Initially there were 5 members (3 of my old school mates, me and my better half) for the trip. We wanted to be little adventures and the destination chosen was Yala Nationala Park.

It was December holidays again we decided to have a family trip and we opted to cover part of the East this time. On a Friday I made some calls to two friends at Ampara and Trinco and got 2 hotels booked. This was intended to be a road trip with time to rest in between.

December 11, 12 and 13th were the days and it was a long weekend which was not to be wasted. Our decision was to go on camping in Udawalawe or in Wilpaththu but ultimately a decision was taken to go for Udawalawe.

Someone asked one day what was I really liked to see. I had no hesitation answering that question. Waterfalls, I declared confidently. But, I added, I’m not that choosy when it comes to traveling. Almost everything from Waterfalls to Mountains to Archeology and Paintings is appealing to me. I’m very much a cosmopolitan traveler. When Ana said that he would be visiting Kurullangala, I readily agreed to join forces.

Kurullangala has been a very hot topic ever since it was discovered by the Swallows’ Nests Poachers. Afterwards one of the media group went and videoed the place rousing the curiosity of the nature lovers and environmentalists. As a result many people (well not as many as you think but a good number of them), including the archeological department, took the trouble to visit the place. If you still haven’t come across what Kurullangala is, lemme give you an overview.

One of my friends is gonna get married in September so he wanted to go on a relaxing journey before his arms and legs are tied. As I’d not been to Udawalawe before, this turned out to be the perfect opportunity. Apparently the scary things bring along good and happy returns with them. So we planned the journey during the Vesak as we all could get away without an issue. However, this time there wasn’t any of my Lakdasun buddies to accompany me. It was just the four of us, my close friends outside Lakdasun. So we all got ready to spend a night at one of national park known to harbor more than 300 jumbos. Our biggest concern, if we’d get a better bungalow.

There are four known bungalows at Udawalawe. They are Seenuggala, Thimbiriya Mankada, Gonawiddagala and Weheragolla. When I visited the Wildlife Department website to make the booking online (this is a great thing introduced by them. It saves so much trouble and painstaking process many undergo until not so long ago), none of those bungalows was available. Gonawiddagala and Thimbiriya Mankada were highly recommended but I had no luck. There was however a fifth option, Pokunuthenna, and it’s not listed in the information page for the bungalows which has photos and accommodation details. I was in two minds whether to cancel our jumbo watching and do something else coz every wildlife bungalow at all the national parks was booked.

As a bunch of wildlife lovers, we’ve always been fascinated by the sheer wilderness Sri Lankan national parks offered. We planned a trip to Udawalawa National Park this summer and it was one of the memorable ones.

Year and Month December, 2012 Number of Days Two Day Trip Crew 8 (28 years of age) Accommodation Back of Beyond – Kahandamodara Transport A Jeep & a Car Activities Waterfalls, Sightseeing, Photography, Leisure Weather Mixed. Scattered rains, overcast and clear Route Day 1 : Kottawa -> Piliyandala -> Horana -> Rathnapura -> Pelmadulla -> […]

The run in the open cab was a super experience as you could see in all directions up to a good distance and can see animals easily. Though it was very dry the surface of the roads were in bad shape and as a result the double cab got it’s side bars damaged.Though it was quite hot we managed to see quite a number of Elephants including a baby tusker and some birds as well.

We started around 6.00 am from Gampaha and stopped at Rathanapura and had the breakfast. Then we proceeded towards Udawalawa and reached Udawalawa bungalow around 1.30 pm. While passing Udawalawa park we saw few elephants inside the fence, just by the side of Udawalawa road. These elephants have got used to come up to this point as visitors feed them with fruits. There are signboards saying ‘Do not feed animals’ but visitors don’t adhere to these instructions.

It was around 6AM when we left Colombo with UdaWalawe national park being our destination. The crew consisted of me and my wife, along with three other close friends from our uni days. We loaded up the camping gear and other paraphernalia to the back of the pick up and I took the wheels for the first part of the journey.
The drive upto Pambahinna was rather uneventful with three stops for breakfast at Awissawella, fuel at Rathnapura and change of the spare tyre at Pelmadulla.

This was a family trip with other families of my father’s friends joining in. We started from Galle and proceeded via the Galle road up to Waskaduwa (Kalutara) and turned to Bandaragama and then took the route to Ratnapura. The first destination was Kirindi Ella near Pelmadulla. The road up to where the staircase leading to the base of the fall starts was not great but acceptable. The water level was probably just right and it was absolutely deserted. 🙂 Also the vicinity of the fall was unspoilt thankfully.

The best time to visit these parks is during the drought season during July to September but usually yala is closed for visitors during the month of September so I thought of doing this trip on late August but then again when I checked with my contacts @ yala I came to know that this time the park will remain open so shifted my plans to September where the affects of the drought is much more severe so our chances of sighting leopards is @ high.