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Year and Month | September, 2011 |
Number of Days | 4 days (three nights) |
Crew | Ten adults |
Accommodation | Nugasewana Camp Site, Block 2, Yala National Park |
Transport | Yohan’s Nissan Patrol and Ajith’s Landrover |
Activities | Exploring places of interest in Yala block 2, Wildlife, Photography |
Weather | Bright, Sunny, Hot and Dry |
Route | Colombo-> Kottawa -> Awissawella -> Ratnapura -> Pelmadulla -> Udawalawe -> Thanamalwila -> Tissamaharamaya -> Palatupana -> Yala Block 2 and return on the same route |
Tips, Notes and Special remark |
*** Special Thanks to Yohan, for organizing this trip, literally from A to Z. It was so well planned and therefore we were able see a lot with in the limited time we spent there. ***Special Thanks to Priyanjan and NG for the home work done to collect information about various points of interest and plotting all of those on Google earth which made the trip so enjoyable and educational! Not to forget the fantastic, story telling KML of the trip by Priyanjan |
Author | mithila |
Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
Early morning on Friday we started from Colombo and headed straight to Back of Beyond – Gurugoda. We were greeted by Ajith and Anverdeen (a veteran trekker with excellent knowledge about Yala) along with Priyanjan who were waiting there to join the four day excursion to explore, particularly the block two of Yala national park. Yohan’s Nissan Patrol and Ajith’s Land Rover were quickly loaded with supplies and we left straight away to Palatupana Entrance.
Formalities at the park office did not take long. Wildlife department guide assigned to us was Premarathne. Premarathne is one of the most expreinced guides in service at the department today and he claimed that he is a descendant of Henry Engelbrecht, the first park warden of Yala. Well, he knew Yala well but largely his attitude and certain behaviors did not make us very comfortable with him.
Leaving park office we drove along the Yala main road to paranaganthota (a.k.a Parana Thotupola) where we crossed Menik River and entered Block 2. Our camp site was “Nuga Sevana”, one of the newer camp sites established on the bank of the river. It was only a couple hundred meters away from Paranaganthota (පරන ගං තොට).
Location of the camp site was good, particularly because of its proximity to the river. The river was so inviting with shallow flowing water and clean sandy bottom so that we couldn’t resist a long bath under the shade of giant Kumbuk trees every day! One of the negatives of the camp site’s location was its proximity to the Paranaganthota which is the designated resting place for day visotrs to Yala Block I. On Saturday and Sunday we got disturbed by their noise occasionally. Also there are couple other camp sites on the either banks of the river in some what close proximity. If a party at any one of the camp sites does not behave well, that tend to disturb the rest of the sites. On one of the nights we could hear people singing at one of the other camp sites (most likely Kosgasmankada). Wonder why the wildlife guide who should have been with them did not stop them.
It took some time for us to setup our tents. We had quite a number of them.
After setting up tents we had lunch we brought form BOB-Gurugoda. After lunch we relaxed a bit, and set out for the first drive in block 2. Passing Yala wela (යාල වෙල), we drove up to Katupila Ara (කටුපිල ආර).
Water level in Katupila ara was too high for a vehicle to cross it safely at the usual crossing point. This is a usual occurance, particulalry in the dry season, when river mouth gets blocked with sad, forcing water to build up upstream.
We had to drive couple of kms upstream to find a suitable crossing point with less water and we did a hassle free cross over to the other side.
Having crossed Katupila Ara, we drove back along the opposite bank of it and got back on the main road. Passing vast, dry, open, sandy sections of Pilinnawa Eliya (පිළින්නාව එලිය) we drove along the main road towards Kumbukkan Oya. On our list to see were fresh water wells at Pahala Poththana (also known as the Navaladi wells in Paada Yatra) and Uda Poththana Modara (උඩ පොත්තන මෝදර) (View Google Earth Trail Map (KMZ))
As soon as we entered Block 2, we immediately noticed two remarkable differences in the animals we saw, compared to block 1. The first was the size of herds of Deer, Buffalow and Boar. Every herd we saw had many dozens of animals which was a great sight to see. The second was their unfamiliarity with vehicles. Every creature we saw would start running like mad as soon as it saw our vehicles!
We drove mostly along the main road through scrub forest typical in the area. Passing open areas at Uda Poththana (උඩ පොත්තන), we drove further down towards Pahala Poththana (පහළ පොත්තන). To reach fresh water wells, one should deviate from the main road towards right, just before entering open areas at Pahala Poththana.
We first reached the place where there are three fresh water wells together. It immediately brought back memories of Pada Yatra we did couple of months back. While on Paada Yatra we spent couple of hours resting at this very same place. The only difference this time was that the huge Dun trees in the vicinity were full of fruits!
