Dhanigala mountain is actually an exploration by Travel with Chathura program as they captured an amazing circular photo of this unique shaped mountain. Hence I wanted to climb this mountain before get it rush by unethical travelers. However, I and few of my friends were able to conquer Dhanigala mountain and explore some more beauty than we saw on Chathura’s video.

Kamburagala (400m) is a funny shape rock situated in Maduru Oya NP. Kandegama / Dhanigala is situated closer to Maduru Oya reservoir became a popular travel destination in last two years.

We started out at 4 AM on day 1 and move towards Ratnapura on Horana Road. On the way we schemed to move towards Ampara and may be towards Trinco later on. We took a quick breakfast from a small wayside shop on the Horana road at about 6. We had passed Maha Saman Devalaya at Ratnapura so many times but never stopped since we always have been running with a another destination in mind. It was 6.45AM when we reached the Ratnapura Maha Saman Devalaya and there was almost no people there.

It’s such an amazing sight to watch them and one would never get tired of watching, no matter how many times they come across, this wonderful creature. It’s even more wonderful when you get to see them in their natural habitat such as the wild life parks and forests. Lately, I was itching to go see as many of them as possible and when Sheham came up with the idea of visiting Maduru Oya I kept jumping up and down till I was exhausted.

The coming weekend was Vesak holidays and there would be plenty of free food everywhere waiting for me to have a taste. So I decided to hang around Maha oya and experience the village style of celebrating Vesak though my main objective was visiting few archaeology sites. I got together with my batch mate Chanaka and arrived at Maha oya leisurely at around 9am and after having some breakfast we wanted to visit one of the Mega irrigation projects which was underway.

It was a period of mixed weather and I had been away from temples and Archeology sites for a while so decided to have a small tour around Padiyathalawa and Maha oya region on a weekend. Visiting archeology sites and temples is not an easy task since there are many issues lately that cause significant problems and it’s essential to win the trust of the head priests these days otherwise you would be labeled as a “Nidan hora” and be arrested by the 119 squad. Despite all the barriers I decided continue on my quest so on a Saturday I headed towards Padiyathalawa and took a bus towards Wahawa to start things off.

We started the journey from Maha-oya around 2.30 pm in the evening. This is the best time to start from Maha oya because by 4-5 pm we can reach to Maduru oya reservoir to see the beauty of it with setting sun and to see the wild elephant as well. We took the left turn just before the Maha-oya police station at Maha-oya town. It can be easily identified as Aralaganwila road and the name board is also there for Maha-oya hot water springs.