Kukulagala /Diyathalawa (කුකුළාගල/ දියතලාව) is a mountain range situated at Rikillagaskada town in Kandy district. This traingular shape mountain was popular among surveyors as a measuering point. British surveyor called C. Erskine has been there in 1910 and his engraved letters can be found at top of Diyathalawa Mountain. Other than Erskine, some other surveyors also have visited there. (Ambeek in 1924)

I knew about these caves from Niroshan’s trip report and I thought to explore these caves. The actual name of this cave complex is “Rotupihilla Limestone Caves”. There are five main caves and those are situated in different places.

We walked close to 3km when out of nowhere came to see this gorgeous twin falls falling amid thick jungle. The real Kolapathana Ella is the one to the right, the one to the left is a seasonal cascade yet bigger and higher. This was something I won’t ever forget. The two white lines drawn amid the dark green background with touches of white was a painting that can only be drawn by the capable hands of the Mother Nature. The mist had covered the falls nearly completely when we arrived but I started singing “Mist, mist, go away – Come again another day” and as if on cue, the rain eased and the mist lifted calmly over the Piduruthalagala showing her prominent rocky slope. The radar site is located almost on the middle of the summit making it impossible to see from here and this angle. Sumanarathna mama too joined us now and Hariya went down to the base of the falls with him and Kiri while I stayed up and took hundreds of pictures.

However it didn’t appeal to Hari and we made plans hastily for Mandaram Nuwara. There was very little information about this mysterious place and we had to make do with what little was available. Credit must go to Hariya for planning the whole thing and we deliberated long and hard how to get there in the first place. Not having anyone else, it had to be just the two of us. Going by bike had to be ditched at the eleventh hour due to the rains and earth slips. So finally we decided to take the road via Kandy by bus. Getting Hariya up was as easy as lifting an elephant out of a well in an abandoned paddy field. Finally I picked him close to 5am on the christmas day, while most of the country was still under the wraps trying to get some warmth from the partial wintry chill. We went to the bus stand in Pettah while the rain kept its pace. There was an A/C bus that left for Kandy at 5.30am.

Perfect weather conditions in hill country means it’s time to do some hikes. I just had to pick up two places in my list and execute. First day it was Hanthana range and few of my lakdasun friends did accompany me on that superb hike. For my next day execution Only Nishan said yes. So next day early morning both of us got in to a Padiyapelella bus and headed towards Rikillagaskada where we had our breakfast. We were going to climb a unique mountain range in the central hills. Kukulagala which overlooks Rikillagaskada town like a lonely giant.

We continued passing Hanguranketha in our quest to visit some little known waterfalls we got to know thanks to Niroshan. But our journey was badly affected first by our delayed start and then by the terrible road condition past Hanguranketha. The road is under construction and is in a terrible state.

Hanguranketha and Walapane (Electorate areas) cover a large area of central hills. There are a number of unfamiliar waterfalls in this area. During my journey I wanted to visit at these waterfalls. Although I visited them haphazardly for your convenience I will note down them in an order.

Ancient Hanguranketha palace was destroyed by British people in 1818 rebellion. Remained parts of the palace were used to build this temple. Therefore it is called “Maliga” මාලිගා and because of the presence of a large library called “Pothgul” පොත්ගුල්. The original carved stone door frame, moon stone and stone pillars can be seen here.

Ekiriya (ඇකිරිය) is a village situated in Nuweraeliya district close to Rikillagaskada(රිකිල්ලගස්කඩ) town. Most of the villagers are farmers and this village is full of paddy fields and vegetable plots. The important thing is the subterranean lime stone cave situated in this village.