Horton Plains is my favourite destination in Sri Lanka. I have visited here in 2002 with my family and after that, I came here with Akila in 2011 and had unforgettable experiences as I have fallen from the bike at the top of the area which about 2100m above. After that I have visited here to climb several mountains with Sobasiri crew and another visit with my wife as she has not visited here at that time.

There are beautiful memories with this cloud forest especially on exploring mountains and the birth of Walawe and Kelani rivers and the attempt on Agra oya. However, if someone offers me to be a resident over there, I would love to live at here and spend the rest of my life here.

BREATHTAKING VIEWS AND BEAUTIFUL CREATURES: HORTON PLAINS IN SRI LANKA

Horton Plains in Sri Lanka, is the coldest and windiest location in the country. It consists of ecosystems such as Montane evergreen forests, grasslands, marshy lands and aquatic ecosystem. At an altitude of 2,100 meters above sea level, Horton Plains spreads across over 3,169 hectares of the highest tableland of the island. In view of the large number of endemic flora and fauna species, Horton Plains was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 30th July 2010.

Ecological importance of Horton Plains

Horton Plains, its surroundings, forests and the adjoining Peak Wilderness constitute Sri Lanka’s most important catchment area of almost all major rivers. The plains are also of outstanding scenic beauty and conservation importance, containing most of the habitats and endemic plants and animals representative of the country’s wet and Montane zones. The western slopes support the most extensive area of Montane cloud forest surviving in the island. Horton Plains is not merely a destination for nature tourists. Since the rich biodiversity of Horton Plains is still grossly underexplored, it affords invaluable opportunities to those engaged on educational and research activities. Protecting Horton Plains is a call of duty for all Sri Lankans.

Climate of Horton Plains

The Climate of Horton Plains is that of a wet Montane forest. The average annual temperature of 14-16⁰ Centigrade while the humidity is relatively low at 65%. Though annual rainfall of the highlands is about 2540mm, Horton Plains records over 5000 mm of rainfall annually.

Location of Horton Plains

During the dry season, the temperature drops to around 5⁰ Centigrade in the day time. Swept with strong gale force winds at times, over-night frost is fairly common.

Terrain of Horton Plains

The gently rolling plateau of Horton Plains at the southern end of the central Montane massif of Sri Lanka is interspersed with net work of streams and channels. The Montane forest is also the source of three major rivers of Sri Lanka: River Mahaweli-the longest river of Sri Lanka, River Walave and River Kelani. Still more, Horton Plains is bounded by the country’s second and third highest mountain peaks of Sri Lanka: Mount Kirigalpotta Kanda (2389 m) and Mount Thotupola Kanda (2357 m). The escarpment with a depth of 900 meters called World’s End and Baker’s Falls is one of the highlights of the Horton Plains.

History of Horton Plains

The great plains of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka was discovered by the planter Thomas Farr in the early 19th century. In 1834 it was named Horton Plains in honor of then Governor of Ceylon (1831-1837) Sir Robert Wilmot Horton. In the year 1969, Horton Plains was declared a nature reserve.In 1988, the reserve was elevated to the status of a National Park.

Location of Horton Plains

Horton Plains is spread over the southern ridge of the central highlands in between Nuwara Eliya and Haputale. The tourists approaching Horton Plains from Nuwara Eliya find an entrance point at Pattipola while those approaching from Haputale find an entrance point at Ohiya. Three kilometers drive from either entrance leads to the newly built visitors center. Visitors center exhibits interesting displays on the history of flora and fauna of Horton Plains.

Circular trek in Horton Plains in Sri Lanka

The visitors center is significant in the sense, it has become the starting point for the 9km main trek of the Horton Plains. The main trek taking a circular route can be enjoyed within 3 hours. The trail opens up with an expansive view of flora: bare patina grassland here; densely wooded cloud forest over there. Once the grasslands are passed, the trek leads for about 2km through a fine expanse of cloud forest. Grown in the forest amidst nellu shrubs and keena trees are spices grown in the wild: pepper, cinnamon and cardamom.

World’s End in Horton Plains in Sri Lanka

On the southern edge of the Horton Plains at an altitude of 2140m is famous World’s End, an escarpment that fall sheer 900 meters. The man-made modern irrigation reservoir contained within the national park of Udawalawe brings in a lovely view of the low lying plains of the southern Sri Lanka. On a clear morning the World’s End affords the view running to the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The panoramic and distant views are bound to get obscured by the mist from around 10am onwards. As such an early morning arrival at the escarpment would stand in good stead. Especially in the rainy months of May to July, the mist is particularly thick.

Circular trek past the World’s End

At a distance of mere 200m beyond World’s End, the trek turn off the ridge inland to another lovely attraction: Baker’s Falls named after Samuel Baker. If the scramble down to the waterfall is easy though slippery and steep, scrambling up the waterfall back to the trek would find you short of breath in the high altitude.

Past Baker’s Falls, the track runs through open patina grassland of which stillness is broken only by the resonant croaking of thousands of frogs in the trees and grasses.

Wildlife in Horton Plains

The most frequent site of wildlife at Horton Plains are herds of Sambar Deer. Among the other mammals in the park are Strip-necked Mongoose, Long-tailed Giant Squirrel Wild Boar, the endemic Bear Monkey and Toque Monkey, Fishing cat, Otter and

All of the Montane endemics of Sri Lanka are found in Horton Plains. Sri Lanka bush warbler, Dull-Blue flycatcher, Sri Lanka whistling thrush and the yellow-eared bulbul, Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon, Sri Lanka White-eye, Spot-winged Thrush, Dull-blue Flycatcher, Sri Lanka Bush Warbler, Scaly Thrush, Sri Lanka Whistling Thrush, Brown-capped Babbler, Sri Lanka Spur-fowl and Sri Lanka Jungle-fowl. Other highlights are the Himalayan migrants Pied Thrush, Kashmir Flycatcher Indian Pitta. Black Bird, Mountain Hawk Eagle, Black Eagle, Jerdon’s Baza, Pied Bushchat, Hill Swallow and Hill Munia.

