Map around Vakare – click to enlarge

Map of Mantheevu- click to enlarge

Arial view of Sallitivu(taken from www.anilana.com )

Attractions

• Sallitivu coral island – Vakare
• Mantheevu Leper Asylum – Batticaloa

Ah I was just back after a long awaited visit to Trinco and was scanning through Google earth in and around Trinco area when I suddenly noticed an island close to Vakare and immediately I fell in love with it. The desire was so much that I decided to visit it during the coming weekend and Amila & Nalinda agreed on that idea. Our plan was to camp on this island but after some inquiries we got to know that things weren’t easy as we thought. This island is been controlled by the Army and there are some ownership issues of this. Currently according to the law no one owns this island and anyone could visit it but there are some issues. Currently only foreigners do visit this island (because they can’t argue with them and stop the foreigners but civil people are denied their right to visit this island). My personal opinion is that this island should be taken over by the DWC since there is a coral reef around it just like Pigeon Island. Somehow after soughting out the permission issue we decided to go ahead.

Next day when we left Bibile it was around 1pm and Amila joined us at Valachchena. At around 4pm we reached Sallitivu beach and the first sight of it was a big wow. There were no waves at all and the bay of Vakare was one of those beaches I would revisit. Initially we were disappointed with not been able to camp on the island but later we were pleased with how things turned out. As you can see in the Google image the island is connected to the main land with a sand strip but since it was still the high tide season the sand strip was completely missing. We were said that the water level was over the waist height and indeed it was. We were up to the challenge and we decided to pay a visit. The crossing was a unique experience which we had never experienced of. We were been pushed over by waves from both sides and our waste region started aching while crossing. When we set foot on the island we were so relieved.

It was a coral island and the shore of the island was covered up by piled up dead corals creating a unique landscape. The whole walk around the island was close to 750m and walking on dead coral made it bit difficult and out of all of us Amila suffered a lot because he didn’t bring his slippers. And finally he gave up and made a pair of slippers out of some washed off debris. In this mini island there was a small lake with plenty of bird life. We were also told that there are some Saw scaled vipers on this island. We were happy that how things turned out because camping on this was not possible at all considering the above facts (no sandy shore even). After getting back to the mainland we had a long dip in the bay of Vakare. For me this is one of the most peaceful and calm beaches in SL. That night was spent watching millions of hermit crabs running around and observing oysters digging holes.

Google earth image – click to enlarge

first sight of the island

when the tied is low there is a sand strip connecting the main land

Sallitivu island

Army resort on the beach

halted

time to cross the ocean

we crossed like this

stepped on Sallitivu

Amila’s smile didnt last long

plenty of empty shells

and more

clear water

while walking along the coast

lake	Pointed point

growing through the coral

just washed to the shore

more to walk

layers and layers of corals

not easy to walk on these

finally he had to improvise

common sight

a beauty

life	great thick knee

wow	One of those hermit crabs

time to get back

ah we were there

friendly dogs

here we go

so calm

where we stayed

the old couple who go fishing daily

he did catch some fish

ha ha way to go

Next day morning was a gloomy one and it indeed sabotaged a beautiful sun rise. After revisiting the island and thanking the army guys at the resort we took off towards Kayankerni. Amila and Nalinda insisted on visiting the Kayankerni ancient bridge across the lagoon which I had visited one week back. While I stayed back they got on to a one man boat and headed towards the bridge with smiles on their faces. In few minutes with a big splash they were in the lagoon trying to salvage their electronic equipment. Fortunately the water level was only up to their waist. They did see the bridge but did not photograph it. And I been the lucky guy was been accused for their miss happening ha ha ha..

gloomy morning

mosquito’s forced us to sleep here

old couple with their catch

sun rise over Sallitivu

running away

dead shells

ah beach dogs

returning back

here they come

with some help

while revisiting the island

beautiful isnt it

it was a live urchin

flowers on an island

fishing boat which crashed on to the coral reef

nice

calm shore

lonely island

forest cover

not many tall trees

the lake

some mangroves

a place to camp

pointed point

difficult to have a dip

sea weed

crabs

and more

one last shot

tamed guy

used over generations

creative people

smiling faces

and then smiles went away

his face

drying purse contents

Though we decided to cut short the trip later we decided to go ahead and visit the Leprosy Island at Batticaloa. We reached Batticaloa and took off towards Vavunatheevu. Just before the long bridge across the lagoon there was a Navy check point and the marines who were there helped us by calling the boatman of the hospital. After 15 minutes the boatman arrived and took us towards the Leprosy Island. Nalinda and I been doctors we were somewhat curious about this island hospital which was once an asylum to Leprosy patients in SL. This was initially declared and opened in the early 19 hundreds with five hundred patients. It had been functioned as a mini town in the past. There were a police post, post office, kovil, temple, church and many other buildings. Some patients even had individual two roomed cabins. Except two wards few minor staff quarters and the main Admin building rest is been sacrificed to the forest. There were 3 friendly patients living their life within this containment. We felt sorry for them because they haven’t seen anything in this world other than the island and Batticaloa town for many years despite been disease free. The unwanted social stigmata around some disease like Leprosy and Tuberculosis is so unacceptable. Currently there are few minor staff guys and a nurse to care to them and they are taken to Batticaloa teaching hospital monthly for clinics (And when ill). This island has its own stories, if one is interested in listening to them I recommend the boat guy who has been here since 1981. My kind request is please don’t go here with big groups since this is a hospital and respect the patients’ rights. The visit to the Leprosy island of Mantheevu was indeed a shocker but we were happy that we did visit it (For detailed information on Mantheevu click this). From Batticaloa we took the beautiful route through Samanthure and reached Amapara where we had lunch. From there onwards we took the Nilgala road towards Bibile where we dropped Nalinda and ended our journey at Monaragala where Amila took a Jaffna bound bus. This was indeed a relaxing journey to our tired soles and as usual it was something out of ordinary.

tasting Palmyra

Mantheevu Leprosy island

here we go

closing on

belongs to the line ministry

this was once a road

taken from the link given in resources section – click to enlarge

with its catch

old church

post office

current wards

one patient could be seen at the backdrop

Spoon bills

black headed ibis nesting

Laundry house

cabins for patients

care	Admin building

used for laundry

hanging beauties

once these were in good condition

upstairs

windows

more bird life

admin building side view

returning back

Paddyfields at Samanthure

fed by gal oya

Hiya everyone, hope you are having a good time especially during and after the New Year. Well, I’m gonna tell you a story that happened two weeks before the new year in and around the Kingdom of Tanks or if you prefer “Wevu Bendi Rajyaya”. I’m sure you can remember the last time I was there hovering around Aukana & Ritigala amid heavy rains. It was my first serious visit to the North Central which turned out to be a great success and paved way for more future visits.

Unfortunately the heavy showers late last year had caused heavy flooding in A’Pura and Polonnaruwa destroying many acres of farmlands. Most of the farmers could only watch the heartless flow of water reducing their sweat, tears and blood into nothing but mud and uprooted plants that were way beyond their worth. All of their exhausting work was in vain and even the government did very little to compensate for those people. Those officials were far more interested in the presidential election than the fate of these innocent farmers without whose dedication, we’d have to starve.

The villages around Ritigala where my host Dayararathna lives were not exempted from the natural disaster and his paddy fields too were washed away making the lives a whole lot tougher. They didn’t get disheartened by the floods or the ignorant behavior by the relevant authorities but started to plough once again as soon as the rains eased. They were in the harvesting stage when I called him late March asking about the weather. The weather was back to normal and I decided to begin where I left last time. As we had just finished a grand tour in Knuckles and another of my Rail Hikes, I was without a partner for a journey so soon. I had a 4-day break with nothing to do. Knowing it’d only make things awkward for my family to find me home doing nothing wasn’t a sensible thing. They’d probably get the notion that I’d been given the sack. So I didn’t wanna create so much anxiety. Remembering that even last time I went on my own, I  decided to do the same once again just for the hell of it.

Last time I managed to squeeze Aukana, one of the greatest architectural marvels in the whole world, into my itinerary followed by the archeological remains of Ritigala and one of its seven peaks, Una Kanda. In fact I visited the Aukana Buddha amid heavy rains with a borrowed and battered raincoat from my tuk-tuk driver, Niroshan. So I called him and got him to drive me to the other statue that is located about 16km from Aukana, the Res Vehera. Then I called Daya just to let him know my plans and fixed the accommodation and the transport.

So with so much hopes under one arm and a light overnight bag in the other I set off to meet another sexy lady on the dawn of April Fools’ Day. A quick look at the FB showed that two of my friends had been unlucky enough to have been born on this day. I arrived at Fort station just after 5am and went into find the station was bustling with many people, mainly tourists despite this being a Tuesday.  Free Wi-Fi was introduced in fort station and few other places the day before and sure enough, everyone was looking at their phones checking this and that taking the full use.

I checked the phone too and found many portals but when tried to use, realized that you gotta register and get the password. So no free internet for me yet and I just spent the time munching on an egg bun that tasted like moulded cardboard and a roll that had probably been fried at least once before. That is the meals served by the station canteen and when I asked for bottle of water, one of them offered a bottle-shaped ice cube. The bugger must’ve thought I wanted to eat water rather than drink it.

Cursing under the breath for the shoddy canteen I occupied one of the chairs and looked on. The sexy girl I was waiting for said she would come before 6am. The KKS express train was waiting at No. 3 platform gleaming in sky blue. Around 5.30am, Podi Menike came in and many people squeezed in. Couple of night mails arrived disgorging sleep deprived passengers who walked as if under sedation. Still no sign of this girl. I was getting impatient and kept looking for a glimpse of her. Around 5.50am, she came with her usual charm as if nothing can make her quicken her pace. When I got up to go say hi, so did many others. Apparently there had been many others waiting for her. That is Udaya Devi for you.

Finding a seat was like musical chairs. There were so many empty ones and everyone kept hopping one to the other until they realized all the seats were alike. At the chime of 6.05am, she pulled out of the station and carried on towards the other end of the country, Batticaloa.

Day 01

We swayed with her getting in and out of sleep while the sun rose high above the houses and then coconut trees. I always enjoy the train journeys except the inevitable delays. Just that morning I saw a cartoon shared on FB showing a passenger sitting at a station with two notices overhead. One showed Wi-Fi with a check in front while the other showed Trains with a cross next to it. Good one to start the day after the horrible fort station canteen. We arrived at Veyangoda, the most notoriously reputed place for train delays. It’s always something or the other. Today was no exception and we found Podi Menike still parked and waiting when the speaker informed there’s only one track operation just ahead close to Pallewela but assured we’d leave in a very short time. I cursed Da Vinci for his findings on relativity coz the very short time of railway officials at Veyangoda ran past 30 mins before we were given the green light. Even the last time we got held up more than 10 mins and today this.

Tour Highlights: 

1. Res Vehera aka Sasseruwa, Meegalewa.
2. Keeriyagaswewa Village and the Tank.
3. Ancient Ruins, Ritigala.
4. Kodi Gala aka Kodi Kanda, Ritigala.

We arrived at Maho and waited for Udaya Devi to go refresh herself before continuing her journey. She always seems to take very long, well what more can you expect from a beautiful girl like her. She turned this way and that way before deciding to continue. There was a bitter taste in my mouth after that awful breakfast, if you can that godforsaken junk breakfast. Thankfully there came an old mum selling guava. Couple of them (going Rs. 10/- each, a steal) went down with plenty of chillie and salt giving a better feeling. What a contrast?

Just reached Maho

13-carriage train

A copy of the good old Canadian one by the Indians

A key point in SL Railways

There comes her to be attached on the other side

One of the first 12 engines to be donated, Point Pedro

Just got coupled

The delays made sure I arrived 45mins late at Aukana where Niroshan was waiting for me. We set off immediately and chatting about on the way.

Res Vehera

We took a short cut that met Galnewa Road around half way. Then Niroshan took some more short cuts which looked all alike to me until we came to Res Vehera. There were one or two signs to give directions. The road to the Res Vehera, especially the last 6km was terrible and had seen no sign of tar or concrete. It was a typical gravel road with plenty of pot holes and washed out sections. Niroshan said despite the popularity and the importance, no politician or government body had bothered to make this road properly.

Apparently hundreds and thousands of people both local and foreign visit this marvel throughout the year yet nothing has been done about this road. So if you are one of the people who could do something about this, please try and do whatever you can to make this a better one. Before we go any further, lemme give you the story behind this wonderful creation.

