කතා කරගත්ත විදියටම අපි හවස 6.45 ට කොලඹින් මහ ඔය හරහා අම්පාර බස් එකට නගින්න ගමනට කතා උන මම ( කාවින්ද ) ,රෝශන සහ චිරාන් මල්ලි ලෑස්ති උනා.උදේ එනකොටම ගෙනියන්න ඕන බඩු මුට්ටු ඔක්කොම බෑග් එකටත් දාගෙන මම ආව වගේම රෝශනත් ඒ විදියටම කරල තිබුන ගමනේ අනිත් සගය වෙච්ච ලක්මාල් මහියංගණයෙන් අපි එන බස් එකට නගින්න කතා වෙලා හිටපු නිසා එයත් බදුල්ලෙන් ටයිම් බලල මහියංගණය ට එන්න කතා උනා.

Karagahathenna mini world’s end is a hidden paradise situated at the edge of an abounded tea estate. It provides a superb view towards North central province of Sri Lanka.

Ella (ඇල්ල) is one of the best tourist destinations of Sri Lanka. It is attracted by more foreigners than local travelers.Therefore it has been developed as a tourist city where number of hotels, restaurant are situated. This is a short account of tourists attractions around Ella.

It was 9 Years back when I first came to know about this magical location but somehow I couldn’t pull it off due to various reasons. Not like 9 years back now I was fully equipped with lot of information which aided me to pull this off! I think I dont need to explain the route details since its documented well in previous reports and almost every one is aware about the trail.

I did not have a desire to do a rail hike along Puttlam line though it is very close to my home but, I tempted to do it by seeing the photos of Ashan’s rail hike from Chilaw to Puttlam.

Mahakudugala is one of a peaks comes in Rawana legend. It says King Rawana’s body was hidden here 5000 years ago.
This is considered as the eleventh highest peak of Sri Lanka with 2096m height situated in Nuwara Eliya district.

Bisogala (823m) is a mountain range of different peaks situated in Kurunegala district closer to Mawathagama. Famous Ridee Wiharaya and Rambadagalla Buddha statue are situated at the base of this mountain range. It stands as the highest peak of Kurunegala district.

Elgin falls is a 25m waterfall located in Ambewela. Agra oya starts from Black pool and creates three waterfalls. Waterfall is visible to the Badulla railway track.

In 2015 I shifted to Chilaw from Monaragala and I was seeking for places to travel. When I was in Uva I was fond of hiking along the railways and ended up doing rail hikes covering Badulla to Nawalapitiya by foot. So I was wondering what this coastal line would provide me with.

While our journey from Kandy to Nuwaraeliya via Ragala road, we turned right to the Mandaramnuwara road as a villager said that this route might be easy for us since we are at heavy rain in the evening.

Ella Rock is more popular among foreigners than locals, I can safely say. Almost all the foreigners who visit Sri Lanka go to Ella (they pronounce it as Ela rather than Ella with double Ls). It’s said that Ella is among the three mostly visited places in Sri Lanka by the foreigners after Dalada Maligawa and Pinnawala. Climbing Ella Rock was (before our journey) said to be a relatively easier task and there was no guide needed. So we too decided to attempt it without a guide. I don’t usually like to do any hike without a guide as the pros always outweigh the cons of having a guide even though we have to pay him some money. I believe it is money well-spent as those people who guide us will learn to protect those environmental treasures instead of trying to make easy money by destroying them.

Now to find the correct trail to the Ella Rock. Please follow this and you’re not going to miss your way. Walk past Kital Ella Station (when coming from Ella) and continue for about 300m until you find a road to your left hand side. It’s not quite prominent when coming along the railway line so keep an eye out for it. It’s just a gravel (rather earth) road and take it and after a 50-100 meters it’ll cross the stream that feeds the Ravana Ella (not the Bambaragama Ella found on Ella-Wellawaya Road) with a concrete bridge. You can of course see the Ravana Ella when coming from Ella towards Kital Ella. Now just follow this road all the way to the summit. Fairly straight forward, isn’t it? It’s about 2-3km moderate hike to the Ella Rock.

I knew about these caves from Niroshan’s trip report and I thought to explore these caves. The actual name of this cave complex is “Rotupihilla Limestone Caves”. There are five main caves and those are situated in different places.