More from Sara

I am attaching complete set of photos from Sara Ella (Falls), here.

One of the most remarkable things about the falls is that you can go inside the rock (a cave) and stay underneath the falls. Have a look at this picture, and you can see the cave with people underneath the falls. The cave is quite spacious and about 20 people can be accommodated there.

Through a Cave to the Top

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the last bit of Alagalla climb was very exciting. The above picture was taken while climbing up through the rocky cleft to the very top of Alagalla. It shows what you see, while looking down from halfway up the cave.

More interesting photos, taken during the climb are stored here.

By the way, this is how you reach at the top!

The Last Bit

This picture shows the top most point of Alagalla. The last bit of the climb was very interesting, as we had to squeeze through a crevice in the middle of the rocky outcrop shown above.

Open Sesame

This strange cave was seen by the side of Dedugala Road. This narrow winding road takes you through some striking sceneries. I thought it looks like a mouth of a giant tortoise!

Ravana

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that Sri Lanka is well-known for waterfalls. The water fall shown here, known as Ravana Ella (fall) is quite popular due to many reasons. Firstly it is easily accessible and can be reached via Ella - Wellawaya Road. The secondly as you can see it is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Sri Lanka. The flow of the falls is reduced during the dry season but when it is in full flow it is arguably one of the most picturesque sights in the hill country. The rocky outcrop let the water to cascade in multiple steps to form a gorgeous vista.

Thirdly, the legend behind this area makes this waterfall more popular. Usually most of the Sri Lankan waterfalls have some story or folklore behind them. The legend behind this falls is unmatched and easily the greatest of all the legends. According to the great epic ‘Ramayana’ the mythical King Ravana of Lanka kidnapped Princess Sitha of India and kept her hidden somewhere close to this waterfall. The waterfall and a cave nearby called Ravana Cave earned the same name due to this myth. Also a lot of people believe that there are many other hidden caves and tunnels in this area used by the King Ravana to hide Sitha from her lover, King Rama.

The Cave

This cave known as Fa Hien (Pahiyan Lena) is possibly the largest cave in Sri Lanka. It is situated in the village called Yatagampititya in Kaluthara District. You can reach here via Piliyandala – Horana road and it lies about 5 kilometres from Bulathsinhala.

This cave can easily shelter 1000 men and the cave entrance is at least 50m in height and 60m in length.

Fa Hien's cave is famous for two reasons. Firstly, Sri Lankan archaeologists found evidence of human existence date back to thousands of years in this area. Usually we do not get any written records related to this era so archaeologist have named this period as pre-historical period. Dr. Shiran Deraniyagala the former Director General of the Department of Archaeology was instrumental in discovering this very important evidence from this cave as well as many other locations in Sri Lanka. In this cave, they have found a few human skulls and bones dating back to 35000 years and lots of man-made tools used for hunting animals and various other purposes.

The second reason is that Fa Hien, the famous Chinese Monk of the 5th century AD, who came to Sri Lanka in search of Buddhist scriptures and sacred places used to stay in this cave for some time on the way to Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak). Hence the cave got his name - Pahiyan Lena (Cave)

There is a road leads very close to the cave so you do not need to do much walking. There are similar caves mostly in Sabaragamuwa District which are quite famous for pre-historic evidence of human existence. Batadomba Lena in Kuruwita and Beli Lena in Kitulgala are some of them. The trails to these caves are even more interesting.

Hiking in the Western Province

More pictures of my recent visits are uploaded to my public gallery. This album shares some of the moments I enjoyed at Muthukiranagala. We found two small caves on the way and it was a very enjoyable day.