Now the Horton Plains has become a happy field of herds of Sambar Deer. However the growth population of Sambar Deer has resulted in the increase of number of Leopards. Wild Boar, the endemic Bear Monkey and Toque Monkey, Slender Loris, Fishing cat, Otter, Barking deer, Strip-necked Mongoose, Long-tailed Giant Squirrel are some of the other mammals found here.

Until a century ago, Horton Plains was rich with Elephants. Then the whole population was hunted down to extinction by the British colonialists in Sri Lanka then called Ceylon. Today Horton Plains is the only national park in Sri Lanka where elephants aren’t seen at all.

A Whole New Species: Horton Plains slender loris

Horton Plains slender loris was discovered in 1937. However since then there haven’t been recorded sightings at all in Horton Plains. The diminutive primate has been presumed extinct. In 2002 a fleeting nighttime sighting of something looking like the elusive tree-dweller, however, gave conservationists hope. Follow-up surveys led by the Zoological Society of London finally confirmed the lorises are alive-if not exactly well-in 2009, when two individuals were photographed and examined. The Horton Plains slender loris is generally classified as a subspecies of Sri Lanka’s red slender loris. But, thanks in part to the first ever pictures, researchers now believe the Horton Plains slender loris could be a whole new species!

• Stratification: Wet grasslands Sub-Montane and Montane forest
• Area: 3,160ha
• Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site (nature), National Park
• Altitude: 2100 – 2200mm
• Temperature: 15 C°
• Annual Rainfall: 2500 – 5000mm
• Best time of year to visit: November to March
• Optimum duration of stay: 1 to 3 nights
• One day excursion: From Nuwara Eliya
• Most convenient accommodation option: Nuwara Eliya
• Nature Highlights: The escarpment (900m) called World’s End, Barker’s falls
• Wildlife – regular sight: Herds of Sambar Deer
• Location: Central Highlands of Sri Lanka

Source – Lakpura

On the way from Ohiya

The most beautiful road for me

Scenic ride

More to go

Reaching the plains

Mist

Entered to the area

Here we go

The Horton Plains

Agrabopath Mountains

Follow the guidelines

The path

Environment

Environment

Environment

Environment

Environment

Environment

Some known mountains

The path

Rest of the areas

Here we go

Environment

Environment

Witnessed mountains

Environment

Environment

Environment

Environment

Maha Rath Flowers

More to go

Our people

Environment

Environment

Environment

Beautiful Surrounding

Maha Rath Mal plant

Horton Plains

The office area

Mist is coming

Summit of Thotupola

Flowers

Environment

Back to the entrance

Clear day

Ambewela Towers

Cloud Forests

Environment

Near the Pattipola ticket counter

Lets go

Greeny roads

Saw you

Mountains

Endless beauty

Alone

Green Areas

The beauty of the environment

Sambar deers

Endless beauty

Environment

Flowers

Flowers

See the beauty

See the beauty

See the beauty

Chimney Pool

Adjusted

The Sky

Sunshine

Another view

There are many things to see

The bridge

The environment

The environment

The environment

The environment

Walawe River

Trees

bakers Falls

Another View

Another view

The environment

The environment

The environment

The environment

Owner of the area

The valley

Speechless beauty

More to explore

The route

Colors

Styles

This was seen at the first time

Mist

World’s End

The map

The environment

Surrounding covered

Path to Non-Pariel

Flowers

Closer view

Final capture

At the hotel at Belihuloya

Beauty of there

A rare look of the Hawagala

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

I had an opportunity to spent 3 days at Ampara since AAT Sri Lanka opens their 7th branch at Ampara. Since I’m the route planner and mapper I suggest leaving from Ampara to Kandy after the branch opening since I wanted to have a different road to reach Kandy. However, we left Ampara around 12 noon and had a bath at Ampara tank, and spent around half an hour over there.

After that, we took the Inginiyagala Bibile road as I wanted to see some mountains and I was lucky to identify a mountain which I was searching at that time. It was a part of the mountain which I saw on a song ok Sokari film of Jackson Anthony. By the time we all seen beautiful areas passing Namaloya reservoir, Gal oya valley national park to Bible. Once we came to Bibile we had our lunch and the time was about 3 pm at that time.

After that, we headed to Kandy and I have chosen the Raja Mawatha which is known Randenigala road. I wanted to see some wild elephants but couldn’t. We stopped our van at several places to see Loggal oya, Minipe Canal, Rantambe, and Randenigala reservoir. And we headed to Kandy via Victoria dam and more on.

It was a simple trip but we have seen many mountains and attractions on this scenic drive from Ampara to Kandy. We reached Kandy around 6 pm and entered our famous hotel, Olde Empiror

The Identity of Ampara

Clock Tower

Ampara Tank is next to Guruhela Ela and is located in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Ampara Tank has a length of 9.22 kilometres.

