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Trip Reports Archive » Trips Filed Under Sri Pada Peace Pagoda

Today's Most Viewed

  1. Two days in Heaven (Madulsima to Pitamaruwa) 62 views
  2. Chariot Path of Ravana & Sitha on top of Piduruthalagala range and James Taylor’s Loolecondera! 51 views
  3. Narangala the second peak of Uva (1500m)! 39 views
  4. Scenic Hike to Wangedigala 34 views
  5. ගලේ බණ්ඩාර දෙවියන්ගේ අඩවියේ පිහිටි රාවණා රජු මල දවස රජුට ජනතාව ගරු බුහුමන් දැක් වූ ස්තානය (යහන්ගල/Yahangala 1220m)... 33 views
  6. Cave Exploration Continues – Pic Journey 3… 33 views
  7. Knuckles Doowili Eli from Etanwala-Walpolamulla and return to Rambukoluwa. – Mapping the Dream Trek 32 views
  8. Back to Yahangala (1220m) 31 views
  9. A walk to Hanthana Mountain Range 26 views
  10. Learning the Tea History at Loolkandura and Hiking Kondagala (1450 M) 24 views

This Week's

  1. Two days in Heaven (Madulsima to Pitamaruwa) 315 views
  2. Chariot Path of Ravana & Sitha on top of Piduruthalagala range and James Taylor’s Loolecondera! 173 views
  3. Makulussa Mountain/මකුලුස්ස කන්ද (916m) 152 views
  4. ගලේ බණ්ඩාර දෙවියන්ගේ අඩවියේ පිහිටි රාවණා රජු මල දවස රජුට ජනතාව ගරු බුහුමන් දැක් වූ ස්තානය (යහන්ගල/Yahangala 1220m)... 145 views
  5. Scenic Hike to Wangedigala 102 views
  6. Bathalegala (Bible’s Rock) 798m 101 views
  7. A walk to Hanthana Mountain Range 96 views
  8. Waterfalls of Colombo District 92 views
  9. Sensational Mandaram Nuwara – Tour de Waterfalls 15… 85 views
  10. Covering the longest distance between two railway stations in Sri Lanka (25.3Km) 82 views

This Month's

  1. Chariot Path of Ravana & Sitha on top of Piduruthalagala range and James Taylor’s Loolecondera! 1,151 views
  2. Two days in Heaven (Madulsima to Pitamaruwa) 1,071 views
  3. Muthukeliyawa Lake : Moragolla, Kandy : The Sky View 588 views
  4. Scenic Hike to Wangedigala 549 views
  5. ගලේ බණ්ඩාර දෙවියන්ගේ අඩවියේ පිහිටි රාවණා රජු මල දවස රජුට ජනතාව ගරු බුහුමන් දැක් වූ ස්තානය (යහන්ගල/Yahangala 1220m)... 525 views
  6. සබරගමුවේ ආදරවන්තයන්ගේ කන්ද (Paraviyangala) 464 views
  7. Knuckles Doowili Eli from Etanwala-Walpolamulla and return to Rambukoluwa. – Mapping the Dream Trek 455 views
  8. Waterfalls of Colombo District 436 views
  9. Bathalegala (Bible’s Rock) 798m 430 views
  10. A walk to Hanthana Mountain Range 366 views

All-Time

  1. Camping trip to Meemure – One of the best trips ever!!! 28,741 views
  2. Bathalegala (Bible’s Rock) 798m 18,789 views
  3. Waterfalls of Colombo District 16,926 views
  4. Two days in Heaven (Madulsima to Pitamaruwa) 15,853 views
  5. Rarely visited places in Trincomalee 14,507 views
  6. Chariot Path of Ravana & Sitha on top of Piduruthalagala range and James Taylor’s Loolecondera! 14,442 views
  7. Heaven On Earth (Knuckles – Illukkumbura, Reverstan) 13,930 views
  8. Kebaliththa (Kebiliththa) Devalaya 13,726 views
  9. Memorable Pilgrimage to Kebiliththa (මහ සියඹලාව දේවාලය) 13,637 views
  10. Trip to Mahiyanganaya and Badulla visiting 5 reservoirs, 5 temples and 5 waterfalls 13,298 views

Ambalam Hopping – Sri Pada Off Season (Hatton-Palabaddala)…

After a snail-like journey, we reached Maskeliya and bought a couple of essential things like instant noodles. We were planning to take a tuk-tuk from here but our luck held coz there was a Nallathanniya bus leaving at 10am. So having breathed a sigh of relief we got into the bus and settled. The sun was back and my hopes soared like an eagle. However as we got closer to Nallathanniya aka Dalhousie (remember it’s Dalhousie not Delhouse or Delhousie), those hopes came down and down like a deflated balloon.