The Legend

“King Devanampiyatissa had planted a Bo tree in the premises in 237 BE (around 307 BC) (Buddhist Era). The rocky Buddha statue that is 42ft 4in in height is believed to have been carved by King Mahasen sometime in 276-303 AD. King Walagamba (89-77 BC or 104 BC) had later added two cave temples. There are 99 caves with drip edges where some 365 Arhath Monks had stayed. During Kandyan Era, the last Sinhala King, Weera Parakrama Narendrasinghe had renovated the temple and the complex. The wall paintings depict the stories from the Jathaka Book such as Kakkata, Dahamsonda & Manichora. Further there’s an 11.07m long sleeping Buddha statue that is the only one of its kind in the whole world. The statue had been moulded using clay and then covered with a real cotton robe before completing the statue with colors and design.”

We arrived at the temple closer to noon. There is a board at the outside the main entrance announcing the forest around it Kahalla Pallekelle Sanctuary, a place I’d not heard before. What’s more there’s an electric fence erected to keep the elephants inside the sanctuary and protect the farmlands just outside it. I wonder how practical it is to tempt them with all those crops and hoping to keep them behind an electric fence. There was a beautiful white Stupa to the side of the temple at the edge of the small tank. The tank is about half a football ground in size. There is a large rock towering at the background at the middle of which is carved the magnificent Buddha statue. There’s a plight of stairs to it. You can see the remains of caves all around and the two cave image houses are located to the left of the stairs and below the statue. There are two separate entrances to them.

We climbed the stairs and arrived at the statue and it took my breath away. Lemme be honest and tell you that it takes a lot to take my breath away and make me speechless coz I’ve seen a quite a lot of things. This was as good as the Aukana Buddha even though it looked as if half finished. The reason being the Aukana Buddha had been carved out of the rock making it look like he’s not attached to the rock in anyway. Unlike the Aukana Buddha, Res Vehera statue is still attached to the rock by a strip of rock in the back. However, the Res Vehera Buddha is taller than the Aukana Buddha. Res Vehera is 42ft 4in whereas Aukana Buddha is 38ft 10in including the Siraspatha (the symbol on the top of the head). However we mistake the heights due to the pedestal of the Aukana Buddha which increases the height dramatically to 42ft. Still Res Vehera Buddha is taller by good 4in.

I simply looked at this gorgeous creation by our ancestors. Just imagine building something in this caliber more than 2100 years ago. What kinda modern civilization we must have had then. A lot better than our current sad situation, I’m sure. The statue was in the middle of the huge flat rocky wall towering above us and looking as serenely as ever. There were kind of holes on the rocky wall just above the statue and I’m just wondering if it’s a sign of a partial roof built to protect the statue. I can go on and on describing the extraordinary statue but it’d be a lot easier to just let you look at the pictures. I’m speechless to say any further.

We spent about 20 mins admiring the statue and came down halfway the stairs and turned to the right where the ancient Bo tree is. There was a group of old ladies sweeping and cleaning the area. Instead of a typical wall around the Bo tree, there were a couple of layers of blocks of rock placed on top one another securing it. We walked around it to the rocky cave image houses. The doors were closed as in many temples nowadays, especially the ancient ones. We saw the stone scriptures on the rock above the roof of the cave and it looked in better shape and clearly legible. Unfortunately there was no way to figure out what it says. I wish there was a board with the translation placed at places like these for the travelers’ benefit. Feeling disappointed not being able to go in and see the paintings (I love the ancient paintings on walls, rocks and wooden planks) we circled the caves and got back in the front courtyard of the temple. However we saw a few tiny pagoda shaped structures probably some tombs of the monks were buried from the look of them.

At Res Vehera

Beautiful Chaithya

Going towards the main statue

Remains of ancient structures

This is where the cave image houses are, we’ll come to it later

Oh my god!

Lemme tell you this. Seeing this on a picture is nothing compared to what you see in real. A completely different feeling. So go see it for real

Amazing details even after many centuries

Those holes might mean a former roof over the statue

Must’ve looked stunning when this was built

The feet

The Robe looks real enough, not a sign of rock

View from the image below

Very old Bo Tree with plenty of history behind it

The rocky inscription at the image house

Closer

Surrounding rocks

The path to the other image house

Signs of caves

Where the sleeping Buddha is located

The steps but the door was locked

Where the monks are buried

Heart breaking thing to go without seeing the image houses

Niroshan came to my rescue and suggested we go talk to the chief monk and ask for permission to enter the image houses. He said that he knew the monk so we went to the living quarters. One of the old people who stay at the temple said the monk was taking a nap so we decided not to bother him. However one of the ladies asked us to go talk to Ukku Banda mama who has the keys to them. Fortunately he appeared out of nowhere and and kindly offered to show the place. It was one of the best things that happened in my life. You will know why when you see the pictures and the Documentary.

He opened the first one which is the smallest out of the two. It has a sitting Buddha with a couple of other statues. The walls are painted with beautiful pictures including the uneven rocky roof. How on earth they managed to paint such subtle paintings inside those dark caves even without the help of electricity. They must have been super humans, definitely not ordinary folks. It’s a pity that most of these image houses are now wired without giving much consideration for the destruction caused by them. Sadly it is the same situation in almost all of the places.

We finished the work there and went around to the other one, the largest cave that holds the 11m statue, the one and only in the world. As soon as I entered after Ukku Banda mama what I so sent me speechless for the second time of the day. There to the right of the cave was this gigantic statue looking very much real. Ukku Banda mama showed me around. There were many statues inside the cave but nothing as glamorous as this sleeping Buddha. Unlike many other places, you can walk around the statue the full circle being able to see him all around.

We went to the back of the statue where Ukku Banda mama pointed to a place which has been peeled off the paint showing off the cotton wool of the robe. Thanks to the ignorant and stupid travelers the temple has had to erect a chain fence to protect the statue being damaged. According to Ukku Banda mama, the buggers try to pull out the cotton strings which are prominent on the waves of the robe and take them as souvenirs. The stupid devils don’t understand the gravity of it. No wonder these places are kept under lock and key from the maniacs who stop at nothing to do some damage.

To the further corner of the statue is a square shaped hole where it’s believed that a corbra stayed protecting the statue. I wish it would still stay there to chase the stupid devils away coz now is the time that the statue is under great threat. We came out of the other side to find a bed to the side near the wall. “A bed? Inside an image house?” I’m sure you’re wondering out loud. So did I when I saw it. Ukku Banda mama offered the solution before I had the time to read the notice on it. This was offered to the temple by a carpenter as a gesture of his religious beliefs and now it stays here. Ukku Banda mama says it’s probably a couple of hundred years old but nothing to back his claim unless they do a carbon dating. The weavings on the bed had been pulled out and broken taking away as souvenirs by the same idiotic people. It’s a real shame and if you’re guilty of crimes like these, be ashamed and make a vow not to do it ever again. I guess you can remember how people used to pull out the silver thread from the old 500-rupee note. Do pull out anything else if you must but invaluable pieces of our heritage. We must protect these which have been protected and passed onto us by our ancestors and make sure our future generations get to see them as well. Our current situation might be worse than a cesspit but at least they’ll know we had the best civilization ever, incomparable even to the best of the today’s standards.

After the inevitable documentary, I left Ukku Banda mama thanking him profusely and praising him for his dedication to protect this place. Niroshan had been to soothe the nerves of the monk who had got up and kept wondering who I was. All the treasure hunting has left all the monks live in fear not only for the ancient things but also for their lives. We saw a CTB bus coming to the temple carrying the board Kumbukkadawala-Galgamuwa via Res Vehera. It’ll probably give you a clue of the public transport but don’t think it’s available that often. I highly recommend Niroshan if you need a reliable and friendly fellow who is cheerful and not rob you in broad daylight. Before we go on, take a look at the mythical story about the two statues which are completely false and has no real foundation.

Image House No. 01

Got lucky

My savior, Ukku Banda Mama

Entering the first one

The locked door

Either side

Just about to open and reveal the secrets

Wood carvings

Wooden roof supported by rocky pillars

Some more

Entering, just look at the statues and the paintings

Plenty of them

Painting on the rocky ceiling

One of many

More paintings along the walls

Some more

On the uneven rocky ceiling

Main Buddha Statue

Image House No. 02

Here we got the chance

Solid locks

Just before entering, can you see the writings?

Near the door

Here’s the Gigantic Statue

Hard to get the whole statue in one frame

“Siras Patha”, similar to Aukana Buddha

Another statue by the main one

Cotton robe exposed at the back of the head

Here clear signs of it

Can you read the note?

This is where that cobra had stayed. It needs to be there now not then

Can you see the torn bits? Stupid tourists are responsible for that

Hope you can read it

One of the legs

See the length of the statue?

Many more

Here a couple more

Paintings too

Time to go

Lifeline of the villagers

The Myths of Aukana Buddha and the Res Vehera Buddha…

Let me go controversial now coz there is many legends relating these two statues. So let’s get the facts straight. How about answering a few simple questions first?

• When did they build the Res Vehere Buddha? – It’s believed this was done by King Mahasen in 276-303 AD.
• When did they build the Aukana Buddha? – Apparently in 5^th Century by King Dhathusena (which means sometime in 459-477 AD). However there are other theories as well such as it was the 6^th Century and some say this was built by King Parakrambahu the Great in the 13^th Century but this is the closest we can get I suppose.
• What’s the gap between the two building dates? – Supposing they built by Mahasen and Dhathusena respectively, approximately 180-200 years. Could be more or less.

So it’s technically impossible to have built these two statues at the same time (well it’s still possible but very unlikely considering these dates). The folklores of two brothers or the teacher and the pupil building these two statues in contest seem nothing but fairy tales. I’m not saying they’re completely bogus coz we don’t seem to have the facts at hand but from what we gather they don’t seem to amount to much more than that. After all, I too am a big fan of fairy tales but it’s crucial to have the facts right. Hopefully the archeology department will be able to iron out these issues as much as possible and make sure the correct information is given to the tourists as these places (not only Aukana and Res Vehera) are visited by hundreds and thousands of tourists both local and foreigners.

Does anyone have a better theory or can anyone give us some concrete evidence please?

Kala Wewa

We got back in the tuk-tuk and returned to the bus stop at Aukana to catch a bus to Kekirawa. Having thanked Niroshan for his help, guidance and patience I got in the bus. We went along the bund of the Kala Wewa that was looking appealing. The distance hills, thick clouds, blue skies and the still water waved at me. Fortunately the driver stopped the bus on the bund and got talking to another fellow bus driver. I got the opportunity and jumped out of the bus and took a few pictures before he went away. However it was not enough for me.

As we went further up, I could see Ritigala rising majestically into the sky. I wanted to get down and walk along the bund not missing a thing but I simply couldn’t afford it. There was more to see and I was way behind the schedule. Well, just check the pictures below and tell me if you would have felt the same way.

The bus stopped

And I jumped out

Took this

And this

Ritigala in the distance

Before getting back into the bus

I called Daya who had been waiting for me. There was a very special place to go see. It is not only very special but also very much unknown to the outside world. Even the people live in the same village so close to this are not aware of it. I’m afraid; you won’t get to read about it in this report. Now don’t groan and start complaining. As it’s really special and so valuable, I’ve decided to unveil in the next report. So if you’re reading it now, you can expect that hopefully within a week or two. So I’ll jump straight to Daya’s place where I spent the night before the big day. Remember, it was one of the best days in my life and one of the best journeys but still not better than Lakegala.

We arrived at Keeriyagaswewa when the dark was falling. One of Daya’s friends called Tissa (not the one I went to see the archeological site last time) had caught some fish in the Kaluebe tank in the next village and suggested we go pick them. He had caught them in the morning and had put them in the water attached to a string to stop them rotting. See I keep things learning every day. If you’re to preserve fish after catching them, just put them back in the water after tied to a string. However only a limited number of hours you can keep them safe, probably up to 12-18 hours. These fish strings cost around Rs. 200/- at the current rate and has 6-8 fish weighing between 1-1.5kg.

We then arrived at the house and while Daya’s wife was busy cooking,  I took a bath. Most of the paddy fields have been re-ploughed and sowed after the floods and harvested too. However there were still many fields with ripening paddy still to be harvested. I saw many tree houses where the farmers kept watch at night on their paddy fields from the elephants. The jumbos present another threat to their crops as they keep coming to destroy them. Well this is a problem in most of the country from south to the north where quickly vanishing forests make the jumbos homeless forcing them to come to the villages to find food. Can’t say I blame the poor fellows. When I’m writing this, it shows on news that many jumbos coming to the garbage dumping ground in Hingurakgoda closer to the Kaudulla National Park. There is even a tusker among them. They will either die of food poisoning or get killed by some wicked people, especially the poor tusker. Nobody seems to do anything about it and the jumbos keep chasing the garbage trucks until they dump the loads.