Ampara Tank

Soldiers of the tank

The pagoda

The road

The entrance to the pagoda

The view of the road

We are leaving

Ampara Tank

Had a lovely bath

Nice place

The giants

Boats for fishing

Scenic

The giants

Mid of the tank

The highest point of the mountain valley

Ranges

More mountains

More to capture

Landscape

Waving

Waves under the shadows

The point

It’s in the afternoon

Time for a selfie

The fence

Not clear now

Heading to Bibile

Landscape

Beware of Elephants

More to see

I’m near to the driver seat

Another tank

Scenic road

Turning points

Heading to Bibile

Woow	What a road

Namal Oya Reservoir is a reservoir(s) and is located in Sri Lanka. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 86 metres. Namaloya Reservoir… pass this on your way from Nilgala to Senanayake Samudraya.. nice place to stop by and enjoy the view or have lunch, if you are lucky, you might be able to spot elephant swim in the evening.

Entering a beautiful area

Namaloya reservoir

Giants at Namaloya reservoir

Beautiful road

The road over Namaloya reservoir

More to go

Some known giants

Zoomed view

More to go

Capture

Clean and tidy

Turning

Under the forest

Galoya valley national park

Through the park

More to go

Beware of elephants

Signs

Mountains

No vehicles

Innocent students

Some known hills

Added to the future

Couple mountains

The picture that I saw in the Sokari film’s song

Part of viyanhela

This mountain identified in a song of Sokari Film

Love it

Part of the range

Looks like at the mid

Heading to Bibile

More to go

Silence roads

We are alone

How beautiful

Heading via Randenigala

The road

The giants

The central valley is seen

Another famous area

Nice and calm

The famous canal

Capturing some pics

It’s beautiful

Selfie time

AAT vehicle

Wondering during the rainy season

Entering now

Loggal Oya is situated along Mahiyangana Road in the Uva Province. Loggal Oya is in the Uva region of Sri Lanka is next to the Loggaloya reservoir. A beautiful large lake with shady banks. Boat rides can be arraigned by chatting with the local fishermen. Convenient access via Kandy. The reservoir is on the side of the main road. Not good for bathing unless in designated areas. Lovely area for bird watching mainly water birds. If into cycling or trekking the region offers a lot to explore.

The giants

Loggal oya

Blue water

Central hills

The loggal oya

Giants at Kandeketiya side

Giants over the loggal oya

More to go

Heading to Kandy

The upcountry seen

The Randenigala Dam (Sinhala: රන්දෙනිගල වේල්ල) is a large hydroelectric embankment dam at Rantembe, in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Construction of the dam began in November 1982 and was completed in approximately 4 years. The dam and power station were ceremonially opened by then-President J. R. Jayawardene in 1986.

Construction of the dam cost approximately Rs. 4.898 billion (1986), of which 24.6% (Rs. 1.207 billion) was funded by the local government, and the majority of the remainder by Germany.

The Randenigala Dam has located 19 km (11.8 mi) downstream of the Victoria Dam, and 2.8 km (1.7 mi) upstream of the Rantembe Dam. Randenigala measures 94 m (308 ft) in height, 485 m (1,591 ft) in length, with a crest and base width of 10 m (33 ft) and 303 m (994 ft) respectively. The embankment dam is made mostly of rocks and consists of a clay core.

Three large controlled tainter gate chute spillways, with a combined discharge volume of 8,100 m3/s (290,000 cu ft/s), are constructed at the southern end of the dam. The three spillways measure 270 m (886 ft) in length, with a combined width of 48 m (157 ft).

The dam creates the Randenigala Reservoir. With a catchment area of 2,330 km (1,450 mi) and a total storage capacity of 861,000,000 m3 (3.04×1010 cu ft), Randenigala is one of the largest reservoirs in the country.

The reservoir experiences approximately 1,250–3,000 mm (49.21–118.11 in) of rainfall annually. In addition to this, the reservoir is also topped up with water from the Victoria Reservoir upstream, and the Mahaweli River.

The power station is located immediately downstream of the dam, on the left bank. Water from the reservoir is delivered to the power station via a single steel-lined tunnel with a length and diameter of 270 m (886 ft) and 6.2 m (20.3 ft) respectively.

The plant consists of two generators with a rated capacity of 63 MW each, powered by two Francis turbines. The units were commissioned in August and September 1986 respectively. At a combined capacity of 126 MW, the plant generates 428 GWh annually.

Source- Wikipedia

Entering Randenigala tank

Near Randenigala Dam

The giants over the dam

Time to witness

Someday I will be there

Giants of VRR

Designs

Man made

The dam

Spent few minutes

The beauty

Imagine the size of the dam and the depth of the tank

VRR paradise

Like a staircase

Small islands

More

Time to leave

AAT Vehicle

Heading over Victoria dam

Some known mountains at behind

Randenigala range

Witnessed environment

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©

It was another day of my journey around Dambulla from Jaela via Kurunegala. I wanted to have a solo hike to some small giants around Dambulla and I took the best out of my solo journey to explore many more mountains and attractions on my way to the destination. Erawula is one of the destination villages where I found a lot of beautiful views as it was an innocent village with traditional habbitats.

I explored the backsides of Galkoth Kanda and Erawulagala range and Pahala Ewarula lake and some paddy fields and noticed several other known mountains and areas. I was alone in most of the areas as there was nobody to ask for directions or any kind of help hence I traveled by my bike on various sub roads and off roads.

However, it was a amazing journey and I will share my experience on the village beauty as it is a must-go village for a traveler as to witnessed the summits of Galkoth Kanda, Yakkuragala ranges.

