We started form the suburbs of Colombo at about 4.30 in the morning. The crew was 9 in a Toyota van. We were fully geared up for two nights and 3 days.

The drive to wettambuyaya was quite effortless. The road via udawalawe is in good condtion, thanks to Ashan’s and suneth’s info via lakdasung we managed contact Ajith who is the contact person to take us to wettambuyaya, not even the local villages there are familiar with this place or its value. the service of guide is a must as there is about 6-8KM distance from the main road to “wettambugala” in “wettambuyaya”. The main turn off is at “kodayana” KST corn factory, it’s a large corn factory near by the road, a landmark that cannot be missed .a vehicle can only go up to certain point through the corn fields afterwards it’s either by three-wheeler or foot, unless you have a 4*4 drive

The road was in bad shape and not reachable by van so we stared the walk

Even Ajith’s three-wheeler got stuck at some points

After completing about 3-4km distance walk we managed to arrive at “wettambugala “, from their also you need to climb a rock and go to the other side of the rock

Making our way to the rock

Not easy on a hot day

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Once on the other side of the rock, the paintings can be seen. According to ajith, there were many paintings earlier but slowly they are disappearing because no authority is taking any action to preserve them

An elephant like picture

Some of the paintings

Pictures that are fading

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Ajith who helped us to come to this place

After the visiting “wettambugala” in “wettambuyaya” .Ajith showed us a place to buy vegetables and showed us a place to have lunch also , he was extremely helpful to us.

after having the lunch we straightaway went to “Ekgaloya” forest department bungalow, the main turn off point was 34 mile post and on the left hand side there is a notice board saying “Ekgal oya kandawura”,

Dining Area

River to bath

.	The evening was certainly beautiful from here

The place is designed very beautifully, but the maintenance of the property is extremely disappointing the property can accommodate 12-15 people , and has about 5 rooms altogether, but  out of all the 4 toilets in the property only 1 was functioning properly, so is the other in bathrooms faclities  no showers /no bath room doors

The property had  a cook  earlier and he has left and has not come back, the person who cook’s there is not an actual cook  he has little knowledge on the subject , despite that they only have very limited cutlery ,for example one single burner to cook everything  in the kitchen , so it takes  considerable amount of time  to prepare all meals (we had a problem when we wanted to leave earlier to senanayake samudraya for the boat ride to makare), basic crockery such as  cane openers  is not even their

Not even the rooms /toilets were cleaned when we got their  , its sad to see a beautiful located and designed property going to waste

On the second day we went “senanya samudraya”

We had previously booked the boat via “inginiyagala” wild life department office its about 7800/- to “makare”

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We spotted this giant coming out if the water

Along the river

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Hunting

This is somewhat sad to see, some fisherman’s have laid their nets but didn’t come collect the catch

This is somewhat sad to see, some fisherman’s have laid their nets but didn’t come collect the catch

“Makare” we wanted go to the other side but the water level was too high so we were advise not to leave the boat

After 4 hour boat ride and having lunch we went to” buddangala” , from our place to Ampara and then to “buddangala” it’s about 20km but the journey doesn’t take that long because of the good road and less traffic

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.	This was interesting

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After visiting  buddangala we went to “digawapiya” one of the places lord Buddha has visited

Click Image to Enlarge

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Leaving ekgaloya

it was a memorable experience to all of us ,with some of the guys joining us after some years. We discussed our next trip and hopefully we will start planning it soon

below are some contact numbers which might be useful to any one going their

Ajith wettumbuyaya guide 0772657465

Forest Dept.Ekgal oya –  0632222685

Wild life Inginiyagala – 063 2242 002

jagath Jeep safari GalOya -0773838454

Map of Mannar – click to enlarge

This was my first ever visit to Mannar and one of the most awaited trips. Initially I wanted to join Niroshan on his Mannar journey but had skipped it because of my wedding. Though I missed out on it I did a good copycat journey. For further information on locations please do read his report. This will be more of a picture report.

We left early as possible from Chilaw and reached Thantirimale around 7.30am. After having breakfast we took off towards Madu church. The church was about 10Km’s from the A 14. After visiting Madu we headed towards Mannar and on the way we didn’t forget to stop by and have a glimpse of Giant tank which was dried out.

on oya maduwa rd

madu

another view

mother Mary

glass art

Ave Maria

Dried out giant tank

grassland

Just before entering the Mannar causeway we took the Pooneryn road and at one point took another left hand turn which brought us towards the historical Thiruketeeswaram kovil. After visiting the kovil we took the road to the right which took us towards Manthota ancient temple. If you are a Buddhist don’t forget to visit this place.

Tirukkētīsvaram

sacred

ruins at Tirukkētīsvaram

side view

our team

Manthota temple

ruins at manthota

parts of statues

more ruins

gangsters at mannar

By crossing Thallady Bridge we reached the main island of Mannar and visited the Old Dutch church which was found at the end of the bridge. It had a superb view towards the ocean and Thallady Bridge. After visiting the fort we took the first road to the right which took us towards the ancient Biobab tree. There are about 30 trees scattered around the island and most of these trees are found while traveling to Talaimannar.

mannar fort

Thallady bridge

entrance

monument at the fort

partitions

mannar lagoon

another view

guard post

bell tower

towards the mainland

giant biobab tree

its branches

too big for them

We arrived at Four Tees Inn at around 12pm and had a superb meal prepared my Mr. Rohan’s chef. Mr. Rohan was a terrific guy and had a good knowledge on birds too. After having a small nap we decided to head towards Talaimannar. Our first attraction was Talaimannar light house close to the jetty.

