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”.

But then, I got unexpectedly lucky! We went to visit friends in the Hemmathagama area with the intention of climbing Rahalgala. It poured with rain and that plan was washed away. In the idle time, our friend’s mother gave us a book she (Kamala Somaweera) had just published – මාලගිරා සංදේශය (Malagira Sandeshaya), thankfully written in 21st century literary Sinhala! We have not quite managed all the places the Malagirava travelled to, but since we hardly ever visit every place named in a guide book, I decided to do a ‘work-in-progress’ trip report.

The source of this breath-taking, 116m-high fall is the Kirindi Ella (stream), which flows from its starting point 940m up the Kuttapitiya Mountain. The stream travels 13km before the cascading point in the Kaluwaramukalana Jungle. It then flows via the Denawaka River to the Kaluganga River, located in the Bambarakotuwa Jungle. Local villagers say that there is a picture of a tortoise etched into stone here.

The trip was planned mainly to get away from all the stresses of our usual schedules. We wanted to visit Ritigala as most of us had not been there and Galkadawala was selected as it came highly recommended by one my friends. It was also perfect for the activities we had in mind – visit Ritigala, see the Gathering at Minneriya, photography and to relax. There was no TV, no telephone and that was just perfect for us (except for those who couldn’t bear to be away from their mobiles 🙂 )

August 2010 was a super holiday for me. The very first day of the holiday started with a camping trip to Kumana. It was followed by a visit to the Jaffna Peninsula and a stay at Dehi Gaha Ela in Dambulla. This camping trip to Nilgala was going to be the last before school re-opens. We reached the Nilgala NP by late afternoon and straight away went to ‘Mahadrowwa‘ camping site. It was a nice place by the side of Gal Oya. We unloaded all what we had taken and pitched our tents. Oh! Yes, we had a bath in the river too. It was a nice and safe place to bathe.

We had to travel few kilometers towards Tanamalwila and another few on a sub route to reach Budhuruwagala, where a series of giant statues carved embossing partly on a huge rock. The main was a statue of Lord Budhdha in “Abaya Mudra” said to be 43ft in height. Statues of “Avalokitheshwara” & “Manju Sri” Bodhi-Sathwa(s) and Goddess “Thara” had been identified among the rest. As per the view of archeologists, all the statues were belonged to Mahayana tradition in 8th century.

Our first travel location of the journey was not so far from Amitirigala. It was the tomb of the King Seethawaka Rajasinghe, located 2km before Talduwa.
At Talduwa itself, we met our second travel location of the day. It was the Berendi kovil. To reach there we had to travel nearly 100m along a narrow road, starting from Talduwa. The kovil was identified as the only evidence of rock buildings remaining in Kotte era.

Just to get away from our hectic work pattern, me and a few of my colleagues try to utilize every opportunity that comes by, by going out of the city. Every time, we try to select a place that fulfills our passion of being close to nature, which not only gives us plenty of fresh breath but also goes easy on the wallet. So it was Sinharaja this time.

Although it was a 3 day trip arranged by ‘Lakdasun’, for me it was much more than that as we were invited to stay at ‘Back of Beyond – DEHI GAHA ELA’ in Dambulla, a couple of days more by Uncle Yohan.
I had seen photographs of this place and I knew it was going to be a fantastic holiday. I was so excited about it.