Top of Diyaluma

We recently had a great hiking adventure closer to Diyaluma waterfall. We camped near Uda (Upper) Diyaluma waterfall. Above picture was taken from top of Diyaluma and you can see the silvery line of water falling from the edge of the cliff.

Diyaluma

Diyaluma is the second tallest waterfall in Sri Lanka. At over 700 feet, it is second only to Bambarakanda.

The road to Diyaluma, is as beautiful as the waterfall. The waterfall is formed by Poonagala Oya, a tributary of Kirindi Oya, which meets the sea at Bundala.

There are many hiking routes and camping locations beyond the waterfall and you can climb to the top of the waterfall as well. But you need to be careful, as this area belongs to the wild. There is a high chance of close encounters with a herd of wild elephants along these tracks.

Sunset in the Mountains

This picture was taken near Uda Diyaluma around 6pm.

We went pass Diyaluma falls on A4 and turned to a gravel road. Then climbed about 2 km along a footpath through the forest and reached here. We walked further and reached a point above Uda Diyaluma falls and camped there overnight.

Faraway, we can see Balathoduwa and Gonmollikanda.

This is one of the best area for hiking and camping in Sri Lanka.

For more sky views, visit - Skywatch Friday

Kirigalpoththa Next Step

Dear All,

There are more people into hiking. I made many like minded friends over the past few years through hiking.
So I thought of expanding Kirigalpoththa to the next level with the help of a few friends.

If anyone willing to come to Sri Lanka and experience a bit of adventure via hiking and camping, we are ready to help you. Just go through our Join Us page and ask for details.

Yes, we are a bit of a small community now.

Best,
K

More into Hiking!

These days I’m getting quite a few mails asking for information on various places in Sri Lanka. I thought of streamlining the contact mode a bit so I can organize my mails and would be able to give a faster response. As a first step, I have added a little widget to contact me. Still, anyone can write direct to my email as well.

I know that, Lakdasun.com had done yeoman service over the years to ‘discover, explore and conserve the natural beauty of Sri Lanka’. I’m happy to see many people switching to hiking, backpacking and trekking. (Perhaps, I shall explain the difference of all three in another post) I personally like this development oppose to flooding a scenic area with motor vehicles, causing noise and air pollution.

I wish more people could have fun like Sinhalaya Travels, which I had my pleasure of joining them a few weeks back.

Wake up to Arugam Bay Sun

This picture was taken last year and it was in my gallery for sometime. Yet, I am posting it here. As my friend, Fred always says, there is no better place to enjoy the splendor of Indian Ocean than Arugam Bay, one of the best surfing spots in the world!

We camped on the beach and were up from 4.30am to see the amazing sight of sunrise. As soon as I woke up, I took the above picture from the tent. By that time, my friends were already busy taking pictures!

Lost in Samanala Adaviya

This was happened sometime back, but thought of writing the full story as I have mentioned about it a few times, here and there.

A few of us planned to climb Sri Pada during off season via one of the lesser known routes. The trail head of this particular route is at Uda Maliboda village off Deraniyagala. We left Colombo early in the morning and reached Deraniyagala via Avissawella by bus. From there, we took Uda Maliboda bus and reached the village around 12 noon. Uda Maliboda is situated at the border of Adam’s Peak Wilderness Sanctuary (Samanala Adaviya).

Once we reached the village, we got some information about the route from villagers. Quite a few mentioned that the path is not cleared for sometime, since it was the off-season and it would be difficult to find the trail. Still we decided to set off the journey and left the village around 1 pm.

At the start, we crossed a stream probably a tributary of River Kelani. The first one hour of walking was easy and soon we came to another stream ran parallel to our path. Since it is customary to have a bath before going to Sri Pada, we spent another one hour in the cool spring water. Most of all, this particular area was very scenic and we enjoyed the natural beauty and the crystal clear icy spring water to our heart content.

From that point onwards, the route became tricky. The path was getting smaller and at some points, we find it extremely difficult to locate the exact path. At certain points, there were multiple paths created by various wild animals like, sambhurs and wild boars. Also we found quite a few tracks created by wild elephants. Although we didn’t meet any of those, we saw enough animal droppings to prove it. Meanwhile, the path started to ascend.