On our way back from Talaimannar we took the road between Talaimannar police station and the school which led us towards Urumalee. On the way we came across a by road to the left which had a statue of Christ at its beginning. We took this road and ended up at the Giant tombs called Adam’s Mausoleum. Next we set off towards Urumalee beach where one could view an old light house. If the skies were clear we could have even seen Rameshwaram. This is one beech I would revisit. The sand was like concrete and we drove very close to the ocean and spent many hours in to the night before getting back to Mannar. That night we had a wonderful dinner consisting of “Poori” and “Sambaru”.

mini lakes in the island

bullock cart at thalei mannar

Talaimannar pier

decaying

Thaleimannar light house

an alter

adams Mausoleum

beautiful urumale beach

old light house at urumale

wow

what a beach!

setting sun towards india

hard as cement

sand been blown away

adventure seeking lonely foreigner

evening walk

parked here for few hours

Next day after thanking Mr. Rohan for his great service we departed towards Silavatura. On our way we came across the Arippu fort which was few hundred meters away from the road. After visiting it we went towards the famous Dorric which was been washed away to the ocean with time. After having a chat with the navy guys we returned back to the A 14 and took off towards Chilaw to end up our brief visit to Island of Mannar.

intresting biobab tree found close to talaimannar rd

capturing

spacious

new leaves

dried out

yummy breakfast

new road to silawatura

lonely donkey

Arippu fort

Arippu fort lateral view

without its glasses

Doric bungalow

steps towards heaven

a door way

washed away

inside it

hidden passage

doric tower

close up

wow

the old church near the doric

yummy

The trip was inspired by one of my uni buddies insisting on taking a break to get out of Colombo with zero planning.

By the end of the 3 days we had covered over 900 kms and the following places

1. Maha Saman Devalaya in Ratnapura
2. Rathganga Asu Maha Shrawaka Pasvisu Rajamaha Viharaya – Punchi Dambadiva
3. Katu Kithul Ella
4. Hal Ella
5. Dehana Ella ()
6. Madanagiri Ella Falls (Mohini Ella) (possibly ? )
7. Alupola Ella
8. Beruwatta Ella
9. Dodam Gallena Ella
10. Galtamyaya Archaeological Site
11. Kalthota Duwili Ella
12. Buduruwagala
13. Buddama Ancient Temple
14. Jayanthi Wewa Hot Springs
15. Senanayake Samudraya / Inginiyagala
16. Owagiriya Archaeological Site
17. Namal Oya Wewa
18. Mahiyanganaya Raja Maha Viharaya
19. Ancient Stone Sluice of Sorabora Wewa
20. Dambana Vedda village
21. Maha Oya Hot Springs
22. Maduru Oya Dam and ancient stone sluice

Since the report is long I have not given much additional details of each site but provided links regarding each site where you can obtain more details and GPS locations.

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Day 1

We started out at 4 AM on day 1 and move towards Ratnapura on Horana Road. On the way we schemed to move towards Ampara and may be towards Trinco later on.

We took a quick breakfast from a small wayside shop on the Horana road at about 6.

We had passed Maha Saman Devalaya at Ratnapura so many times but never stopped since we always have been running with a another destination in mind. It was 6.45AM when we reached the Ratnapura Maha Saman Devalaya and there was almost no people there.

The original Maha Saman Devalaya was destroyed by the Portuguese when they invaded Ratnapura and built a Fort and a church on this ground around 1618-1620.

Later the King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe of Kandyan Kingdom re captured Ratnapura, destroyed the church and the Fort and built the Maha Saman Devalaya again. Luckily the Dutch decided to build their fort at a higher elevation, where the Ratnapura Police Station stands today.

A panoramic view of the Ratnapura Fort

The Buddha Image house

The Buddha Image house

The old stupa with brick pillars of probably a watadage

Restored paintings inside the Devale.

Next we decided to take the Wewelwatte Road to Balangoda (B39)  instead of taking the main road. Since this was a waterfall route, and it was raining the previous night, this proved to be a good choice.

The road is being expanded and lot of construction work is being carried on the road. When we reached the notice board for Rathganga Asu Maha Shrawaka Pasvisu Viharaya we decided to have look at it. So we turned back and took the road towards the temple.

This road too proved to be scenic with views of the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary. With the sun just rising the views were fantastic. On the way we passed 2 large waterfalls visible on the slopes of the Sanctuary. One was identified as Koonissan Ella by a villager.

View of Peak Wilderness

Koonissan Ella

We reached the temple around 8.45 am and spent about 40 minutes going through the replicas of Dambadiva monuments.

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Rathganga Asu Maha Shrawaka Pasvisu Viharaya

Rathganga Asu Maha Shrawaka Pasvisu Viharaya

We returned on to the same route and continued on the Wewelwatte Road. We passed Katukithul Ella, Hal Ella and Dehana Ella on the road. All three waterfalls lie right next to the road.

The 2 forks of Hal Ella

Hal Ella

The 73 meter high Dehana Ella

The 73 meter high Dehana Ella

On the way we also passed a cascading stream which looked quite interesting. My guess is that this is the Madanagiri Ella Falls (Mohini Ella).  Upon closer inspection we also discovered what could be illegal gem pit. Inspecting the maps, the Pandioya Ella Falls should be lying 150 meters upstream from this fall. Both these falls have been listed a height of 68m and 45m in LCWF but these are much smaller. If the information in LCWF is correct , my guess would be wrong.

Madanagiri Ella Falls (Mohini Ella) ??

what could be a gem pit

From Wewelwatte town we took a left turn and travelled 2.5 km to reach the Alupola  Ella. It was about 11 AM when we reached the waterfall.

This road segment is not so bad and a car can easily travel up to the waterfall. On the way you will see a grand view of Beruwatta Ella on the other mountain range. But actually finding this waterfall is another challenge.