Despite the grievances of the farmers I felt elated at the prospect of seeing some elephants in the night. I love watching the jumbos. Even last time I was without luck and was hopeful having seen the tree houses. Daya, Chandi (another of his friends) and I went for a walk along the road with torches that were turned off looking for the elephants. On the way we talked to a couple of people staying up the tree houses keeping a close vigil. We heard couple of elephant crackers going off but most of the time farmers just light them even before seeing the elephants, probably just to give a warning if they are nearby. All of a sudden we heard the roar of them in the tank most likely having a late bath. We couldn’t get towards the tank so returned home for a sumptuous meal with tank fish.

After the meal, we stayed up for another hour or so hoping to see a jumbo but my luck was not in this time either. So we went to sleep asking to be woken if any jumbo came in the night. No jumbo appeared as if sensing my arrival. They had come regularly over the past days but today was taking a break. Chandi joked saying I should come and stay until the harvesting stage so that jumbos will stay away. I went into a dreamless sleep hoping for clear weather the following day. Now you too get some rest coz tomorrow there’s plenty to do.

Day 02

I woke up as the first rays of the morning falling on the trees and the gravel roads. I was hoping for some mist but none to be had. Fortunately the unbearable heat was not there in the night and I slept like a baby. The typical noises of the forest could be heard. There were birds chirping, wind rustling the leaves, peacocks making their unpleasant deep noises and bees humming on their way to juicy flowers. I would have loved to stay like that listening to all this but there was plenty to do with very little time. Time seems to fly when I go sightseeing. I reluctantly flexed my muscles and commanded the limbs to start cracking.

Daya’s son and daughter had already got up and were ready to go to school. Unfortunately he still hasn’t got electricity in his house and even the house is barely enough for them to live. You know what I’m hinting at, don’t you? It’d be a real noble thing to help him complete the house and obtain electricity. So if you come across any organization that is looking for some charity work, they can’t go wrong with helping them. It’d be a very worthy cause.

I got up and did the usual chores while the sun climbed up the Ritigala. We sent a message to Tissa (my partner in the last journey) to come in the morning for the day’s schedule. Till then I had sometime to explore the surrounding areas. Grabbing the opportunity, I walked along the gravel road taking in the scenery breathing the fresh air coming from Ritigala kissing the paddy fields and the tanks on the way. Some fields had already been harvested while some still were not ready. The harvested fields looked brownish yellow with dried up clay sticking to the roots. Others had the lush green in many shades. Bunches of grains were bending towards the earth feeling the weight of the ripening seeds. Water gurgled through the tiny gaps making bubbles in places. There was a motorbike left at the base of a tree house. Nevertheless the house was empty. The farmers had apparently gone home after a sleepless night.

The Ritigala mountain range looked absolutely stunning against a blue and white sky. The light green paddy fields in the foreground added the flavor while the dark green on the mountain itself blended into the setting. It wasn’t all, there were a few exposed rocky sections in the mountain giving charcoal grey, black and some shades of the peach to the picture. What more can I say? It’s really pleasing to the eye and you would never get enough of looking at this beauty. Well, I was ready to get to the highest point that day but don’t you worry coz I had all the means to achieve that. So don’t get anxious and let’s go experience what it is like to be on the top of the kingdom of tanks. But before we go, I gotta go get some breakfast in me. I heard Daya’s wife saying there was tank fish left from the last night. Now don’t be jealous and go have your meals and enjoy the pictures of my morning stroll.

Gosh, what a breakfast! All I need is a mat under the shade of the tamarind tree to digest the meal. Unfortunately I ain’t got that luxury coz I can hear you complaining. But we’re not going up yet. Lolz, I’d have loved to see your face after the last sentence. You think I’d been ranting about it all this time just for the hell of it, don’t you? Please bear with me for a little while longer and I promise you won’t be disappointed. Would you like to go see the Keeriyagaswewa tank full of water? Last time it was nearly empty and I wanted to go see the transformation after the rains. So Daya and I took the tuk-tuk and went for a drive. After a few minutes we arrived at the foot of the bund and parked the vehicle.

The area was all covered with paddy fields and on almost every tree which is there in the middle of them had a tree house for the farmers to keep watch. We climbed up to see the tank and gosh, what a difference. It was full to the brim with beautiful white lotuses rising from the water towards the sun while the leaves spread out around them on the surface. Not only that, above the water surface which was making tiny waves in the wind, Ritigala looked beautiful than ever. This was a dream of every photographer, painter and film director. I just couldn’t drag myself away despite numerous warnings by Daya about getting late. Finally I gave in and we got back in the tuk-tuk coz my destiny was calling me.

Good morning

Left most part

My target

Probably had a quarrel last night

Endless paddy fields

Nice combination

“Maduruwa” bike

Dusty roads

Beautiful range

Some harvest for the hard-working farmers

Will take some time before the harvest

This is nearly ready, two more weeks

A meeting?

Equal gap

Another watch hut

See the colors bending nicely?

Now the contrast

Hey buddy!

Salivating, ain’t it?

Kept bumping into them

Oh dear!

Ferocious

Another one

Look at the silhouette

At the Keeriyagaswewe Tank

A sight worth seeing again and again

Last time it was completely dry

Good looking

Couple with a baby to be born soon

Harvested paddy fields

Many huts all around

Ok, now let’s head to the dream

The Dream Hike

Tissa came in and we went to the archeological site some 2km away. The tree covered road was cool and it was around 9am when we arrived and started our hike after the necessary paperwork and official matters. Already there was a large group of local tourists roaming around and I was grateful for my previous visit which gave me all the freedom to take pictures without having to worry about people moving about. We went on to the target even though the journey was strenuous and tested our rather my bones and muscles. I don’t think I would ever cease to be amazed by the ingenuity of our ancestors. Especially what you would see in Ritigala. This must be categorized as one of the seven wonders. What they had built in Ritigala making that rocky mountain self-sufficient and self-reliant is beyond any imagination. I know I have already given a big chunk of my photo collection for you in the last trip but lemme give a bit more coz it’s worth seeing them again and again and again.

Well afterwards it was all about the jungle and we saw trees and plants grow in Ritigala which are unique to other environmental conditions such as Horton Plains, Sri Pada and Knuckles. That is why Ritigala was declared a Strict Nature Reserve (SNR). Only three of them exist in the country and I’ll let you find out the other two if possible. Until then without further delay I’ll let you enjoy the pictures of our laborious hike uphill. After the pictures, I’m gonna jump once again and get to the observation point little below the summit.

Ok, now we were about to get up to a place with a beautiful view. This reminded me of the Una Kanda as it too was similar to this point and gave a similar view but a little lower. I did a short documentary and we continued our way uphill. The final push brought us to a somewhat flat wooded area. There is ample room to move between the trees unlike the thick and impassable areas of Sri Pada and Knuckles. We saw a small toilet-sized cement and brick structure and a cable ran from it to a nearby pole which was a failed attempt by the officials to use it as a signal tower. The summit is a larger rock about 20ft high and closer to 50ft in diameter and a circumference of well over 100ft. Very much similar to the Saradiyel Rock or the summit of Alagalla I guess. I’m yet to visit any of those mountains. I know what you think and yeah I too feel ashamed of myself for not doing anything about it.

Archaeological office

Let’s make a move

Banda Wewa

Hallmark steps

First Stone Bridge

Many ruins like this

Hundreds of Monks had walked along these paths

Entering the footpath

Here we go

Bed and Pillow

Drainage lines made of stone

Hidden ruins

All over the forest

Almost stepped on the fellow

Still not so steep

Seeking the much needed sunlight

Just look at that

Now the difficult terrain

Tough places to go past

Circling the boulders and trees

It was very calm and serene inside

Huge one, probably attacked by the eagles

Just look at the precision making

Sambar is responsible for these

Final stretch

Very tough terrain

Look at the creeper

First observation point

Stretch into miles and miles

Not edible

Typical upcountry forest

“Balu Dan”, a plant found in Knuckles and Sri Pada

This tree is covering the rock with its roots

Wana Raja, again seen on Sri Pada mainly

Skeleton bodies

The small structure with the signal tower

There it is now abandoned

Oh, hello!

Hi cutie!

We carefully conquered the rock which is not that big a deal if it’s not wet. Arriving on the summit is an experience which will be with me forever and ever. There is a pole about 20ft high supported by rocks with a flag flying from it symbolizing the name “Kodi Kanda” or “Kodi Gala”. It gave a 360-degree view which is also a very rare thing as many summits don’t have that possibility. One major exception is the Sri Pada that gives the best 360-degree view in Sri Lanka, probably the whole world. No wonder Lord Buddha chose it to leave his sacred footprint.

Ok, let’s look around and see what we can see. Tissa is gonna help us. Here we go, there’s Habarana side over the extreme left (when looking at the range from Keeriyagaswewa) end of the range. Moving to the right now, there’s Kala Wewa in the distance. Then we’ll follow the Galenbindunuwewa-Kahatagasdigiliya road. Towards the right end of the range is the Anuradhapura area. There’s Ruwanweli Maha Seya if we’re not mistaken. To the left of her is Thuparamaya and to the right some way away is Mihintale. Ok then let’s cross the right edge of the range. There is Hurulu Wewa in the distance and closer to the mountain is Ganewelpola town. About just below us is Keeriyagaswewa tank and the wildlife office. We could see the road running from there to the base of the mountain. Then going further is Minneriya and Kaudulla.

Yeah you can see all that and much more. The sun took pity on his children and hid behind a cloud giving us the much needed shade. We spent closer to three quarters of an hour enjoying the scenery, savoring the achievement and taking dozens of pictures. Well, all good things come to an end and my journey too had to come to a conclusion. Sadly we bid farewell to this unique and beautiful lady thanking her for putting up with us. This was a dream come true and I’m gonna treasure it till the end of my life. We started our descend and made quick progress.

By 1.30pm we were on the solid ground when there was a big commotion near the office. There were a couple of busloads of school children waiting to go see the place. We were lucky to have been inside before they went in.

The final obstacle, gotta be very careful

Here’s the summit

Now the endless views

Kala Wewa in the far

Towards Habarana

Mihintale and Ruwanweliseya to the right and in the distance, don’t think you can see it

Rest of the range

The other end of the top part

No wonder the North Central is called the Kingdom of Tanks

The lone traveller

The 360-degree view

Beautiful patterns

Well, time to go

Climbing down carefully

Passing the same obstacles

Oh, hi!

Hmmm?

Looks like an alien

Climbing down with the help of a creeper

Here it is

Plenty of creepers around

Origin of a water stream. This must feed many villagers on the way

Patterns

Back on somewhat flat area

Mushy mushrooms

We saw it going up so did you

Ruins

First thought: “Rock Python”

Could be the same fella

An ancient pond now being used to pump water to the archaeological site below

Here it is

Rocky walls

Split rock

Almost finished the journey

Inside the Library

See the hole to the left?

You saw this in the last report

Another stone bridge

See the interlocking side railings?

Endless path

Many ruins

Going back

No one there

Perfectly designed

Near the Banda Wewa

Ok, time to call it a day and head home

Having arrived at Daya’s place we sat for a quick lunch. Then bidding farewell to everyone, Daya gave me a lift to the Moragoda junction where I took a bus to Kekirawa. Fortunately there was a Colombo bus but the stretch between Dambulla and Kandy road was a pain to cross. It’s still under construction and the heavy rains made going slower than walking. Ibbagamuwa, Malsiripura and other towns nearby were under more than a foot of water. After a slow and painful could of hours we reached Kandy road then Colombo along it by 9.30pm.

Well folks, are you tired after the marathon? I’m not and gonna do another right after but not today. You can join me later, another day.

Hope you enjoyed our trip together and would love to go see the secret treasure I promised earlier. Be patient coz next report is gonna be all about it.

But, before you go, there are a few Panos for you to look at.

Pano 1

Pano 2

Pano 3

Pano 4

Pano 5

Pano 6

Pano 7

Pano 8

Until then, take care and keep traveling. This is Sri signing off for now.