It was very gloomy and there were a couple of passing showers as well. “This is going to be one heck of a hike” I told Atha and we both regretted not having brought the umbrellas. Well we shouldn’t have worried coz the usage of umbrella becomes next to zero after Geththampana due to the open area and strong winds. We had our long overdue coffee from the shop just before the bridge. Already there was a group of people getting ready to climb for a Pooja and we started our hike around 11am, after 8.5hr journey, well literally.

Cascades around sacred peak

Off season Sri Pada visit permits to view number of cascades in it’s full phase. This is my attempt to cover waterfalls at Hatton-Sri Pada trail and around Hatton.

When Cockroaches are Killing Butterflies – Sri Pada (Via Palabaddala Trail)…

As soon as you hear the name Sri Pada, there’s this calm and soothing sensation which goes through your system as if a nice cool flow of water through a parched throat. That mountain is so special even her namesake alone is enough to make us feel reinvigorated. I don’t think there exists any such mountain in the whole wide world that has been worshipped and visited as much as this despite her location in a tiny out of the way island in the Indian Ocean with nothing below it until the frozen Antarctic Glaciers. This is very special and it further proves by it being chosen to leave the footprint of one of the most respected and enlightened philosopher that walked on this earth some 2600 years ago, Gautama Buddha.

Since then, this has been worshipped by millions of devotees every year between Dec (Unduwap Poya) and May (Vesak Poya). However the situation has become a bit alarming due to the unprecedented crowds that gather to visit and worship the sacred footprint every year. If you were following the media (and supposing they were reporting the truth), there were reports of some 800,000 people visiting on long weekends and somewhere in April that figure rose to some 1.5 million. There were so many who were planning to go from Hatton but due to the large number of people ultimately ended up climbing from Kuruwita. Just imagine the plight of those people who were only prepared for an easy ride of 4-5km yet were forced to do 12+km. Most of them had been in tears by the time they had reached Galwangediya.

Off Season Pilgrimage to the Mountain of Triple Gems – Sri Pada (Via Erathna Trail)

Finally I managed to convince myself and the crew that 5 and 6 of Sep are the best option remaining for us. I simply couldn’t afford to keep it postponing any further and decided to take our chances with the constantly changing weather conditions. I kept looking up the AccuWeather, Weather Channel and FallingRain for weather updates. Unfortunately our own Met Department is a symbolic white elephant and not as reliable or dependable as we would like it to be so we’ve no choice but to rely on alternatives such as the above. The rain patterns have shot to hell especially during the last couple of years probably due to the global warming and our irresponsible actions towards the earth. This has made it extremely difficult for farmers, fishermen and those who depend on the regular patterns of the climate.

Even the seasoned farmers, villagers or fishermen find it difficult to predict the weather conditions as a result. Usually you can trust those villagers’ expertise better than the state of the art equipment of the US Met Department but not anymore so we resorted to these web-based weather forecasts. It didn’t look good, not at all as it kept forecasting thunderstorms and heavy rains throughout. I was hoping against the hope for a clear window to make it safely to the summit. Anyhow, we were fully committed and there was no turning back. In the back of my mind there was this feeling of security that if your intentions are good and your behavior is acceptable, you’re going to be ok, especially at the Sri Pada. It’s said in the Buddhism that those who live by the Dhamma will be protected by the Dhamma itself. So we had faith we’d face no problems and if there was any, those powers that protect the area will take care of us.

Daring Mission to the Most Scared Mountain – Sri Pada (Via Maliboda Trail)

We all get these impulsive thoughts of doing things out of blue moon every now and then. Something like that happened when we visited Eli Hatha deep inside the Sri Pada Forest Reserve off Uda Maliboda in the first week of February. That journey, one of the dreams of Hari, turned out to be a great success, probably the best ever. During this journey I kept thinking of visiting the Most Sacred Mountain, Sri Pada via Uda Maliboda trail, one of the six known paths to the summit.

I was longing for it by the time we returned from Eli Hatha and didn’t wanna do anything else but that. So when I presented the thought to Dodam, my mate for the Beloved Lakegala, he seconded it with no second thoughts. So we fixed it for the 15 & 16 Feb. Thanks to Hari, I got the contact number of Yasawardhane mama, a real nature-loving gentleman who is very friendly, humble and helpful. When I called him to check the status of weather conditions and the trail, he gladly offered to help us. I, being the cautious type, asked if he could find a guide for us at least till we reach the Kuruwita trail but he said that there was no way we could go wrong yet promised to get someone at least for a part of the journey.

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