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The 68 meter high Alupola Ella

Turning back on the same road, we came to the Wewalwatte junction and continued towards Balangoda. Next destination was Beruwatte Ella.

This waterfall lies less than 100 meters away from the road but so well hidden 2 years ago I spent over 45 minutes going up and down the road trying to find the waterfall.

I had already memorized the landmark last year so I didn’t allow it to elude me this time. The waterfall is accessed through an almost hidden foot path near a small house (store?). You cannot hear the sound of gushing water even at this point. You need to walk along this foot/rock path for few hundred meters ( may be 200) to reach the bottom of this 50 meter fall. It was about 12 PM now.

Beruwatta Ella

Route to the fall

Passing Beruwatta Ella we passed an unnamed cascade and then reached Dodamgallena Ella. The Dodamgallena Ella lies in middle of a paddy field popping out of nowhere.

Unfortunately the view of the fall is spoilt with some hi-tension power lines and we did not have time to get down to the waterfall which would have taken about 1 hour.  It was 1.15 by the time we reached this fall.

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The unnamed cascade

Dodamgallena Ella seen from the Wewelwatte – Balangoda Road.

Dodamgallena Ella seen from the Wewelwatte – Balangoda Road.

We continued on this road to reach Balangoda and had some lunch. While having lunch we considered the options available to us decided to take the B38 road towards Kalthota.

We left Balangoda around 2 PM and travelled along B38 until we reached sign post towards Galtemyaya Archaeological Ruins. This site lies 1.25 km passing the turn off to Kuragala.

After taking this by lane for 500m, we reached the gates to find the first disappointment of the day. 4 people who were at the site came to us and informed that no photographs were allowed. It was rather disappointing and we inquired the reason for it. The only reason they could give us was that it’s the instructions they had received from the Archaeological Department. They were quite nice and I believe that they thought we were some reporters. If we had taken time to have a chat with them I am sure they would have let us take few pictures.

But my friend was quite annoyed with the fact there wasn’t even a notice board saying “no photos” advised them to put up at least sign board. Anyway we didn’t have much time for arguments and we had a look around the site and drove towards Kaltota Ella.

We reached the Dowili Ella at Kaltotal at around 3.30 PM and climbed down the 350 steps to the viewing point. There is an Rs 20 ticket you need to buy at the entrance. After gorging ourselves with the misty Dowili Falls, we walked towards to top of the waterfall to see the upper Dowili Ella ( Kuda Duwili Ella) falling over rock formations caused by millions of years of erosion.

We finally left the falls at 4.20 PM

Kalthoda Duwili Ella

Kalthoda Duwili Ella

Kalthoda Duwili Ella

Kalthoda Duwili Ella

With time running out We decided to find some accommodation around Tissa / Kirinda area. Just before reaching Tanamalwila town, we saw a food outlet which looked reasonably well maintained. So we made a stop and inquired about food and also accommodation options available around this area. They informed that they have some wooden lodges further inside the road and took us to show the lodges.

We travelled on a gravel / clay road for about 900 meters in to the jungle. After rains on the previous day, the car started to have a mind of its own sliding side to side and came to the entrance which was blocked by an electric fence.

The lodges were very well done so we discussed the prices (1500 per person – lodging only) and settled down for the day.

We were told that this was a 40 acre land and the teak plantation along with the lodge is protected by an electric fence.

Next day we had walk along the electric fence and found a place which it has been breached and some elephant dung on the inside of the fence.

Our home for 1st night – Sanilka Estate – Thanamalwila

Early morning view from the lodge

Walk along the electric fence

Early Morning at the lodge

Elephant Dung inside the premises

During the night we looked at the options for day 2 which included a visit to Lunugam Vehera Park, Ampara or  Badulla. Without a consensus we slept for the day and finally decided to move towards Mahiyangana next day.

Day 2

After enjoying the dawn at the new found site, we left around 8 AM and had a good rice breakfast at a small shop on the Wellawaya Road.

Next destination was Buduruwagala. We reached the site around 9.30 and stopped at the Buduruwagala Tank. We spent about 1/2 hour enjoying the serenity of the lake and took to the road very reluctantly.

Buduruwagala

Buduruwagala

Buduruwagala

Carvings of Buduruwagala

Carvings of Buduruwagala

Buduruwagala Reservoir

Our plan was to take the Inginiyagala road and it looked as we had to reach at least Bibile to find some accommodation. So our plan was to reach Mahiyanagana by night or at least Bibile. With the distance to cover, this day was going to be more of a road trip rather than visiting sites.

We drove trough Wellawaya, Buttala, Monaragala and Siyambalanduwa. Based on a  tip given by Ashan G. we turned towards Buddama Raja Maha Viharaya after travelling about 15km on the Siyambalanduwa – Ampara Road. The temple cannot be missed with a fairly large billboard indicating the turn off to the Temple.

Buddama Rajamaha Viharaya is an ancient cave temple going back to 3rd century BC – 1st century. Number of drip ledge caves can be seen scattered around the temple grounds. The main cave temple was closed and after speaking with the head priest, an older gentleman came with us to show us the Vihara Ge. A large reclining Buddha Statue belonging to the Kandyan Era fills the cave with walls and rock roof filled with Kandyan Era art. The chest of the Buddha statue has been vandalized by treasure hunters and according to the old gentleman two people who were involved in the treasure hunt has died mysteriously.

According to the same person the ancient temple has been located on the top of the Buddama Hela and there are about 30-40 drip ledge caves on the hill. The temple has been moved to the bottom of the hill during the Kandyan Kingdom to ease access to the villagers.

One of the main highlights of the temple is the ancient Weli Peella, where letter writing was taught on a sandy surface.

