In early 2007 we had a hike to Manigala. That time our guide was Bandula from Illukkumbura and he told us a nice poem which describes a few waterfalls belonging to Knuckles range.

කලුපහණේ නොවෙද විස දූවිලි ඇල්ල
ඇටන්වල නොවෙද වැද්දා පැණි ඇල්ල
ගඟල ගන් නවය හරි මැද හංවැල්ල
ගඟල නමුත් පොත්තැටවල සේරැල්ල

On top of the Manigala we could see Doovili Ella far away towards the Kalupahana range. That day we all decided to visit this somehow. Eventually we could visit all other water falls in the poem and hiked Manigala peak 3 times after that, but we couldn’t go to Doovili Ella, because it is difficult to reach that. There were only a very few who have done this hike and it was difficult for us to gather some information as well.

Doovili Eli from top of the Manigala in 2007 – Click Image to Enlarge

Doovili Eli of Kalu Ganga, taken from Malaka’s report – Click Image to Enlarge Malaka’s Report – Bambarella,Kalupahana,Doovili Eli And Return to Ranamure

Meanwhile I saw the this post on lakdasun. I called Asanka and decided to get their help since it is going to be an extreme hike.

Meanwhile we gathered some more information from reports published by Malaka, Kishan, and Dhanushka Senadeera. Since Asanka provides tents and foods we didn’t have to bother about those things this time.

Day 1
By 2.00PM in the evening we were able to reach Pitawala. Wasantha and his group were waiting for us and they had prepared lunch at his home. After 7 hours of journey we were a bit tired. We had a quick wash and had lunch. Fresh water sent away all the tiredness. It was toothsome. We had Kekulu Rice with Polos Curry. We parked our van at Wasantha’s home. There were two other people with Wasantha to carry tents, pots and provisions. We all packed our bags by 3.00PM and started the hike. Today our destination is Walapolamulla whis is approximately 4km from here.

Thunhisgala at a distance : view from Pitawala

Atanwala

Beautiful Atanwala

Beautiful Atanwala

On our way to Walpolamulla we met several villages and we were advised “පුතාල, කළුවර වැටෙන්න කලින් යන්න. තනිය ඉන්නව, ඊයෙත් ගමට අවිත් කරදර කරල තිබුණ.” Some ladies in the village were so scared and strictly said not to go now, spend the night there and go in the morning. Since we had 3 villagers with us we decided to move on.
The view was fantastic. When we started the hike we could see the front view of Manigala. We further climbed up and crossed Manigala. Then climbed down and now we could see that from behind. Then there was a flat area which was easy to walk. But before reaching Walpolamulla we had to climbed up and cross another mountain range. When we climbed up to the 2nd mountain range we could see Walpolamulla at a distance. Before climbing down Wasantha said we should check whether Elephants are there. So we all climbed on to a rock to get a better view of the village. Ohh……….Thaniya is there as the villegers said. Now what can we do! Wasantha advised all of us to shout at once. We did that for about 10 minutes until Thaniya went away.

Thaniya(zoomed) running after shouting

I was here….

No Words to explain the beauty – Click Image to Enlarge

වල්පොලමුල්ල බලා…. – Click Image to Enlarge

From there it took another 20 – 30 minutes to reach the village. Finally we came to village by 6.30PM and by the time we came there, there were another two villagers also. Both of them are from Atanwala and came in the morning to find there buffaloes. But they couldn’t go back since ‘Thaniya’ and two other elephants were there on their return route and so they have decided to stay night at Walpolamulla. They already were pretty scared and our arrival was a great relief for them.
‘Walpolamulla’ is an abundant village in the Knuckles range. There were several families some time back. Because of the threats of wild elephant’s they had moved to other villages like Atanwala, Rambukoluwa, etc. Which are more populated. Then this village was abundant. But still there is one house in the village in a fairly good condition which they use during the harvest season. Even though nobody is in the village still they cultivate the paddy fields in this village.

The only house in a fairly good condition at Walpolamulla

Drought affected a lot…

We set up our tents in the small garden of the house and Wasantha and other two started preparing the dinner with the help of other two villages. In the night we had our usual music session with a bon fire. It was an awesome night in an abundant village in the middle of Knuckles range.

Bon fire…

නිම් හිම් ‘සෙව්වා’ …..

ලං වී වෙන් වී වරින් ‘වරේ’….

කඳු පාර ඈත අයිනේ…..

Day 2
We all got up around 7.00am in the morning. Since it was serious drought we had difficulties to find water and had to walk 10-15 minutes to find a water source. While we were getting ready Wasantha and the group prepared rice for breakfast and pol roti for lunch. By 8.30am we all were ready for the great ‘Doovili Ella’ hike.

He heeee….

Thunhisgala zoomed : view from Walpolamulla paddy field

From here there was about a 10km distance to Doovili Ella (9th fall on the map above) and we knew that it would take at least 5 hours to reach there. Wasnatha said in 7km there is a river and we can setup the tents on the bank of the river for tonight.
From here most of the trail is descending up to the river and there are places which was heavily steep. Once in a while we stopped for relaxation. However by 12.30 we were able to reach the River Wasantha mentioned at Weddahena and it was a good place for camping. Before setting up tents we all jumped in to the river and had superb bath in cool, fresh water. When we came back Wasantha had setup all three tents for us. Then we had Roti with Seeni Sambol for our lunch.

