සමනළ වන මැද නටබුන් සොයා ගිය අපි මීළඟට ගියේ තවත් අපූරු ස්ථානයකට. ඒක කන්දක්. මහ කළු ගල් පර්වතයකින් හෙබි විශාල කන්දක් වන එය සමනළ කන්දට පෙනෙන්නේ තවත් කන්දක් සමගින් හාවී කඳු වැටියක් ලෙසයි. සමනළ කන්ද යනු ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලෝකයට ගෙන ගිය සලකුණයි. මන්ද අතීතයේ අරාබි මුහුද හා ඉන්දියන් සාගරයේ යාත්‍රිකයන් මෙම අරුම පුදුම කන්ද දැක අප සශ්‍රීක ගොඩබිමට ගොඩවැදුණු බව නොරහසකි. අද අප සමනළ අඩවියේ හුදෙකලා වූ කන්දක් සොයා ගෙන ගියේ අතීතාවර්ජනයක්ද සමගිනි.

සති තුනක වගේ කාලයක් තුල සංවිධානය වුනු අපගේ මෙම වැඩසටහන අපි හිතුවටත් වඩා හොදට සාර්ථක වුනා. උතුම් ගෞතම ශ්‍රී පාදස්ථානයට සහ සමනල වනපෙතට ආදරය කරන පිරිසක් ලෙස මෙම එකමුතුව හරහා එකතු වුනු අපි ලබන සතියේ පොහොය දිනෙන් එළඹෙන 2019/2020 සිරිපා වාරය උදෙසා අපෙන් යමක් කිරීමට කතිකාවක් ගොඩ නැගුනු හෙයින් අප විවිධ මුලාශ්‍ර හරහා අපිට කරන්න පුළුවන් සුදුසුම සහ පලාදයිම වැඩේ මොකද්ද කියලා හොයද්දි තමයි අපිට කුරුවිට එරත්න මාර්ගයේ පවතින මුලික පහසුකම් වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම සහ ශ්‍රමදානයක් සිදු කිරීමට අදහස ජනිත වුනේ. මේ සඳහා අප නිවැරදි ලෙස රාජ්‍ය අංශ හරහා පැමිණිය යුතු නිසාවෙන් අපගේ සහයට ශ්‍රීපාද සේවා මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂක ප්‍රදීප් මහතා හා සම්බන්ද වීමට ලැබුනා.

Finally I managed to convince myself and the crew that 5 and 6 of Sep are the best option remaining for us. I simply couldn’t afford to keep it postponing any further and decided to take our chances with the constantly changing weather conditions. I kept looking up the AccuWeather, Weather Channel and FallingRain for weather updates. Unfortunately our own Met Department is a symbolic white elephant and not as reliable or dependable as we would like it to be so we’ve no choice but to rely on alternatives such as the above. The rain patterns have shot to hell especially during the last couple of years probably due to the global warming and our irresponsible actions towards the earth. This has made it extremely difficult for farmers, fishermen and those who depend on the regular patterns of the climate.

Even the seasoned farmers, villagers or fishermen find it difficult to predict the weather conditions as a result. Usually you can trust those villagers’ expertise better than the state of the art equipment of the US Met Department but not anymore so we resorted to these web-based weather forecasts. It didn’t look good, not at all as it kept forecasting thunderstorms and heavy rains throughout. I was hoping against the hope for a clear window to make it safely to the summit. Anyhow, we were fully committed and there was no turning back. In the back of my mind there was this feeling of security that if your intentions are good and your behavior is acceptable, you’re going to be ok, especially at the Sri Pada. It’s said in the Buddhism that those who live by the Dhamma will be protected by the Dhamma itself. So we had faith we’d face no problems and if there was any, those powers that protect the area will take care of us.

As there was a long week end and (earlier months we were mostly abroad), we decided to explore the vicinities of Ranapura. We like many have been passing the town many times but not seen its historical and other important places. With my wife and son and daughter joining us with her husband and two kids we started off towards Ratnapura on 30July afternoon after lunch. We booked the Deer Park inn close to town to stay the night over.

Year and Month July 2014 Number of Days 2 Days Crew 3 – My Self, Thivanka, Buddhika & from Seetha Gangula onwards 6 Upul, Prageeth, Udayanath Accommodation Heramitipana Ambalama (Gal Wangediya) Transport Bus, Trishaw, Foot Activities Pilgrimage / Hiking / Photography / Adventure Weather Day 1 – Heavy showers Day 2 – Gloomy Route Colombo […]

It is November the month before the official Sri pada season and I just couldn’t resist not visiting Adams peak before the crowds took over. I and Thinu were wondering whether to go to Sinharaja or Adams peak and suddenly the weather seem to be settling off so we decided to do an off season hike. Early morning we arrived at Kuruwita where we had breakfast and took the first bus (6.10am) to Erathna and from there took a trishaw to Adawi kanda (there is a bus to Adavi kanda at 7.45am). Sharp at 7 we started the hike and off we went through the overgrown mana section. The humid environment started to cause few problems within no time but we proceeded continuously.

After our Hunt on 01 May, I was yearning to do more of them as the season is ideal for it. However, there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind about visiting Batadomba Lena as well for the past year or so. My visits to Beli Lena, Pahiyangala and Alawala Pre-Historic caves stimulated this idea more and more so decided to get two birds with one stone.

Tony managed to get permission from his Royal Highness and joined me for the 2nd leg of Tour de Waterfalls with his ever so trusted bike which is as old as him. We met around 4.30am and hit the High Level Road and were on our way merrily. However come Godagama and Tony suddenly braked hard to avoid a ghost Tuk-tuk which drove across with no lights whatsoever. The result was the headlamp of our bike came off and was hanging from the wires as a result of the brake. Just imagine how old is the bike and Tony himself. I was worried right throughout that Tony might fall apart just like the bike.

I started around 5.30 am on Poya day with my wife and younger son and reached Eheliyagoda and turned left along Dehiowita road and reached Eheliyagoda Rubber estate where you can see Bisodola Ella. Then we came back to A4 and turned left before Kuruvita junction to reach Bopath Ella.

We started the journey from Petta CTB stand around 2PM on 21st Friday, 2014. There was a Rathnapura bus and we took it to go to Kuruwita. It was around 4.30 when we got down from kuruwita. Our aim was to go up to Erathna and stay there. However after getting down at Kuruwita, we were lucky to catch the last bus that goes up to Adewikanda which is the last point that public transport is available during Sri Pada season.

Sri Pada(ශ්රීd පාද) /Adam’s peak one of my favorites places in Sri Lanka. After having seven visits to Sri Pada I wanted to do it in a combination of trails during off season. I selected Kuruwita-Erathna trail for climbing up and Rajamale-Sandagalathanna (සදගල තැන්න) route for getting down.

With most parts of the country experiencing rain continuously for 4 months, an amount of rain that has never been experienced for the past 40 years or so started to ease by end of July, the moment I’ve been waiting for. After experiencing 3 days of sunshine without rain I thought the moment has arrived for me to go on another waterfall hunt and decided to do it the very next day making use of the week-end.

Bunch of people at our office decided to climb Sripada off season back in 2007. I’ve involved in many hikes before, but I knew 12KM + is not an easy one. We arrived at Erathna day prior to our hike and stood at one of our colleague’s relatives place.