රුහුණු කතරගම දෙවියන්ගේ පිහිට ප්රාaර්ථනා කරගැනීමට කතරගම දේවාලයට එන බැතිමතුන් කතරගම දෙවියන් පිදීම සඳහා යන තවත් අනුහස් ඇති ස්ථානයක් යාල වනෝද්යාgනයේ පිහිටා තිබේ. ඒ සියඹලාව හෙවත් කැබිලිත්ත දේවාලයයි.දෙවියන්ගේ කැලය ලෙස අතීතයේ ජනයා හැදින්වු මෙම ඓතිහාසික භූමිය පිහිට ඇත්තේ යාල වනෝද්යාිනයේ කළාප අංක 3 කොටසේය.

Just after Hari’s Doowili Eli Hike, I received a call asking if I’d like to join him for a leisure journey as he felt he deserved a break after the mighty hike. I too didn’t mind one so long as it met my expectations. Fortunately, Hari managed to convince Sanketha too to join and we decided to go to Elpitiya where one of the least heard and explored Andahelena Falls is located.

He’d come across Malaka’s Trip Report about this waterfall and the nearby Monastery, Diwankaralena and we thought it’d be a good opportunity for us to visit them at a snail’s speed. He set the date for 15 May and it turned out I will of course not have a break as Tony and I were to visit waterfalls in Ratnapura and Deraniyagala on 13 and 14 May.

We set off around 6.30am on the 15th May in Sanketha’s car and I was grateful for that coz 550+km on two consecutive days sitting on the back of Tony’s old bike had taken its toll on me.

The five-day holiday following Vesak Poya was a long awaited event in the calendar and we planned to venture into an area that we have never explored – Namunukula and Ella. Ella of course we have passed many times en route from Wellawaya, but Namunukula was a totally new destination.

Although I describe all these waterfalls under Rathnapura-Kalawana road, they are situated some distance away from the main road except Rajanawa Falls. Road condition of Rathnapura-Kalawana road is good following constructions. But road conditions are not good in some byroads.

After two very successful Waterfall Hunts, I decided to do a 3rd on 14 May (Vesak Full Moon Poya Day) immediately after the 2nd on 13 May. Vesak Poya brought back some very sweet memories of our Bathalegala Hike first-ever as a team.

Fortunately Tony too was on leave and after a exhausting but exhilarating journey around Kuruwita, Siripagama and Wewelwatte we decided to shift our focus to yet another waterfall mine, Deraniyagala. The foundation was laid thanks yet again to Ashan when he did a marathon of waterfall hunting a few months back which resulted in his record 100th post.

After our Hunt on 01 May, I was yearning to do more of them as the season is ideal for it. However, there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind about visiting Batadomba Lena as well for the past year or so. My visits to Beli Lena, Pahiyangala and Alawala Pre-Historic caves stimulated this idea more and more so decided to get two birds with one stone.

Tony managed to get permission from his Royal Highness and joined me for the 2nd leg of Tour de Waterfalls with his ever so trusted bike which is as old as him. We met around 4.30am and hit the High Level Road and were on our way merrily. However come Godagama and Tony suddenly braked hard to avoid a ghost Tuk-tuk which drove across with no lights whatsoever. The result was the headlamp of our bike came off and was hanging from the wires as a result of the brake. Just imagine how old is the bike and Tony himself. I was worried right throughout that Tony might fall apart just like the bike.

The 1 May that has a very dramatic history behind was about to be celebrated yet again by all the laborers and working people around the world. Unfortunately in SL, it’s nothing but political drama being played on vividly decorated stages by bringing hundreds and thousands of people to Colombo from all around the corner using our public transport buses depriving the needy to go anywhere on that day.

We decided to celebrate this historical day with the beloved Mother Nature by visiting the Best Creation of her, the majestic Waterfalls. While the Sri Pada season is about to wind down and the South-West monsoon rains are beginning to hit the parched and cracked earth bringing that freshly earth smell with it. Trees were beginning to dress nicely and Hasitha out of nowhere suggested we do a waterfall hunt on A4.

We were interested on hiking from College life. While we were doing cadetting those days we were used to hike Alagalla, Wewalthalawa, Ahupini Ella, Batelegala and etc (Most of them were situated in our region). This time Rishad brought an idea to go out of Mawanella region and explore the beauty of Sri Lanka. He proposed us to hike Udamala kanda in welimada and then go to Pattipola station. When we heard the route we found that it was very adventures and interesting.

Endagala is a unique place which I came across for the first time while going through a book called “Stone in Eloquence” and since then it was roaming around my dreams. One day while traveling to Padiyathalawa I noted a board saying Endagala put up by Uva tourist board and that was enough to stimulate me to go in search of it. I have only seen few pictures of a pond but I was sure that there were much more to expect.

During my waterfall hunting at Matara district, I have noted there are some old cave temples as well. Some of them are belong to Anuradhapura and Pollonnaruwa periods. These Buddhist temples are popular among nearby villagers. But not familiar to others. Therefore I decided to note down some information about these places to others also.

We started around 4.00 am from Maharagama. It was raining cats and dogs and motoring was virtually difficult. By the time we reached the extended arm of the island, it was morning and the weather was not that promising. However we were able to go to coal power plant of Norochcholei and got down in front.

The coming weekend was Vesak holidays and there would be plenty of free food everywhere waiting for me to have a taste. So I decided to hang around Maha oya and experience the village style of celebrating Vesak though my main objective was visiting few archaeology sites. I got together with my batch mate Chanaka and arrived at Maha oya leisurely at around 9am and after having some breakfast we wanted to visit one of the Mega irrigation projects which was underway.