Wila Oya Budupatuna was a totally unheard place to me until few weeks back when I came across a post by NG on Lakdasun which made me go in search of these mysterious statues similar to Buduruwagala. The only information I had was about Two Japanese (archeologist) teams visits in 1985 and 90’s and some photographs in a book called ELOQUENCE IN STONE.

From the beginning of this year I had planned to do a hike along the Bambaraknda – Ohiya track. August was my target month and I was thinking of doing this on my own even if my friends would not join me (I thought they might not be interested in a long hike). But surprisingly they all agreed to join me and were quite interesting in this hike.

Neelagiri Seya (නීලගිරි සෑය) is a name I came across when I was going through the web site of archeology.lk. Since then I wanted to visit this site. So on a Saturday I got in to a Panama bus and travelled towards Lahugala where I got down and inquired from few locals about the sthupa. And one person volunteered and gave me a lift towards Heda Oya (හැඩ ඔය) where the road continues across the stream.

So along the road to the castle we went happily. (Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, however, the previous month I had bought my new phone, Trusted Nokia X6 and it has a 5 MP camera which I had to be content with. However, the pics came nicely, so much better than I anticipated, however I again want to visit the place more leisurely with my digital camera)

This trip was done some time back in 2009, but still I cherish the memorable experience of this fantastic place. The other reason which prompted me to write this report is to clear the erroneous doubts among the members of this forum about the ‘bookings getting cancelled’. You can reserve this place in advance but they accept money and confirm your reservation only two weeks before the arrival date. Once you pay, your booking is confirmed and there is very rare chance of getting it cancelled.

Our first stop was at Kurunegala for our breakfast. After the breakfast we drove through Dambulla,Nelumkulama and turned left to Anuradhapura air force camp road through Wilachchiya road to Nellikulama. Nellikulama was a modern temple but its concept was little different from our traditional temple.

We intended to cover Trinco and surrounding places of interest as much as possible and the trip was planned to the minute detail. However unexpected bad weather, poor road conditions and Grease Yaka prevented us from touching all places, meaning another trip when time permits!!!!

This is the first time we visited to Riverseturn. That was windy season for Riverstone and best time to visit. The breathtaking surroundings, strong cool winds and challenging hikes. But the pitawala pathana was very dry at that time. According to the local persons, they didn’t get rain from 2-3 months. You can see how dry it was. We visited to Thelgamuwa oya for bath but we saw not enough water for that. Then we visited to Sera fall. We didn’t see large and beautiful water fall because of lack of rain.

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.

We entered the park around 2.30 pm and was lucky to get Saranga as the tracker(He was our tracker on our trip to Kebilitta in 2008). We told him that our priority was to see the Leopard and then Birds and may be a tusker as My wife and daughter were more in to animals than birds. During the period of 3 hours in the park we were able to see the Leopard , a tusker and a few birds and the photo session was pretty good because of the superb lighting.

As a travel location; Devon was the first in our journey. 97m height water fall was identified as one of the 20 most spectacular waterfalls in Sri Lanka. It was located at a distance of 7km from Talawakele. There were two main view points located at A7. One was closed to Mlesna tea castle. The other was the lower one which was special because the both Devon & St. Claire falls can be viewed at the same place.

Passing some manioc chena(s), the two vehicles turned into a by road lead to Amithirigala, which started from Kirindiwela – Hanwella main road, just before the AGA office at Weeke. Having traveling less than a kilometer from Weeke, both were stopped for a while at the base of Medagama viharaya, a temple where one of the first 8th daughter-plants of sacred Bo tree (Jaya sri maha bodhi) at Anuradhapura were planted. Traditionally each vehicle passing this temple used to stop; pray and put some coins in the till box on the name of the rural god “Ranwala Dewiyo”.