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Exploring the forgotten Kingdom of Dambadeniya |
Dambadeniya is located in Kurunegala district, hiding a ruined ancient city. It has been the capital for more than five decades in ancient Sri Lanka. Much of the ancient city is still lied burring on a huge fortified rock. Dambadeniya was the third capital in ancient Sri Lanka. (1233 – 1283 A.D.) It was crowned by four kings. The pioneer King Wijayabahu-III (1233 – 1236 A.D), builds his royal palace on the rock at Dambadeniya & converted it to the capital of the country in 1233 A.D.
Exploring travel locations at Bulathsinghala (Pahiyanlena Cave & Makeli Ella fall) |
On that morning, it was 6.30am when we left from Veyangoda. Saman, Buddhika & myself were the initiate participants. We had to pickup Thusitha from Kaduwela & Mangala from Horana. How ever it was 10.00am when we reached Bulathsinghala, one of a remote town in Kalutara district. Since it was the last town we meet before our destination, we were busy to buy food & beverage for the day. From Bulathsinghala, we turned to the Paragoda road. Since it was in a country side, the environment was much beautiful, clean & quite.
Udawalawe National Park and Udawalawe – Kalthota Scenic Drive |
We wanted to leave Colombo as early as possible but it didn’t start too well. We could only leave Colombo by 9.00am, its bit of a strange time compared to what I am used to. But it’s the way when you are travelling with a little one. We managed to drive without any major stops until Lellopitiya where we had stopped for lunch. First major target attraction was Kirindi Ella falls. The turn off for Kirindi Ella is just about 200m before the Pelmedulla town on to your left.
Lakshapana Falls(129m) and the scenic seven Virgins |
We started our journey form Maharagama at around 6.00am, there is a special bus to Hatton from Maharagama. The crew was three; we arrived at Ginigathhena at 9.00 a.m. We got in to the Nallathanni bus and got down at the 4th mile post which is after passing Nortonbridge. From this junction it was a 1.5-2Km walk for us on a good motorable road.
One Day Trip to Udawalawa National Park |
It was a strenuous trip. Need not to say that drving 170km and back with more than 8 hours spent in the park made us spend almost 2 hours in the jeeps. Still it was fun and adventurous!
We left our homes quite early in the morning. The plan was to leave at 3.00 a.m. but by the time we left Colombo it was almost 3.30 a.m. We drove straight to Rathnapura on almost deserted roads. By 5.45a.m. we were at Rathnapura, on time to witness an amazing assembly of nature.
Anawilundawa and Nawadankulama, the Bird watchers paradise |
This event was organized by Adventure Sri Lanka (flickr) group as its 4th consecutive event on this year. Anawilundawa is a bird sanctuary located aproximately 10Km away from Chilaw on Colombo Puttalam road (120Km from Colombo) and Nawadankulama is a lake complex about 10-15Kms away from turn to Anawilundawa. Anawilundawa is a ramsa wetland where there are many migrant birds in the migration season.
Sri pada Off season and Mapalana (Mapanana) Falls(141m) |
We started form Colombo at around 5.30 in the evening. The crew was three, out of the three two got in from Colombo and the other one joined us from Awissawella, It was a Hatton A/C bus, We bought biscuits and other stuff from the bus stand. We arrived at Hatton at 9.45 p.m. We had dinner from a Small hotel at Hatton and got a three wheel ride to Nallathanni. When we arrived at Nallathanni it was 11.15 p.m.
