Year and Month Jun, 2015 Number of Days 2 Crew Ana, Atha, Prasa, D and Me Accommodation Bambarakanda Rest Transport By Train, on foot and by Van Activities Hiking, Photography, Relaxing, etc… Weather Excellent (Gloomy towards the evening) Route Colombo->Ohiya by Night Mail. Ohiya->Bambarakanda on foot. Bambarakanda->Ohiya by Van. Ohiya->Colombo by Train. Tips, Notes and […]

he planning for our cycling adventure began early May 2014 and when I suggested to my friend Dhanushka, he was totally in despite not knowing what we were about to experience. We knew it would be a hard ride especially ascending 6000 feet on bicycles. Preparation stage included servicing the bicycles and getting them ready for the long tour.

Lankagama Waterfalls was in my to-do list for a long time and last year we went all the way up to Kosmulla Duwili Ella at Neluwa but couldn’t proceed beyond due to lack of time. (My Trip Report : Scenic Rakwana Mountains and Kanneliya Forest)

Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya is a forest complex in southern Sri Lanka. This is the last large remaining rainforest in Sri Lanka other than Siharaja. This forest is one of prosperous fauna zone in south Asia. It’s spread over 101.4km area. This is situated about 35km towards Northern western from Galle town. This forest provides good security to many of rivers in southern Sri Lanka. And also this rain forest is a main water source which filled up “Nilwala” & “Gin”.

Early morning weather was good but upper peaks were slightly covered with mist. But surrounding was misty on our way up and we reached the camp site around 3.00pm. For hard luck we couldn’t have any of the pictures I showed in above report. We pitched our tent and prepared our dinner. It was extreme windy on top of second peak and it was a sleepless night.

Seeing the country from the highest point in Sri Lanka has been in my wish list for a long time. A holiday at Nuwara Eliya in April saw us heading towards Pidurutalagala one sunny morning. At 2525 metres, Pidurutalagala is the tallest mountain in Sri Lanka. The climb to the top is now easy as it is motorable but the summit point is out of bounds unless prior permission has been obtained. The check point at the base allows vehicles to the top in an orderly manner to prevent overcrowding at the summit.

This is when Ana called and asked if I would like to join him for a hike. Well, this is what you call being lucky and without so much as a second thought I jumped in. Well what would you do if it turned out to be a journey which you had done twice before within the last year? I don’t think many would have been fancy to take on that offer but not me. I don’t mind visiting the same place over and over again because everytime it’s a different experience. After all, we eat the same thing again and again, do the same boring things day after day so why not see and visit the same place every now and then, I keep asking myself. So when he suggested to do the Kirigalpoththa Trail once again (for the third time within a year), I felt elated quite different from many others.

We stayed the night at Panwila guest house and started the journey from there around 5.30am. By 6.15am we reached Thawalanthanna and kept our unnecessary stuff at Thilaka stores to start the journey. Three wheel driver agreed to bring us for another 1km along the gravel road and then started walking. (There is a foot pathway to cut this distance). Knuckles Mountain was clearly visible without mist covering.

Year and Month February 2015 ( 2,3,4 ) Number of Days Two and half days Crew Total: 8 Persons Six Wonderers ( Hi King , Stunt Prince , Silent Worrier, De Waterfall Hunter, Notorious Major & Jumbo ) Two Villagers as guides ( Suresh & Kadol ) Accommodation Village House and Camping in the jungle […]

I just checked out the time table of trains so that it’d give us a sense of times so that we could take precautions. These new Chinese trains are very quiet compared to the grumbling old German ladies. However I don’t think when it comes to performance, technology and endurance, the Chinese can come anywhere near. I’ve seen how they operate in my Exclusive Journey on the S12 some time ago. Hasi took over the meals with the help of his wife. Even though she wanted to join us, a sudden illness confined her to the house. We were very excited, especially Hasi as this was going to be his first ever rail hike. I could imagine how he felt coz it was the same when I was getting ready for my first rail hike.

We started out at 4 AM on day 1 and move towards Ratnapura on Horana Road. On the way we schemed to move towards Ampara and may be towards Trinco later on. We took a quick breakfast from a small wayside shop on the Horana road at about 6. We had passed Maha Saman Devalaya at Ratnapura so many times but never stopped since we always have been running with a another destination in mind. It was 6.45AM when we reached the Ratnapura Maha Saman Devalaya and there was almost no people there.

“Knuckles”, is a name that is known all over the world because everyone has got them. Well I’m not gonna talk about those knuckles. I’m trying to pave the way for another fairy tale. There are five peaks hidden deep in a forest bordered by Kandy and Matale districts. They are shaped in such a way that whoever saw them felt as if looking at an enlarged set of knuckles created by the Mother Nature. Thus the name “Knuckles” not only for the mountain range but also for the whole forest. Now this is a world heritage site and a dream for many hikers.