One friend Tharaka out of blue moon asked if I would join with him for a trip to Handapanagala. I immediately wanted to know who was going as I’m always wary of people who go on trips as I consider myself more reserved and a nature lover than someone who goes on trips just to drink and waste time. However, after Tharaka’s repeated assurances that the crowd was ok, I was willing. Another reason was Handapanagala is very famous for its tank and the possibility of seeing my favorite elephants was very high.

We started the journey early morning 5.00am from our home in galle. Then got the breakfast at beach side in matara.
After then stopped at few places between matara and kataragama.reached kataragama at 2.00pm. We had accomadation at “paviveki visrama shala” in kataragama . this is managing by kirivehera and double room(two beds, ceiling fan) with attached bath room cost is Rs.375.00 per night

After mountain climbing around Ella on the previous day I was clueless what to do on day 2 and 3 because my previous agenda was not feasible at this point. After discussing with my friend Priyanjan I decided to go to Hadapanagala Lake and end my day. That was the fixed plan for the day even when I left his premises. It was around 11am when I got in to a bus towards Wellawaya and the bus conductor came close to me to issue a ticket and suddenly a question popped out. “කන්දෙ විහාරෙ ගාවට යන්නෙ කොහොමද?”

It was an extraordinary cool morning to Wellawaya. We waked up before the Sun and left the Little Rose Inn, the night stay of us at Wellawaya. We moved heading Diyaluma, as the first travel location of the day. The fall was rather young because it might rain at Bandarawela area, those days. Because Poonagalla Oya the stream Foamed Diyaluma, was originated from Bandarawela area.

We started our journey from Matara at 3.00pm in the evening and arrived at Wellawaya by 7.00pm. We spent the night at Wellawaya and planned to visit Diyaluma falls the next day. At 8.00am we caught a Wellawaya- Haputhale bus (Through Beragala) and got down near ice peella (අයිස් පීල්ල)- Nikapitiya road

We planned this trip to visited Victoria, Randenigala, Loggal Oya and Sorabora Wewa dams, Mahiyanganaya, Nagadeepa, Muthiyangana, Bogoda and Buduruwagala temples, and Dunhinda, Rawana Ella, Diyaluma, Bambarakanda and Kirindi Ella waterfalls. We started form Kandana at about 4.30 in the morning. The crew was three in a car. I was driving the car. We took about 25lts of water with all other belongings

With the reopening of the Kumana national park early this year it had been on our priority list for quite some time and finally we managed to make that dream come true. The camp sites were booked more than three months in advance as there is no other accommodation south of Arugam Bay. Wildlife department is trying to rebuild the destroyed circuit bungalows and hopefully we will get to use them before long.

We had to travel few kilometers towards Tanamalwila and another few on a sub route to reach Budhuruwagala, where a series of giant statues carved embossing partly on a huge rock. The main was a statue of Lord Budhdha in “Abaya Mudra” said to be 43ft in height. Statues of “Avalokitheshwara” & “Manju Sri” Bodhi-Sathwa(s) and Goddess “Thara” had been identified among the rest. As per the view of archeologists, all the statues were belonged to Mahayana tradition in 8th century.

This is actually a trip we went after reading Priyanjan’s post. We left Colombo on an evening to get to Bandarawela by night but unfortunately the bus broke down at Diyathalawa so we had a 4Km practice hike in the dark 🙂 We spent the night at Bandarawela rest house. Next day morning we left early and got in to a Poonagala bus which left Bandarawela at 7a.m, the route was through the tea estates and the view was also great

We had breakfast and traveled back on the Thanamalwila road until we arrived at Buduruwagala junction (5Km from Wellawaya) from here it was 4Km towards Buduruwagala. We had to walk all the way because there weren’t any three-wheelers, but we never regretted. The walk was wonderful because we were able to enjoy the breath taking view of Buduruwagala Lake at sun rise. After about 1Km from the lake we reached Buduruwagala which was a very peaceful place in the dense forest.

This trip report does not cover any really new sites…thought of writing it up to share some pictures and also as a thank you for all the information provided for this trip by Lakdasun. Its quite amazing how places we go so often can still turn up enjoyable surprises, and its also very nice to be able to visit areas which we did in our childhood but then were not so accessible till recently. The sea in the Yala area is not so safe, but the beach is really worth exploring. And if you know your zoology? Biology? It’s a tremendous advantage!

We started from Galle at about 6.00 am. We prepared our breakfast and lunch in advance. Drive to Wellawaya was easy because road is very even with the new carpet. Had some snacks just passing Matara and carried along.
Weather was pleasant at that time as you can see hard to find some sun light..
Seems to be the rainy season for Hambantota. Nice green all around. Can’t imagine that is Hambantota. Paddy fields filled with water.