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.

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.

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.

We left Malabe at 8.00 a.m. The destination for the first day was “Olu Ella inn” which is located 15.5km from Yatiyanthota town on the Yatiyanthota – Seeforth road. At around 9.30 in the morning we were stopped by the stunning scenery of the Kelani River at the Karawanella bridge on the A7.
After spending about half an hour on the bridge, enjoying the scenery we continued our drive along the A7 towards Yatiyanthota.

This was one of those trips where you pick a random week end and head some where you have never been to, with pretty much no planing in advance!

This time it was me and Prabath. We decided that Deniyaya would be a nice area to explore, so two of us boarded my old but faithful jeep at 2 a.m. on a Saturday and started driving towards Deniyaya via Rathnapura, Rakwana and Suriyakanda.

We started our journey from Laxapana where we faced a deadly incident( Laxapana trip will be reported as a separate article. It’s better to have a look at it because it describes some precautions which you need to be aware of, but sadly we’ve forgotten). After recovering from that incident we headed to kadi Ella, a waterfall which is located in Kadienlena. The waterfall acts as a divider between two districts, kandy and Nuwaraeliya..It’s easy to locate since it’s on the way to Thalawakele which is better known as the B317 route.

This was our last trip of the year! We started at around 5.30am from Nugegoda, On the first day the crew was only 4 of us! As always we kept our options open so at Kitulgala we took a detour which was not on plan, we visited the Kitulgala Beli Lena.
Belilena is the famous largest cave in Sri Lanka. It is located 8km from the town of Kitulgala.It is located 8km from the town of Kitulgala. It holds evidence of a lost generation of Sri Lanka 12,000 years old; then this cave belonged to the Balangoda People, described as Homo sapiens balangodensis by Paul E. P. Deraniyagala

We started from Colombo at 3.00 in the morning. Had morning Tea at Hanguranketha at a Friend’s place then visited the first Waterfall of the trip – Katugasoya Ella which is along the B413 road at 30km post. Can go to base of the falls in 1 minute going through a private land where a guest house being constructed.
After this on the way to Walapane We stopped at Andawala Ella Which is also right by the road along the Hanguranketha

Great Western at 2212 m altitude is the 6th highest in the country. Situated in the Nuwraeliya district, a rail station as well as a tea plantation near this hill carries the same name. Location: Great western station between Thalawakela and Nanu oya, to be precise it’s between Watagoda & Radella
The mountain spans about 1Km and it can be climbed from both ends. We chose to take the short path so we traveled along the railway towards Radella for about 1Km and then we arrived at a place (The Kovil and the Bridge) where the station master mentioned that there may be a foot path.

We started our journey form Maharagama at around 6.00am, The Hatton bus from Maharagama. unfortunately there was a flat tyre so we had to go to Awissawella and get a Kitulgala bus (Awissawella-Kitulgala) the crew was three; we arrived at Kitulgala at 9.15 a.m. despite all the obstacles. With the Kitulgala bridge there is a road called Malwatte road, we got in to a three-wheeler from kitulgala and went to Malwatte which is few kilometers away from the town, after we reached Malwatte we continued in the same three-wheeler as close as we can get to the path to Mannaketi falls which is trough a tea estate, the distance to the waterfall is about1.5 km from the tarred road.

We started our journey form Maharagama at around 6.00am, there is a special bus to Hatton from Maharagama. The crew was three; we arrived at Ginigathhena at 9.00 a.m. We got in to the Nallathanni bus and got down at the 4th mile post which is after passing Nortonbridge. From this junction it was a 1.5-2Km walk for us on a good motorable road.

Our 2nd day objective was to do the Kirigalpotta Nature Trail and My Engagement on top of Kirigalpotta. But it previous night it rained….. Tent got damaged… didn’t have a good night sleep and crew members wanted to return home so we did Circular Trail. We finished the trail around10AM we had our breakfast on campsite and returned to the Van. But I had hope in getting Engaged on top of Kirigalpotta and I convinced my crew members to agree on doing the “Kirigalpotta Nature Trail” But they didn’t agree with me at first.