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The main Image House

The main Image House

Inside the main Image House

Inside the main Image House

Inside the main Image House

Inside the main Image House

Inside the main Image House

Inside the main Image House

Many caves of Buddama

Many caves of Buddama

Many caves of Buddama

The details of the Inscription – Click Image to Enlarge

The rare Weli Peella at Buddhama RMV

We left the temple around 1.30 PM and had lunch at a small shop at Wadinagala Junction. From there we took the Pallanoya Road (B350) up to Jayanthi Wewa. This is about 3 km from the Wadinagala Junction. We stopped at a boutique and asked about the Hot Spring which is supposed to be in the area.

No one seems to know of the spring and one guy proudly proclaimed that he is from this area and no such thing exist. Not giving up we turned back and came towards the Bund road (of Jayanthi Wewa) which was just after a bridge. After asking around a little we finally found a person who knew of the well and asked us to take the Jayanthi Wewa Bund road.

We took this road and still couldn’t find it. Finally after wandering about for a while we managed to locate this elusive spring in a private land.

The Jayanthi Wewa Hot Spring

The Jayanthi Wewa Hot Spring

After travelling about 80 meters on the Bunt road you will come to this junction. The road no 1 ends in a house. Walk along the road 2 for about 20-30 meters and the Hot Well lie in the backyard of the house on the road no 1.

We left the hot well at about 3 PM and the next destination was the Senanayake Samudraya at Inginiyagala. First we stopped at the Fisheries Habour and then went on to the dam of the Senanayake Samudraya with excellent view of Inginiyagala Mountain.

We looked at the possibility of taking boat ride but the cost was Rs 5000 + Rs 500 per person. And it was around 3.30 they were not even sure if they could do a trip even if we paid.

So forgoing the boat trip, we enjoyed some time on the dam, we took off in search of Owagiriya Archaeological site.

Senanayake Samudraya and Inginiyagala

Senanayake Samudraya

Senanayake Samudraya

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Senanayake Samudraya and Inginiyagala

Senanayake Samudraya and Inginiyagala

Owagiriya Archeological site lies about 3.2 kms from Inginiyagala on the turn off to Namal Oya Road (B527). I had read about in one of Ashan’s posts earlier and it was not difficult to find.

Ovagiriya ruins are dated back to the 5th century or before. Most of the ruins  at Ovagiriya at the time of discovery  had been destroyed by the operation of tractors of the Gal Oya Development scheme. Ruins of a stupa, an image house, capital of stone pillars, guard stones, Korawak gal (Balustrades),  flat clay tiles used for roofing, etc. are scattered over an area of 7-8 acres.

Having learned the lesson at Galtamyaya, I left my camera and took only the phone with me. After having a chat with the guys there we went around the site and took some photos with the phone. Unfortunately it was cloudy and they didnt come out so well. But still it was better than not having some photos of the site.

Ruins of Owagiriya Archaeological Site

Ruins of Owagiriya Archaeological Site

Ruins of Owagiriya Archaeological Site

Ruins of Owagiriya Archaeological Site

Ruins of Owagiriya Archaeological Site

Ruins of Owagiriya Archaeological Site

We took a short break at the Namal Oya Reservoir which provided another breath taking view. By 6.30 we were at Bibile and took a decision to spend the night there rather than trying to reach Mahiyangana.

Bibile didn’t offer much choice of accommodation. One guest house which looked reasonably good had all 15 rooms booked. The owner informed us that generally all the rooms get booked by evening. By contrast, the next best option we found was empty other than for the two of us.

Namal Oya Reservoir

Namal Oya Reservoir

Namal Oya Reservoir

Namal Oya Reservoir

Namal Oya Reservoir

Day 3

Day 3 was the return trip. After contemplating we decided to take the Mahiyangana – Maha Oya – Maduru Oya – Polonnaruwa Road to reach home.

Having a long drive back home, we left our hotel at 6 AM and took the Mahiyangana Road. The first segment of the road is being widened and after few kilometers the road becomes wide and carpeted. The driving on this road was an absolute pleasure with no cops around.

We had a vegetable roti breakfast at Mapakada wewa Junction. After breakfast we found out a tire has had a puncture. We changed the tire and reached Mahiyangana Stupa by 7.30 AM.

After making offerings at Mahiyangana, found a tire repair shop, attended to the punched tire, and went to see the Stone Sluice of Sorabora Wewa.

Mahiyangana Stupa.

Mahiyangana Stupa.

A statue of Maitree Bodhisattva. This seems to be a replica of Dambegoda Bodhisattva statue at Maligawila.

Ancient Moonstone at entrance to the Saman Devalaya

History of Sorabora Wewa – Click Image to Enlarge

A technique unique to Bulatha, to manage water without a Biso Kotuwa. According to legend he built another tank using the same technology which is the only other tank not to use a Biso Kotuwa to manage the waterflow.

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Next stop was Dambana, the veddha village. As soon as we stopped at the car park, we were surrounded by bunch of kids offering us to guide through the village. We strictly said no and walked towards the village and where the house of the headsman was located. It was around 10 AM and there was bus load of kids from a Tamil school talking to the chief.

The questions were being asked in Tamil and guy there translated that to Sinhala and another translator from Vedhha community translated that to their own language. The replies traversed in the reverse path. The kids were probably in grades 6-8 range and we found their questions well articulated quite advanced. They ranged from historic background of the Veddhas, marriage rituals, conflict resolution, land rights, access to education, access to jobs, how they feel about learning in a language which is not their own, impact from the Sinhalese community in maintaining their unique identity etc, etc. Listening to these questions and answers we learned quite a lot just by standing on the side.

Then we moved towards the tomb of Tissahami, the late leader of the Veddhas. The tomb lies about 600 meters in to the Sanctuary. Walking along footpath, you can clearly see that elephants too have used the  same path by their foot prints.

