The people who’ve been on either along the road or by train must have seen a gorgeous girlie from Kadugannawa towards Aranayake. She’s so unique and iconic; you simply can’t have missed seeing her. I’ve seen many people including myself, craning their necks out of the windows to get a better look at her.

This was a sudden decision taken before two days and we left Gampaha around 5.00am and came to Southern highway via Kottawa. From Pinnaduwa outlet we came to Udugama and reached Kanneliya Mount Resort around 08.30 am. After a quick breakfast we walked towards the park entrance, which is only 300 meters away. Vishan, our guide was waiting for us.

I was on the foot board the whole journey, highly excited, enjoying it to the max. We passed many things and stations along the way. But one thing in particular got embedded in my mind. That was “Great Western Station”. The entering onto the Station area was grand and I can still remember that day. I’ve been viewing that picture every now and then and couple years back came to know about the GW Mountain which is surprisingly the 6th highest in SL.

I see this mountain from faraway almost every day but had not got a chance to climb it until one day my father said “Get ready, tomorrow we are going to Piduruthalagala”

During this journey I needed to visit at places in Warakapola-Karawanaella, Galapitamada-Nelundeniya and Ruwanwella-Galigamuwa roads. Ancient Seethawaka kingdom was situated over this area. Although I had a tight schedule before the journey, the evening shower ruined some of my plans.

This journey we did some times back, most of the members of the crew are members of “Dumbara Mithuro” Environmental and Cultural Society. The society is devoted for the conservation activities in the Knuckles mountain range. On the other hand expedition in the knuckles forest is another prime objective of the society.

කඹුරුපිටියෙන් උදේ 7ට පමණ ගමන් ආරම්භ කර අනෙක් සාමාජිකයින් 5 දෙනා සමග අකුරැස්ස, උඩුගම හරහා නෙලුව බලා ගමන් ගත් අතර මංජු සහ ජයනෙත්ති පිලියන්දලින් ගමන් ආරම්භ කර දක්ෂිණ අධීවේගී මාර්ගයේ වැලිපැන්න පිවිසුමෙන් පැමිණ පැලවත්ත හරහා නෙලුවට පැමිණ අප හා එක්විය. නෙලුවෙන් අවශ්ය ආහාර ද්රාව්ය හා අනෙකුත් භාණ්ඩ මිලදී ගැනීමෙන් පසු අප පලමුවෙන්ම නෙලුව ලංකගම මාර්ගයේ නෙලුවේ සිට 7km ක් පමණ දුරින් පිහිටි කොස්මුල්ල දුවිලි ඇල්ල නැරඹීම සඳහා ගියෙමු.

Yahangala prompted me to go through few Ravana documentaries and important places related to the legend; though I’m not a blind believer I think he was one of the greatest kings in Sri Lanka. While going through some articles I came across a site called chariot path which urged me to pay a visit someday because of the unusual location of it.

There are plenty of scenic roads around Sri Lanka offering breathtaking views intersecting different landscapes. This was such a “photo journey” along three scenic roads offering unique views where Hambegamuwa – Welioya – Kaltota through Paddy centered low country dry/intermediate zone, Balangoda – Bogawantalawa – Norwood through Tea centered mid/up country, Dickoya – Delhouse through Tea centered up country reservoir banks.

Once upon a time, it would’ve been an amazing flow of guzzling water, flowing through lush greenery, birds would have flown over it, and many more creatures would’ve beheld it! At some point someone would have discovered it, would’ve told some others about it, those others would’ve told many more others about it, and eventually, this icon of nature would’ve trapped the eyes of thousands more! Did Mother Nature ever instinctively foresee her future?

After Lakdasun 2nd gathering I got to know some wonderful people and was able to go on some trips with them. So my first trip after that was with Mithila, Ashan, Sheham, NG, Kasun , Theshantha etc. Interestingly that was my favorite place on earth “ Sri Pada”. Then I recently went on with two other wonderful members of LAKDASUN, SANKETHA and ATULA. Interestingly that was my second favorite place on earth , “Knuckles the Misty Mountains “

Once upon a time, I came across this very unusual name “Kanneliya Forest Reserve” and since then, I couldn’t stop myself being told over and over again, “must go see, must go see”… Well, that mantra has reaped its benefits coz I managed to visit this beautiful lady on 24 & 25 March.