Ciao…

Sri,

Sri Pada Adawiya is my favourite place on earth. Knuckles also has taken a lot space in my heart. If anybody studies the statistics in my nature trips, more than 80% of them belong to these two places. I had been planning to explore Eli Hatha for more than two years. But due to various reasons I had to postpone it. My friends were at times laughing at me telling my Elihatha was suffering from “Balagiri Dosaya”. I was waiting till the right time to come with the right crew( Some times the crew was not perfect , sometimes weather was not perfect ). So this was my most wanted trip in 2015.Finnaly after contacting Mr. Shanthasiri I drafted my plan and fixed the date 2nd February . And I informed my well experienced hiking partners in advance.
Hi King ( Ashan) ‘s experience and instincts about the wild and Waterfall hunter (Sri ) ‘s never ending desire coupled with Stunt Prince ( Prince ) ‘s faithfulness ( with whom I have done most of my adventurous / dangerous journeys ) was a perfect combination for me. Notorious Major ( Amila ) ‘s talents and equipments such as ropes was added advantage. Finally arrival of silent Warrior ( Sanketha ) at the last minute was icing on cake as he had done this trial in 2012 . If you wonder “who is Jumbo ? “ and it’s me as my friend’s told me that they had the experience of loitering in peak wilderness with a “Kuru Elephant” Mind you I didn’t encourage any of my office mates or even Prince’s brother who were willing to join. Because in these type of adventurous journeys the margin of error should be around Zero.
We all left homes around 12.00 p.m. on 2nd February though our transport methods were different due to our various other commitments specially related to work. Sri and Prince were coming from Prince’s bike and me and Sanketha met at Pannipitiya and came to Avissawella by bus and waited till Ashan’s arrival. At Avisawella we purchased majority of items. After reaching Deraniyagala I was able to stop the Udamaliboda bus for another 15 minutes as we were desperate in picking our late comer Amila.(The driver was very helpful person ) So we four ( Me, Ashan, Sanketha and Amila ) met Prince and Sri at Udamaliboda tea factory ( where the bus stops ) around 6.00p.m.
Mr. Sahnthasiri came to us in his tuk-tuk with a short notice and we hired another three wheeler and went towards Elihatha (Bambaragala) area. Road conditions were better than 2013. After travelling for nearly 3 kms we stopped at our resting place which is an incomplete, two apartment building belongs to Santhasiri. There, Sahnthasiri introduced our guide ( Suresh ). After keeping our baggage there we went to shanthesiri’ home to take dinner which was 30 min uphill journey. On the way we enjoyed the cool dip at a stream by washing out all the tiredness. Shanthersiri’s wife and parents welcomed us and served with delicious dinner. We requested shanthasiri to come to our resting place at sharp 5.30 a.m ( next day ) with all our lunch and breakfast packed separately. The task was 14 packets. But they happily obliged. (My plan was to minimize the time taken for cooking in the jungle also to minimize weight)Then we said good bye to Sahanthasiri and family and came to the resting place with our guide. He managed to bring some Paduru and we laid them in one room by keeping or bags in the other. After having a brief chat about following day journey we all went to sleep preparing our inner minds for next day adventure.

It was getting dark when we reached our resting place (Photo Amila)

Our resting place was here (main power plant is 2-3 km from this point ) (Photo Amila)

On the way to Santhasiri’s House. We were bathing and little Sri was peeping (Photo Amila)

Removing leeches (Photo Amila)

Came to our resting place after dinner …. two rooms ….there is a tap line closer ….also a anicut few meters down ( Photo Amila )

Full moon (Moon walkers ) (Photo Amila)

Ashan’s Magic

We started our journey around 6.30 a.m. after doing some rituals at the nearby Kovil. Our guide Suresh accompanied another person called “Kadol “and we didn’t interfere on that. We had to walk for another 2-3 kms along the road to the entrance point to Eli hatha. Sometimes we used short cuts too.
Rough indication about how we reached Eli Hatha
1st Fall – climbing down from Power house
2nd fall and top – using the foot path laid left from the stream
3rd ,4th and 5th hiking parallel to the stream from the right hand side of the stream
6th Hiking along the stream then hiking from left at last few meters.
7th hike using the foot path from left to the stream
We carried two tents, Packed breakfast & Lunch and enough snacks and just one pan for cooking. My plan was to cook only for the dinner. Noodles for night and bread and butter for morning. Dates, biscuits, cheese, chocolates for snacks. How good is that 
Rope which was brought by Amila was handy in difficult sections
This is how we achieved and there is no such specific way of doing same. One thing I have to tell you is you have to use your common sense and watch for the changes in weather and stream

Kovil Where we did rituals before the journey

Walking to the trail head (Photo Amila)

Using Short cuts (Photo Sanketha)

Nice place to have a break

Entrance point( Technically breaking only the first rule , But for a better purpose) (photo Amila)

Six Wonderers ( From Left De Waterfall hunter, Silent Warrior , Hi King , Jumbo , Stunt Prince , Notorious Major )

First and second fall seen at trail head (Photo Ashan)

Power plant ( You have to descend from this to see first fall )

First Fall (Photo Ashan)

Amila was drown in her beauty (Photo Amila)

Stunt Prince was stunned by her beauty (Photo Ashan)

We had our breakfast there (Photo Amila)

Our guides Suresh – Bottom and Kadol – Top (Photo Amila)

On the way to second fall .We were traveling parallel to stream ( from left hand side ) closer to this tunnel

There was an easy foot path to reduce adventure but it’s little far from this (Photo Amila)

Came to the Second Fall

Fall with two sections (Photo Ashan)

Major part

Calm base pool

you can select a less deeper section and have a good bath

Lower section of 2nd fall seen from it’s base (Photo Ashan)

We returned back from fall no 2 and hiked along the tunnel. After a hectic uphill journey we reached the top of Fall no 2 where the dam is built.

Dam and the anicut

Deep base pool

View from Top (Photo Sanketha)

Relaxing time

Severe drop

Posting for another group photo .From here we had to hike in the jungle from right hand side from the stream

Entering The Forest Again (Photo Ashan)

Small cave and a man built resting place

There was no path but hard climbing (Photo Ashan)

Beautiful NAYA GANGA Aka Seethawaka Oya

After nearly 45 min hike we reached the Base of the Third Fall

Third fall ( Not as prominent as other falls )

We climbed along the rock to get a better view

But descending was tough and had some fun too…( Used a new rule – Friction of Buttocks  ) (Photo Amila)

Another cave cave , A big one

Gon Diva (Photo Ashan)

Misty & Mystery Forest (Photo Amila)

We had some rest on the top of Fall No 3

Time to have some snacks

Crystal clear water

Oh what’s this. According to our numbering system This was 3 (A) ….. Because 4th fall is far from this

The Top of Fall 3A………………………………………………………… (Photo Amila)

I did tell you that we should control our words in Peak wilderness( Kata parissam Karaganna one ) …But Our member Amila just forgot that and just Told ”Meke Wathura Nane” along with a good suddha Sinhala word in front  .and continued the journey. We couldn’t go even 10 minutes after that. It Began to rain…..And it began to rain heavily…we were helpless as we did not have any shelter……We tried our best to survive holding the fly sheet of Ashan’s tent …But it was barely enough and we all got wet….After nearly one hour rain stopped and we resumed the journey…..We noticed that the Fall no 4 was very closer to where we stopped for rain..But to reach it we had to descend trough a dangerous slippery rock…Everybody in the group except Ashan refused to see this fall. But Ashan’s natural instincts found a method to get down to a section where we can observe the fall . So me was the first to follow him. I took the rope but it was not that needed..Finally one by one we all reached a flat rock where we could observe the fall no 4

Fall no 4

No 4 & Me. Watching from a middle platform

We Re- started hiking along the jungle and sooner we reached the fall no 05. We enjoyed the beauty and had lunch there..There was a section like a cave where you can observe the furious water flow of the fall….Mind you it was dangerous to reach it . On a dry season one might think of climbing to the top of the fall along the rock…but it was deadly dangerous and we never even thought of it…But to our utter surprise a group of young boys climbed to the top along the rock and served with a big Hoot to us for not attending such an adventurous climb. But we were stick with our plan and slowly climbed to the top though the thick forest…Bt It was not an easy task at all

Fall No 05 (Photo: Amila)

Mist had invaded the area (Photo : Sanketha)

Parts Fall no 05 with another angle (Photo Ashan)

Cave which I mentioned before

Beautiful Flora (Photo Ashan)

Final look at fall no 05 (Photo : Sanketha)

Top Bio diversity spot in sri lanka (Photo : Amila)

Side view of fall no 5 while climbing from right (Photo : Sanketha)

I loved this misty weather

Top of the fall no 05 (Photo : Ashan)

Sharing the holly experience

After spending some time there we proceeded further. We had two plans at this moment. Try to reach rest of the falls and camp in a suitable place. If we didn’t find a suitable place for camping, descend to this place as we found two camping areas suitable for pitching tents here.

Mind you from this point our guide played cock and Bull. We were traveling upstream trough thick forest with a greater ascend. We were carrying our back packs which were so heavy. And path was slippery too. Because of the thickness of the forest we had a difficult time to creep through. Guide had cut the bushes in some areas but it was barely enough to creep to a person like him or prince. But not for a jumbo like me….and he was not sure about the path at all. Once he realize that he missed the path , he returned back and found another…but it was a dead end too. We were following him blindly and technically we were lost in wild. Drizzling seemed like not stopping and it was dark in the jungle although it was around 4.00 p.m.. So we all decided to get back to Top of fall no 05 where we thought of camping. My mouth just starting scolding at poor guides but Ashan made me calm down. Ashan made a good point. This Sri Pada Adawiya is a rain forest which gets rain throughout the year and the paths are soon disappeared because of the quick growth of plants. So even a person who had come here few months back has a tend to miss the route. So after hectic attempt we all came to the place ( Top of fall mo 05 ) to settle down.

Came back

With a difficulty pitched the two tents on uneven wet rocks (Photo : Ashan)

Greatest difficulty was firing the wet firewood in drizzling conditions

Preparing tea and Dinner (Photo : Ashan)

Early dinner (Photo : Amila)

View from our camping place (Photo : Amila)

More views (Photo : Amila)

Camp fire did not last long due to heavy drizzle…..

We crept into our tents after having dinner. It was around 6.30-7.00. Me , Ashan, Prince and one guide were in Ashan’s Tent and Amila, Sri, Sanketha and the other guide were in Sanketha’s tent. Actually it was a sleepless night. It was continuously drizzling. Water was creeping under our tent so water could penetrate even through the thick ground sheet of the tent. We all were shivering and prince was the most. Every hour or so Ashan woke up and opened the tent to check water levels of the stream. ( He had seen a bad dream of our tent being taken away by flood . Since the camp fire was gone there was a danger of wild beasts. Somehow rather we were able to close our eyes and stay still till dawn comes

Sinking Moon (Photo : Ashan)

Arrival of dawn (Photo : Ashan)

Life around our camping site

Wana Raja

Iru Raja

Having Breakfast and Mostly affected Prince gets the fire treatment

After having breakfast we resumed the journey. I suggested that we should go upstream as much as possible because of the bitter incident happened last day. For our advantage the rain was settled and it was sunny. So without unfolding the tents we proceeded taking only our valuable things.
But walking upstream was not an easy task and some of our team slipped and had minor injuries too. But we didn’t have any other option. Also we met few beautiful cascades and we named them 5A, 5B, 5 C, etc…..