Classic…

Wow…

.	Rotti for lunch

We kept all our bags and other stuff in the tents and started the last stretch of the hike. It is about 2 hours from here. We crossed the river walked towards the Kalupahana mountain range. This stretch is a bit difficult compared to the previous because the entire stretch is a climbing up and some places were very steep hike. Since there was no thick ground forest it was easy for us to walk. After 2 hours of hike we could come to our destination. It was a great achievement for all of us which we were waiting for 5 years. Since it is drought water stream was very thin and not beautiful as the full flow. However we had come to the top of the water fall and we couldn’t go down to get the full view of waterfall since it is a dangerous climb down

From the top

Upper section of 9th fall (drought affected a lot)

Upper section of 9th fall

Lower section of 9th fall

But the surrounding and views were fantastic. We stayed there for about an hour enjoying the surrounding and nature.

Manigala & Riverston towers(in circle) :View from on top of 9th Fall – Click Image to Enlarge

Breathtaking….

Then we were thinking of going to the famous waterfall which has a cave behind it in the Doovili Eli range(2nd fall in the map). But it is further up and another 2 hours from here. Since there were dark rain clouds which signaled a heavy rain, we had to give up the idea of further climbing. Then we returned back to the tents. But in the middle of the way back we had to face the heavy rain and it made us staye a long time under trees. It was another nice experience for us, because the entire area was dark, heavy rain and we were in the middle of a jungle. Finally we came back to the tents with wet cloths.
It was really a bad situation there, all three tents were flooded and it was like a pool. Each tent had 3, 4 inches of water. All our bags, cloths got wet. Spending the night in the tents was not possible at all. But there was no other option as well. Meanwhile Basnayake said he has heard about a cave closer to this area, but he has never been to it; but suggested that we should go there. We were a bit reluctant to that because how can he find out a cave which he had never been to in this huge jungle! But he still went alone. After about 30 minutes he returned with a happy news. He has found it! No other option, we all decided to go there. Time was 7.00 PM and it was very difficult to reach the cave. We had to clean up the cave first. Luckily there were a few dry pieces of wood for the fire. That night was very cold because the wind was blowing directly in to the cave and it was on a top of the mountain. No one had a proper sleep, because there was no smooth surface to lie down and bit worried about the snakes and other animals. This reminded us the essays we wrote during our younger school days “කැලයක අතරමං වීමු” . It was a lifetime experience for all of us and I cannot explain it in words.

“Herne Protect US…”

Sleepless night…

Next Day Morning…

Day 3
With all difficulties of sleepless night next day morning we all packed our stuff to return. For breakfast we had cream cracker with cheese. Initially our plan was to return through the same route. But with wet clothes, Bags, Tents it was really difficult to climb up. So everyone said it is not possible with the tiredness to take Walpolamulla route and checked for alternative routes. Then Basnayake suggested the Rambukoluwa route. Because in that route you don’t need to climb up. Almost all the stretch is to climb down. Rambukoluwa is another remote village bordering to Knuckles range and it is situated on the bank of ‘Kalu Ganga’. There is a Forest Department bungalow also there.
After thanking the cave for protecting us and giving accommodation in such a pity situation; we started the return back home. Since we took a different route we were able to cover a lot of areas of the knuckles range in a single trip. Scenery is very beautiful and no words to explain the beauty. Some time you could see mountains 360 degrees; and we were in the middle of those. There were a lot of beautiful water streams and it could be more beautiful during the rainy season.

.	Can you believe?? – Click Image to Enlarge

Way to Rambukoluwa

Beauty of Knuckles

After 2 hours of walk the person who was walking first suddenly stopped. We all were about to shout at him, because we all wanted to reach Rambukoluwa as soon as possible. Good that we didn’t. There was a foreign monk in front of us. We couldn’t believe that for a while. Foreign monk in the middle of knuckles! Yes. He is. We had a small chat with him; he had gone to Rambukoluwa for ‘පින්ඩපාතෙ’ and was coming back to his ‘කුටිය’ for meditation. We had a few apples with us and we offered those to him. With the blessings of him we started the walk again and by another 30 minutes we could see the 1st house of Rambukoluwa. With that we all were very happy and it was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally entering to Rambukoluwa

Wasantha has a relation of him at Rambukoluwa and we went to that house. We kept all our stuff there and relaxed for some time after 2 hours and 30 minutes’ walk. We were offered a hot tea by the residence and it was excellent for us at that time. Then we called our driver to come to Rambukoluwa to pick us. After that we went to Kalu ganga for a bath. We were there more than an hour and enjoyed the fresh water. When we came back Wasnatha had prepared the lunch with the support of his relations. It was Kekulu bath, Pol Sambola and Ala badum. With the tiredness and the hunger, we all felt that it was the best meal we have ever had in our entire lives! After thanking them for their generous support we all got in to the van to return to Colombo with a life time experience and thousands of memories. It was one of our greatest dreams coming true.

Innocence

Our giudes : (Left to Right) Basnayake, Wasantha, Kamal

Thanks for reading this lengthy report and will meet you again with another exiting experience.