This was our last trip of the year! We started at around 5.30am from Nugegoda, On the first day the crew was only 4 of us! As always we kept our options open so at Kitulgala we took a detour which was not on plan, we visited the Kitulgala Beli Lena.

Kitulgala Beli lena
Belilena is the famous largest cave in Sri Lanka. It is located 8km from the town of Kitulgala. It holds evidence of a lost generation of Sri Lanka 12,000 years old; then this cave belonged to the Balangoda People, described as Homo sapiens balangodensis by Paul E. P. Deraniyagala who found here ten skeletons of these people, who lived 2000 feet above the sea level. The fossils are believed to be more than 32,000 years old

Beli Lena Ella - The tiny cascade falling over the mounth of the cave	Inside the pre-historic cave - Kithulgala Beli Lena
Inside "Beli Lena"	At Beli Lena cave

After exploring the area we decided to visit Handun Ella which was close by. To Visit Handun Ella there are two ways. The road we took was the one close to Beli Lena, To reach Handun Ella one needs to continue on the tarred road further up until the road ends near a factory in Ing oya rubber estate, from here you will need a 4wheel drive to continue further. After traveling further we ended at a small stream where the road virtually ends, we parked our vehicle here and proceeded forward and got some directions from locals, then we continued on a footpath which leads to a GREEN coloured house on the right hand side, the foot path to Handun Ella is just behind this house bordering a tea estate, when you pass few hundred meters you will be climbing up a small hill , this is where you will start to hear the sound of the waterfall on your left side. There are two paths one is to the base of the falls and the other one to the top! This time we only went to the base, there is a another similar waterfall few meters down the stream from the base!

Handun Falls
Handun Falls is 30m in height and is said to have got its name from the profusion of sandalwood (Santalum album) trees found in the area.

Handun Ella Falls - Kithulgala

Lanka Stone Suker, Gal Padiya. Garra ceylonensis (http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=9803)

After spending a while at Handun Ella we got back to our main journey towards Nallathanni, on the way stopped by to have a glimpse of Lakshapana falls but we didn’t bother to take a photo of it because of the many high voltage wires obscuring our view! On the way to Nallathanni about 100m prior to Mohini falls on the left hand side we noted a waterfall falling to the Mousakelle reservoir, according to the Map this is where the Seethagangula ends, so this is one of the Seethgangula Eli I guess! Next stop was Mohini Falls

Mohini Falls
The cascading water of the 30m Mohini Falls is said to resemble the flowing locks of a woman. However, superstitious villagers avoid going near it after dark, fearing that a female devil by the name of Mohini (hence the fall’s name) inhabits the area.
The fall is situated in the Nuwara Eliya District. Take the road to Nallathaniya, and 2km before reaching Nallathaniya itself, the fall is visible.

One of the waterfalls of Seethagangula

Mohini Falls

Then we continued until we came to a junction with a name board “Moray Estate” on the left hand side, we continued 5Km where we ended at a tea factory. From here we took a right turn and found two cemented roads. We took the one downwards and entered a private land with permission. This is the best place with a spectacular view of Gartmore Falls (Adams Peak Falls). This waterfall is special in the sense you can see the two waterfalls in Gartmore estate which feeds it. We wanted to explore these two waterfalls but time didn’t permit us to do so, but we managed to get some zoomed photographs…

Adams Peak Falls	Upper parts of Adams Peak Falls
Gartmore estate Waterfalls 1 & 2	Gartmore estate Waterfalls 1 & 2

Then we traveled about 100-200m on a foot path and there it was Moray Falls, Cascading down towards the Reservoir in three steps, unfortunately due to the water levels of the reservoir the base of the falls was not accessible. We also noted another small waterfall near by Moray Falls. Despite the leeches the journey was rewarding up to here. We traveled back and decided to go to the fishing huts and have swim. On the way to the huts the view was spectacular; there was a great observation point too. Since it was getting dark and the road condition was not so good we had to abandon our plans and return back to Nallathanni!

Moray Falls	Another Waterfall near Moray Falls
Moray Falls in the background	A waterfall seen on the way to Fishing huts

The two waterfalls

The two waterfalls feeding Adams Peak Falls

The Observation hut on the fishing hut road

View from the observation Point

a view from the Observation Point

Next day we started our journey early morning so to capture some nice scenic views of Mousakelle & Castlereagh reservoirs!

Mousakelle Reservior

Castlereagh reservoir

Castlereagh reservoir

A jet passing by Adams peak

Next in the list was the Hunt for Mount Vernon Falls, we traveled on the Hatton -Thalawakele road and took the road to Nawalapitiya at Dimbula (just before the Melsna tea castle). After about 1Km just before the police station we stooped. With the aid of two local guys we walked down a small tarred road (On the Right hand side) and entered a small area with Mana and wild bushes and there we were top of Devon Falls, the feeling was simply amazing!

At the Top of Devon falls

Then it was time to continue so we traveled until we had to take a detour to the tea factory to get directions! The road towards the waterfalls was on the right hand side as you pass a big bridge and just before the road to Mount Vernon factory (according to the map the road just before the 1227 summit mark). As we traveled trough the tea estate we noted a waterfall, this is one of the Waterfalls of Mount Vernon, we were happy to see this waterfall and never expected any more. As we traveled forward to find a place to turn back, we noted a board saying Poonkanda Falls 24m, which totally confused us, so we decided to get some help from a local guy. He guided us down stream trough the line homes to a beautiful spoon shaped waterfall, now this is the waterfall documented in “A guide to Waterfalls of Sri Lanka” by Eberhard Kautzsch.

Mount Vernon Falls
This village upon the Talawakele-Nawalapitiya road off A-7 (Dimbula) is set on the top of the hill range bordering the Kotmala Oya valley in the south. A small tributary brook rising from the hills west of the road forms a small scarcely known waterfall.

Mount Veron waterfall (1)	Upper part of Mount Vernon waterfall (2) / Poonkanda Falls
Mount Veron waterfall (1)	Mount Vernon waterfall (2) / Poonkanda Falls

After the happy discovery we returned back to the Thalawakele road and from here onwards the weather conditions did not permit us to carry on with our plans to explore the bases of Devon & St. Clairs waterfalls as expected 🙁 . After abandoning our last objective we went to see the construction of Ihala Kothmale Dam and returned back via Hatton. On the way we were planning to have a swim at Kitulgala but it was raining like hell! Anyway at last we visited about 12 waterfalls within two days! That’s a nice way to end the year I guess 🙂

Modern day monkeys	Devon Falls
St. Clairs Falls	The "Red Rose"

5/6 of the crew 🙂

Map showing waterfalls of Thalawakele & Dimbula-Pathana

Map of areas "Moray" and "Gatmore"