Unfortunately the tomb was covered with bushes and has not being cleaned for some time.

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.	The Tomb of Tissahami Maha Hura

Google maps showed us that the Dambana Road continues passing the Veddha Village go pass Muthugalwela and pass through Maduru Oya NP to connect on to the B502 after the Maduru Oya reservoir. But inquiring from the people around Damabana, we were told that the road ends at Muthugalwela.

We decided not to take a chance since we had to get back home on the same day and came back to the Mahiyangana – Padiyathalawa Road and turned to Mahaoya – Manampitiya Road.

We had a good bath at the Maha Oya Hot Wells and had pot of curd and honey for lunch.  We left the springs at about 12.30 PM and continued on the same road towards Maduru Oya dam which was to be the last stop of our trip.

This is another recently widened road and the driving experience up to dam was an incredible. Driving on kilometers of road lying in a straight line visible up to horizon was a great experience.

Obviously we did not know that permission was needed to enter the Maduru Oya dam area. We found the turn off to the dam and ended up in front of an army gate and we were told the permission from Mahaweli Authority is required to enter.

We had a chat with the guys there who were quite nice and after being convinced that we were okay (?) they allowed us to enter the dam area. We had a nice drive on the dam towards the spill and had a look at the ancient stone sluice way which was discovered when the dam was being re constructed.

Professor Senarath Paranawithana believes that this sluice way was built by King Kutakanna Tissa (42-20 BC).  Carbon dating carried out in USA has also placed the time period to 1st century BC.  But the popular local belief us that the original dam here was built before the arrival of Vijaya by Yaksha Tribes around 6th century BC.

Maduru Oya Dam from the access road

Maduru Oya Reservoir

Maduru Oya Dam

Maduru Oya ancient stone sluice way

Maduru Oya ancient stone sluice way – Click Image to Enlarge

On the road to Aralaganwila

We left Maduru Oya at about 1.30 PM and started driving back home. Only highlights after that was 45 minute traffic jam due to a toppled container at Manampitiya Road, and 1 1/2 hr traffic jam on the Dambulla Road due to a tree fallen across the road.

We finally reached Colombo at about 12.30 AM

Hiya folks, hope you guys are doing great. It’s been a while since I did a rail hike. Of course I’ve done quite a few since my first hike from Bandarawela to Uduwara with Atha and Prasa. Since then I managed to cover till Nawalapitiya and the stretch between Kadugannawa and Rambukkana almost completing the upcountry railway line. However there was this one piece of it (between Haputale and Ohiya) that I missed due to many reasons. It kept getting postponed until I decided enough was enough. However I had promised Hasi not to do this stretch without him and finally a great opportunity presented itself when he could squeeze a day off amid his ultra-busy schedule. Unfortunately the rest of my crew couldn’t manage it leaving it only the two of us.

I just checked out the time table of trains so that it’d give us a sense of times so that we could take precautions. These new Chinese trains are very quiet compared to the grumbling old German ladies. However I don’t think when it comes to performance, technology and endurance, the Chinese can come anywhere near. I’ve seen how they operate in my Exclusive Journey on the S12 some time ago. Hasi took over the meals with the help of his wife. Even though she wanted to join us, a sudden illness confined her to the house. We were very excited, especially Hasi as this was going to be his first ever rail hike. I could imagine how he felt coz it was the same when I was getting ready for my first rail hike.

We left around 3am (a habit of Ana) for Haputale taking the E-01 to the Gelanigama exit, then continuing to Ratnapura. The sun was getting ready to pop up when we went past Belihul Oya. The sky was full of cotton wool like clouds and the reflection of the morning rays turned them into pink and magenta. In between the royal blue sky glowed beautifully making us stop at Beragala for a few pictures. They turned out to be couple of hundred by the time we finished. It was exquisite and we enjoyed the morning chill admiring this unbelievable beauty.

The Walawe Basin looked greener than ever. There were layers of mist rising out of the tanks and the morning rays fell on the Gon Molliya Mountain Range. We stayed beyond them last month at Nagrak enjoying the beauty of the Horton Plains and the Gon Molliya Mountain Range. This was a different view and we spent some half hour or so taking in the scenery. I practically had to drag Hasi and it was closer to 7am when we reached the Haputale station.

To the left of Walawe Basin

Good morning Walawe Basin!

Cotton wool sky

Further to the right is Gon Molliya Range with Balathuduwa and Wangedigala

Uneven terrain mixed with lush green

Being lighted slowly

The left of the road where it’s bordered by rocky hills

Gorgeous

Towards Diyatalawa

The sun fully up and the sky glittering

We went into the isolated and waking up station looking for the station master seeking permission to leave our car at the car park. Thankfully one of the workers came into our rescue and asked us to leave it. He even showed us a place when we said what we were planning to do and even offered to keep an eye out for it. The day was beginning beautifully and we hoped it’d end the same way. So leaving the car and having packed our meals and drinks along with this and that, we got on the track. There was some 16km of railway for us to cover.

Haputale to Idalgashinna

The sun was behind us giving a clear field of view and made it easy to take pictures. Hasi kept taking pictures of virtually every sleeper, nut, bolt and anything that came to view. He was like a kid who is just been given a new remotely controlled car. We made very little progress in the first hour because of this intense picture taking. There were acres of tea to our right and some hills in the far distance sort of marking the border. Most of the clouds hung over them as if not willing to leave the peaks. The sky was clear and blue. There was the typical smell of spilled diesel and oil. The wooden sleepers had their own unique aroma. We trod on the concrete, wooden and metal sleepers carefully.

