Twilight at Kumana and Lahugala

Year and Month	March, 2015
Number of Days	Two
Crew	Two
Guide	Rajitha 0779445204
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Pajero
Activities	Wildlife, Archaeology, National parks, Birding
Weather	Clear sky
Route	D1 Monaragala -> Potuvil -> Panama -> Kumana -> Returned back on the same route D2 Monaragala -> Siyambalanduwa -> Lahugala -> Returned back on the same route
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Take 2 or 3 bottles of water per person Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took Wear attire suitable for protection against heat Follow the rules of the national park A camp site and bungalow is been planned to be built at Lahugala Don’t disturb wild life SPECIAL THANKS TO Rajitha for helping us to recover the vehicle
Author	Ashan
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Map around Kumana – click to enlarge

Map around Lahugala – click to enlarge

Though I have been to Kumana twice and visited many interesting locations I did miss out on Bambaragasthalawa site. So with my wife I took off towards Kumana on a late afternoon. Our first stop was at Panama Lake. We took the road which led towards Wedagama Lake. At the border of Panama lake there was a road to the left and that ended at Panama RMV which is in ruins. The monk who was residing there was not available at that moment so we walked around a bit and returned to the lake which is famous for its bird and Croc life.

this sign is found at the begining at Wedegama lake road

this sign is found at the beginning at Wedegama lake road

Panama ancient temple

inscription

stairway to the top of Balumgala

art of mother nature

Panama lake

bit hazy

Whistling ducks

type of karawila

beauty

From Panama we headed towards Kumana and we didn’t forget to stop here and there to enjoy a random elephant and a herd of deer of Panama – Kudumbigala NP. Before reaching Kumana we came across Weheragama Kovil where we did stop to climb the road side rock. On top of this there were ruins of a pagoda and there were many other ruins scattered everywhere which signifies that this must have been once a hermitage. After having some “dane” which was offered to us we headed to Kumana. At Kumana we inquired about the route to Bambaragasthalawa and no one could answer us properly luckily Rajitha was aware about the route since he was the only one who had been there for the whole year.

Weheragama gana devi kovil

Weheragama pagoda

stairway to the pagoda

kema

ruins

travesing the park which doesnt have any jeep tracks

traversing the park which doesnt have any jeep tracks

different ethnicity

a kite

With Rajitha we took off on a less muddy route (took a road to the right somewhere passing yoda lipa) and few Km’s along the lonely road disaster struck.. We got stuck in mud hole and the differential was knocking on the ground. It took 1 ½ hours to recover ourselves and continue on our journey to Bambaragasthalawa. This route is a very lonely 8Km stretch and if something happens you won’t receive help as fast as you expect. Finally we reached Bambaragasthalawa and we were surrounded by many rocky hills on either side. Each of these had prominent caves on them too. After a 500m walk we reached the main cave with the statue. It was a huge reclining statue just as seen at Pidurangala, Tarulengala, Mailla & Hebessa. Sadly the head part had been vandalized by treasure hunters. This must have been a majestic hermitage in the past. One could still appreciate the lime plaster and the excellent craftsmanship of this sculpture though it has been vandalized. Bambaragasthalawa is known to be one of the highest points at Kumana and we did manage to climb up on a rock and enjoy the fascinating view.

national pride

where we got stucked

what a helpful guy was this Rajitha

harvesting minerals

our destination

Bambaragasthalawa cave

full circumference drip ledge

the large statue

another view

another cave

an inscription

a kema

view from the rock surface

kudumbigala seen from bambaragasthalawa

another cave seen far away

serpant eagle

From Bambaragasthalawa we returned back to the main safari track and decided to head towards Thunmulla Lake and do a wild life safari though it was not in our plans. And the safari was very rewarding. We spotted almost all of those mammals except the leopard. The best was the Bear who were playing hide and seek with us somewhere close to Yoda lipa. The best thing is there are no troublemakers like in Yala and Wilpattu we could enjoy the nature as we wish without been bothered by anyone. On that day we didn’t come across any other safari jeep. When we exited the park it was close to 6 and if it wasn’t for Rajitha the tracker we would have been still stuck in Kumana. He was a lovely and very helpful chap and if you go there try and get his guidance. At Okada we climbed up on the rock to enjoy a lovely sun set before heading back towards Monaragala. On our way we had to stop on few occasions to let the Elephants pass by on their natural path. When we reached Monaragala it was close to 9pm that day.

ducks

deadly

wild boars

thug life

lots of them

those antlers

wow	chest nut headed bee eater

Bagure

bagure rock

those landscape shots

Thunmulla lake

croc at thunmulla

sleeping like a log

lonely duck

jacana

majestic

ah playing hide and seek

malabar hornbill

that jump

one of those bulls

hawk eagle

approaching a dead dog

trying to see if its a live

and it started feasting

view from okanda

end of a day

okada devalaya

lovely sun set

obstacles along the road

On day 2 I decided to do a wildlife safari at Lahugala though I have traveled many times passing this NP I have never set the foot in it. Before reaching Lahugala we stopped by at the edge of tank to snap few ducks. At around 3pm we entered the park close to the park office. We first headed towards Kitulana tank. There is an elevated rock where you could have a lovely view towards the tank. From here we then proceeded towards the proposed camp site at Lahugala which is a rocky plateau. We were told by the ranger that they were going to build a tree house type camp site at this location. This is indeed a lovely location for birding. From here we headed towards the spill where the Lahugala wild life bungalow once stood now only ruins of it could be seen. We were told that it was also going to be restored in near future. We did walk a bit on the bund but since the water levels were high we couldn’t capture any elephants clearly. From here we took another route and exited the park close to the tank – main road border and ended our brief visit to Lahugala NP. These were two pending adventures in my list and I’m happy that I fulfilled my dream.