The very idea of being able to visit Delft was so exiting since it has been relatively inaccessible for a long time. We were all excited in spite of being forewarned about having to forego the usual creature comforts that we were all accustmed to when on holiday. The varied sites all within this island also stirred our curiosity.
Eight of us, together with our van driver and a guide from Jaffna, visited Delft Island in September 2010.

Originally inhabited by the aboriginals commonly known as Yukkas. A monastery is believed have been built here first but subsequently known to have been used by a order of recluse monks who practiced a austere life style. No mention of this order of monks has been found since 12th century at Ritigala or else where and probably the monastery also has been abandoned since then. Ritigala was rediscovered by the then government surveyor James Mantell in 1872. Ritigala had been used as a base for battle by Pandukabhaya the founder of Anuradhapura city.

We started our journey from Colombo Fort at 5 am and took the Podi Menike train to Pattipola. We reached Pattipola around 2 pm. After having our lunch and finding accommodation, we started hiking towards Thotupola kanda. But the bad weather and lack of time forces us to abandon it and we returned to Pattipola around 7 pm.

We started form Hikkaduwa at about 5.30 in the morning. The crew was two in my motor bike. We turned into Udugama Road from Galle and Stopped at Nakiyadeniya to have the breakfast.
The weather was quite nice and cool after a huge rain last night. After traveling about 30km we were able to reach Udugama Town. Then we traveled about 2km along Neluwa road we reached to the entrance of Kanneliya reserve.

Batalegala Kanda, situated in Kandy, and visible as you reach Kadugannawa Pass is shrouded in thick jungle from time immemorial. If you love Sceneries and want a one day hike Bible’s rock is a good place to be, we did climb this special rock few months back. It took us only 12hours to climb it and return back to Colombo.

The best time to visit these parks is during the drought season during July to September but usually yala is closed for visitors during the month of September so I thought of doing this trip on late August but then again when I checked with my contacts @ yala I came to know that this time the park will remain open so shifted my plans to September where the affects of the drought is much more severe so our chances of sighting leopards is @ high.

This was a family vacation involving a group of my father’s friends’ families. The road we took was A2 up till wellawaya. It was almost “perfect” except for a small bit near wellawaya which was under construction. After that we took the A4 till siyambalanduwa and turned onto the ampara road all of which was carpeted. Just after entering the eastern province we took the inginiyagala route instead of the Damana route.

Rajagala Kanda is the home to one of the great Buddhist monasteries of ancient Sri Lanka. No much archeological work has been done here, giving you a truly remarkable feel of nature and history entwined together as tightly as the creepers and trees in this heavily forested Kanda.

We started the journey from Colombo around 8AM and the crew was four. We used a Suzuki Swift as our transportation.

The drive to Balapitiya was quite effortless and the Galle road was in pretty good shape. Although it is good be sure to stay in the speed limit. Because occasionally you find traffic cops waiting for you to speed!

This event was organized by Adventure Sri Lanka (flickr) group as its 3rd event on this year.

Yala Ruhuna National park also known as Yala block one is situated approximately 280Kms away from Colombo. This is the only open area of Yala National park for visitors, since the block 3 is closed after some LTTE attach at in the area. Entrance to Yala block one is at Palatupana. Yala block one is so popular among visitors due to it’s high density of leopards. Park guides at Yala says that block one has of approximately 32 leopards. Yala block one is roamed by 15 tuskers. Most popular one of them called “Kublai Khan” died reacently.