Hi folks, I hope you enjoyed the first-ever trip report in Lakdasun on Runakanda, a part of Sinharaja. Afterwards I was craving to pay a visit once again to Sinharaja despite my being there from all 4 entrances before.

Ok, back to Runakanda. This is a part of Sinharaja actually but is now being proposed as a separate Forest Reserve. I hope this will get legalized soon as we’re fast losing our forest areas. Even Runakanda like many wet zone rain forests have been ravaged by the Walla Patta Hunters. According to villagers many outsider had come in gangs and stayed inside the forest living in makeshift shelters or caves chopping down Walla Patta trees and making loads of money. The FD and Police are in high alert even though the damage has already been done thus the reason why you shouldn’t venture into these areas on your own.

We heard that the FD is now distributing Walla Patta plants for commercial planting where they help with the chemicals to produce that specific bit of residue after 5 years. At the age of 8, the tree is good to cut down and harvest. Hopefully these will put a stop to the destruction of our virgin forests.

Most of the Sri Lankan’s are connected to the names derived from “Sinha” The race Sinhalies, Areas like Bulathsinhala etc . Surnames such as Jayasinha, Ranasinghe 🙂 etc and of course we have a forest called by that name. “SINHARAJA” origin of this sinha term is not from the carnivorous animal “Lion “or lion centered fictions concluding half humans. Those were myths put in to our minds forcefully. It’s truly because of the four superior races who lived in sri lanka commonly known as SIV HELA who gave birth to one nation .Those were called Yakkaha, Naga, Deva & Gandharwa.

Kudawa Sinharaja entrance is the most attractive center of Sinharaja rain forest. Sinhagala trail is popular trail compared to Mulawella trail, kind of an easy one. This is my experience of Sinharaja rain forest from Kudawa entrance.

We started our trip on 29 January 4.00 a.m & we reached to Rakwana town around 7.00 a.m. From there we took Deniyaya road to reach Aranya. We passed famous 10 bends ( Wangu Dahaya ) & surrounding view was superb. We reached Aranya at 8.00 a.m & first we had our breakfast there.

We started the journey very early in the morning and caught the Colombo-Badulla bus at about 3:30 from Maharagama, the bus had left Colombo at 2:55 according to the bus schedule which was on display. We reached Ratnapura at about 5:20 and managed to catch the first bus of the day to Kalawana from the Ratnapura central bus stand which was scheduled to leave at 5:30.

On Aug 8 2014 three of us started the journey from Kandy at 14:30, it was a rainy day and we were about to miss the bus to Ratnapura but managed to catch it. We reached Ratnapura around 19:30, two of our crew were on their way to Ratnapura from Colombo and they reached around 21:30. There was a cab service we hired previously and they reached to the town around 22:00 and we all set to go.

Lankagama Waterfalls was in my to-do list for a long time and last year we went all the way up to Kosmulla Duwili Ella at Neluwa but couldn’t proceed beyond due to lack of time. (My Trip Report : Scenic Rakwana Mountains and Kanneliya Forest)

Morning side is situated in east corner of Sinharaja rain forest. As it is always covered with mist it is called Morning side since colonial age. Mist and drizzling is part and parcel of morning side weather. Though it is similar to Hortain plains weather, temperature is not that much low.

Waterfalls of southern border of Sinharaja rain forest and Neluwa can be classified as follows Waterfalls in Neluwa (4) – Thapolena Ella 1, Thapolena Ella 2, Neluwa/Kosmulla Duwili Ella, Thambalagama Duwili Falls, Waterfalls in Warukandeniya (3) – Aliboda Falls, Ratawal dola Ella (? Beraliyadola Ella), Beraliya Galanda Ella, Waterfalls in Lankagama (6) – Classic five waterfalls and Hathbinna Ella, Waterfalls in Pitadeniya (3)-Malmora Ella, Pathan Oya Ella/Wathugala Ella and Kakuna Ella.

I have to do a confession before writing this trip report. This trip was arranged by Sri with Some other lakdasun members on 23rd Saturday using Sri’s old Strategy, Face book conversations. I had notified my absence In advance as I had to report duty on Saturday. But I was free on 22nd Friday. Due to various reasons most of the other members also confirmed their absence expect the little boy Tony. So that trip was postponed.

We came through Southern Highway and turned from Baddegama out. Then we came to Neluwa through Nagoda, Udugama, Hiniduma and Thawalama. From Neluwa you have to drive another16 KM on an extremely narrow road, through Kosmulla.