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Year and Month | April, 2010 |
Number of Days | Two day trip |
Crew | 7 |
Accommodation | Telgamu oya forest bungalow |
Transport | Hired van |
Activities | Hiking, Photography & Waterfall hunting! |
Weather | Clear sky’s until 12 noon afterwards on and off showers |
Route | Colombo -> Mathale -> Rattota -> Reverstan -> Illukkumbura-> Telgamu Oya-> Rathninda -> Etanwala -> Pitawala -> Mathale -> Colombo |
Tips, Notes and Special remark |
Photographs by Group Members |
Related Resources |
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Author | Ashan |
Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
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.
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)
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.
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!
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.
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!!!