Kuragala is a vast Buddhist monastery complex 18 km’s off Balangoda on the Kaltota road. This complex covers the number of rock outcrops which is collectively known as Kuragala. The ruins of the complex date back to the 2nd century BC and has been declared an archeological reserve by the government. The Monastery covers 30-40 rock caves, some capable of holding 2000-3000 people.

Ella Rock is more popular among foreigners than locals, I can safely say. Almost all the foreigners who visit Sri Lanka go to Ella (they pronounce it as Ela rather than Ella with double Ls). It’s said that Ella is among the three mostly visited places in Sri Lanka by the foreigners after Dalada Maligawa and Pinnawala. Climbing Ella Rock was (before our journey) said to be a relatively easier task and there was no guide needed. So we too decided to attempt it without a guide. I don’t usually like to do any hike without a guide as the pros always outweigh the cons of having a guide even though we have to pay him some money. I believe it is money well-spent as those people who guide us will learn to protect those environmental treasures instead of trying to make easy money by destroying them.

Now to find the correct trail to the Ella Rock. Please follow this and you’re not going to miss your way. Walk past Kital Ella Station (when coming from Ella) and continue for about 300m until you find a road to your left hand side. It’s not quite prominent when coming along the railway line so keep an eye out for it. It’s just a gravel (rather earth) road and take it and after a 50-100 meters it’ll cross the stream that feeds the Ravana Ella (not the Bambaragama Ella found on Ella-Wellawaya Road) with a concrete bridge. You can of course see the Ravana Ella when coming from Ella towards Kital Ella. Now just follow this road all the way to the summit. Fairly straight forward, isn’t it? It’s about 2-3km moderate hike to the Ella Rock.

Hello everyone! Hope you’re all well and getting geared up for the up-coming festive season. Well, all the glamour of the festive season would’ve been over by the time you read this article. However, after our previous hike based at Kande Ela, there was a transitional period, very much like the “Nonagathaya” aka inauspicious time during April New Year. I was going mad with nowhere to go and was ready to walk up a wall when finally Hasi came into my rescue and we managed to do a small Waterfall Hunt in Colombo.

If it wasn’t for that, I’d’ve had to be admitted to a sanatorium. Even after that, there was a long wait before our scheduled journey to the Koslanda, Bandarawela and Demodara. The constant rains made me think of those gorgeous cascades falling majestically having been fed by the increased volume of water but I was stuck at home with no means to go see them. However, we planned to visit a few of them during our journey, most notably the Upper Diyaluma Falls or according to Dr. Eberhard Kautzsch who wrote the book “A Guide to the Waterfalls of Sri Lanka”, this could even be the Kudalu Ella.

We started our trip on 7 January morning & we reached to Badulla around 12.30 p.m. Firstly we searched room for stay. First we visit to Dunhinda Fall & evening we went to Muthiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya.

Now that I’ve taken it off my chest, let’s see what was in store for me upon arriving in Kumbalwela where the Ella-Wellawaya Road begins. It had gone 8am, much later than I’d planned but there was hardly anything I could do about the crawling bus, when we reached Kumbalwela and waited for a bus to get us to Ella. The under construction road was full of dust and waiting proved to be a huge challenge but after it felt like an eternity, there was a bus and we got in quickly.

My efforts to catch up on sleep became futile so had a tough time waiting till we reached Belihul Oya for breakfast. Pan Cake just out of the oven washed down with ginger-flavored plain tea brought the active adventurer in me. From there the journey became more pleasant. The Walawe Valley stretched into miles with vivid colors. Finally around 8.30am, we reached Kumbalwela and got off the bus. Then it was another sometime before a bus arrived for us to get to Ella.

So the Monsoons seem to be arriving after almost two years and the first few showers were enough to give life to many waterfalls around Badulla district. My main focus was to reach some undocumented waterfalls close to Ella and enjoy all the seasonal beauties along Ella – Wellawaya road, Beragala – Wellawaya road & Haputale – Beragala road. Please do relish this fiesta but keep in mind when you are venturing around these areas to avoid heavy showers because these areas are known for landslides

The perfectly square-shaped rocks had been put together by a very thin layer of a special mixture (about 1cm) and it’s really surprising that she’s been standing all these years. The mastermind behind this magnificent structure is Mr. P. K. Appuhamy, who was a resident of Keppetipola born in 1870 and died at 1951.

So finally I decided to tackle the rains, it was not a pleasant experience but my desire and the outcome made it pleasant at the end. On day one when I arrived at Welimada it was around 1pm and it was drizzling at that moment and I had to face a major obstacle which was a bus strike at that moment, somehow got in to a CTB and went towards lunuwatta.

On a gloomy day I took a bus towards Bibile and from there onwards I took another bus towards Alawaththagoda on Lunugala Rd. After getting down from Alawaththagoda and inquiring about Alawaththagoda falls few people directed me further towards Arawakumbura for 1.5km’s after passing a huge bridge I came across a second bridge and continued upstream until I reached a beautiful waterfall called Alawaththagoda Naya Kadura Ella.

Ella is one of the famous tourist destinations in Sri Lanka and well known among tourist as a hiking destination. Ella rock and Little Adams peak are among those famous viewpoints. Since it was a nice sunny day with a clear sky I decided to hike around Ella. My first destination was the famous Ella rock which is about 1350m in height. After arriving at around 8am to Ella I started to walk along the railway track (which is prohibited by law) towards Kithal Ella station.

We left around morning 6.00 from Dehiwala with Bopath Ella to be our 1st sighting in mind. We reached Kuruwita around 8.00 – 8.30 and from Kuruwita took a left turn and travelled about 3kms to a village called Agalwatta where the fall is located. It was interesting to see that the area surrounding the fall has changed a lot from my last visit for this fall in 1996. Then as per our agenda it was Doovili falls in Kalthota, so we made a move towards Balangoda. After passing Pelmadulla town we were lucky enough to spot Kirindi Ella in distance from the main road (although I have seen images of this waterfall had no idea where it is located exactly). So we have to come back towards Pelmadulla town and took a right turn in Kuttapitiya road.