After a km or so we arrived at what looked like a tiny railway platform to our right. There was the unmistakable look about it and the name Glenanore written in large letters. We thought initially this is a tiny substation but coming closer it didn’t look like one. However I was lucky to have found out later from Indaka (check out my Bandarawela report to know who he is) that this was specifically built to bring in the materials to build the Adhisham Bungalow off Haputale. Apparently everything was imported from England to build this and this Glenanore station was built to unload them from the train. Plenty of history behind these seemingly unimportant structures.

The Thangamale Forest was to our left and stayed with us almost all the way except a few patches. The scenery was breathtaking in many ways and we both enjoyed it to the fullest. Around 8am, the Udarata Menike coming from Badulla met with us. Hasi took a long burst before she went past. There were more foreigners than Sri Lankans. Time was getting closer to 8.30am when we decided to stop for breakfast as I could wait no longer. Hasi produced a large packet of toasted sandwiches (apparently his wife had burned the midnight oil making them), boiled eggs in their shells and fruit juice. We stopped at a place that looked very much similar to the Sensation Rock (remember that in my previous rail hike?) and spread out the breakfast.

Entering the station

Isolated

Sunbathing doggies

1431.4m from sea level

This used to be a healthy sunflower bed but maybe the demanding cost of living has turned it into a beans farm

Dripping water

Cotton wool sky and the isolated railway line

Plenty of history behind them

Towards Diyathalawa and beyond

On the track

Entering greenery

The valley to the right

Distant mountains, do you notice the white speck just below the mountain line?

Here it is… a beautiful Stupa

Thangamale is close by

Looks like a Japanese Ikebana

Along the railway

Lush purple

Many curves

Brilliant color combination

The distant hills

Glenanore former railway platform

Blooming

Here’s one of the many signs

Here we go

Hasi’s first encounter with a train on a rail hike

The sky added flavors to the settings

Sun lighting the railway

Plenty of shade too

He wouldn’t spare anything

Portrait of the railway

The Adhisham Bungalow is somewhere to the left

Entering another curve

Now I’m hungry

Grand place for a break

Can see a beautiful house

Here it is, note the bicycle in the garage

Endless view, great for panos

Here’s a cluster of buildings

“Shall we stop here? “

A tiny trickle of water helped us wash up

We were ravenous and wolfed down more than half the meal in record time washing it down with mixed fruit juice. The valley below was a part of Diyathalawa. We could see the famous Fox Hill in the distance with the fox and the year marked with white stones on the hill. Having finished a hearty meal we decided to make it a bit quicker. Nevertheless the endless scenery gave us very little chance to step up the pace. Then came the next surprise, a railway worker who carries the flags, train crackers (I guess you can remember them despite my own name for them. I even called them in one of the reports as Ali Don aka Elephant crackers. They are used to warn the trains especially at night or when misty of possible dangers ahead. They are stuck on the line using a metal strap so that when the wheels of the train go over them, they burst like a cracker giving a warning to the drivers) and a can of oil. He applies the oil to the inner side of the track at bends to minimize the friction and wastage of the wheels and the track itself. He kindly agreed to show his armory to us, especially Hasi who had never come across them before. They all like the hikers like us and offer to help in any way they can. He even took the trouble to show the equipment and how they work. Great personalities these people. Everyone I’ve met along the upcountry railway line has been friendly and helpful. Every worker has to cover 3-3.5 miles of the track up and down a day, he said. We thanked him profusely and kept going. The sun got fiercer but the cool mountain breeze kept up nice and cool. We then arrived at some kinda gap where we could see the Walawe Basin to our left over a tea patch and the upcountry villages of Diyatalawa and others to the right. So far only the right side was visible but this point signaled that we were closer to Idalgashinna.

Idalgashinna is a famous gap where both southern and central parts meet. The scenery is believed to be sensational and breathtaking. It was one of the reasons for our rail hike as well. We then arrived at the first tunnel of the day, No. 36. She was small but it gave Hasi’s first ever walk through a tunnel experience. I guess by now you know how he must have behaved so I’ll just let you speculate that.  Finally we saw the Idalgashinna station in the distance and hurried towards it. We had walked closer to 3hrs but covered around 7km. Well we were behind by a big margin. The station was small but similar to almost all upcountry stations, still looks grand. Idalgashinna town is located around the station and we saw the white washed buildings beyond. There is a prominent peak further to all with pine trees that looks like giving a good view towards Walawe basin. It was a dream come true coz I’d always wanted to come see this station since 2002.

Back on the track

Oh, hello!!!!

Looking back

And forward too

The sun bearing down on us

Hasi got lucky to have come across him

See what he’s doing?

Was kind enough to educate us on his part of work

Showing how to set ‘Train Crackers’

Here it is. Wish we could test it while a train was going over!

The bare bit of the railway

Gosh, where’s Idalgashinna?

One of the resting places for the railway workers

Another turn

Going to Haputale from Idalgashinna… No trains at this time and public transport is not reliable so have to walk

Atmospherical haze making it hard for the camera

Reminded us the hike from Kadugannawa-Rambukkana

This is where I told you that we could see both Upcountry and the Southern Valley

Maha Rathmal

Vital lifelines

The Walawe Basin

Endless scenery was with us

First tunnel encounter for Hasi

No. 36

Not so long

Out comes Hasi

Hurraaaah… Idalgashinna is close be

Pines to the left

Estates below to our right

There’s the Idalgashinna Peak

Abandoned

There’s the Idalgashinna Peak

Not so big

But no mist

Tiny buildings of the station

Yeah!

Waiting for the next Colombo-bound train

Can you guess the age?

