We almost completed 7 days of our trip. Its time to leave from Ampara District. We decided to visit Bibile. We leave from Inginiyagala around 7.30 a.m & we came to Bibile via Namal Oya.

Two years back I worked at Inginiyagala hospital and one day I came across a retired DWC officer who is well known because of the newspaper articles he wrote about Gal oya national park. Somehow we became friends and one day he mentioned about a special cave close to Mulgama where Vedda paintings could be found.

The drive to wettambuyaya was quite effortless. The road via udawalawe is in good condtion, thanks to Ashan’s and suneth’s info via lakdasung we managed contact Ajith who is the contact person to take us to wettambuyaya, not even the local villages there are familiar with this place or its value. the service of guide is a must as there is about 6-8KM distance from the main road to “wettambugala” in “wettambuyaya”.

This was a journey I did more than a year ago and my focus was on some places close to Mahiyangana and Bibile – Medagama. On an overcast day I took a bus towards Padiyathalawa from Bibile and again took a bus towards Mahiyanganaya. Just before Wewatta temple there was a road to the left with Uva province tourism notice board directing towards Murungagala Archaeology site.

There are some places one must visit and Nilgala is one of those places. Finally after 1 ½ years been to Monaragala that day seemed to be closing in. I was determined to visit Nilgala during the Esela weekend and only needed few guys to accompany me but at last I had a huge crew. First of all my office staff was ever so willing to venture on and later to be joined by few of my Lakdasun friends. Though I was disappointed with the wild life department because of all the messed up bookings, I was not going to give up this time and decided to camp the first day at the park entrance.

It was Friday the 16th March. We set of at around 4 a.m. from Moratuwa on a three day excursion to Galoya National Park. Shahan had booked the Mahadorowwa camp site on the Nilgala side of the park. We were a crew of 12 in three vehicles.

Mulagama cave was another random site I noted on a sheet of paper (1:50000 maps) within the Gal Oya Sanctuary and later on only I found the relevant details about it on Ellawala Medhananda Thero’s publication. I have been planning to visit this site for few months and I had been gathering information since then, finally my dream came true.

Iginiyagala is a well-known travel destination for most of us but have you’ll ever noted the mountain peak which forms one side of the dam? The summit of mount Iginiyagala(1035ft) is one of those most scenic points I have ever seen which is why I wanted to climb it so much. So together with few friends working at Ampara, I decided to give it a try on a public holiday

If there is a will there is always a way, the above text was quoted from my previous attempt to climb mount Wadinagala(බුදුන් වඩින්න ආ ගල = වඩිනාගල) which is the second highest peak of Gal Oya sanctuary. My desire was my driving force. As I have learnt over the years there are no dreams that cannot be achieved and this is one of those which I accomplished successfully. Wadinagala Mountain may be unknown to many people simply because it’s located in a wild life park.

Let me start by giving a small introduction of the relevant area which I travelled on this journey. Wadinagala which is 2400ft in height was our main target and it has been on my mind for few months, it is located within the Gal Oya national park bordering Jayanthi wewa and the area is over populated by wild elephants. This peak is known to be one of the mountains which lord Budhdha considered before choosing Sri Pada.

We planned the trip initially to the August school vacation but due to the National Elephant Senses which was on the way we had to reschedule the trip to September. All were enthusiastic on the trip and final number on for the trip was 10 with 3 teenagers, 2 youths and 5 adults. The campsite was booked in advanced and officers were helpful to provide us a campsite despite their strike. Cab service van was booked which was familiar due to the past experiences with the driver/owner of that van.

There was a hike to the Kahathaaththa Hela rock at Nilgala. During the time of King Dutugemunu, there had been a monastery on this rock. The ruins were to be seen. We also, saw the Nilgala aniket where the waters of Galoya gets transferred to help paddy cultivation. A few members in the group went bird watching from Kossapola Campsite one morning.