Map of the area

Galkoth Kanda seen

Dambulu Gala

Dambulu Gala

Zoomed view of it

Way to Erawula

Beautiful view in the morning

Surrounding

Reaching it

Caml environment

Reaching the village

Another view

Under the shadows

The temple

Roaming around the roads

Back of the Galkoth Kanda

Giant is sleeping

Way to there

The mountains

I’m alone

Reaching the village

Enjoying the view

Time for a selfie

Another shot

Another familiar

Surrounding

Alone traveler

Kumaragala area

Dry zone mountains

Yakkuragala and Kalundewa area

Over the paddies

Enjoyed riding a lot

Known as Kalogahaela Kanda

Pano view

Another veiw

Another one

My machine

It’s selfie

Photo timing

Time for a selfie

Another angle

Entering the pahala Erawula lake

Parked it over there

Oh, it’s beautiful

The other side

Canal

Nice place to bath

Surrounding

Galkoth Kanda Seen

Vie of it

Me and my machine

Thank you for reading!

Sobasiri Team ©

ලංකාවේ මුල්ම තේ වත්ත සොයා ලූල්කඳුරට

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ජාතිකයන් විසින් ලංකාවේ ආර්ථීක වෙනස්කම් බොහෝමයක් සිදුකළ අතර ඉන් ඔවුන් අපේක්‍ෂා කළේ රටේ ස්වභාවික සම්පත්වලින් ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රයෝජන ගැනීමටය. භෝග වගාව ඔවුන් අතර ජනප්‍රිය අංගයක් වීම තුළින් ලංකාවට කෝපි, තේ යන වගාවන් වර්ධනය වුණි. පසුකාලීනව බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් විසින් සිදුකළ එම සියලුම කටයුතු වර්තමානය වන විටත් අපට මාහැඟි උපකාරයක් මෙන් පෙනෙන්නේ එදා සිදුකළ වෙනස අදත් අප අනුගමනය කරන බැවිනි. ලෝකයේ රටවල් බහුතරයකට අපනයනය කරන ලංකාවේ තේ මුල්ම වරට වාණිජ වගාවක් ලෙස සිදුකළ ඉසව්වට අප ගියේ එහි සුන්දරත්වය සේම ක්‍රියාදාම කඳු තරණයකටය.

කොළඹ සිට පේරාදෙණියට පැමිණ සරසවි මාර්ගය ඔස්සේ ගලහ දෙසට අප යතුරු පැදි ධාවනය කළේ නිලඹේ නම් සුන්දර ඉසව් හරහාය. උදෑසනම හිමිදිරි කිරණ ගත දොවාගෙනම ගලහට ළඟා වූ අපි ඉන්පසු දෙල්තොට නගරයට පැමිණියෙමු. දෙල්තොට නගර මධ්‍යයේ ලූල්කඳුර වතුයායට යන මාර්ගය සඳහන් නාම පුවරුවක් ඇති හෙයින් දකුණට හැරී ලූල්කඳුර වතුයාය දෙසට අපි ගමන් කළෙමු.

ලූල්කඳුර යනු මීට වසර සිය ගණනකට පෙර ලංකාවේ ප්‍රථම වාණිජ තේ වගාව පටන්ගත් ඉසව්වේ. ඊට මුල් වූයේ ශ්‍රීමත් ජේම්ස් ටේලර් මහතාය. ඔහු ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩුවේ විවිධ රැකියාවකට පැමිණ පසුව වගාවන් සම්බන්ධව හදාරමින් ඊට නැඹුරුව ලංකාවේ තේ වගාව ආරම්භ කිරීමට පුරෝගාමී විය. ඔහු ලූල්කඳුර තෝරාගෙන එය තේ වතු යායක් ලෙසට සංවර්ධනය කරන ලදී. පසුව ඔහු ප්‍රථම වරට තේ වගාව කළ කොටසද පසුව සමස්ත වතුයායම තේ සඳහා නිර්මාණය කිරීමට ඔහුට හැකි විය. වර්තමානයේ පවා එදා ප්‍රථම වරට තේ වගා කළ ඉසව්ව පැහැදිලිව දැකගත හැකිය.

ලූල්කඳුර වතුයාය විශාලය. එහෙයින් ඔබට කිලෝමීටර් ගණනක් දුර ලුල්කඳුර වතුයායේ විවිධ නාමපුවරු දැකගත හැකිවනු ඇත. ඒ අතුරින් එක්තරා ස්ථානයක දී වගාවත් සමග මාර්ගයේ දකුණු පසින් සර් ජේම්ස් ටේලර්ගේ බංගලාව සහ ආසනය ලෙස සඳහන් පුවරු දැක ගත හැකිය. ඉන් ඔබ වාහනය හරවා ඉදිරියට යා යුතුය. වාහනයකට පමණක් සුළු මුදලකට ටිකට් පතක් අයකරනුයේ වතු නිවාස ජනයාගේ සුභසිද්ධිය පිණිස තේ වතු අධිකාරියේ අනුදැනුම යටතේය.

මෙහි ප්‍රථම වාණිජ තේ වගාවට අමතරව තවත් නැරඹීමට ස්ථාන කිහිපයක් පවතියි. එන්ම ජේම්ස් ටේලර් මහතාගේ බංගලාවේ නටඹුන්, ඔහුගේ ගල් ආසනය සහ වතුයාය කෙළවරේ පිහිටි කොණ්ඩගල කඳු වැටියයි. අද දවසේ අපගේ වෑයම මේ සියල්ල නරඹා කොණ්ඩගල තරණය කිරීමයි. එමනිසාම උදෑසනින්ම අප වතුයායට පිවිස බංගලාවේ නටබුන් ඇති ඉසව්වට ගියෙමු. වතු මාර්ග බැවින් මාර්ග බොහෝ අබලන් තත්ත්වයේ පැවතුණි.

