We received a request from rural village in Angunukolapelessa area. They request books for their village library. We started collecting books from friends & relatives from last September.

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.

We start to built a house for poor family in Athimale – Siyabalanduwa. Less than 2 months we completed the house. On January 29th we went to handover the house for family. We started our journey on 28th January at 11.15 p.m & we reached to Athimale at 6.00 a.m. First we visit to see the family’s Dream Home & handover the house for them. It is very memorable moment in our life.

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 primary purpose of this trip was to visit two different kinds of hydropower projects in Sri Lanka, to see the sites, equipment, mechanisms, etc. and learn about them. Enjoyed some other attractions on the way too. We got this opportunity as one of our friends is an engineer attached to Samanalawewa Hydroelectric power plant.

So on the 15th morning, we (highly excited bunch) left Colombo around 5.30 am. There was ample room in the van since it was only 7 of us (including the driver) and soon we reached Ratnapura and stopped for Breakfast. Kadala, String Hoppers, Red Rice with Kiri Hodi, Sambola and Fish may sound like a feast as we wolfed down the food. Then we reached Udawalawa and stopped around the park to take the breath taking view of the reservoir in.

For no particular reason, with no particular exploration in mind we booked accommodation in Weeravila for the long week-end. With three days looming, the question ‘what can we do around Weeravila’ was thrown open. Priyanjan’s suggestion of ‘go to Kaltota’ I thought was a joke, despite his ‘it’s a small country’ tag. Yohan’s ‘try Yala Block III’ seemed a possibility.

We took Galle road and we depart from home early morning 5.30 AM since we are planning to visit Weherahena and Wawrukannala temples in Matara as part of this trip. Took our breakfast at Koggala beach and drive towards Matara and arrived at weherahena around 9 AM. Since this is a week day (Monday) there were only few visitors to the temple and we had good chance to observe the Lord Buddha statue (It says tallest statue in Sri Lanka but not sure since Kandewihara Lord Buddha statue might be taller than that) and also Umang wihara (tunnel) art works as well.

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 reached Thalgasmankada Bungalow at around 2.30 p.m. We learnt that we were the first party to stay there after it was closed about two years back following an LTTE attack on the army camp which used to be there in front of the bungalow. Until lunch was ready, we walked around the bungalow and spent some time at the river which was almost overflowing.