We left the three wells and drove few hundred meters further to reach another freshwater well. We were pelasantly surprised to find another hudge Dun tree full of fruits there as well. The Dun we found were much more tastier than what we had before .
Leaving fresh water wells we started our journey back along the main road. It was late in the afternoon and the light was perfect for photos.
Once we returned to Uda Poththana area, which is supposed to be an abandoned saltern, we turned left from the main road and drove towards the sea to explore the river mouth (Uda Poththana Modara – උඩ පොත්තන මෝදර) and the Estuary. (View Google Earth Trail Map (KMZ))
We parked close to the beach and explored the area. With pure white sand and calm water of the Estuary bathing in the late afternoon light, it was such a beautiful sight to see.
We tried to locate “earthened wells” some of the previous travellers had described at Uda Poththana but we couldn’t locate any signs of them. Both Anverdeen and Premarathne were of the opinion that those must have been washed away by the Tsunami as they had been located very close to water.
The day was coming to an end. We started our journey back to the camp site. On our way back we saw fresh paw marks of a leopard on the jeep track but were not luky to see it.
Day 2
We left the camp site early morning on Saturday. The Plan was to explore Pilinnawa sand dunes and “Miniha gal Kanda (මිනිහාගල්කන්ද)”.
We crossed Katupila Ara and reached Pilinnawa Eliya driving along the main road. Then we turned right towards the sea and drove until we reached Agara Ara (ආගර ආර). Turning left at Aragara Ara, we continued to drive along the bank of the Ara until we found a point where we could safely cross over to the other side (just like Katupila Ara, water level was high in Agara Ara too; both share the same river mouth). Once we crossed the Ara we tackled some steep climb up to the sand dune and parked right at the base of it. (View Google Earth Trail Map (KMZ))
It was very early in the morning (just past 6.00 a.m.). Sun had just started to emerged from the sea (Yes, we were in the east coast!). We climbed up the sand dune and reached the undisturbed, beautiful beach on the other side. To reach Miniha Gal Kanda we had to walk 2.1km along the beach. We thoroughly enjoyed this early morninng walk on the beatiful, undisturbed, remote beach. On our right had side it was the Indian Ocean meeting the horizon and on our left was the tall sand dune with perfect patterns created by wind, complimented by dune vegetation.
……and the man came to our sight!
The rock was certainly resembling a man looking towards the vast ocean in a relaxed posture with his hands on the hips. “Miniha Gal Kanda” is said to be an ancient Coral reef which had been elevated from water a long time back and since then had been eroded by the wind and water to create some unique shapes like this “lonely man”. It is constantly changing, as per Anverdeen, who has seen the lonely man for more than half a century now,the man used to be even more prominent before.
The area immediately around the man was a fascinating geological formation. Continuous erosion of lose rock have created massive, roughly semi-circular craters with vertical walls. The rock wall was a live demonstration of what lies underneath, a perfect cross section with clearly segregated layers of earth in different colours. Travelers who visited the area before had called these gigantic craters “Amphitheaters” and they had described three of them.
We spent some times exploring the “Amphitheaters”. The rocks were so fragile and would trun in to powder with the ligthest pressure applied. Again Anverdeen recalled that the rock walls had changed drastically over the past few decades due to continuous erosion.
Travel literature describes three Amphitheaters along the coast. Even though we thought we saw all three, Priyanjan’s studies of Google earth images afterwards suggests that we may have seen only the first one, or the first and the second. Certainly future visits are on plans to Verify 🙂
We also found evidence supporting the elevated coral reef theory. Hard shells of sea creatures could be seen trapped in lose rock. They appeared to be in some stage of fossilization.
The sun was rising and the whole area was starting to heat up. Since we had a 2km walk back along the beach, we started our walk back by 8.15 a.m.
A long the beach we walked back to where we started. Rather than walking back to the vehicles, we decided to continue the walk along the beach to reach the place where the Estuary opens up to the sea. We were also looking for an archaeological site where some stone pillars are said to be there. Again Anverdeen and Premarathna were able to show us the stone pillars scattered in the scrubs.
We then returned to our vehicles. Getting them out of the dunes was not that straight forward!
We drove back along the same track we came, crossed Agara Ara and approached the Estuary from the side of it. We found a large tree under which we settled down for breakfast.
After breakfast we returned to the main road and again continued along it towards Kumbukkan Oya. The plan this time was to explore “Mahirawa – මහිරාව” where a camp site from the hunting days with a waterhole that persists through the dry season were supposed to exist.
Passing Uda Poththana and Pahala Pothathana, we drove up to Ethiliwela Eliya (ඇතිලිවෙල එලිය).
