We started our journey on 11th December around 5.00pm from Colombo. First day our destination was Laxapana Circuit Bungalow and we reached there by 11.00 pm with several stops in between; several security checkups were there since we were entering in to a high security zone and War was at peak during that time.

We were planning to start our trip at 12.00Noon from Colombo. Due to some unavoidable situations it was delayed for 2 hours and finally we left Colombo by 2.00PM. We took the low-level road and unfortunately there was heavy traffic at Orugodawaththa since construction of the flyover was taking place and we had to wait almost 1 hour there. After so many delays we were able to come to Rathnapura by 6.30 PM and still had a lot of things to be bought from Cargills. By the time we started the journey again we knew that we won’t have time to cook our dinner and decided to buy dinner from Balangoda town.

Few of my friends decided to go on a trip to Badulla by train, in December 2008. We had to travel by the night mail train because we were not enough lucky to reserve tickets for an early one. We got into the train at Veyangoda station at about 9.15 pm on 19/12/2008.
It was 6.00 am the following day when we reached Pattipola which was the most elevated railway station from the sea level, in Sri Lanka.

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.

Early morning we got up and left to Dothalugala Camp Site. Dothalugala Cabin is 2Km from Deanston. The road is mortable but some parts the condition is not that good. So it is better if you can use a 4WD. Dothalugala camp site is around 750M away from Dothalugala Cabin. Forest Officers provided us a Villager / Guide. Please make sure to carry enough kerosene oil and lanterns, because you are entirely depending on it and there is no electricity available for nearly 2.5KM. When you need to charge you phones and Cameras you can head back to deanston (2.5Km + from campsite) and get it charged.

We started the journey in the early morning from Colombo and we reached Kandy within three hours. We bought all the food items / kerosene oil from Kandy. We planned to stay first night in Deanston Conservation Centre and second night in Dothalugala Cabin and we had no idea that Knuckles has a camping site. If you need to book any of these places you need to book it from “Sampathpaya” Forest Department office and for that you will need a recommendation from a Forest Dept Official.

Our 2nd day objective was to do the Kirigalpotta Nature Trail and My Engagement on top of Kirigalpotta. But it previous night it rained….. Tent got damaged… didn’t have a good night sleep and crew members wanted to return home so we did Circular Trail. We finished the trail around10AM we had our breakfast on campsite and returned to the Van. But I had hope in getting Engaged on top of Kirigalpotta and I convinced my crew members to agree on doing the “Kirigalpotta Nature Trail” But they didn’t agree with me at first.

We booked the camp site 3 from Wild life department which was the totally isolated from crowd but unfortunately when we reach there, the camp site numbers had been changed by Wildlife Dept. Earlier site number 2 had been changed to 3. We got the camp site in between the two (1&3 earlier)

This was a real disappointment but anyway its bit isolated from the bakers trek. So its better to call and find out before booking.

This is a continuation of a 4 day trip. We camped First Night and before going to sleep our objective was to complete the “Kirigalpotta Trail” on next day. It was a special trail because I was planning to get engaged on top of kirigalpotta.

But unfortunately there were heavy showers at night with extreme wind conditions. Our tent got damaged. Water came in to the tent and we had to take a decision and there were no alternative other than returning back to our Van. It was 11.30PM and we started walking on the rain to the Van. Phew! This was a once in a lifetime experience. I don’t think anybody have ever walked around 12AM inside Horton Plains.

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!

We started the journey from Colombo. We used a Nissan Caravan as our transportation. First day we stayed at Havaeliya and next day morning we started the journey towards Horton Plains. You will need to purchase a ticket before entering Horton plains. Our main target was to cover most of Horton Plains within three days and First day we planned to treak to the top of Totupola kanda. When we arrived at Horton Plains it was cold and Misty.