We crossed many smaller streams and the hike became more difficult, since it was infested with leaches. The trail was through a thick forest and we were walking quite fast to reach an open area mentioned by the villagers. A drizzle started to fall and we kept on walking. Still no indication of any of the waypoints mentioned by the villagers and we could not see any signs of Sri Pada. Slowly it started to get darker and we found it ever so difficult to find the trail. We started feeling that we have already diverged from the right path and wandered into the jungle.

Finally we saw a small open area. It was around 6.30 in the evening and the light was dim. We decided to spend the night there, although we hardly had enough room to pitch a tent. Furthermore, we were quite scared to pitch a tent there, since we had the terrifying feeling that, we might meet a live elephant face-to-face.

So we decided to lay the tent over a slanted rock surface and spend the night there. To make matters worse, it stared to rain. Somehow or the other, we managed the night without further panics, although I must say it was a sleepless night for all of us.

Next day, we packed our stuff and tried to find our way forward. We managed to walk about half a kilometer, but then we came to a cul-de-sac. So we decided to turn back! The idea was to find the place we diverged from the exact path.

We walked pass where we spent the night, the other day and then came to another dead end. This time we knew that we were lost, lock stock and barrel! We tried a few more routes and to our utter dismay, we ended up at the same place after a round trip. One observation we made was that, there were many water streams formed compared to last evening. Most probably that could have been the effect of overnight rain. We tried a few more alternatives. We selected one of the streams and walked along it towards downstream through the thick forest. After walking about 30 minutes, our journey was curtailed by a massive precipice. Then we did the opposite. We walked upstream, and there too, the stream suddenly disappeared without any sign. The reason is that the stream had turned in to a small spring and it had gone through the mountain, underneath the earth crust. After hours of futile efforts to find our way back, we were utterly exhausted and felt desperate.

It was almost noon and we finished all our food that we brought in with us. Actually, we planned to be at the top of Sri Pada by morning.

We continued our search to find the way back and after about another hour or so, we finally managed to find a foot path and that lead us to the same trail we came. By that time, we were already late and we had to abort our journey and return back to the village.

Anyway we were quite happy at the end, to find our way back. We did not use even the simplest of way finding techniques and that made our hike a disaster. Even if you use maps, compass or GPS still there is a high chance of getting lost there, as Peak Wilderness Area is highly dense forest. So it is always advisable to stick to routine paths.

We never knew where exactly we roamed. Definitely, we never come even closer to Adevikanda or normal Erathna route. In fact we must have walked parallel to Erathna route further north of it. Even to-date, I rate this as one of my best hiking experiences.

With the Scent of Woodsmoke

Campfires and camping are almost synonymous to each other. It is a pity if you could not light a small fire while camping. It is a wonderful experience to do a ’chat and music’ session at night closer to a campfire. Campfire is also a good place to share other people’s experience and also to identify hidden talents of your friends.

There are hundreds of songs specifically written for campfires, but you may sing any song that you like. The following song is one of my favourites and it is sung to the tune of famous German love song during the World War 2 - ‘Lily Marleen’

With the scent of woodsmoke drifting in the air,
And the glow of firelight we always love to share,
Visions of camp-fires all return,
And as the logs flame up and burn,
We dream of bygone camp-fires and long for those to come.

Tongues of yellow fire flickering up on high,
Reaching twisting fingers up to a starlit sky,
Voices recall songs old and new,
Songs once dear to our fathers too,
Who dreamed of bygone camp-fires and longed for those to come.

Gently dying embers cast a rosy glow,
Voices slowly sinking to tones so soft and low,
Slowly upon the still night air,
Fall faithful voices hushed in prayer,
That dream of bygone camp-fires and long for those to come.

Basics of Tents

This post is a brief guideline for those who are new to camping and hiking. Hope this will help anyone who is eager to buy a tent and do some camping very soon.

Buying a tent

First of all I will give some basic tips on buying a tent.

You can easily find tents in Sri Lanka for very affordable price but make sure you buy a good hardy tent with all the accessories. Basic tent should have following items;

•Inner Tent
•Ground sheet (Usually this comes attached to Inner tent)
•Outer Tent (Fly Sheet)
•Poles or frame
•Guy Lines
•Pegs
•Last but not least a good bag to carry it.