Cascades on the way`(Photo : Sanketha)

Hiking Upstream

5B (Photo : Sanketha)

Helping Each other (Photo : Ashan)

More cascades

5 D

From this point we had a problem . Although we saw the glimpse of a big fall there was no way of going further upstream due to large rocky boulders. So our guide suggested that we should hike through the jungle. But this time also he did a mess. We climbed from right side of the stream. It was very difficult and risky. One occasion I just touched a fallen tree and it was further loosen and hit the head of Sanketha who was coming behind me. But he managed to move his head at right time and had only a miner swelling in his head. After some useless effort we realized that again we were going nowhere. Only option was to descend to the stream again. But it was also too difficult due to severe drop. Again Instincts of Hi King Saved us and he find a place (somewhat risky) where we can get down to stream. After getting to the stream Sanketha’s experience came in to part and he said that they had crossed the stream and climbed from left side in there last visit. So we did that and found the beautiful Hidden beauty Fall no 06

Getting Down to the stream

Crossing the steam . See fall no six is very close now

Hiking from left side

Hi King Helping The Hunter

Here is the Hidden Beauty which most of the travelers miss / FALL NO 06 (Photo : Ashan)

Zoomed Upper Part (Photo : Sanketha)

Beauty and the worrier

There was a foot path from 6th fall to the base of 7th fall. Guides were also confident about that path. We just had to follow the clear but difficult foot path. Then reach our target, mission, dream and have a good time

Foot path through the jungle

First Glimps of Fall no 07 (Photo : Ashan)

Top of Fall no 06/ Base of fall no 07

What a beauty . Fall no 07 (Photo : Ashan)

Zoomed top Part (Photo : Ashan)

Full View. You can compare the height of the fall

Major, King & Hunter

Happy Worriers after completing the mission (Photo : Ashan)

Our Guides (Photo : Sanketha)

We should not forget this guy too…It helped us in difficult sections

Beauty of nature

More flora

Yellow Beauty

Then came the fun time …bathing in ice cold water

Expert swimmer

Samanala Adawiya

Samanalaya Ha Ashan Lamaya

Of course we did not climb the top ..but satisfied with looking at this gorgeous Girl

Clear View

Silent worrier completes his second visit to Eli Hatha . Which is a rare incident for an outside hiker

We enjoyed to the fullest and returned back . Our guide played an innovative role and used a different foot path. It ended up in the stream somewhere between 6th and 5th falls. Then we descended to our camping site by hiking downstream. After coming there we finished all the remaining snacks and packed our baggage and climb down throght the forest. At the top of second fall I informed Mr. Shanthasiri to bring packed lunch for us to where we stayed before the hike. He had done it perfectly

Beauty of Nature

Bio diversity

Came back to Top Of Fall no 05 and Re packed our Bags

Udamaliboda Tea Factory Zoomed (Photo : Ashan)

Descend Through the Thick Forest

Too Sharp

Life is everywhere………That’s why I love Wet forests

Slipping , Falling , and creating new paths were common

Lost Again. While waiting till guides find a path

Top of Fall no 02

We came to the resting place and enjoyed delicious lunch after having a perfect bath at nearby anicut. It was around 2.30 p.m. We settled the payments of our guides. One thing I have to tell you although they missed the path at several occations these Tamil young boys were very humble to us. And they even asked such a small tip for their service but we paid them much more than that. Amila just explain how they should improve as guides and we all said good bye to them and our friend Sahnthasiri. We walked towards udamaliboda factory while sri and prince enjoyed the bike ride.At some place we got lifts from a tri wheeler and another jeep. We caught the udamaliboda Bus and came to Avissawella. We all went our homes around 9.00 p.m.
So this is how we ended our dreamy journey. It was one of my best hikes for ever. I wish the readers too enjoy this memorable journey. But please remember “Safety is first”
Thanks for reading

Enjoy this dream journey. But remember “SAFETY IS FIRST “ . BYE FOR NOW

Knuckles peaks-view from Mudukirigala-Kadugannawa

Knuckles peaks-view from Hanthana range

Climbing all five Knuckles peaks was one of my dreams. Do it within one day was a challenge. Once I tried to cover five peaks with night camping. (I will tell later). But it was not successful as thick mist covered everywhere and we could reach only up to 4th peak.

We stayed the night at Panwila guest house and started the journey from there around 5.30am. By 6.15am we reached Thawalanthanna and kept our unnecessary stuff at Thilaka Stores to start the journey. Three wheel driver agreed to bring us for another 1km along the gravel road and then started walking. (There is a foot pathway to cut this distance). Knuckles Mountain was clearly visible without mist covering.

“Kandasamy Gala” කන්දසාමි ගල-Sacred rock situated closer to Knuckles

Blessings…

Following the short cut

Armed with ALUM- AlSO4 gives good protection from Leeches

Last set of line houses we met

Starting point of Knuckles climbing

There is a clear foot pathway up to 2nd peak of Knuckles. Second peak is the highest out of five and most common peak to everyone who climbs Knuckles. Initial part of this foot pathway has a small ascend and five peaks are clearly visible there. Knuckles fall is also situated closer to the pathway. Last water stream for the entire hiking would come across there. Gradually the ascend becomes more and foot pathway goes through thick forest.

You will come across a foot pathway goes down to Thangappuwa at one point. (Actually it joins with Thangappuwa-Alugal Lena-අලුගල් ලෙන foot pathway). First Knuckles peak doesn’t provide a good surrounding view as it’s covered with bushes. There is a camp site prepared at first peak.

Second peak provides splendid surrounding view. On top of second peak you can view Thawalanthanna, Hunnasgiriya (හුන්නස්ගිරිය) peak, Hanthana (හන්තාන) range, Alu Gal Lena Mountain, Kehelpothdoruwegala (කෙහෙල්පොත්දොරුවේගල) and rest of Knuckles range. Then it is the common camping site of a lot of travelers who spend the night there. (I will tell about camping experience on Knuckles peaks later).

Knuckles Falls-නකල්ස් ඇල්ල

Getting initial steps….

Numbering of five peaks

KNUCKLS

Crossing the last water stream

Entering to a flat terrain

This might be a seasonal water source. It will completely dry out during dry season.

Climbing further….

Looked back……

Getting into thick forest

Rest station made by forest department. But it is extremely difficult to rest here due to leeches and flies

Trio of the journey….

Main junction: White arrow towards the peaks and red arrow towards Thangappuwa

Closer to 1st peak

Off seasonal NELU-නෙලු

Reaching the first peak. Latitude, Longitude 7.402632,80.808842 -Elevation-1800 meters (5905 feet).This is the camping site made by someone at there.

View from first Knuckles peak is blocked with bushes

Second Knuckles peak-Highest peak

View of first peak on the way to second peak.

Passing first peak

On top of second peak Latitude, Longitude 7.400771, 80.810616 -Elevation-1844 meters (6050 feet)

Thawalanthanna side

The route we came

Hanthana Mountain Range is popped up……

Hunnasgiriya Peak

Highest peak of Knuckles Range-Gombaniya(ගොම්බානිය)

View of Kehelpothdoruwegala. Yahangala (යහන්ගල) is seen back.

Alugal Lena Mountain? Kalupahana (අලුගල් ලෙන කන්ද)? කළුපහන

Alugal Lena Mountain is shown in red arrow and Sphinx Rock is shown by green arrow

Delighted faces on second peak

View of third, fourth and fifth.

Another picture of surrounding view

Time was around 10.30 when we reach second peak. Though it was a gloomy day surrounding view was clear. After enjoying the view there, we stepped down towards the third peak. There was an acute drop at foot pathway from second peak to third and we reached an opening area after a while. (In between second and third peak). I remembered the furious wind we experienced here in my first attempt. We were about to thrown away because of wind. We reached the third peak without much exertion.

Direction of mountain range was changed after third peak. You would not have clear foot pathway following the opening area between second and third. But improper foot pathway was seen, might be made by Sambur. As usual there were ascends and descends in between third, fourth and fifth peaks.

We reached the fifth peak by around 12.30pm and mist was covering second peak when we looked back. We felt we were so lucky to not to have misty view till we finishes the journey.

On our way down we were caught to a slight rain and came to Thawalanthanna by 3.30pm.

View towards third peak

Reaching the opening area. Second peak is seen behind.

View at opening area: First peak is shown by black arrow and second peak is shown by red arrow

On top of third peak Latitude, Longitude 7.399366, 80.809972 -Elevation-1840 meters (6038 feet)

View towards Thawalanthanna

Looked back…second peak

Other side…4th and 5th peaks

Getting down from third peak

In between the area of third and fourth peak. One side is faced to Thawalanthanna and other side is faced to Meemure (මීමුරේ).

Coming from third peak…..

On top of 4th peak

Siraj is showing the 4th peak

View towards 5th peak

View of 2nd, 3rd and 4th peaks from fifth peak

The route we followed

Nirosh is showing fifth peak

Travelling the Delft, the largest island of Sri Lanka is dated on final day of my travel. There is a boat service which commence from “Kurikadduwan” jetty for this and our intention was to left from the first boat which started at 8.30 am. According to that three of us left from house very early and other guys join with us from Jaffna.

The one of late comer completely broke our dreams and the boat had left when we reached to the jetty. The only alternative is the second boat which leaves at 9.30 am. So we stay jetty for that and it started at 9.30 am.

Sun rising for another beautiful day

Walking to the school

It’s familiar for Jaffna

All are good riders

Fey lives

It’s memorized our earlier day trip

Waiting for a chance

Lonely

She will brings us to delft

The devotes for Nagadeepa

Watch hut

Towards Nainativu

Island lives

Times’ up for launch the boat

Good bye Kurikadduvan

Withdraw orderly

Delft people

Nainativu Island

First clear view of Delft

Part of our gang

Coastguard by SL Navy

Close to disembark

Erect new jetty

Land to Delft

We reached to Delft Island after a one hour boat journey and Nishanthan arranged a jeep the rest from here.  It was easy to find a taxi from their because of the tourism. The dry weather condition of here those days and the huge wind mixed with dust are disturbed for us.

First of all we walked to watch the huge “Bao Babs” tree. “Baboba” is a rare species for Sri Lanka and also it called as Cream of Tartar, Monkey bread tree, Lemonade tree etc. Delft is a one of place which we can see “Baboba”. It’s a good food for camels. It has an enormous trunk which tapers into branches. Large “Baboba” trees have been used by people for centuries for various purposes including houses, prisons, pubs, storage etc.

Ready to go

Ohh it’s not good

Palmyra yard

Little cow boy

Huge Bao Babs tree

Like a cave

He is very friendly

Where we next?

Just click

Then we went to watch the “growing stone”. This stone is five feet height above the ground and islanders believe that the stone is growing gradually. And also they believe the power of the Island is depend on this stone. So they treated this as god. And also a small shrine can be seen near to this miracle stone.

Growing stone

Worshipful place

A fane

Nice way

Good idea

Coral use for this

Still collect

Ohh…

Yum… Yumm…

Then we walked to watch the pigeon nest which situated near the Dutch fort. This is designed as lodge to the pigeons that send mails to Jaffna by Dutch people.

The Dutch fort which made on colonial time can be scene back to the government hospital. According to the data which mentioned here, mortar & limestone are used to make that. And also it contains two stories and the ground floor consists of five rooms. And also there are no any ventilation systems, so it consider as a store of ammunition and prisoners. This is strong enough to face the hostile attacks and now it goes to ruin. But the splendor of that is still exists in safe condition.

Then we went to watch the only religious ruin place. It is situated close to corner of the island & made by using limestone.

Walking

Pigeon Holes

Just click

Name board

Lonely hospital

Old Dutch fort

Huge wall

Now it become ruins

All are in one frame

Ruins of an ancient Buddhist pagoda

Innocent child

Colossal footprint

In front of mini shop

Just click

Road is not bad

One part of the Island is used by villagers and the other part is used by horses & cattle. After bringing wild horses they had brought plant to feed them as well as medicinal plant. The “Biobab” tree is a plant which brought to feed to the horses. The population of wild horses is around 500. Early in the morning these horses come to grassland and when the heat is high they are going to covers. Though there is water in one part of the year, the rest part they are suffering due to lack of water.

Unfortunately when we go there 12.30 pm. So there are no many horses can be see because of the tough sunlight.

Wild Horses

Straight way

Not suit to drink

We finished our Island journey at about 1pm. The lunch is ready at the Island home according to Nishanthans’ message. (There is a place to buy foods for tourists in this island) So then we came back after the lunch.

The first boat which left from the Island is on 2.00pm & it’s a RDA boat. So we can go free of charge. (This one is the first boat which from Kurikadduvan to Delft also) The depth of the jetty is not enough because of the size of boat. So passengers travel to that boat by a SL navy boat in four stages

Time to leave

Navy guys helped us

Vainglory

They dig the jetty

You can come to jetty near future

Crazy name

Transfer to ship

Finished the duty

Endless ocean

Close to Nainativu

Life is not simple

Shining

Crossing point

Ready to landing

We entered to “kurikadduwan” again noted with the end of the boat safari with full of beautiful experiences. Then we went to “kasurina beach” across Kites. It is not any suspect, that’s the most beautiful beach in Jaffna.

A Successful journey

Lonely boat

Plucking harvest

Next there

Old

A ferry

Name board

Owners of the lagoon

Freedom beach

Blue border

Sand pattern

Sand pattern

Friendship forever

Try to touch the sun

Feeling crazy…

Friendship forever…

Majestic sunset

Majestic sunset

Majestic sunset

Majestic sunset

Majestic sunset

After feeling the beauty of “kasurina beach” we were lucky to watch a majestic sunset at there. Then we went to “Rio” with noticing end of the day. After that we left from there with leave our friends & went to Aruns’ home at Chankanei.  We end our dream journey during 6 days which looking for beauty of Jaffna with the intention of come back home by a “Yaldevi” next day.

I give my heartiest thanks to Arunjan,Nishanthan,Selwadas & all of my friends to gave me such sweet memories to my memory book.

Thank you very much for reading my report.

Have a safe & successful journey!!

Beragala is an important junction when you travel in Colombo-Badulla road. At Beragala the road get divides towards Koslanda and Badulla. (Actually A4 continues as Colombo-Wellawaya-Batticalo road and A16 starts as Beragala-Hali-Ela road) Most of the time travelers get a short break at Beragala.
Beragala Kanda is situated at back drop of Beragala junction.
I have noticed this mountain during my first visit to Haldummulla (Refer trip report).
I planned to climb Beragala Mountain on the following day of climbing Idalgashinna Mountain (Refer trip report).