Note the signs used for the trains

This station is now a big hit due to a teledrama being telecast nowadays

On the way to either Colombo ro Kandy

Very famous place now

Beauty

Friendly one that didn’t pester us for anything to eat

Towards the Idalgashinna Estate

Was there to pose

Idalgashinna to Ohiya

Idalgashinna looked good but one of the most important things was missing, the mist. Whenever you talk about Idalgashinna, it’s the mist that comes to mind. Just imagine a picture of mist covered the old white washed station, the smartly dressed station master standing with the tablet on the platform. You can hear the grumbling of an M6 in the distance. Couple of people clad in thick sweaters and woolen caps are getting up from the seats hoping to get onto the train. All of a sudden, a powerful beam of yellow light pierces the thick mist and slowly green and red German lady appears out of the mist carrying seven chocolate brown carriages behind her. She comes to a standstill while the usual hustling and bustling of the people goes on. That is what everyone wants to witness at Idalgashinna. But we were not so fortunate and I will have to keep dreaming about it until hopefully it comes true.

We got behind the station to see the Walawe basin. However the haziness of the sun prevented us seeing much. We could barely see the Udawalawe reservoir and a couple of other tanks and hills. There was a friendly looking doggy that got fascinated by these hikers and followed us everywhere. He might even have kept an eye out for the strangers guarding the station. We rested our feet and had a long pull from the mixed fruit juice. The dehydration is a real danger if you don’t keep topping up yourselves with plenty of liquids. We cut short our break and got back on the track hoping to increase the speed. Well, a big fat chance we had when Hasi was taking pictures of everything that was on the track.

About 500m into the walk, we heard the unmistakable roar of a train coming to the Idalgashinna station. A quick note on the noise of the new S12 Chinese trains. They used to be very quiet compared to other German and Canadian engines. I guess they are not so silent anymore. This was the second Chinese one that came across for the day, Udarata Menike and now Podi Menike coming from Badulla. They were as noisy, if not noisier, as the 40-60 years old German and Canadian ladies. Are they already feeling the heat and the toughness of the the upcountry railway line? I was wondering if they have come to the end of their lifespan after a few years of traveling up and down coz they are after all Chinese and they have a notorious reputation for the quality and endurance. You might wanna disagree and say that many things even Apple IPhone is now built in China. Well that’s a different thing coz they have to build them according to the original manufacturer’s specs whereas Chinese originated ones don’t have the same luxury. “Enough of tarnishing the image of the Chinese”, I hear some of you grumble so let’s move on, shall we?

We waited for her to appear on the scene and Hasi took another long press on the shutter button. As usual the number of foreigners exceeded the locals. I was wondering if we were in a foreign country. She went past with her usual grace and the foreigners waved at us smiling from ear to ear. We returned to the track and walked on. All this time closer to 7-7.5km we were walking through an open area despite Thangamale forest standing to our left but now we were entering a full blooded forest that covered the track all around giving loads of shade for which we were really grateful. We had been sweating like nothing but for the first time could remove the sweat-soaked caps and cool air brush our boiling heads. The tea estates paved way to the towering turpentine trees and typical upcountry forests. The track became curvier and more beautiful thanks to the shade. So far we hadn’t encountered any of the tunnels (there are 14 of them No. 35 to 22) between Idalgashinna and Ohiya. However we came across all of them within the last 6-7km thus giving the name for this report.

Looking back

“Move away, the train will kill ya”, shouted Hasi. “Don’t panic, it’s going on the other line” replied the Pigeon

Hasi the Linesman

We hurried up

The view still with us

We found the best solution for landslides. “The Rail Fences” – It’ll let the water out but keep the solid stuff trapped

Here comes Podi Menike

Closer

Clouds provided the precious shade

The tough life

Two learning points: 1. Keep the Powers-that-be informed all the time. 2. Always stay away from the track when making a call

Plantations

An estate road

Now we’re into the thick forest covered all around

Hiya sweet heart!

Completely isolated

Well, not completely

Turpentine forest

Farmlands either side

Through this

A hint of mist in the air

No. 35. We walked through it without requiring a light as it was a small one. Only a couple of tunnels in this bunch would require a light coz it’s pitch dark inside. They even take curves inside the tunnel making it darker. Even a mobile phone flashlight will do the trick. There were hundreds of gulls (Wehilihini) inside the tunnels, especially the darker and longer ones screeching angrily at us for intruding into their homes. They flew all around not liking our torches one bit. We went through the 35th and reached the 34th. Before going in I saw some nests lying at the entrance to it. Closer inspection proved them to be gulls’ nests. They were built of dried tree branches, leaves and creepers put together using their saliva using it like a cement mixture to bind everything together. Those nests looked brown, grey and dull yellow (probably due to the saliva mixture) and probably had fallen from the roof.

If you can remember, there was a crazy chase for these nests not long before similar to the ones such as Wallapatta, Kimbul Huna, Rathu Komarika, etc. The world is a funny place, isn’t it? I wonder if there will ever be some manic rush for leeches. We took a few pics and carried on. Now the tunnels kept coming one after the other. We still hadn’t come across any German ladies yet but didn’t have to wait long. Passing the 33rd, we met the first one coming rumbling up carrying half a dozen fuel carriages. This was a moment Hasi was waiting for and took another long press at the shutter. If only the engine driver could hear the rapid machinegun like burst! He’d have run for his life. We met the odd person coming along the track carrying bunches of firewood on their heads. Other than that there was no human being on sight. To compensate for it, we saw dozens of Purple-faced Leaf Monkeys jumping from tree to tree not giving a chance for a picture.

Well, let me jump straight to tunnel 26. Don’t worry you will be given the whole journey in pictures. It’d make it easier for you and me. Walking through the tunnel 26, we saw the 25 immediately with only a 50m or so gap between them. The 25th tunnel is a different one compared to all the other tunnels in the upcountry railway line. They are all shaped like an oval (in layman’s terms, like a standing egg) whereas this 25th one is circular in shape. I haven’t seen anything like this before anywhere else. Well I’ve seen a few odd tunnels in my hikes; one example is the Elephant Back tunnel off Kadugannawa just passing the Lion’s Mouth. There was a group of railway workers doing a side wall to protect the track from landslides. Couple of railway carts (Dakkuwa) were parked between the two tunnels by the track. Another first for Hasi and the picture taking intensified. I was once lucky to see a rail cart full of workers going attached to the Podi Menike in 2012 through the observation saloon.

