We started around 5.00 am on old new year day and arrived at Dambadeniya around 7.00 am. Our plan was to visit Dambadeniya Raja Maha Viharaya and the kingdom. But it was raining heavily and we gave up the idea andproceeded further and came to Panduwasnuwara around 8.30 am.

King Parakramabahu 1, set up his temporary capital in this city during the 12th centuary. At the entrance to the site is a six meter wide moat(A canal filled with water which ran around the castle, protecting it).

Six meter wide moat round the castle

Main entrance to the castle

It is believed that the throne was kept here

Ruins of a toilet of the palace

Ruins of the palace

Ruins of the palace

The restored temple of the tooth

Elaborately designed roof was restored around 1970s

There were more ruins scattered around the area. The circular area of ruins ‘එක් ටැම් ගේ’ are believed to be that of the high tower. Some believe that the princess Unmada Chithra was imprisoned here.

Ruins of an old temple

එක් ටැම් ගේ

From Panduwasnuwara we headed through Wariyapola and Padeniya to another ancient kingdom, Yapahuwa. The last king of Dambadeniya era, King Buwanekabahu moved from Dambadeniya to Yapahuwa for security issues, during 13th century.

Yapahuwa is a huge rock fortress similar in concept to Sigiriya. This fortress is protected by two sets of moats, the outer moat and the inner moat.

outer moat

Inner moat

The ornamental stone stairway is the most attractive show piece of Yapahuwa. These steps are narrow and very steep. This was a form of defense, the steps can neither be ascended nor descended hastily.

Rock fortress and the steep stairway

Ornamental stairway

‘Yapahuwa Lion’ stone sculpture, the only ones of its kind in the country is seen on this stairway.The only other place where you can see this lion is the ten rupee note.

Yapahuwa lion

Yapahuwa lion in ten rupee note

Ruins of Raja Sabawa – where the king meets cabinet of Ministers

From Yapahuwa we came back to Anuradhapura road and proceeded towards Thambuttegama. Traveling about 4 KM from Galgamuwa junction we came to another ancient temple named Buduruwakanda. There were several caves and most interesting one was the huge Buddha statue which is 84 feet tall.

A cave

84 feet tall Buddha statue

The trap rock is an evident of having a kingdom in this premises.

Trap rock

Statue of King Valagambahu

From Buduruwakanda we proceeded to Rajanganaya. The dam which is 4093 meters long was built across the Kala Oya in 1950

Rajanganaya Dam

Only two gates were open

From Rajanganaya we headed to Wilpaththu through Thambuttegama and Nochchiyagama. We stayed at LLT Tourist INN

Next day early morning by 6.15 am we were at the park entrance.

Park entrance

Hidden behind

Blooming flowers as the early morning sun rises

Jungle fowls

After passing the Nelum Vila the driver stopped the jeep suddenly to see a leopard coming out from the jungle. It seems he preferred the road as he walked along the road for about twenty minutes with us. But never turned back for us to get a good capture. We went behind him keeping a fair distance.

Came out from the jungle

He was walking along the road and did not stop at any time

Did not even bother to see who is coming behind

After about twenty minutes of walking he crept into the shrub and vanished.

From there we proceeded to Kudiramale. After passing Kali villu we met the old Mannar Road at Maila Villu where there was a Navy check point.

Maila Villu Navy check point on Mannar road

Old Mannar Road

Few meters travelling on Old Mannar road we crossed to reach the new Manner road. It is sad to see the massive destructionscarried out by authorities in the name of ‘development’. Even a helipad had been constructed on new costal road.

Massive destructions of the forest

Helipad on new Mannar road

From here we straight away proceeded to Kudiramale where King Vijaya landed to Sri Lanka, who was banished from North India. Vijaya has named this place as Thambapanni due to the peculiar red colour of earth in this area. The colour of soil is due to high content of Ferric (iron)

History of Kudiramale is well written here – Click Image to Enlarge

Kudiramale beech

Peculiar colour of soil

A closer look

After spending about one hour at Kudiramale we started the return journey. We visited Kuweni’s palace and there wasn’t much ruins except for few pillars.

Kuweni’s palace

Missed out from the herd

After about ten minutes drive from the Kuweni’s palace the tracker stopped the jeep as he spotted another leopard hidden inside a bush.

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We switched off the engine and stayed for about fifteen minutes but he was unmoved. Our tracker said that it may be the same leopard that we saw in the morning, although the locations were different.

Then we came across a giant, but the moment he saw the jeep, started charging towards us and we quickly moved out. While the driver was raising the jeep we turned back to see the giant and he was still chasing furiously and his target was something else.

Mad run

There was another elephant seen at a fair distance

Just missed the dance

It was almost 6.30 pm when we reached the park entrance.

Next day morning we started moving to our next destination, Kalpitiya.

Anuradhapura/Puttalam A12road was in excellent shape. We stopped at two places on our way to Kalpitiya. The first stop was the Holcim Cement Factory at Palavi. You need to get prior permission to visit this place.

A12 Road in excellent condition

Holcim Cement Factory

This is one of the largest factories of the country and it produce 70,000 bags of cement in a day. But still fulfills only one third of the country’s requirement. We had a full tour inside the factory and they demonstrated all processes, until a 50 Kg bag of cement comes out and loaded into the lorry. Photographs were not allowed inside and we managed to take few pictures from outside the factory.

Holcim factory

Holcim factory

From Palaviya we turned towards Kalpitiya and on our way we made a brief stop at Thalawila St. Anne’s Church. This is the oldest Catholic church in Sri Lanka.

St. Anne’s Church

St. Anne’s Church

Then we proceeded to Kalpitiya and stayed in a private houseat Kandakuli. Having a late lunch at 5 PM, we went to Kandakuli lagoon for a cool dip.

Cool dip in Kandhakuli lagoon

Sun set at Kandhakuli lagoon

Next day we went on whale and dolphin watching. Owner of the boat was Francis, very helpful guy. But only weakness is he tries to get very close, whenever a whale is spotted. With great difficulty I managed to keep him at a reasonable distance. We sailed from Kandakuli lagoon.

Beauty of Kandakuli beech

Francis looking for whales and dolphins while riding the boat

First glimpse of a Whale

very close

Blowing simultaneously

Moving with us

Same pair

Pfuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Good bye

Few interesting videos of Dolphins taken during this tour