We met our guide at Haldummulla (හල්දුම්මුල්ල්ල) traveled towards Bathgoda (බත්ගොඩ) junction where Beragala Kovil is situated. There is a tarred road on left hand side at that junction. We walked just 10m – 15m along this road and got the foot pathway in right hand side.
This foot pathway goes closer to our guide’s home and we kept all our unnecessary stuff there.
There was a clear foot pathway through Mana bushes till certain distance and then it disappeared. It was not difficult to walk after this as Mana bushes were not that much tall. After about half an hour journey we came to first view point.
Koslanda area, Balangoda, Haldummulla and Southern plane of Sri Lanka were clearly visible there.
After another 20 minutes climb, we reached second view point.
Highest point of Beragala kanda can’t be reach from this direction due to acute steepness. You have to come from Haputhale side to reach the top of Beragala Kanda.

Black star shows Beragala Kanda and black line shows pathway we followed. (Approximate)

View of Beragala Kanda at junction

Beragala Kanda is shown in black arrow. This was taken at Idalgashinna

Closer view

Pathway we have to walk

Just started in early morning….

Balathuduwa (බලතුඩුව) and Gommolliya (ගොම්මොල්ලිය) are shown in black star and Idalgashinna Mountain is shown by red star.

It is a sunny day

ALUM coverage

On the way up….

On the way up

Climbed further up….

Zoomed view of Beragala tea factory

View towards Koslanda side

Beragala Hindu Kovil

Southern plane and Pambahinna ( පඹහින්න) area

Some more to go…..

Rest of the climb

Narrow pathway

Guide is leading….

Another move….

Good bye Nirosh…He refused to climb further up…..

Second view point……

Beragala junction

In between Beragala and Haldummulla

Haldummulla side

Black arrow shows A16-Beragala-Hali Ela road and yellow arrow shows A4-Colombo-Wellawaya-Batticalo road

Further up….

This part can’t be conquered from this side…..

Beragala Mountain has a unique view of rock formation. This can be seen from Beragala Junction. The name “Beragala” (බෙරගල) also came due to this rock formation (most probably, according to our local guide).
Then we headed towards this “Beragala”. It was situated towards Beragala town. There was a foot pathway towards this rock. Actually this foot pathway connects Idalgashinna with some other village (can’t remember the name).

Clear foot pathway and one of the good guides I met as he always carried my bag.

We were there

Reaching Beragala

I am on top of බෙරය.

Beragala

Beragala is circled

We had a day…..

Thanks for reading

Hello everyone! Hope you have got a couple of hours with nothing urgent coz I would like to take you to a very special archeological site which is not so popular and known. Ok, let’s get down to business straight away.

I’ll begin with a feeble question. “Do you know the Samadhi Statue?” Well I know now you’re getting worked up coz if there was a dumb question, this is it. But before you close the computer and go away seething with rage, give me a few seconds to explain myself. Another question: “Where is the Samadhi Statue you know located?”. A little better but still silly, ain’t it? You would proudly say in Anuradhapura. Well most of the ancient great statues are in Anuradhapura & Polonnaruwa so even if you didn’t know, a wild guess would have been enough. You’re right absolutely. The great Samadhi Statue that emanates so much serenity, peace and compassion is in Anuradhapura and to be more precise at Mahamevuna Uyana.

I don’t think there is another greater statue that shows the noble qualities of the greatest philosopher to have walked on this earth, the Lord Buddha. I’m sure most of you have been to this amazing creation by our great ancestors. I keep saying that they couldn’t have been ordinary human beings but super humans who could do virtually anything. Well even nowadays we have supermen but all they do is destroy the wonderful things our ancestors created. One such example is the robbery of the National Museum when one superman called Kangatta managed all alone to lift a lorry load of things from the National Museum close to a High Security Zone. His spiritual powers were such he knew exactly when the CCTV cameras would be out of order. Maybe he even managed to make them redundant with his powers. The superman we knew as kids would have committed suicide feeling ashamed of himself after our superman’s work. Ok, I admit that I’m feeling bitter about the brutal way they robbed our National Museum but who wouldn’t?

Leaving it aside for the time being (you can bet your last penny you would hear my bitterness in the future) let’s move on. The Samadhi Buddha we know or popular among the majority of the crowd is simply an artwork with impeccable precision. What would you say if I told you that there is a similar or even a twin statue in Anuradhapura but more than 50km to the northeast in a small village known as Divulwewa? There could be a few people who may have heard about this or even visited the site but majority of you wouldn’t have thought about a twin Samadhi Statue, would you? Well lemme tell you there is one and you are coming with me. I was at Aukana after visiting the Res Vehera with Niroshan. Simple click on the link will take you to that report. Then I called Daya and told him that I was leaving. The time was past 1.30pm and I had more than 50km to go see this wonderful creation.

I took a Kekirawa bus (don’t expect me to tell or show you the pics of Kala Wewa once again) and got there sooner than expected. Daya had gone home having waited for me the whole morning so I had to take another bus and meet him halfway through. Getting into a Galenbindunuwewa bus, i bought a ticket for Rs. 38/- to Moragoda Junction. Surprisingly I was given the 2-rupee balance without a mega teledrama. By the way, have you noticed the number of villages in the North Central which has “Wewa” to the end of their name? It almost acts like a suffix. You know suffixes, don’t you? If you don’t, just type the word “suffix” on Google and press enter. You’ll be in safe hands.

It’s 19km from Kekirawa to Moragoda (Rs. 2/- per km). I won’t bother describing how gorgeous Ritigala looked in the distance. Daya was waiting when I arrived with a friend of him, Tissa (not the one who went hiking with me). Even in my last visit I had told Daya about the Divulwewa Samadhi Buddha but we couldn’t do anything due to the heavy rains. Therefore I was determined to make it happen this time come rain or shine. We drove on along the Galenbindunuwewa-Hamillewa (gosh, the length of their names) B133 road. Still even Daya had no clue about what we were going to see however he knew someone working at the archeological site there. We were going to meet him and get the details. We drove past Hurulu Wewa and then Yakalla to Galenbindunuwewa (thanks for the ctrl+C option). Then continued towards Hamillewa until we arrived at that person’s place.

Daya went to check if he was there and our luck held. He was at home and we got the directions and continued but not before his stern piece of advice, “you can’t take pictures there, ok?”. I just kept quiet and looked at him passively. We passed 21st Colony and asked for directions but nobody knew about a Samadhi statue but thankfully they knew there was an archeological site in Divulwewa. Passing Punchi Halmillewa we checked the directions once again but they still didn’t know about a Samadhi statue yet informed us that there’s a typical archeological sign on the main road. Feeling depressed we kept a look out for this archeological sign as it was the only thing we had. In the distance I saw the signature black sign on the right hand bank of the road but pointing to our left and it that stated “Divulwewa Archeological Site” – 250m.

I was so happy and when we checked with a group of people having a chat at a shop, they said this was the Komarikawala Junction. This is just after the 35th km post, about 400m passing it. We turned to the left and alas, as stated we could see an archeological site within a very short distance. Well done folks for getting the distance correct. It’s 27km from Moragoda junction to Divulwewa. All in all, there’s roughly 44-46km from Kekirawa.  There are a couple of villages called Divulwewa so be careful when you travel. The most misleading on is the Aluth Divulwewa in the vicinity of Galenbindunuwewa. There are a couple more in Medawachchiya as well. There is a gate to the archeological site but was closed and my heart skipped a beat. Further down next to the site is a temple and we went into that. There was someone coming out of the temple and we told him our purpose. He turned out to be an official of the archeological office and happily agreed to show us the place. He is one of those sensible type of officials who doesn’t stick to the rules like some holy book and not ready to be flexible. I’ve met similar practical people in places such as Nalanda Gedige, Jaffna Museum, Berandi Kovil etc. Even the air force officer who was at the Piduruthalagala summit was one such guy.

The structure that houses the Samadhi Buddha was nearby and from the distance we could see the resemblance. There was another archeological officer mowing the courtyard with a hoe. I ran to the front of the building and stopped in midair when I saw this majestic thing. The most notable thing being the broken nose from the bridge towards the nostrils. Except that this resembled the Samadhi Buddha we know at Mahamewna Uyana. I forgot all about the warning that was given by the other officer not taking any pictures and started shooting away. The one cleaning the garden came and stood watching us but didn’t say a word. I then remembered the warning and looked at the officers sheepishly hoping they wouldn’t fly off the handle coz there were many incidents like that as well in the past. They didn’t utter a word, instead looked at me, rather us, surprisingly as if they couldn’t believe our presence.

Finally, when I had completed my photo taking all around the statue and did my worships, the older one said: “I’d never have allowed anyone to take pictures but the moment I saw you, I knew you were genuinely interested in this. So I kept quiet.” Well, I don’t think I could have had a better compliment. Then he asked the younger officer to show us around. The complex is more than an acre in size (well it could be more but the area we could see was something like that) with remains of  more than half a dozen prominent foundations of ancient buildings such as Preaching Hall, Meditation Chambers, Monks’ Dwellings and a well-planned Kitchen. In addition to them, one striking feature among the ruins is what is believed to have been a library on stone pillars (Tam Pita).

Well turning back to the statue, to be honest I really don’t have recollections of visiting the original Samadhi Buddha in A’Pura Mahamevuna Uyana. I’ve been there in my school days but we had other things in our minds than admiring the craftsmanship of our great grandfathers. It’s vital for a country’s survival, especially to safeguard a country’s heritage, to educate the younger generation properly. They must be taught the history, not as a subject that they have to pass in the exams, but as a part of their lives. Most kids get bored coz they think it’s an additional strain on their already overloaded subjects and hardly take a genuine interest. You gotta make it interesting and enjoyable so that they will love learning more and visiting even more. I’m sure all the parents who read me and Lakdasun will try to get their kids interested in things like this than John Cena, Ben 10 or any superficial characters. Teach them that our ancestors would have had John Cena for breakfast and Ben 10 for dessert. No ordinary folks could have built things like these so tell them that the USA or the rest of the world has only one superman but we’d had many thousands.

However from what I’ve seen and heard from the officials on site, this Samadhi Buddha is more prominent in shape than the original one. I’m referring to the A’Pura one as the original coz it’s the most popular but this one could well be the original as the age is not properly measured. That is one but a major weakness of our archeologists and the department. Not being able to do a thorough analysis and get the details like these spot on. Maybe we have too many to check but we must do them as much as possible and as soon as we can. This Samadhi Buddha looks more muscular than the original version. Other than that, this could be a bit bigger but I couldn’t be sure. The broken nose somewhat made this less appealing than the other but the noble qualities of the Lord Buddha portrayed just the same.

Click image to enlarge

Here we are

The structure reconstructed by the archaeological officers

Where the Samadhi Buddha resides

Amazing, let’s go in

What do you think?

If if wasn’t for the broken nose, almost a carbon copy of the A’Pura one

Such impeccable craftsmanship

From the side, broken nose is more prominent

Carved out of Chandrakanthi Stone

This is newly put together by those officers

Serene looking

Closer, pity the nose is broken

The structure

Other side

The Legend

Lemme tell you how this statue was located and it’s a folklore. The folklores are ok so long as they don’t contradict the real thing. As we know very little about this statue, we have to depend on things like that.

“This statue had been covered by a huge molehill when it was found by a group of people roaming the area which used to have been a thick forest. They had seen the head popping out of the top of the hill and found this after breaking the hard earth crust surrounding it. To make matters worse, there had been a Nuga Tree which the statue was leaned on. To get the statue and keep it somewhere safe they had to cut the tree.

Usually it’s believed that there are spirits or the way the villagers put it, gods living on trees like Nuga. So they decided to first ask whoever living (if there was) on the tree to leave so that they could cut it. Having done the rituals and promising to come back the following day to cut it and clear the statue, they had left. When they came prepared the following day, they had found a herd of elephants in the vicinity. They went to cut the tree after they had left and what they saw amazed them to no end.

The Nuga tree had been uprooted and thrown away by the elephants making their job easier. They had then cleaned the statue and started worshipping it.”

Well I asked how the nose was broken but the officer informed it was just like that when they came to the possession of it. It might have been broken when this was being unearthed or even after. A real pity. Ok, enough of my descriptions now go enjoy the pictures.

