As it is the rainy season, I decided to go in search of a couple of waterfalls listed in the book titled ‘A Guide To Waterfalls Of Sri Lanka’ by Dr.Eberhard Kautzsch. Lemasthota Oya Ella (in the Dambetenna area) and Monarakanda Oya Ella (in the upper Koslanda area) were what I was going to look for. These waterfalls are two lesser known and seldom visited.

Ah! I had a little ulterior motive too. That was to try to approach some other waterfalls of which their existence is almost unknown to us, the general public, including most of the residents of the area. These waterfalls are located in the Thotulagala, Pitarathmale & Dambetenna areas but, approaching them is somewhat a tedious task (if not impossible) due to their locations. On an earlier occasion I had tried to approach them from the Thotulagala, Pitarathmale & Dambetenna areas but, failed to do so. I had to try and find some other approach to them.

The plan was to walk through the hills from Dambetenna and to end up at Koslanda. Of course, my feet had agreed to do it.

I had decided to do it alone (which is never the ideal option) as my usual companions were busy with other work at home. I too was not too keen to take the others along as I had not done this route before and was not too sure what to expect. The distance to be covered was over 12km. Anyway, I had found out before hand that the route I had planned was safe to go alone.

It was a perfect morning with a clear blue sky. Bandarawela to Dambetenna was by public transport and then…. it was all on foot.

After a couple of hundred meters into the walk, I had to take a small de-tour through a few vegetable plots to have a look at the Lemasthota Oya Ella.

Lemasthota Oya Ella

Of-course the view was not the best as there was no way that I could get sufficiently close to the waterfall due to the nature of the terrain. But, I am sure that if approached from the opposite hill/bank, one may be able to get to the base of the fall.

The walk continued up hill (The mountain is named ‘Davatagala’ in the maps) and the view kept becoming better and better.

At the point where the road reaches it’s highest point, I once again took a short de-tour along the side of ‘Dawatagala’ which allowed me to have a rather good (but distant) view of the unnamed waterfalls. (Remember my ‘ulterior motive’!).

Unnamed Waterfall

Unnamed Waterfall

Unnamed Waterfall

Unnamed Waterfall

I did count at least six (6) of them. I was not able to get close to these waterfalls once again due to the nature of the terrain. I am sure that one could proceed further along the side of ‘Dawatagala’ and enjoy a much better view. I didn’t; as I was not prepared for it.

Then, it was to the other side of ‘Dawatagala’ and guess what? It was all covered in thick mist.

From this point onwards it was all down hill right up to Koslanda. The first part of the road zig – zagged rather steeply and I thought it is appropriate to name this part of the road as the “Devil’s Staircase – Version II”.

The mist cleared a little bit allowing me to see & photograph the Devil’s Staircase – Version II

Next, I walked through the Monarakanda Tea Estate. This is where the Monerakanda Oya Ella is said to be. Unfortunately, due to misty conditions that prevailed I could not locate it or see it.

The rest of the route was along rather poorly maintained roads and foot paths that run through several tea estates. I reached the Koslanda-Meeriyabedda (estate) road and then walked down to the A-4 (Beragala-Koslanda-Wellawaya) road.

My rough calculation of the total distance on foot is around 12km. The time taken to reach Koslanda (A-4 road) from Dambetenna (tea factory) was about 3-4 hours with a lot of breaks to see the waterfalls and to speak to people I met on the way. The condition of the road(s); Well parts of it was well maintained; either tarred or concreted. But, other parts were really, really poorly maintained with parts of the road broken and washed away. In fact parts of it were covered/over grown with ‘mana panduru’ too.

Return home was by private vehicle as my brother picked me up from Koslanda. I’m glad that he did as the Beragala & Haputale areas received a hell of a lot of rain which resulted in all the waterways / waterfalls to overflow as well as creating many ‘instant’ waterfalls.

Waterfall by the A-4 in spate	Surely, It’s not the time to have a bath
One of the many ‘instant’ waterfalls along the A-4	One of the many ‘instant’ waterfalls along the A-4

As I missed seeing the Monarakanda Oya Ella, I will have to do this walk again….. may be next rainy season. I also feel that if one could trek up-stream along the Lemasthota Oya (starting from the A-4 road), one may be able to have a good view of all the unnamed waterfalls.