with a “pin-thaliya” (a pot of water) or a well

The run in the open cab was a super experience as you could see in all directions up to a good distance and can see animals easily. Though it was very dry the surface of the roads were in bad shape and as a result the double cab got it’s side bars damaged.Though it was quite hot we managed to see quite a number of Elephants including a baby tusker and some birds as well.

From Palatota junction onwards, we had to walk at about 1.5km to reach the Richmond Park Estate. Our destination was the Richmond Castle, a fine country house in a 42-acre fruit garden estate built in 1896. It was said to be one of the biggest mansions in Sri Lanka.

It was around 9.30 when we reach Bambarakanda Rest. I should mention again that the owning lady of Bambarakanda Rest Mrs. Sera Mayakaduwa was truly a very helpful person. Since we didn’t have a guide she gave us all the information about the trails and even drew us a rough sketch of the area.