Rest of the Site

The Divulwewa Monastery is believed to have housed hundreds of monks within its environs during Anuradhapura period. There is a small complex of at least three structures but only the red brick foundations are visible. There were a few stone pillars in one of them. Beyond that towards the entrance was the biggest of the foundations. It is easily 40’X20′ and believed to be a preaching hall. The rest of the land is covered in many trees. However we saw another two more separate foundations further away from the Samadhi statue. They had stone steps leading up to the base and a few stone pillars as well. The officer then took us what believed to be the kitchen. The most distinguished feature is the large stone sink. There was the bottom of it was there but the cylindrical hole that lets water out was clearly visible. Not only that, the carved stone drain leading away from it sealed the fact.

It’d been unearthed by the archeological department and now preserved as best as their poor budget allows. Well this is the whole thing you can see at a glance. Our guide cum archeology officer then said that there’s a theory this statue was built somewhere else and brought here. However there is one thing that can contradict the theory. It’s nothing much but a rocky basin like thing which was believed to have been used to sharpen the tools that used to carve the statue. Well, you might remember the stone slab (Kadu Ge Gala) at Vijithapura temple that was apparently used by the King Dutugemunu’s army to sharpen their swords. It looks well worn out having used excessively. The stone basin like thing could be something like that but used to create a magnificent statue.

Archeological officers further revealed that there is a burial ground of the monks who lived here. It is located next to the monastery grounds where ashes of dead monks have been interred and covered with a stone slab. I wanted to go see it but due to the rains, it’d turned into a small tank leaving nothing much to see so we had to perish the thought. If you happen to visit during the dry season, do take a look and I’m planning to go see it if the time permits and the opportunity arises. It was getting late and we had to leave coz there were close to 30km for us to travel to reach Daya’s place. Tissa and Daya were very pleased with what we saw and kept repeating this was worth seeing again and again. They even felt a bit ashamed for being unaware of this great statue. As we were talking about protecting these kinda things from treasure hunters and vandals, our friendly officer invited us to see something heart breaking. Let’s go see what it is, shall we?

Surrounding remains of many buildings

Can see a bottom of a Pun Kalasa below

Urinal

The main complex

Very big

Many more like this

We walked around

Entering one complex

Here it is

And another

Shady paths leading to many other structures

Here we go

Tampita Viharaya

There’s another at the end

Oh here it is

Moonstone is almost gone

Full pic

Going back

Buddha housing building

Here’s the believed kitchen

The floor dug out of the earth

The zinc I told you about

This is similar to Kadu Ge Gala at Vijithapura but here it’s the tools that were sharpened which they believe used to create the statue

The main building once again

Time to go but something else to show you

Ignorance Causes Disasters

He showed us an ancient stone which had used as a flower stand. It is about 15’X4′ and had a white sticker pasted on the face which had been torn in places. Looking at closer we could see the black letters which read as “Eethalwetunuwewa Muslim School”. This Eethalwetunuwewa Muslim Village is located about 15km from the Divulwewa Monastery. How they came about this is still a mystery but initially they had carved the name on the face but apparently realizing that it was a wrong thing, had tried to cover the stone face with a sticker with their name, probably hoping to cover the stony surface. What kinda ignorant and heartless devils those buggers have been?

Thankfully but rather late, someone had run 119 and the police had found the flower stand destroyed beyond any restoration. I’m sure people like these will rot in hell.

Here the sheer stupidity and ignorance

We heard the same story when we visited Muhudu Maha Viharaya in 2011. The monk said that he was under threat by the Muslim villagers around the temple and claimed most of the land belonging to the temple had been taken over by them by force while our authorities looked the other way. He said that a few Muslim politicians had encouraged the people to take them over while using their power to keep police at bay. A very much similar thing happening in Wilpattu these days as we all know. He had received many death threats asking to leave the temple but stayed nevertheless. There was a police officer based at the temple 24/7 but nothing else had been done to reclaim the archaeological site or safeguard the ruins.

Apparently most of the rocky pillars and slabs were in the nearby houses being used for various things such as stepping stones. We in fact saw two such houses with at least four such items (one had two slabs whereas the other had two large pillars). They even had blocked the road by covering it completely with mats full of paddy and when asked the way, simply said that there was no such place in the area and asked us not to go beyond the mats. We then turned around to the town and got the directions from a cop who said that it was a common issue which they could do very little. Guess what, we went back and drove over the mats full of grains and arrived at the temple.

A similar thing has happened in Kadurugoda and the army has been posted to protect the place. Even that archaeological site had lost around half of its original landmass. How many more places like those are under threat and being destroyed as we speak. It’s a real pity that we can’t protect our heritage from extremists like these. They need to be punished regardless of the political influence, race or religion before it’s too late. Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and all the others have a duty to help protect our heritage coz they all are Sri Lankans. I guess the archaeological department needs to be given more manpower, equipment, authority and the security forces’ assistance to protect these kinda sites.

A Sincere Apology and Heartfelt Gratitude for the Dedicated Archeology Officers

Well, I admit that I had a very low opinion on the archeology department. Especially their inability to protect the archeological sites in the country. However recently, I’ve seen, met and talked to quite a few officials who are really dedicated to their duty. It’s a real sad thing to see how much they have to do with the bare minimum support. I guess it’s a miracle we have these archeological sites to go see considering how understaffed and poorly equipped they really are. So guys, I apologize to those who take their job seriously and give 100% to protect our heritage, sincerely for criticizing you. Hats off to the hard work you put in which goes unnoticed and unheard. Thanks a lot for every good thing you’ve done so far and hope you will continue the good work to the future.

Hopefully you’ll get recognized and be given substantially support, both financially and structurally, to strengthen your efforts. It’s the responsibility of the government to provide you with all you need and wonder if it ever happens though.

On our way back

Looking majestic

See the royal pose

Well, see you again

Well, folks, I know it’s turned out to be a very long article in the end and I poured my heart out.

Hope, you learned something from this and will visit this place at the first opportunity.

This is Sri signing off with a bow.

P.S. If you go there in the future, you might be able to pick up a leaflet with the details (given in the first picture) and a picture of the Samadhi Buddha from the archaeological office. I thought it’d be useful for the travelers, especially the school kids, to have something like that as a souvenir.

You’ll find the motto below printed at the bottom of the leaflet and I think we must teach children just that so that they’ll safeguard things like these which have been left by our proud ancestors.

“This is Our Heritage.

Let’s Protect it as Eyes & Cherish as Life”

Map Day 1 & 4

Map day 2

Map day 3

Places of interest

• Kanthale ancient Sorouwa
• Welgam wehera
• Thissa Hermitage – Anandakulam
• Ruins around Wilankulama lake
• Fort Frederick
• Koneshwaram kovil
• Dogs grave
• Hoods tower museum
• Boat ride in Trinco bay
• Japanese bombed oil tanks(tank farm)
• War cemetery (WW2)
• Gokanna RMV
• Kanniya hot water wells
• Marble beach
• Sampur – Foul point
• Mahaweli river delta
• Nilaweli beach
• Pigeon island
• Kuchchaweli Pichcha mal viharaya
• Tiriyaya Nagathambarani carving
• Tiriyaya Giri hadu seya
• Arisimale beach
• Kokilai lagoon
• Bakmeegama – Kivulekada Shailabimbaramaya
• Bakmeegama Shiva kovil
• Pahala gama Archeology site
• Surulumahamuniyawa RMV Tri/Medawachchiya
• Unknown site at Tri/Medawachchiya
• Gomarankadawala Ridi kanda
• Ran giri ulpotha
• Wilpalamkulama Dakshinaramaya
• Mora wewa – Gajaba lena
• Mora wewa
• Mora wewa – Kituluthuwa Shakyasinharamaya
• Wilgam wehera – Nelumgama
• Seruwawila RMV
• Pashana pabbatha RMV
• Lankapatuna
• Black beach
• Ruins at Kathiraweli
• Kathiraweli pre historic cemetery
• Verugal kovil
• Kayyankerni ancient rock bridge and ruins
• 58^th mile post Dhageba
• 40^th post Gal kanda mountain range ruins

It was Vesak holidays and i wanted to visit some temples just like i did in 2013. Though I have been to Trinco as a kid I have not properly explored this region. so after some intensive planning with the aid of online and offline literature i was all set for this 2015 Vesak expedition. We knew that this was going to be a tough one especially with the extreme heat but we were up to the task. The added advantage was that every budhdhist temple was decorated for Vesak and it was easy to locate. The disadvantage was that it was too crowded since it was a long holiday.

1 Kanthale Sorouwa

So we left early on and while on the way to Trinco we did have a stop at Kanthale to appreciate the ancient sorouwa right by the side of the road. Since this would be a long report I would stick to the basic details..

Kanthale ancient sorouwwa

Kanthale reservoir

2 Welgam wehera

To reach this historical location we had to take a short cut from A6 to A12 and proceed towards Mora wewa side and take another right hand turn. This site dates back to 2^nd century. The bo tree was once attacked by a mortar and the mortar bomb never explored.

Welgam wehera

a restored building

the statue of budhdha

guard stone

the sthupa

dancers seen on the outer wall of the sthupa

the historical tree which captured the motor bomb

3 Kanniya Hot water springs

While reaching back towards Trincomalee one could also visit Kanniya hot water wells and Archaeology reserve. For more info refer this link

4 Tissa hermitage Anandakulama

Just before reaching Trincomalee one would note a unique mountain range and this rocky range harbors some ancient caves. We took the road in front of the provincial educational office which connected to A6. This modified temple is at the end of the lake bund. There are about 3 drip ledge caves close to the current temple but finding those was a challenge.

Anandakulama mountain range

statue on the rock

Anandakulama

cave at anandakulama thissa hermitage

another cave

5 Ruins around Vilankulama

From Anandakulama we returned back to A6 and headed towards 6^th mile post where a board saying Vilankulama could be found. There was a pagoda right in front of it on the opposite side of the road and been covered by Teak trees. There was another site close to the bund of the lake and to get to it we had to cross the road side paddy field. The sight of a dug up pagoda just made us feel bad.

Vilankulama

the pagoda which is dug up at Vilankulama lake

another pagoda on the opposit side of the main road. there are few teak trees on it

6 World War 2 cemetery

Since it was lunch time we decided to head back to Trinco and have lunch. After having lunch we had to ride towards Nilaweli because there were no beach side hotels to accommodate us. On our way we noted the War cemetery right on the side of B424, few Km’s from Trinco. There were many graves belonging to different nationalities. We had to please ourselves by looking over the gate since it was locked.

War cemetery

all who lost their lives

7 Tank farm

After a struggle we did manage to find a reasonable place at Nilaweli beach. Though the surrounding area was crowded it didn’t bother us a bit. After having a small nap we took off towards Trinco. At China bay with a huge bend there was the IOC office where I got permission to visit the Japanese bombed Oil storage tanks. There are about 100 plus tanks and out of these only a hand few is been used. The ride through the forest was very interesting indeed.

Japanese bombed few oil tanks during WW2

bombed tank

inside a tank

used currently by IOC

8 Fort Frederick

We returned back to Trinco and halted our vehicle close to the beach though we could have driven in to the fort. Our main intentions were to enjoy the scenery and architecture of the fort. So the walk towards Koneshwaram was the best option. It is nice to see that many buildings are still in good condition thanks to the military. By the way people need to stay away from the Deer who live freely in its premises.

Fort Fedrick

entrance

plenty of these guys

ancient buildings

9 Dog’s grave

There are few graves close to the car park at Koneshwaram and the interesting thing is some of these belong to dogs.

Dogs grave

zoomed

10 Koneshwaram Kovil

This is thought to be built by Elara. It also has counter parts like Ketheeshwaram and Munneshwaram at the western coast. This been located on the cliff on Trincomalee has a splendid view point. Out of all lovers leap provides a greater v

Koneshwaram kovil

a huge statue

sacred

expecting blessings

the drop

lovers leap point

11 Gokanna RMV

Just before exiting the fort one could note a temple on the right side with a wonderful view towards Back Bay. This is a historically important site. There were ruins of a statue and a Asanagaraya too. For me the wooden carving of the Budhdha was the most fascinating sculpture.
After enjoying a lovely sun set we took off towards Nilaweli and on our way we came across a vegetarian restaurant close to Sri Lakshmi Narana kovil. This place was called Sri Vari Balaji restaurant. And we did pay a visit on the next two nights too. We loved the food at that place.

Gokanna RMV

statue with the asanagaraya

ruins

wooden statue

boats at fishing harbour

dusk

Day two was all about Tiriyaya – Gomarankadawala route. This was going to be along one and most of the places we visited weren’t even in our to-do list. After enjoying a lovely sun rise at Nilaweli we took off towards Kuchchaveli.