A couple of typical nosy monkeys were going through the carts in the hope of finding something other than their usual meals. One of them was nibbling at a plastic bag definitely thrown out of a window. Well I’ll just have to tell you about this as well. There were many plastic cups (coffee and tea), biscuit and toffee wrappers, plastic bottles and many other things scattered either side of the track. The number of them were so much especially inside the tunnels as those who travel probably think these dark holes are the dumping pits or do it quietly so that no one else will see. It’s just a great pity that we Sri Lankans still can’t get rid of dirty habits such as these. After having a cup of tea or a toffee or a drink, all they think of is getting rid of the wrappers and empty bottles as quickly as possible so throw them foolishly, carelessly and ignorantly out of the window both in the trains and buses not to mention the private vehicles. Please don’t do these kinda things in future if you’re still guilty of doing them. The damage caused by those plastic items to the nature is so great and the effects are irreversible.

Ok, let’s get to the story. While we were taking pictures of the rail carts, there was a rumbling of another German lady, the third passenger train coming from Badulla. This was a great opportunity for us, especially Hasi, to take pictures of this beauty coming out of a tunnel. She slowed almost to a standstill due to the repair works giving us a perfect chance to take pictures. We then took pictures of her entering the 25th tunnel. “So far so good” said Hasi. We passed the the workers and carried on towards more tunnels. Passing 24 & 23 we reached the 22nd or the 14th and the last tunnel between Ohiya and Idalgashinna. It was past 1pm and we were planning to catch the 1.38pm Podi Menike coming from Colombo to get back to Haputale. It looked like we might miss a by a few minutes and the next one (Udarata Menike) was due two hours later. We couldn’t afford to wait that long doing nothing so stepped up the pace as much as our battered legs would go.

I can remember our 2km run (yeah you heard right, we ran and then hopped like rabbits) from Ella towards the 9-arch bridge hoping to catch the train on the bridge but missed it by half a km. It took a heavy toll on our legs especially the knees and we suffered for a long time afterwards. The train delayed by a few minutes giving us the window we wanted to reach the station. I felt grateful for the delays after a long time. We arrived at the station at 1.40pm and had a good 10-minute break to take pics and rest our feet before the train arrived at 1.50pm. The rain gods kept rumbling in the sky threatening with dark clouds but we were safe from their threats. We felt the whole weariness goes away after completing the whole journey and within the timeframe. There were a few foreigners waiting for the train to go to Ella.

The headquarters start here

In we go

Out we come to find another waiting for us

There was a crazy hunt for these

Wehi Lihini Nests

Chipped rocky surface

I love these pics a lot

Looking back

More to go

First of rail bridge, a tiny one at that

Side view

Must be at least a century old

Passing that

Split rock and a turpentine tree fallen near

Oh wow, very tiny one

Out of it

The first one going towards Haputale

Here comes the German lady

Away she goes with the observation saloon

Another tunnel round the corner

I told you that I love these

Another, now I’ve lost count

Well finished interior

Out we came

No. 30

There’s 29

In front of it

28 in the distance

Some more tunnels to cover

Concreted walls

Hasi carrying on

This is the No. 27

There’s the circular shaped 26

Very much like a proper cylinder. Note the carts to the left

Munching on a left over lunch sheet

There she comes

Out of the tunnel

Into the 26

Plenty of foreigners were staring after us

They were repairing the road and the side walls

I told you, more circular than all the others I’ve seen

Busy at work

Strenuous stuff

Another bridge

This is the 25th

Since then some open terrain

Full of shade

All it was lacking was the mist

Mist, oh mist we are you?

Not a sign

Ramrod straight

The 24th

It’s a beautiful area

Oh yeah, watch out

The penultimate tunnel

Can you see the manholes?

Outside

The terrain

The final one

Here we are

Ok, now to the station to catch the train

Gosh, it’s gonna be a close thing

This is not for rent

At the station

Thankfully we made it

Yeah, Ohiya

Almost all of them foreigners heading to Ella

A famous picture

Now we are waiting

Famous tree too, now grown beautifully

Well, here we are after the target achieved

Signs of rain

There she comes

Ok, let’s hop in

We bought tickets and got into the train taking a place near a door to savor the journey which we just completed on foot. It’s a feeling I simply can’t express in words. We arrived at Haputale closer to 2.45pm and found the person who helped us park our car coming towards us smiling broadly. “Where did you?”, he queried. “We went up to Ohiya” I replied. He looked really pleased and we bid farewell to this friendly and helpful person and got ready for the return journey.

At Idalgashinna

Waiting

About to wave the flag

Brampton Falls

We made good ground and it’d rained in Haldummulla, Kalupahana and Belihul Oya increasing the water levels of Surathali and Brampton falls. However we couldn’t afford to stop and see Surathali but Hasi wanted a quick stop at Brampton falls. She was in full flow and we took a handful of pictures quickly and headed home.

From the bridge

Have to get down

Going towards her

Full of water due to rain

Top part

Bottom

Portrait

We arrived in Colombo just after 7pm, double quick time.

Now you can enjoy the Panos I took.

Pano 1

Pano 2

Pano 3

Pano 4

Pano 5

Well folks, thanks for being there with me in this hike. I hope I managed to take those who couldn’t, haven’t or can’t with me along this beautiful stretch.

Take care and keep traveling. This is Sri signing off for the time being.

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,

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!!

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