Alagalla hike was a hike I was looking forward to do since last year but always the weather condition was the limiting factor. I left early morning from Yakkala and arrived at Mawanella. Guess what! as I got off the bus straight away I saw the gigantic mountain covered with a veil of mist which is a peculiar sight. I decided to do the hike from the Ihala Kotte station because that was the route that I was aware about but the easiest way would be taking a Kandy-Poththepitiya bus from Pilimathalawa.
 |
In search of “Soora Saradiel’s” hide out and Bo Ella
I left Colombo and reached a small town just before Mawanella called Utuwankanda where you can find the road which leads you to Saradiels rock (Utuwan mawatha). After walking about 1Km I came across a small road branching off towards the Saradiels rock towards the left. I travelled uphill until I met some locals where I asked for directions, they said take the path which goes uphill so at one point I entered another path which branched out to the left trough a small rubber estate. The path was there until the last bit, it was a steep climb on the slippery muddy track.
Exploring the Southern boundary of Sinharaja Rain Forest – Duli Ella, Neluwa
When a waterfall emits dust-like spray, people used to name it as a Duli ella. (Duli / Duwili mean “dust” in Sinhala). Other than the famous Duwili fall at Kalthota, there are several Duwil falls situated in various parts of the island. It’s a common experience that each an every waterfall has a unique beauty, though they are varies in height, width and capacity. Duli ella at Kosmulla, Neluwa is such a beauty, which allow travelers to explore her with a minimum effort.
මන්නාරම සහ යාපනය (Mannar & Jaffna)
We started in the morning around six thirty and headed towards Negombo. We traveled in a 4×4 Hilux pickup and had all what was needed such as several cans of water food items and other necessary supplements. From Paliyagoda we traveled along the A3 highway. At Wenappuwa we had our breakfast and we went to the Chilaw rest house for a cup of tea. By 10.30 am we were at Puttalam. As it was a poya day the roads were peaceful and we made it to Puttalam sooner than we thought.
A Three Day Trip to Anuradapura, Polonnaruwa, Minneriya National Park,Sigiriya
We started our trip from Colombo at 4.30 am and we came puttulum at about 7 am and we visited wind mill developing site at Puttulum lagoon. After that we started our journey again through Auradapura and we had our breakfast at beautiful place. We stay at Nuwarawewa rest house. It is reasonable and good accommodation option at Anuradapura. Second day we went to Polonnaruwa through habarana.We stay at Girithale Hotel It is little bit Expensive but you couldn’t get that nature experience any were.
Sripada via Deraniyagala, Uda-Maliboda Trail
After completing the three most traveled trails (Hatton-Nallathanni, Rathnapura-Palabaddhala and Kuruwita-Erathna) to SriPada my focus shifted towards the lesser known ones. The Uda-Maliboda trail from Deraniyagala was on the top of that list. I was looking out for more details on this trail and that is when the topic came in to discussion on the forum in the threads – Trail to Sri Pada from Uda Maliboda, Deraniyagala and Trail to sri pada to udamaliboda – Thanks to the discussions there I got all the information required and was wating to find some time to do the walk.
An outdated story of the ruins located out side the ancient city of Polonnaruwa
Before 6.00 am we left Gampaha. Hemantha, coming from Ehetuwewa, a small town at the northern boundary of the Kurunegala Distict, had asked to join with us at Ibbagamuwa junction. However we had to wait more than 1 hour for Hemantha. So we had time enough to have a visit & rest at the famous Bathalegoda tank. On our way we met the young wild elephant who used to rob foods form vehicles passing through, at the Habarana jungle.
Trip to Yala National Park
At around 7.30 – 8.00 am we stopped at a small roadside hut at “Ranna” for breakfast. (We had newly made hoppers & bananas, pancake and poll-roti and plain tea) Then we proceed to Tissa market to purchase the vegetables as all other provisions were purchased from Colombo. (We got fresh village vegetables from tissa) At around 11.00 am we came to Palatupana Office (Yala Entrance) and took about 30mts to get our permit confirmed and they provide us with a Tracker (Dimuthu)
Paramakanda – Unexpected example of how ancient our land really is!
We were due to travel on the Kurunagala – Puttlam road with some time to spare. So I looked up a couple of books for some diversions and came up with two interesting sounding places – Tonigala Inscription and Paramakanda Viharaya – in සිරි ලක අැසු දුටු තැන්. We never made it to Tonigala (one of the largest inscriptions in SL) as we were so taken up with what we found in Paramakanda. Turn off a few km past Anamaduwa by the sign board for Paramakanda Purana Viharaya. Driving through very flat land you suddenly see this huge rock outcrop ahead.
Andahalena Falls (අඩාහැලෙන ඇල්ල) and Diwankara Lena Hermitage
To reach falls, we travelled about 4kms along Elpitiya-Kahaduwa road and came to Pituwala village. Before the village we had to turn left from the main road. At that junction there was a yellow color name board of “Diwankara lena Hermitage”. If you come by bus you have to get in to Elpitiya- Kahaduwa bus and get down at the this junction. Road conditions are very good. Still the bus service is not good. There was only one bus for two hours.