12 Pichcha mal viharaya Kuchchaveli

At Kuchchaveli close to the main road there is an interesting archeology site which everyone needs to visit. There are scattered ruins close to the police station and a small museum too. Main site is a small mountain close to the shore where a pagoda could be found on it. Right at the beginning of the stair way there is a fallen rock with a unique carving of 16 pagodas and an inscription.

room view at Nilaweli

wow

here she comes

lovely

and another beauty

on the way to Tiriyayaya

Kuchchaweli historical site

view from the temple

silent shores

the pagoda

very very unique

these were found at this site

13 Nagathambarani – Cobra head carving

Ah the number one attraction of the day. We headed towards Tiriyaya and stopped at 47/1 culvert in front of Dayananda’s house and after having a long chat we took off towards Valathamalay mountain (mountain is seen between 49km and 50km post). After a small climb we did come across the cobra carving. And it was a big wow for us. The adjoining cave had a rocky bed and a concaved carving on its roof so one could easily accommodate his head while meditating. For detailed information refer this report from NG. We left Dayanandas place after saying good bye to Him and his wife. We did promise to visit them in near future too.  (  8°53’30.35″N  80°59’52.57″E)

Valathamalay mountain

guiding us along the ancient pond

the cave and the carving

the goddess??

what a beauty… ah yes this is in the deep forest

lovely

government servants engaged in illegal sand mining at yan oya

kora kaha

Mangroves

Yan oya

14 Arisimale beach

Ah next we took off towards Pulmude and just before Pulmude we took a right turn and reached the navy camp where an archeology site could be found. After a 500m walk we reached this small bay called Arisimale where the sand looks like “samba” rice. My guess is that this unique geographical location must have caused to filter big sand particles in to this bay.

ah here it is

At Arisimale beach

just like samba rice

small bay at arisimale with unique sand

close up

15 Kokilai lagoon

From Pulmude we took the lagoon road and reached the fishing village to have a glimpse of Kokilai bird life.

Fishing village at Kokilai

bird life at Kokilai

where the lagoon opens up to the ocean

at Kokilai

16 Giri hadu seya

This Dhageba was built while Buddha was a live and his “Kesha dathu” is been preserved in this pagoda. This blessed Pagoda was done by Thapassu Balluka merchants. There were two caves, two inscriptions and yes a long rocky bridge. When we were at the summit it was close to 12pm and walking around the pagoda was more of a run. From Tiriyaya we took off towards Gomarankadawala.

Rock bridge at Giri hadu seya

lake at the rocky base

right on the top

main pagoda at giri hadu seya

framed

lovely

the meaning of the main inscription

a cave at giri hadu seya

17 Kiulekada Shailabimbaramaya

From Tiriyaya it was a ride through a forest patch where Elephants roam around in the evenings. At the end of the forest we came across a temple on the right hand side. There were monoliths here and there, a broken statue and a blasted image house by terrorist.

pagoda at Kivulekada Shailabimbaramaya

these were blasted by terrorist

ruins

18 Kiulekada Shiva Kovil

In front of the temple there is a road which will take one towards and archeology site. There is an old kovil which is been restored. Also one could find a huge Tamil inscription too.

Shiva kovil inscription Kivulekada

kovil in ruins

seems like a shiva devalaya

19 Pahalagama Archeology site

This site is also right on the side of the road and its few km’s from Kiulekada. There is a pagoda, bodhigaraya & image house which has been excavated.

Pahalagama archeolgy reserve

bodhigara at Pahalagama archeolgy reserve

a statue

image house at Pahalagama archeolgy reserve

20 Surulumahamuniyawa RMV – Trinco/Medawachchiya

Few Km’s from Pahalagama site, one would come across a board to the right. After traveling 1km one could easily reach this temple. There are few restored buildings here. Those are the Bodhi garaya, sthupa, image house and another building. The monk at the temple was kind enough to treat us as he could. This site also is a must visit place.

ruins at Surulumahamuniyawa RMV Tri-Medawachchiya

more ruins

the pagoda

21 Unknown Archaeology site Trinco/Medawachchiya

Few km’s away from Trinco/Medawachchiya there is an archaeology site on the right hand side of the road. There are no houses around this point only a forest patch. We did come across two restored buildings at this site too.

Unknown Archaeology site Trinco-Medawachchiya

restored

another building

22 Gomarankadawala Ridi kanda

One of the main archeology sites in the region. It is said that silver was mined at this point and taken to build Ruwanweli seya by King Dutugemunu. This is a huge archeology site with a museum. There are many caves scattered around the mountain range and one restored pagoda on it. The climb was a difficult one (because of the heat) but yet rewarding. There are few buildings and two pagodas at the base of it too. This is again a must visit place. To reach this place one needs to take the road behind the temple of Gomarankadawala.

Ridi kanda Archeolgy reserve

twin sthupas

image house

one of those caves

up we go

view from ridi kanda

top of ridi kanda

small museum at ridi kanda

23 Gomarankadawala Rangiri ulpotha

This is another interesting archaeology site with a hot water spring. I have been to this site previously and for further information on it please read this.

24 Wilpalamkulama Daksinaramaya

While traveling towards Mora wewa passing Gomarankadawala one would come across this temple where an ancient rock pond, lake and few ruins could be found.

Wilpalamkulama Dakshinaramaya

the lake

ruins at Wilpalamkulama Dakshinaramaya

25 Gajaba Lena – Mora wewa

Gajaba lena could be reached by taking the mora wewa lake road from the Mora wewa town. The temple is very well built but the caves are covered by tall mana bushes. So if you want to explore the caves be ready to scratch for few days.

Gajaba lena cave complex

kema

more caves at gajaba hermitage

a cave

26 Mora wewa

Mora Wewa Lake was 2km’s away from the temple and we did get permission from the Navy post to visit the lake. It’s not advisable to visit it during the evenings because there are elephants around the lake

mora wewa

the bund

birds nesting at Pan kulam

some pelicans

27 Mora wewa / Weppamkulam/ Kithuluthuwa Shakyasinharamaya

Though the name is a long one it’s a very small temple with few monoliths scattered around a bo tree and it’s found between mora wewa and Kanniya

From here we straight away headed towards Trinco and from there to Nilaweli to end one of the most hectic days in are traveling history. We did manage to visit many places but we were also dehydrated. The beach of Nilaweli was there to our rescue by washing away the tiredness of the day.

board at 162km post

ruins

28 Wilgam wehera – Nelumgama

On day 3 we headed towards Seru nuwara side. We took the Toppur route to Seru nuwara. While traveling to Seru nuwara we came across a name board directing to another Wilgam wehera. It was a 1km ride from the Seru nuwara road but it was well worth it. There was a huge pagoda with few “palu” trees on it. It was nice to see that there were few devotees observing sill for Vesak at this sit.

Sun rise at nilaweli

longest bridge – Kinniya bridge

Wilgam wehera – Nelumgama

close up

29 Seruwawila RMV

One of the most sacred sthupas in the east and worshiped by many Buddhist pilgrims, this site was crowded on that day because it was Vesak. There were many buildings which were excavated and out of them the sthupa, Bodhigaraya & Pond stranded out. Though there was a museum it was closed on that day.

Kapruka pujawa at Seruwawila

majestic

entrance

lovely piece of architecture

well carved

pond at seruwawila

bodhigaraya

a mandapaya

30 Pashana pabbatha RMV

From Seruwawila we reached A15 and from there we headed south until we came to the junction where a board directed us to the left. This road leads up to Lankapatuna and on the way we came across Pashana pabbatha temple. There were many buildings in ruins and on top of the rocky plateau with inscriptions there were remains of a sthupa. This sthupa was vandalized by terrorist and the Terrorist radio broadcasting tower which was built on it is still visible.

ruined pagoda at pashana pabbatha

view from the top

some shelter

Terrorist transmission tower

an inscription

31 Lankapatuna RMV

It is believed that Princess Hemamala and Prince Dantha landed on the shores of Lankapatuna with the sacred Sri maha Bodhi plant many years ago. Now only few ruins could be found on the rocky peak. A new pagoda is built upon the old one. To reach this temple we had to hire a boat which could accommodate 9. They charge 180/= per trip. If you wish to reach it by vehicle it is advisable to take the Thoppur road.

waiting for a boat

pond at lankapatuna

sthupa at lankapatuna

the statue at Lankapatuna

seruwawila seen from lankapatuna

the new brdige been build

32 Black beach

800m’s away from Lankapatuna and towards the north the beach is black in colour. We did have a small walk to have a look at this unique beach before heading back.

black beach

black it is

33 Verugal Kovila

This ancient kovil is located close to the Verugal aru and one could easily access this road side kovil

Verugal kovil

gods

painted part

i love this one

34 Pagoda at Kathiraweli

Close to 78/4 culvert and between Verugal and Kathiraweli there is a pagoda on a rocky range which is been blasted currently for rocks. It is sad to see and archeology site been vandalized like this. I guess this is a common practice in the east.

Kathiraweli pagoda near 78-4 culvert

vandalized

35 Pre historic grave yard at Kathiraweli

This site could be easily identified by the huge Pandol like entrance. There is isolated rock with two caves and few carved steps at this site.

Kathiraweli pre historic site

drip ledged

steps towards heaven

36 Kayankerni Ancient stone bridge

Now this is something new and was my main target for the day. Information about this mysterious bridge was first published by Maritime Archeology unit few years back and since then I was seeking for this. It is said to be built across a narrow point of Kayankerni lagoon. The locals believe that this was used by a prince and princes to reach to their school. There is a small archeology site close to it and another huge site 2kms away from it. We were lucky that we had the chance to visit all of them. We reached the Kayankerni Bridge and inquired about this from the police post but they were not aware of it so they called a local boy who was the ideal guy. He straightway asked us weather it was the kings bridge which we seeked for and yes was the answer. So with him we headed north and drove off road towards the lagoon where people catch prawns. From there he took us on a small fishing boat. 5o meters away from where we started paddling were the stone bridge. The slabs which were on it has fallen in to the lagoon and few pillars were even been covered with mangroves. We were so happy that we were able to find this historically important place. After thanking Thushan we headed back towards Trinco (  7°58’45.73″N  81°30’19.29″E)

Kayankerni lagoon

halted at the edge

Kayyankerni stone bridge

still standing tall

remaining pillars

ruin site close to the bridge

idi	ruins found 1km away

37 Fifty eight mile post dhageba(Aradhana seya)

On our way back we were treated well at few Dansals given by the forces and the police stations out of those the manyok dansal took care of our need for lunch. At the 58^th mile post we came across a pagoda with a bo tree on it. The surrounding was very well maintained. There was a beautiful moon stone just like at Anuradhapura. From this pagoda it is easy to spot Seruwawila pagoda over the paddy fields. When we looked back there were few army officers looking at us with a smile on their faces. We were told that they restored the place and opened it on this vesak day and we must have been the first two curious pilgrims to visit and worship the place.

one of those dansel

yummy

58th post dhageba

what a beauty

38 Muttur Gal kanda ruins (40^th mile post)

Close to the 40^th mile post we came across a tall mountain range and there was a lion’s mouth at its base. We were bit curious so we went there and inquired. We were told that there are ruins on top of the mountain but it would be tough to climb since it was very hot. We decided to go ahead because there was a stairway to the summit. This was one of the best outlook points in Trinco.. We could easily see for miles and the bay of Koddiyar was seen clearly too. The main attraction was the pagoda on the summit. We were told that it is been restored in few days. I recommend climbing this hill so you could enjoy the scenery it provides.

Gal kanda range as seen from A15

Muttur galkanda ruins site stairway

what a view

endless scenery

towards koddiyar bay

pagoda on the summit

39 Vesak at Trincomalee

After a small rest at Nilaweli we returned back to Trincomalee to enjoy some Vesak lanterns. There were many lanterns especially around the naval headquarters and the roads were packed with pilgrims who enjoyed the walk. This was indeed a unique Vesak night for us.

navy base lit up

vesak lantern 1

lovely isnt it?

vesak lantern 2

vesak lantern 3

lagoon of trinco on vesak day

40 Sampur – Attempt to visit foul point

On day 3 our main objective was to enjoy a sun rise at marble beach but we were told that its open only at 8am for the public. So we headed towards the fishing bay to enjoy the sun rise. After a brief stop at Mahaweli river estuary we did proceed towards Sampur. But after a difficult ride we were denied to go past one point since the road ran across a camp. So the attempt to reach foul point was not a success. But we did manage to enjoy the scenery towards the bay from the beach.

another sun rise

halted

and the owners of the cycles

where Mahaweli river reaches the ocean

Sampur beach

close to Foul point at sampur

view towards koneshwaram from sampur

Villu kulam

wow loved this one

41 Marble beach

When we reached Marble beach it was 8am and already there were 5/6 buses. We did walk around the beach just to feel the calm ocean waves and then decided to head back to Nilaweli.

marble beach entrance

very calm