I was bit worried because I couldn’t do a trip to knuckles but luck was on my side our guys decided to go on a trip & asked me a place to go ! After doing the reservations from Baththaramulla, we left on an early morning from Colombo to reach Mathale at around 10 a.m. where we bought all the stuff we needed & lunch packets.

We then continued our journey towards Rattota in search of Bambarakiri Falls (fed by water streams of knuckles mountain range). The fall is close to the Ilukumbura road near the Bambarakiri Falls bend, which is 1-2Km past Rattota town. There is another waterfall called Kuda Bambarakiri fall which can be reached after crossing over the suspension bridge and traveling further 50meters to the right side! Please do note 17 have lost their lives at this location. After enjoying the view of Maha(10m) & Kuda Bambarakiri(6m) Falls we left towards Reverstan.

Suspension bridge near Bambarakiri Falls	Maha Bambarakiri Ella(Raththota)
Maha Bambarakiri Ella(Raththota) close up	Kuda Bambarakiri Ella(Raththota)

lower part

The 1.5Km walk was an easy walk but unfortunately the scenery was not clear because of the mist! I was really looking forward to feel the breeze at the Reverstan “Hulang Kapolla” but it was not much windy like the previous visit! We rushed back quickly because it started to drizzle and off we went towards Pitawala. We had to abandon our plans to visit Pitawala Savanna because of bad weather conditions. We reached Telgamu Oya bungalow at around 2p.m and had a good rest after having lunch. The thought of bathing in the Telgamu Oya was shattered with the continuous rain, in the end it was a wise decision (after few hours the river was roaring in high velocity). Rest of the day was spent solely by resting (Lazy crew)

Path to the topof Reverstan

Sadagala mountain range

Scenery from the top of Reverstan

More peaks of the Knuckles Range

Maningala seen from Reverstan

Rathinda & Etanwala paddy fields

anothe view of Rathinda & Etanwala paddy fields

Pink

The tower at the summit point	Macro
Telgamu Oya	Telgamu Oya @ Dusk

Telgamu Oya @ Dawn

Next day at around 6 a.m, I got in to a three-wheeler and went in search of two waterfalls with the aid of the forest guide to Rathninda village. I strongly recommend visiting Rathninda village as early as possible because the views are spectacular! I really loved the view of the paddy fields at the base of Maningla & the distant view of “Thun His Gala” & “Sadagala” mountain range. The road condition is not good after Rathninda but there is another road close to Illukumbura which is shorter and under repair these days.

My first destination was “Wedda Peni Ella” (5m tall, formed by Telgamu Oya which starts from Kirigalpoththa) which is in Etanwala just below the bridge! There is no clear path to the base and there are plenty of leeches.

Afterwards it was Rathninda falls that was on my list which is found just before Rathninda , it is a water stream starting from the Kirimatiya mountain and is about 30meters tall the upper part cannot be visualized to the base of the fall! Unfortunately the waterfall was bit dried up so couldn’t capture the full flowing fall . Please note it will be a problem in the future because they are building a private hotel for foreigners and do not allow people to access this waterfall trough their land (I talked myself in). In that case you will have to go upstream from the stream which passes the road! After the early morning adventure I returned back at 8a.m. and had to take a tough decision in choosing between Sera Ella (3hour journey) or Pitawala (1 hour journey) because our guys wanted to leave as early as possible.

On the way to Rathninda

As seen from Rathninda

Pitawala pathana seen from Rathinda

Didn't have a good camera

Below the Etanwala bridge

Top of Wedda Pani Ella	Wedda Pani Ella( Etanwala)
Rathinda Ella distant view	Rathinda Ella distant view(Zoomed)
Rathinda Ella lower part	Rathinda Ella lower part(zoomed)

Since the skies were clear we decided to go to Pitawala and the 750meter walk towards Mini Worlds end was worth and the view was spectacular. I was looking for a distant waterfall which is said to be seen from Pitawala Pathana called Pathana Ella (100”) but couldn’t locate it! According to the guide it is a very difficult hike!

big foot

Scenic Pitawala

Pitawala Savanna

Maningala seen from Pitawala

Knuckles mountain range with the Reverstan tower in its second peak

The Peak

An obsevation deck

View from Mini worlds end @ Pitawala

another cliff	good for rock climbing
another observation point and scenery	Trees were so small

Wonderfull sight

feel like flying

More peaks

Simply fantastic

After returning back to the bungalow we had a nice time at Telgamu Oya followed by a nicely cooked lunch! I found a hidden waterfall which ends up at Telgamu Oya just 50meters upstream on the left bank from where the bungalow is. We left the bungalow at around 1p.m. On the way just before Reverston We stopped at a bend where you can see a wide range of Mountains, Ex: Lakegaka(far away) , Maningala, Kalupahana, Thun His Gala, Sadagala, Kirigalpoththa, etc and we even spotted Kalupahana Dhuvili Elli crashing down in many steps.

A small waterfall ending at telgamu oya

The hidden waterfall

The hidden waterfall upper part

So natural

Scenic Knuckles mountain peaks seen from the road

The Illukumbura road

Pitawala pathana on the left

Panorama

Maningala, Dhuvili ella and Thun his gala

My favourite Maningala

Hope you’ll enjoyed reading my travel reports during the past few months. This is the final report from me for a while. I will be back! Adios!!!

For more details (Click Image to Enlarge)

Dark blue=Kuda Bambarakiri Ella | Light Blue=Maha Bambarakiri Ella | Red=Reverstan Peak | Green=Pitawala Savanna | Purple=Rathninda Falls | Orange=Wedda Peni Ella | Brown=Hidden waterfall near Telgamu Oya bungalow