Aliens in the Garden

I do not know what this is. It is not something I have seen before. It surely resembles to one of those alien creatures in sci–fi films than an earthling.

So what is it? Take your guess! You can refer more pictures here.

For those who cannot wait, the answer is here.

Other Side of the Trail

This is the continuation of my previous post about Maningala trail. So for those who are not in a position to explore Maningala trail any sooner, I’m posting what is stored for your eyes, just as you walk a few steps along this trail.

You can see this spectacular view, halfway towards the top of Maningala. The village below is Etanwela. Also you can see part of Pitawalapathana towards the top right hand corner. The mountain range is Knuckles.

So now you have seen what is on the other side of the trail.

The Trail

This interesting picture was taken during my recent hike to Maningala. The trail to Maningala is one of the best nature trails I have walked and it takes you through one of the most scenic areas of Sri Lanka.

Don’t you like to walk along this trail and see what is on the other side?

Rukmal Ella

This dazzling waterfall was seen on the way to Dedugala. It is made out of a tributary of Ritigaha Oya, which eventually joins with River Kelani.

Rukmal Ella (waterfall) is situated so close to the road so you can enjoy this view just from the road itself.

A Letter to Younger K

Chavie has tagged me this time and I’m supposed to speak to my own 16 year old self :) So my advice to younger K will be on camping and hiking as usual..

Hi 16 Year old K,

How are things?

I know this is not the easiest age to listen to the advice of older or matured people, but neverthless I wanted to say below few things to you.

Just two months after your sixteenth birthday you will set off for your first major hike in your life. That will be the first of many climbs to Kirigalpoththa. You will camp out at Horton and remember to take two extra pairs of socks and warm blanket. Otherwise you will shiver whole night without any sleep as I did. Ideal would be to take thermal socks and a sleeping bag (but, I know it will be much later that you get those luxuries).

An year or two later you will do a daring hike across Knuckles Region and you will fail miserably if you do not plan it well. Never underestimate the weather in the jungle and 25 km across Knuckles will never be like Colombo to Panadura. Also I’m not asking you to drop your best friends but it is always good to have 6-8 equally fit people if you are doing a very strenuous hike. Never take more than 8 people for your hikes, you will realize why, in your fourth hike to Kirigalpoththa.

Try to get a good haversack that keeps all your belongings tightly packed and always keep two free hands while hiking.

If you want to climb Siripada off season from an off track, study the map at least ten times. Yes, ten times! Otherwise you will spend the night below the mountain, just behind Siripada and spend the whole next day doing circles in the thick rain forest, 'Samanala adaviya’ finding the way out. Moreover you will have to abort the hike and come back to the starting point with blood soaked feet full of leaches.

If you want to climb Saptha Kanya, you have to start from the end of the mountains, never from the middle. Same is applicable to Great Western.

Never camp out in a remote area where there is security threat, without informing the villagers or security personnel. There is a high chance that you might get injured (or even killed), not from the armed ruffians but from your own Army or police.

By the way, take your own camera whenever you go out. I realized now that I have missed many golden opportunities to capture beautiful locations.

I guess this is more than enough for your age and finally I’m posting the scenery from the top of Kirigalpoththa, just to give an impression of what is up there on the top. Forgive me for the bad quality of the picture as it was not taken by a sophisticated digital camera but an old analogue camera when I was 16 years and two months old :)

Keep on Hiking!

Your Buddy,
Older K

Mine will be an open tag :)

Dedugala

Hope you remember the remote village Etanwela, I mentioned some time back. This time I’m taking you to another village in the mountains but situated in a different area.

Dedugala is situated in Kegalle District, in Dolosbage Mountains. To reach here you have to turn at Bulathkohupitiya on Karawanella – Kegalle road.

The road from Bulathkohupitiya to Dedugala is one of the most beautiful roads I have travelled. The narrow, winding road will take you up the Dolosbage Mountains and if you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you can even end up at Nawalapitiya. Believe me; I saw 6 delightful waterfalls along this road up to Dedugala which was not more than 12 kilometers. Some of the prominent ones are mentioned below and like in another trip; I saw a few anonymous waterfalls as well.