ප්‍රවේශ පතක් ගත යුතු ස්ථානය ගේට්ටුවක් දමා වසා ඇති බැවින් වලංගු ප්‍රවේශපතක් ගෙන ඉන් ඉදිරියට යා යුතුය. සංචාරක ජීප් රථ, ත්‍රීරෝද හා බයික් වැනි වාහනවලට පමණක් යාමට සුදුසු මාර්ගයක් වන බැවින් සුපරීක්‍ෂාවෙන් එහි ගමන් කළ යුතුය. ආරම්භයේදීම වම් පසින් ඉතා අලංකාර කන්දක් දැක ගතහැකි අතර එය ඍජුකෝණාස්‍රාකාර පෙට්ටියක් වැනි මෙන් දැක ගත හැක.

කෙමෙන් කෙමෙන් ඉදිරියට යත්ම තේ වතු මැදින් මාර්ගය වැටී තිබුණි. තේ වතු අතර විශාල ගල් පිහිටා තිබුණේ වතු යාය රකින මුර සෙබළුන් පරිද්දෙනි. මෙසේ කිලෝමීටර් 3 ක් පමණ පැමිණි පසු මාර්ගය නිමාවට පත්වේ. එතැනින් දකුණු පසට ශ්‍රීමත් ජේම්ස් ටේලර් මහතාගේ ආසනය (James Taylor Seat) සහ වම් පසට දිවෙන අතුරු මාර්ගයේ ඔහුගේ බංගලාව (James Taylor Bungalow) සහ ඔහු ස්නානය සඳහා භාවිත කළ ළිඳ (James Taylor Well) කරා දිවෙයි. ප්‍රථමයෙන් ඔහුගේ ගල් ආසනය පිහිටි ඉසව්වට අප ගිය අතර එය පිහිටා තිබුණේ සමස්ත වතුයායම පැහැදිලිව වාඩි වී සිට දැකගත හැකි ආකාරටයි. මන්ද ටේලර් මහතා යනු දක්ෂ ව්‍යාපාරික බුද්ධියකින් යුතු කෙනෙකු වූ බැවිනි.
එම ප්‍රදේශය අලංකාර ලෙස නඩත්තු කර තිබූ අතර පසුව අපි ඔහුගේ බංගලාවේ නටඹුන් පිහිටි ප්‍රදේශයට ගියෙමු. එම ස්ථානයට මීටර් සියයක පමණ දුරින් රථවාහන නවතා පයින් යා යුතු අතර එම ප්‍රදේශය ද ඉතා සුන්දර ලෙස විසිතුරු මල් හා ශාඛ වර්ග වවා සකසා තිබුණි. අතීතයේ පැවති සුවිසල් බංගලාවේ නටබුන් ලෙස ඉතිරිව ඇත්තේ දුම් කවුළුව පමණකි. එලෙසම බංගලාවේ ප්‍රමාණය වටහා ගත හැකි ලෙස ස්ථානය සකසා තිබුණි.

බංගලාව පිහිටියේ වත්ත කෙළවරක වූ අතර පිටුපස ඇත්තේ වන පියස හා ඉහළින් කොණ්ඩගල කඳු වැටියයි. ඔහු ස්නානය කිරීමට භාවිත කළ ළිඳ වර්තමානය වන විට කුඩා පොකුණක් ලෙස පැවතිය ද එය ඉතා කළු පැහැති වර්ණයෙන් යුක්ත විය. මෙම ස්ථානයේ ඔහු ගැනත් තේ වගාව ගැනත් කරුණු සඳහන් කරමින් අලංකාර පුවරු කිහිපයක් තනා තිබෙන අතර මෙම ප්‍රදේශය පුරා ඇවිද ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට පරිසරයේ සුන්දරත්වය විඳගත හැක.

The name board

It’s renowned

Something I noticed at the last time too

Closer view of the front wall

Famous pond

Road is still same

Here is our destination

Surrounding

More to go

The wel

James Taylor’s Well

It’s near

Another sign

Informative

Ruins of the bungalow

Ruins of the bungalow

Some more

Surrounding

මේ අවට කිසිඳු වතු නිවාසයක් හෝ ජනාවාසයක් නොතිබෙන අතර මාර්ගය නිමාවූ තැනින් තවත් ඉදිරියට යා හැකි කුඩා අඩි පාරක් අපට දැකගත හැකිවිය.

පසුව අප සූදානම් වූයේ කොණ්ඩගල කන්ද තරණය කිරීමටය. බංගලාවේ සිට දකුණට තේ කෑල්ල නිමාවන හා වන පියස ආරම්භවන ස්ථානයේ කුඩා අඩි පාරක් ඇති අතර එය දිගේ ගමන් කර පසුව වමට හැරී ඉහළට ගමන් කිරීමට සිදුවේ. එයද මීටර් තුන්සියයක් පමණ ගිය පසු තියුණු නැග්මකින් පසු කුඩා ගුහාවක් වැනි ස්ථානයකට ළඟා වනු ඇත. කූඩාරමක් අටවා හෝ නැතුව පහසුවෙන් පස් දෙනෙකුට පමණ සිටිය හැකි තරමේ ගුහාවක් වූ අතර ඊට අනෙක් පසින් කොණ්ඩගල කන්ද මහා ගල් බිත්තියේ ආරම්භ විය.
අප යන විටත් පරිසරය තරමක් දූෂණය වී ඇති බව පෙනුණු අතර ගල මත කෝටු කෑලි රඳවා සහ ඉහළින් විසිකරන ලද අපද්‍රව්‍ය බෑග් පහළ පිහිටි රූස්ස ගල් මුදුන්වල පැටලී ඇති බව අපි දුටුවෙමු. එලෙසම මත්පැන් පානය කිරීම සඳහා මෙහි පැමිණි පිරිස විසින් බෝතල් කුඩුකර ගුහාව අවට දමා තිබුණු ආකාරයත් අපට දැක ගත හැකි විය. මෙතැනින් පසු කොණ්ඩගල කන්ද මුදුනට නැගිය යුතු අතර විනාඩි කිහිහපයක ගමනකින් පසු කඳු මුදුනට ළඟා විය හැකිය.

කොණ්ඩගල කන්ද මීටර් 1400 ක පමණ උසකින් යුක්ත විය. කඳු මුදුන මීටර සියයකට වැඩි දුරක් විහිදුනු තනි ගල් තලාවකි. අංශක තිහක පමණ බෑවුම් ආනතියකින් යුත් නිසාවෙන් කන්දේ ගමන් කරන විට අවධානයෙන් යා යුතුය. කන්ද එහා පැත්ත සහ දෙපස කෙළවර වන ළැහැබකට දිවයන අතර ඉදිරියෙන් සමස්ත ලූල්කඳුර වතු යාය සහ රිකිල්ලගස්කඩ, වලපනේ ඇතුළු නැගෙනහිර දක්වා වපසරියක් දැක ගත හැකිය.

කන්ද ඉතාමත් අලංකාර විය. නමුත් කන්දේ එක් කෙළවරක සැඟව තිබුණේ සුන්දරත්වය මැද සැඟවුණු මාරයෙකි. මන්ද මෙම කන්දේ බොහෝ ස්ථානවල කෙළවරට ගොස් දෙපා හෙලට දමා සිටිය හැකි මුත් කන්දෙන් පහළට වැටීමේ අවදානමක් එහි පවතියි. විශේෂයෙන් සුළං ප්‍රවාහය තදින් ඇති දිනවලදී කන්දේ කෙළවරට යෑමේදී වඩාත් ප්‍රවේශම් විය යුතුය.

Path to the Kondagala

Beauty of the nature

The path

Here is the rocky wall

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Base of Kondagala

Looks scary

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Beauty of the nature

Came to the top

මහනුවර ගලහ හා දෙල්තොට ප්‍රදේශයට ආභරණයක් බඳු මෙම කොණ්ඩගල කන්ද මතට හන්තාන, කුකුළාගල, මහතුඩුගල, පිදුරුතලාගල, අම්බුලුවාව, බතලේගල, මොනරකන්ද, රජගල සහ ඉතාමත් ඈතින් නකල්ස් රක්ෂිතයේ ඇති කඳු ශිඛර පවා පැහැදිලිව දැකගත හැක. අක්කරයකට වැඩි ඉඩක් මෙම කන්ද මුදුනේ ඇති බැවින් පහසුවෙන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයකට වුව සිටිය හැක. නමුත් දැඩි ලෙස ගුවනට විවෘත ඉසව්වක් වන බැවින් රාත්‍රි කඳවුරු බැඳීමේ දී සුළඟ සහ අකුණු ගැසීම පිළිබඳ අවධානයෙන් සිටිය යුතුය.

ඉනපසු අපි කන්දේ හිස් අවකාශයට නෙරා ගිය ගල්තුඩ අසළට ගියෙමු. එහි යාම දැඩි අනතුරුදායක වන නමුත් ආරක්‍ෂාව ගැන හොඳින් සිතා බැලිය යුතුයි. මන්ද සුළු අතපසු වීමක් හෝ සිදුවුවහොත් මරණය නිසැක වන බැවිනි. එම ස්ථානය ඡායාරූප ගැනීමට කදිම තෝතැන්නකි. ඊට පසු කඳුවැටිය කෙළවර වක්‍රාකාර වෙමින් විශාල ගල් බිත්තියක් සමග ගල දිව යන අතර එහි කෙළවර හෙලට බරවූ කුඩා ස්ථානයක අසුන්ගෙන ඡායාරූප ගත හැකිය. මෙම කන්ද මුදුන ඉතා විශාල වන බැවින් පන්සියයකට අධික පිරිසකට වුව එකවර රැඳී සිටිය හැකිය. කඳු මුදුනට පහළින් තිබෙන එක්තරා ස්ථානයක් හොඳින් දැක ගත හැක.

එනම් නටබුන් වී ගිය විශාල ගොඩනැගිලි 2 ක් තේ වතු යාය කෙළවරේ හුදෙකලාව පැවතීමයි. කුඩා අඩි මාර්ගයේ ඉදිරියෙන් ඇති නමුත් කිසිඳු සජීවී ජනාවාසයක් එම ඉසව්වේ දක්නට නොලැබුණි. කෙසේ හෝ හෝරාවක් පමණ එහි ගත කළ අප නැවත ගමන යාමට සූදානම් විය. කන්ද බැස නැවත අපි ජේම්ස් ටේලර් මහතාගේ බංගලාව පිහිටි ස්ථානයට පැමිණියෙමු. මෙම ස්ථානයේ නිසි ලෙස අපද්‍රව්‍ය බැහැර කිරීමට බඳුන් තබා ඇති බැවින් මෙහි යනෙන සැවොම කුණු කන්ද උඩ විසිකර නොපැමිණීම යහපත් පුරුද්දක් වනු ඇත.