At Pahala Poththana we drove passing the lonely Dan tree, known as “Boer’s Tree” which is said to be where Henry Engelbrecht (The first Park warden of Yala National park during the colonial era) used to camp. (View Google Earth Trail Map (KMZ) )
Ethiliwela Eliya is another open, dry stretch of land around an Estuary (The water ways that feed this estuary are Athurumithuru Ara – අතුරුමිතුරු ආර and Nabadagas Ara – නාබඩගස් ආර). Again we turned right towards the sea and drove around Ethiliwela Kalapuwa (Lagoon) in an attempt to reach Mahirawa beach. Again, water bodies were pretty full and we could not approach the sea. We parked beneath a large Dun (දං) tree, again full of fruits, and decided to have lunch there.
We did not particularly attempt to locate the fresh water hole or the camp site. Water levels was restrictive and we had no specific clues to look for on the ground. Anverdeen and Premarathne were also not too sure about the exact location of the campsite/water hole.
After some rest at Mahirawa, we headed towards “Walas Kema – වලස් කෙම”, another camping location said to have been frequented by the hunters in early 1900 when Yala was a game reserve.
At Walaskema we found a large rock scattered with several water holes (Kemas), most of them had water even in this height of the dry season. View from top of Walaskema was nice too. Also there were signs of steps cut in the rock surface leading to one of the water holes. May be work of hunters or can this also be an archelogocal site?
On our return journey to the camp site we explored the large earth mound right by the jeep track, close to Katupila Ara, known as “Weheragodella – වෙහෙරගොඩැල්ල”. The inch maps shows a Dagaba in ruins here but we couldn’t locate any signs of it. The soil and the rokcs appeared to be different in color and heavier than ususal. The surrounding and the rocks reminded us of a large meteorite impact site.
Leaving Weheragodella we came back to the camp site along the usual track. A gentle giant proved that our decision not to cross Katupila Ara at the usual crossing point was a very rational one!
Day 3
We had explored most of the key places in the block 2 during past two days. Several other places we wanted to see were lying in areas not open to visitors (inside the strict nature reserve) and we did not want to break any rules. Also the drives in block 2 did not give us opportunities to observe wildlife. Therefore we decided to dedicate the third day to explore block 1.
As we return to the camp site after the morning drive, we were called up on to help a jeep stuck in Katupila Ara. Some 4X4 craze had foolishly attempted to cross the Ara from the wrong point. They had no guide with them and had not got proper permission to enter block 2 even! Apparently he drove the jeep in to the water with women and kids on board just of the fun of it and and ended up like this!
After breakfast Anverdeen shared some of his experience with us. It was very interesting to listen to him. We were particularly interested to find about “Ali manthara – අලි මංතර” from Anverdeen. Our conclusion on අලි මංතර was that it is the aggressive and dominant behavior demonstrated by the person who chants the Mantra that deter the elephant, not the Mantra it self!
Around 3.00 p.m. we again headed towards Block 1 in anticipation of seeing more wildlife. It certainly was a good start with a peacock in full display.
The next sighting was this bear. It was feasting on Maliththan seeds and we watched it in close range for a quite long time
Leaving the bear we drove towards Darshana wewa (Modaraagala Digana Wewa). On our way, we came across a family of yellow wattled lapwings. Two parent birds and their three little chicks. As soon as the parent’s saw us approaching, they forced the little ones under their wings. One of the chicks however kept coming out despite the parent bird’s desperate attempts to keep it under the cover.
By the time we reached Darshana Wewa it was late in the after noon. We drove along the earth bund enjoying the tranquility.The place looked very calm and quite with only some birds and couple of crocs in the vicinity.
The silence did not last for long. A herd of elephants (with young) got in to water form the opposite bank of the lake. They walked right in to the middle of the lake and started drinking and bathing. It was such a lovely sight to see . The herd would keep the little ones right in the middle of the pack and would chase away anything that came close to the herd, including birds and even Crocs, quite aggressively.
After some time, the herd decided to get out of water. Again, chasing anything and everything that came in their way, the whole group came out of the lake.

" Being BIG means a lot" - this young calf learnt it first hand (it was just a mock charge and there were no casualties!)
The herd then started spreading sand/dust all over them and we decided to leave them alone.
With the last rays of sun hiding behind the tree line, we returned to the camp site with exciting memories of the day.
Day 4
It was the final day!
We decided to do a one last round in Block 1. The very first destination of the morning was “Padikema – පඩි කෙම” rock to see whether the famous “Rukvila” cubs are around. Sure enough, they were there.
It was such an amazing sight to see!
The place started to become congested with more and more jeeps gathering there to see the cubs. Therefore we decided to leave them and explore more of the park.
The last treat of the trip was again a herd of elephants. This time, they were busy playing on a newly built bund of a tank (breaking a good part of it in the process!)
Well it was time to say goodbye to all the wonderful things at Yala. We left the paradise behind and faced the relaity of having to go to the office and start work on the following day 🙁