Pitch the tent before buying it and ensure that it has all the items and none of the parts are missing. (The same check should be done before leaving for any hike or campout too.)

Check all the eyelets are in good condition and they are in adequate size to hold poles, pegs and guy lines.

Generally I recommend a smaller tent so two people can easily pitch it. Always suggest a one with inbuilt ground sheet. Also select a lighter one with smaller and flexible poles/frames.

Pitching a tent

These are the basic points to remember while pitching a tent but there can be many more.

•Find a flat, clean area with less rubble, branches, twigs and debris.
•Clean the area before pitching the tent.
•Never select a place too close to river or any water body. This is applicable even for sea shores. Main reason is that water levels can go up suddenly at night. The other reason is that you will find more wild animals/snakes closer to water than other areas
•The entrance of the tent should not be facing the wind direction.
•Try to pitch a tent where you find less wind. Try not to pitch a tent in a mountain gap where you experience strong wind.
•After you pitch the tent, put all your bags and heavy items inside, preferably in four corners so the tent would stay on the ground even under heavy wind.
•Always make sure there is a gap between fly sheet and inner tent
•Never let the tent (inner or outer) to sag. It should be well stretched.
•If there is any signs of rain dig a small ditch around the tent so it will stop any additional ground water coming into the tent
•If you have any kerosene you may put a few drops around the tent (A circle about 1-2 metres away from the tent). This is a good precaution to repel snakes.
•Put all the additional tent-items back in the tent bag and put it inside the tent.

Maintaining a tent

This is the difficult part. Some key points are mentioned here.

•Pitching and removing should be done with care and you should not exert too much strain on tent material.
•Avoid pitching tents near thorny trees and sharp stones. Clear the debris and sharp items before pitching a tent
•After removal, always wipe water and mud off the tent. If you have some time, let the tent to dry before packing.
•After returning home it is always good to pull out the tent from the bag and let it to dry for few hours.
•If there are any torn parts repair them immediately.

Happy camping!

Camping on Top of Bambarakanda Falls

Bambarakanda waterfall and surrounding area is a magnificent place for hiking and camping.

Bambarakanda Falls is the tallest waterfall in Sri Lanka which has a vertical fall about 800 feet. On top of the waterfall it has two smaller steps which are not visible from the foot of the fall.

First, you have to pass the foot of the falls and walk further up towards Ohiya along Kalupahana – Ohiya Road. After climbing about 1000 feet you can get to the top of the fall by cutting across rather thick forest towards the falls.

There is limited flat area to pitch a tent but you can pitch a medium or small size tent with difficulty. Constant gushing wind in this point will make it even more difficult to pitch a tent. There is a small pool of water at the top. On one corner of the pool is bordered by a fair precipice. This is the top most step above Bambarakanda Falls which is visible only if you look at it from a higher altitude. You have to climb either Gonamolli Kanda or Wangedigala to view this complete scenery.

A night at the top of the falls will be a memorable one for any hiker who likes a bit of adventure!

Camping at Edge of the Sea

If you travel to Panama, there is an amazing location close to the coast for camping. This is situated on a rock outcrop by the sea on one side of the sand dunes. When you climb to the top of the rock you will see the sea from the East, A lagoon from the North, vast sand dunes from the South and the Panama village from the West.

The lagoon is connected to the sea with a thin strip of water and the adjoining potion of the sea is formed as a natural pool. The sandy beach is wide as usual and the dunes on the Southern side is even wider. There are small trees and bushes grow on these dunes and they add a distinctive splendour to the entire area. The rocky outcrop slants to the Sea from one side and it is a perfect location for camping. It is quite windy on the top but there are good sites to pitch a tent.

The panorama from the top of the rock is simply stunning!

Camping on the Beach

Camping in the seashore is a great experience. Sri Lanka is rich in stunning coastline all around the island so finding a good location is never a difficult task.

Unlike in some western countries, there is very low tide in Sri Lanka, hence usually it is safe to stay overnight in the beach. Anyway it is good to take a few extra precautions before selecting the site. The site should be fair distance away from the waves and good to select a clean supply of water and other necessities. The pegs of the tent would not keep the tent on to the ground due to sandy earth. So it is always good to keep your bag or any heavy item inside the tent all the time. Also pitching the tent need some good talent as it will be quite tricky to raise it up under strong winds.