• Nalagana Ella
• Rikilla Ella
• Rukmal Ella
• Ritigaha Oya

The above picture shows the village, Dedugala.

Kelani Ganga

'Ganga’ is river in native language. Sri Lanka is rich with rivers and other water resources. One of the most interesting features is the high number of rivers flowing from the middle of the country and ending in the Indian Ocean like a cart wheel.

The four main rivers are Mahaweli, Kelani, Kalu and Walawe. These rivers and their tributaries flow through the most scenic areas in the island before meeting the Indian Ocean.

The above picture of the River Kelani was captured at Karawanella.

You may click the labels below to see more about these rivers and their tributaries.

Google Analytics

Off topic, but thought this is a wonderful tool for all bloggers.

I activated Google Analytics in my blog a few days back and enjoying some excellent stats since then. You just need to add a small code (Tracking code) in your template and heaps of analysis will be shown about your site. In addition it gives benchmark figures too!

The above graph, (which is only one out of umpteen numbers of features in this free version) shows the number of absolute, unique visitors to my site from the day I activated Analytics (5th Nov). To learn more about Google Analytics click here.

Thanthirimale

This ancient and sacred temple is situated in a remote place about 35 kilometers north west of Anuradhapura. It is situated on top of a rocky terrain. Thanthirimale is definitely a larger temple but it surely reminds Buddhangala Temple of Ampara.

As per the historical evidence this area is one of the oldest human settlements in Sri Lanka which dates back to pre 6th century BC. Also it is mentioned in many historical chronicles as a pivotal place all throughout the history.

The Bo tree here is said to be at least 2300 years old. It is a direct sapling of the famous Sri Maha Bodhi of Anuradhapura.

I’m not going to give detailed explanation about this place as Harumi has done a few wonderful narratives about this place. You can see those posts here, here and here.

The view from this wonderful hermitage is stunning. The above picture shows the granite Buddha statue which dates back to 8th century AD. I have uploaded more pictures of this wonderful place here.

Scenic Beauty after Nawalapitiya

I am attaching one more from the railway tour to Badulla. This scenic view was captured close to Nawalapitiya, one of the main railway stations in the Colombo - Badulla railway line.

Anonymous Waterfall

Above small but attractive waterfall was seen very close to Akasa Bokkuwa. In fact it is clearly visible from the top of the bridge like this. Yet no one knew a name for this waterfall.

The bridge, Akasa Bokkuwa is quite high as you can see here from the top. Below the waterfall, there is a small pool of water, where you can enjoy cool spring water to your heart content. The full set of photos of this attractive place is shown here.

I hope you will notice the small house just above the waterfall. Who doesn’t like to live there?

Akasa Bokkuwa

A Bokkuwa is usually a small bridge. So Akasa Bokkuwa can be translated as ‘small bridge in the sky’.

Akasa Bokkuwa is situated in the village, Athwelthota in the Kaluthara District. If you ever travel along Agalawaththa - Kalawana road, you will come across this interesting bridge situated in a very beautiful surrounding.

It was built in the early 20th century and it is constructed in such a way that the weight of the bridge is held by the arch. This narrow bridge joins two steep hills on either side and it is possibly the highest of this sort of bridges in Sri Lanka. Hence it has got this unique name.

The Dun Tree

The trees in the wet, low lands of Sri Lanka usually are very tall. Some trees grow even up to the heights of 30 – 40m. Hora, Bu-Hora, Thiniya Dun, Dun and Nawada are some of the tallest species.

The above Dun tree which is easily about 140 feet tall is popular as the tallest tree in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. You may find taller trees in Sinharaja Forest Reserve and some other places, but this tree should be one of the tallest in Sri Lanka. Its significance is amplified, since it is situated by the side of a main road.

If you ever travel along Agalawaththa - Kalawana road, you will see this tree in the village of Athwelthota, between Akasa Bokkuwa and the boundary of Western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces.