| Year and Month | February 2012 |
| Number of Days | Two Day Trip |
| Crew | 4 (Between 20 – 30 Age) |
| Accommodation | Stayed in the only house at Walpalamulla (Wijerathna uncles home) |
| Transport |
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| Activities | Wildlife, Photography, Nature |
| Weather | Good. But bit rain. We all carried rain coats and it helped to reach the destination without any matter. However it was not raining heavily. And it has increased the beauty of nature. |
| Route | Colombo -> Matale -> Rattota -> Riverston -> Pitawala -> Rathninda -> Atanwala -> Maanigala -> Walpalamulla and return the same route (From Walpalamulla -> Kalupahana -> Meemure -> Kandy Colombo is possible for those who can spend another day) |
| Tips, Notes and Special remarks |
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| Tour Arrangements | www.srilankaecocamping.com |
Walpolamulla is the most remote village exists in the Reversturn area and now it has been almost abandoned due to the threat of wild elephants. But still there are families coming there to cultivate the fields they owned yet there is one person lives there. Also there is a tracking trail which we think that is quite famous but we were not aware of it before.
Our journey started from Colombo around 4PM, Friday afternoon and the group of 4 people got in to the Matale – Colombo (08) bus from Petta bus stand. We reached matale around 9PM and stayed the night in a friend’s home at matale. Following day early morning, around 6.30AM we started out journey. It was a 4DR5 Jeep that we had and we took our breakfast on the way as we carried it from Matale. We reached the bambarakiriella which is on the way to riverston within an hour of drive and stayed there about 30min to see the beauty of it. Also we did not forget to have some herbal drinks (බෙලිමල්) with jaggery from the small boutique there.
By staying several places for seeing the perfect sceneries, we could be able to reach the top of the riveston around 10AM. As it was crowded because of the Independence Day, We decided just to stop for a little brake and move ahead. Once we stopped, we could see many young groups have come from various places and are drunk a lot and then throw the bottles away with plastic and shopping bags. It was really a painful scene that we could do nothing because even it was no use of explaining it to them when they were not very conscious about what they do.
However we did not spend much time there and continue driving down towards Pitawala. We could stop some places for a break and to feel the small rain outside a little bit but finally we reached Pitawala Village around 11.30AM. As promised, Wasantha who was the planner of our tour was waiting there till we come.
As arranged, we went to his lodge situated at Pitawala, and parked the jeep there. It was a tasteful lunch we had from his home. After that we collected the things that we had to bring with us including clothes, food and etc. And then, with Basnayake, who was our guide, we started walking to climb up the Maanigala. It was raining a little bit on the way and therefore we put out rain coats on and then applied Iodex to prevent from leeches.
After 30min walk, we reached Rathninda, a very old village where the people are very nice and treat visitors with the best they can. There was a small boutique and we bought some food from there too. After having a tea there, again we started to walk and after about 30min we reached Atanwala, the last village of Pitawala area. After that the trail goes through the jungle towards Maanigala. It was not so much difficult to climb but with the rain we stayed a little bit and there were heavy mist everywhere. As Basnayake said, it was not safe to climb it up if there is a heavy rain because of the fact that medium size rock and mud is coming down with the water streams that could harm people.
After a 1.5 hour of walk, we came to the top of the Maanigala which was very beautiful and there were some buffalos came up to find something to eat. We walked on top to the next end and there was a water stream there, which was very clear and finally we could see the path we came from the top. It was very beautiful and the important thing is that there were no leaches on top. So we could sit on the ground without any matter.
After about an hour, Basnayake said it is time to get down to Walpalamulla as it was getting dark, and then were climbing down. As he said, it was really dark even at 4PM in the evening and there could be wild elephants as well. There were so many junctions that we turned as we had a tour guide, we weren’t worried and later we found it is a must to come with someone who knows there.
The rain got little heavy but we continued walking through the forest. After 1.5 hour of walking we could reach to a place called, “Atha Watunu Gala” as the villagers say that there was an elephant felt from the top of the mountain and then later found parts of his skeleton at the bottom of the rock. And suddenly the trail ended there with a medium size lake where we were confused with where to go? Basnayake, our tour guide started walking through the lake as it was not deep much. After a 15min of wasting our time, we walked to the other end of the lake and continued walking.
It was 6PM we reached our destination, where Wijerathna uncle is living. When we got there he was ready to sleep after the dinner. He warm welcomed us and offered a seat on the ground. We put our bags and stuff there and had a wash from the stream near the house. It was much colder and after that we prepared our dinner. By sharing with everyone, and as we were tired a little bit, Wijerathna uncle offered the place to sleep while he was sleeping in the kitchen.
Following day morning we got up by hearing the Wijerathna uncle’s lines where he is singing lines most of the time even in the night. It was actually beautiful. After the breakfast, we could see the nature around there sometime and then started coming back. It didn’t take much time to get back as we spent some time for photography and to rest while watching the beauty of nature, we came to Pitawala around 10.30AM. After a small rest, we could leave Wasantha’s home at 11AM where it took 2 hours to come to Matale town.