Here is it

Little dark

Let’s walk

Beauty of the nature

Perfect to climbing

Another view

Lonely

Envirronment

Surrounding

Colors of the nature

Mad with the view

Abundant houses

Central Province

Perfectly matched

The rocky plain

Reminding memories

වර්ෂ 1867 දී අරම්භ කළ ලංකාවේ මුල්ම වාණිජ තේ වත්ත හා සැබැඳි පරිසරය අදටත් ඉතා සුන්දරව නඩත්තුවන බව දැක ගැනීමට ලැබුණි. කොන්ඩගල කන්ද යනු පාරිසරික අතින් ඉතාමත් වැදගත් කන්දක්වන අතර මෙම කඳුවැටිය දකුණු දෙසින් පෙරෙට්ටාසි කඳුකරය දක්වා පැතිර යයි.

ලූල්කඳුර පැමිණෙනක ඔබට ශ්‍රීමත් ජේම්ස් ටේලර් මහතාගේ බංගලාව් නටබුන්, ගල් ආසනය, පැරණි ළිඳ, මුල්ම තේ වගාව සිදුකළ කොටස, කොණ්ඩගල තරණයට අමතරව ඉරනැල්ල සහ මණ්ඩාවල දියඇලි නැරඹීමට යා හැකිය. ඇකිරිය ප්‍රදේශයේ පිහිටා ඇති අතර තවදුරටත් ඔබට නැරඹීමට අවශ්‍ය නම් ගලගම පැමිණ බෙල්වුඞ් වතුයායේ ගොස් මුතුකෙළින වැව සහ බෙල්වුඩ් නැරඹුම් මධ්‍යස්ථානය සේම තිරිවානා නිධිය ද නැරඹීමට යා හැකිය.

කොණ්ඩගල කඳු මුදුනේ ආරක්‍ෂිතව කඳවුරු බැඳිය හැකි අතර විවෘත කඳවුරු බැඳීමක්ද සිදුකළ හැකිය. ලූල්කඳුර වතුයායේ විවිධ ඉසව් නැරඹූ අපි ඉන්පසු පැමිණි මග ඔස්සේ දෙල්තොට හරහා පේරාදෙණියට ගියෙමු. ලංකාව් මෙවැනි සුන්දර ස්ථාන දැක ගැනීමට (Travel Sri Lanka Sobasiri මුහුණු පොත හා සම්බන්ධ විය හැකිය. තවත් ක්‍රියාදාම සංචාරයකින් අපි ලබන සතියේ හමුවෙමු.

සංචාරක සටහන හා ඡායාරූප
ශමින්ද රන්ශාන් ප්‍රනාන්දු

Yahooo!

It’s a wall

Pointed out

Looks like in Hanthana

Return journey

Time to leave

Thank you for reading!

Sobasiri Team ©

We were able to cover the below attractions in and around Hambantota area.

1. Mahapelessa Madunagala Hot Water Wells – මහපැලැස්ස (මදුනාගල) උනු දිය ලිං
2. Bandagiriya Ancient Temple – බඳගිරිය පුරාණ විහාරය
3. Yatala Vehera – යටාල වෙහෙර
4. Ranminithenna Tele Cinema Village – රන්මිණිතැන්න ටෙලි සිනමා ගම්මානය
5. Hummanaya Blow Hole – හුම්මානය

Mahapelessa (Madunagala) Hot springs – මහපැලැස්ස (මදුනාගල) උනු දිය ලිං

Madunagala Hot Water Springs lie amoung vast paddyfields between Sooriyawewa and Ridiyagama, Today this hot water well is one of the most popular destinations for the pilgrims to the South. The spring was first recorded by Leonard Woolf, Assistant Government Agent of Hambanthota (1908-11) in his diaries recording the haphazard journey through wild animal infested jungles and boat rides to reach the hot spring where he had taken sample to be analysed.

The spring was rediscovered again in early 1960’s with the Uda Walawe development project when the areas coming under the Walawe Basin was turned in to vast agricultural area. Embilipitiya was made the primary town of the project where number of trunk roads from main towns in surrounding Embilipitiya was terminated. Sooriyawewa, about 15 km east of Embilipitiya became the central hub of the left bank region of the Uda Walawe reservoir.

In 1970’s number of elephant calf deaths by falling in to the well were reported during the dry seasons. With most water sources drying up during the dry season, baby elephants who tried to quest their thirst from the Hot Spring had fallen in to the well. With the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka making representations to the Mahaweli Authority two wells with walls were built surrounding the hot springs for males and females in the 1980’s. These two wells were the only development at this spring until early 2000’s and to access it you had to travel over gravel roads and cross a paddy fields. Wild elephants was a frequent sight after dark.

In 2000’s this spring was identified to be developed in to a major tourist attraction. Today four wells have been built surrounding the main spring with varying degrees of temperature. The area is now landscaped and separate changing rooms and toilets for two sexes also has been built. A play area, a mini zoo and a aquarium has also been built for the children. To enter the area, Rs 60 is charged from a local adult and Rs 300 from a foreigner.

Unfortunately the site has been over publicized and you will find 10-15 bus loads of pilgrims during long holidays taking away the mystique of the location found before the turn of the century.

See more Hot Springs of Sri Lanka
Text Source – AmazingLanka

Entrance to the hot springs

Bought tickets

There were few people

Erandi is testing the tempreture

Bandagiriya Rajamaha Viharaya – බඳගිරිය පුරාණ විහාරය

Bandagiriya forms the highest point in Hambantota District. Located at its summit is the ancient Bandagiriya Vihara (temple). In Dathuwamsa, one of the ancient chronicles of Sri Lankan history, it is mentioned that this temple was built by King Kawantissa in the 2nd century BC.

