One of our best friend’s son who was on a Sri Lankan vacation wanted to see waterfalls and wild elephants. The entire trip is catered to suit his requirement.

We wanted to leave Colombo as early as possible but it didn’t start too well. We could only leave Colombo by 9.00am, its bit of a strange time compared to what I am used to. But it’s the way when you are travelling with a little one. We managed to drive without any major stops until Lellopitiya where we had stopped for lunch.

First major target attraction was Kirindi Ella falls. The turn off for Kirindi Ella is just about 200m before the Pelmedulla town on to your left. The 6km drive from the turn upto the waterfall is a scenic drive through green vegetation and tea plantation.

There is well maintained platform to have a full view of the waterfall. From that point it’s a steep downhill, but the descend is not hard due to the well maintained concrete steps. The view of the waterfall from the base of it, is truly magnificent. But as always you need to be there early in the morning to capture better photographs.

Map of the area

The view of the Kirindi Ella waterfall from the viewing platform

Magnificent view of Kirindi Ella from the base of the waterfall

Climb up is not that easy for someone who is not used to it.

Malith is struggling to climb up…

We wanted to do the Udawalawe jeep safari in the evening, but the chances were fading since we experienced heavy rains since Godakawela. By the time we reached Udawalawe it had rain heavily and still raining so we had to call off the safari and headed directly to the hotel, Kalu’s hideaway. Well this is the place to be after a tired day, ideal place to relax your evening. You could even have a dip on the pool to wipe away all your tiredness. The dinner was fantastic and really made our stay worth when you see what’s on your plate for dinner. That’s all for the first day

Kalu’s Hideaway lives up to the expectations…

It’s a fresh and early start on the second day. We started the Udawalawe safari around 6.30 am. It was bit of a task to get our little daughter ready by this early. Manju the jeep driver came straight to hotel to pick up us, since I have already coordinated with Anil, who is the coordinator of the Udawalawe United Jeep Safari Society.

Saman, our local guide from the department of wild life and conservation promises us a good safari, since he had good sightings of elephant herds near “Mau Ara” the day before. We decided to drive straight to Mau Ara without searching for elephants here and there. Along the way we could only see about five elephants, but many peacocks and other species of birds greeted us. Highlight of the morning is the pair of Malabar Pied Hornbills sitting on the same branch until they get enough sunlight to start their daily business.

Peacocks are a frequent site… (Photo by Maheesha)

Malabar Pied Hornbills waiting to grab the first sunlight…

Mau ara in the morning…… (Photo by Maheesha)

Return journey was somewhat successful compared to the early morning, since there were little herds could be seen from distance, but nothing extra special. Our guide Saman has decided its time to ask from other guides the question “what are the possible areas of seeing them more closely”. Since mobile reception is covered many parts of the national park, this is what they do nowadays. Ask from others. One guide has seen an average size group of elephants moving towards “Thekka wewa”, so we decided to head towards Thekka wewa.

Well well well, our journey has finally rewarded with a herd of 13 elephants including a baby elephant possibly born the day before. We had spent about 30 minutes near Thekka wewa before the elephants had decided the show is over. We also decided, its now time to go back to hotel, since we also have a long way to go in the evening.

Elephants at Thekka wewa…

Elephants at Thekka wewa…

Bulls at Thekka wewa…

We left hotel at 3.00 PM although we were planning to leave by 1.00 PM. We wanted to leave early because we knew the road from Rohanapura upto Kalthota via Hambegamuwa will not be of the very good quality. I had contacted Hambegamuwa and Kalthota police stations few days earlier and got the information regarding the road conditions.

The drive is fabulous with the view on both sides are magnificent. The view is full of small lakes, paddy fields, mountains and lot of greenery. The last stretch near and after Kalthota is a steep climb. But the view is breathtaking. We couldn’t spend lot of time grasping the true beauty of this view due to the time constraint so decided to head on to Doovili Ella.

Paddy fields and mountains near Hambegamuwa…

View from the mountains…

We reached the entrance gate of the Doovili Ella waterfalls around 5.15 PM and by 15 minutes we are at the observation pavilion. There is an organized procedure at the Dovili Ella. You have to purchase tickets for entrance and they use it for the maintenance of steps. The path to waterfall is very well maintained and we should commend the work of the local society. Doovili Ella is full of water due to the rain persisted for last few days.

Doovili Ella is in full flow…

We left the waterfall around 6.00 PM and by 11.00 PM we were back in Colombo.