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.

We started form the Galle at about 5.00 in the morning. The crew was eight in a hired high roof Dolphin van.
The first stop of us was a beautiful waterfall called Ethamala ella situated near by Morawaka town.
You have to turn right 1km before the town and have to travel along NilElla estate about 1.5km. Our next stop at Hathmale ella near by Pallegama city.

First night we were planning to stay in Kandy at Deepals bungalow and since it was perahara season getting out of Colombo were deficit with lots of traffic heading towards Kandy and we ook a quick decision to proceed via Jaela/minuwangoda/Giriulla/Kurunagala/Katugasthota/Kandy, drive was superb with very little traffic (route slightly longer than Colombo kandy main road 20Km longer) Good road network, you wont feel the drive.

Thusitha asked me to park the vehicle at a suitable place for the brake-fast, having observing my eyes were locating the face (dial) of the wrist watch. We were going on a trip with Thusith’s family; since it was the August vacation for kids. In the next moment we were under a tree near the construction site of proposed Zoo at Pinnawala. At that point; we had almost reached the first travel location of the journey, the elephant orphanage at Pinnawala.

My mother was going to Jaffna for work. As it was my school holidays my father and I also decided to joined her. It was going to be my very first visit to the Jaffna Peninsula. My parents said that it was not going to be a site seeing visit but, only a visit for me to see what the Peninsula looks like.