The name is also mentioned in ancient graffiti discovered at the the city of Sigiriya (6th to 8th century AD). At Bandagiriya two Stupas and a statue of the seated Buddha in meditation stand amidst scattered ruins. Bandagiriya provides quiet and peaceful surroundings and forms a wonderful vista to enjoy the sunset.

Text Source – AmazingLanka

Majestic entrance

Here is it

Another vehera

Ruins of an ancient vehera

Surrounding

Surrounding with giant mountains

Surrounding

How beautiful

Nearest tank

Click

View with the rock

Yatala Vehera – Debarawewa – යටාල වෙහෙර

Yatala Vehera is believed to be built by regional king Mahanaga in the 3rd century BC on the grounds which his queen delivered a son. This stupa has been identified as Mani Chethiya and Yattalaya in various historical documents.

Mahanaga is a brother of King Devanampiyathissa (250-210 BC ). History states that that when Mahanaga was inspecting the construction of Walas Reservoir (වලස් වැව), the queen of Devanampiyathissa send him a bowl of Mangos with the top most one poisoned. Her intention was to kill Mahanaga to ensure the throne to her son after Devanampiyathissa. At that time the son was with his uncle at the tank and child ate the poisoned mango and died on the spot. Fearing reprisal he took his pregnant wife and escaped to Ruhuna where he built up his own regional kingdom surrounding Magama area.

Some believe that this was much larger stupa due the size of the the huge granite pinnacle (ගල් ඡත්‍රය) found on the grounds.

It is not known what was enshrined in this stupa but a large number of relic caskets has been discovered in the stupa.

This stupa was completely restored and a small opening has been left to observe the different phases of construction. The restoration work of the Yatala Stupa commenced in 1883 AD. It took over a century to complete the restoration. This stupa is surrounded by probably the oldest Elephant Wall in the country.

Ruins of large number of various image houses has been conserved. One image house contains 2 larger than life size Buddha statues carved from Rock. The head of one statue has been broken and can be seen at the feet. Another image house has been reserved for a large Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva image carved from stone. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is a concept from Mahayana Buddhism which had became Natha Deviyo in Sri Lanka.

On the ground of the stupa a statue of Avalokeshwara Bodhisattva, a concept originated in Mahayana Buddhism blended with the Sri Lankan culture and Theravada doctrine.

Yatala Vehera is located between Debaraweva and Akurugoda on the Hambanthota – Kataragama Road and about a 1 1/2 km a way from Tissamaharama Stupa.

Text Source – AmazingLanka

Yatala Vehera

Ruins of the site

Ruins of the site

Ruins of the site

Ruins of the site

Ruins of the site

RANMINITHENNA TELE-CINEMA VILLAGE

One of the best ways to understand the local pop culture is by looking at the film industry of a particular country, and the part of Sri Lanka’s popular culture can be seen in the Ranminithenna Tele-Cinema Village. The village has been a production site for many local TV series and movies. What makes this village a unique production sight is due to the many structures within it. Most of the structures are built to resemble colonial Bombay, as it was used to film the Bollywood hit, Bombay Velvet. Some of the structures and props were used in filming ‘Yasodhara’, which gained critical acclaim locally and internationally.

Apart from the structures that resemble colonial Bombay, the village also comprises some other interesting sets that resemble some iconic attractions elsewhere in the island. Such buildings are the Cargills Millers building, the Queen’s Hotel in Kandy, and even the Nippon Hotel in Colombo. Although still in its development phase, the tele-cinema village is quickly becoming a place for many local filmmakers to make a name for themselves, as the production set has all the facilities. Any visitor who comes to this village is guaranteed to gain valuable knowledge on how the local film industry operates, how it has developed over the years, and how it might be in the very near future.

This is my second visit to Ranminithenna as my first visit was in there in 2010, and I have found the photos of that old journey and will publish another trip report.

Tickets

Surrounding

Surrounding

The location

The location

Locations

Locations

Locations

Wow

Colorful

Locations

Locations

Locations

More to see

Double decker

Double decker

More to see

More to see

More to see

More to see

More locations

More locations

More locations

Surrounding

Hummanaya – හුම්මානය

Hummanaya Blowhole is the only known blowhole in Sri Lanka and it is considered to be the second largest blowhole in the world. Hummanaya (Sinhala: හුම්මානය = හූ+මානය) refers to the noise, “hoo”, that can be heard a distance away when the blowhole is active.

The Hummanaya Blowhole is located 1.1 kilometres (0.7 mi) from the small fishing village of Kudawella, which is 28 km (17 mi) from Matara, 5 km (3.1 mi) from Dikwella and 12 km (7.5 mi) from Tangalle, in the Southern Province.

Hummanaya is a natural blowhole, and caused when sea water rushes through a submerged cavern and is pushed upwards. The sea water flows underneath the shore, and then comes out of this hole due to pressure. The water fountain created by the geological feature shoots up every couple of minutes, depending on the nature of the sea, with the spray often reaching as high as 25 m (82 ft) to 30 m (98 ft).

This site has now been developed as a tourist attraction, with a small visitors’ information centre on marine life and a viewing platform.

Text source – Wikipedia

Tickets

The drop

The blow

Another shot

Visitors

Surrounding

The photographer

Surrounding

The beach

The beach

Indian ocean

Surrounding

The beach

End of the day

Thank you for reading!

Sobasiri Team ©