If you camp on the eastern coastline remember to wake up early in the morning to see the exciting sight of the sun rise over the horizon. If you camp in the western coast line you will be rewarded with magnificent display of colors in the western sky at twilight. You may experience the best of both worlds if you select a narrow coastline or a point in the south! I’ll come up with such terrific places in my future posts.

Hiking Gear

The hiking gear vary depending on the terrain, climate and the difficulty level. Sri Lanka being a tropical country you have to be ready for heavy rain at any time. The main items would be a strong big enough backpack, Tent with fly sheets, Good boots or shoes that cover above the ankle, easy to carry small made cooking utensils and of course enough clothes depending on the climate. Navigational items like compass, GPS, maps will be very helpful. Never forget torches or emergency lights. You might need additional items like ropes depending on the terrain.

Some basic but important suggestions are given below.

Backback - The golden rule is you should take just enough items, not too much nor too little. Good strong backpacks can take upto 15 kgs but all depend on how much you can carry at a stretch on difficult terrain. It should be one big pack and not number of smaller bags. It is always advisable to have two free hands while hiking. Always pack your bag in such away that you can easily take frequently used items. Always remember where you have packed every single item inside your bag. Good to pack your dry clothes in a seperate polythene bag in case of rain. But remember to bring those polythene bags back! Generally if you pack heavier items at the top it is easier to carry. In that way the centre of gravity of the bag will lie closer to your shoulders and you will find a remarkable difference. Never allow items to hang or portrude from your bag.

Tent - Always take medium or small scale tents. (1-2 or 3-5 people) Bigger tents will be heavy and difficult to carry. Make sure you can fold it and put it in one backpack. Even if you travel as a team make sure one member can carry the tent. A fly sheet (Additional sheet that covers the tent from the top) is absolutely necessary due to unpredicatable and heavy rain. Read this post for more information on tents.

Boots or shoes - Never wear new shoes for hikes. Believe me you will prefer walking barefoot in the middle of the hike :) Try to wear your used but good enough shoes that fits you best. It is always good to cover upto ankles especially if you are hiking in low country. Remember 90% of snake bites are recorded below ankle!

Cooking utensil - This is a tricky thing. It depends on whether you going to cook while hiking or you try to take pre-cooked items. It is very satsifying to have a cooked meal while camping. There are smaller gas cookers that fix to small gas cylinders. Only problem is that, it is difficult to find such small gas cylinders nowadays. Two small alluminium cooking pots are more than enough. Take a few lighters and a few box of matches. Remember that lighting fires in the wild should be done with utmost safety precautions.

Clothes - If you are camping in high peaks or places like horton you must take appropriate clothing to keep you warm. In general lighter cotton fabrics will be ideal for Sri Lankan climates. Good to take a long sleeve shirt as most of the Sri Lankan jungles have thick undergrowth.

I will bring more details about individual items later.

Hiker's Etiquette

Hiker should always be a nature lover. We should try our best not to damage the natural environment. Following guide lines provide 'must do' ones as well as 'good to do' activities for a hiker.

1. Never throw or leave behind plastic, polythene or any non-degradable items while hiking.
2. Always limit carrying non-reusable items while hiking unless absolutely necessary.
3. If you take such material (plastic bottles, polythene, food wrappers etc.) keep a small area in your backpack to bring them back 'home'.
4. Even though items like used paper are degradable, try not to throw them unnecessarily, as they destroy the beauty of the nature.
5. Use only the marked garbage bins (places like Horton Plains) to throw away your garbage.
6. After camping or staying at one place, clean the area and make it look better than what it was 'before you came there'.
7. If possible collect all the plastic or polythene items you find on your way. In a place like Horton you can always bring them back to Wild life office area and put them in the marked garbage bins.

Simply let your children enjoy the nature the same way you enjoyed!


To view more on hiking guidelines click here and here.

Hiking in Sri Lanka

Hi Everyone,

I'm addicted to hiking and camping. Although it is difficult to find time for hiking , as I used to do a few years back , I still make it a point to visit somewhere close to nature and refreshing whenever possible. This blog will update on some exciting places for hiking in Sri Lanka which I have visited and also try to share information on some of the best routes in Sri Lanka.

Thanks

K