Clutching at Straws – Tour de Waterfalls 9…

It’s been a fantastic year 2014, for me. I’ve managed to dedicate most of my time for the ones I adore this year, Waterfalls, my never-ending passion. I simply dote on them. These pristine white virgin beauties can take my breath away every time I’m with them. Seeing them again and again doesn’t make me lose interest in them but the opposite.

The more I see the more I wanna see and be with them. Visiting them again and again, I figured that I gotta do something special about them, the result being the birth of Tour de Waterfalls, my own and unique version of a guide to these wonderful creations of the Mother Nature.

The monsoon season over the last two years has been so vary and erratic causing so many discomforts to the farmers and the agricultural industry sky-rocketing the prices of food products. The draught has caused further damage depriving the people and animals of many districts. As usual the general public came to their rescue sending much needed water and dry food rations for their fellow countrymen regardless of their race or religion. Well, the draught was good for the bottled water companies, multiplying their revenues but at the same time adding an unbearable amount of plastic into the environment. Most of those (especially 500ml, 1litre and 1.5litre bottles) plastic will find their way into our forests, tanks and rivers polluting them heavily. These tiny bottles will have very little use after the draught is over.

If only we, rather the powers-that-be, could provide these draught affected areas with 50-100litre or more capacitive containers, the harm will be minimum as the tendency to reuse them is very high. We could even provide them with large cement tanks for the villagers to be used in emergencies like these instead of sending wave after wave of plastic into these areas, filling the pockets of multinational corporations and destroying our natural resources. Well, it is one of my brain waves, if one could call that.

The late arrival of the south-western monsoon helped me carry on my Tour de Waterfalls from where I stopped. The restart came before this when Atha and I visited the Sri Pada area bringing you the Tour de Waterfalls 8. It really was a treat and a godsend. After that, I wanted to do a few more and my long time travel partner, Thadi Hariya joined me for the continuation of Athwelthota and Matugama area. You can see our first visit there late last year under the name “Old Man & the Seven Virgins“.

However I’ve come to realize that the term waterfall can be highly controversial due to various reasons. There’s no minimum height required for something to be called a waterfall or any other significant aspects. For example, Abarana Ella in Hambantota district and Hakgedi Ella in Matara district are nothing but extremely tiny cascades made along the water stream. There are many more falls like that in any river and if we take them all into account, there could easily be nearly a million waterfalls in Sri Lanka alone. So it’s a tricky thing but I’ll leave it at that for the time being allowing you readers too to join in the fun. Going a bit further on this, most of these are popular bathing places than waterfalls e.g. Algama Ella, Thambadola Ella, etc.

We left early in the morning towards Bandaragama on Hari’s Dandu Monara and then turned into the Galle Road.

Tour Highlights:

1. Thudugala Ella, Dodangoda.
2. Thambadola Ella, Polgampola.
3. Julee Ella, Polgampola.
4. Bala Ella, Morapitiya.
5. Maha Ella, Morapitiya.
6. Sudu Kanda Mini Falls, Morapitiya.

Thudugala Ella

We reached Kalutara Temple as the sun was turning up for the day; the sky was painted mauve and then turned into bright orange. The white Chaithya looked amazing and grand. We stopped for a while and took in the scenery and the fresh air coming along the ripe Kalu Ganga. We then turned to the Matugama road at Katukurunda junction. We reached the Thudugala junction before the Dodangoda town and took the left Thudugala road.

We rode about 4.5km, on the way passing the E01 overhead. You will come to a junction just passing a narrow bridge with a bus stand to the left. There’ll be a signpost of the Thudugala Ella here. Turn left and after about 50m turn to the narrow right hand road. Well it’s the first right hand turn off so you can’t miss it. Straight ahead about 100m is the Thudugala Estate. If you go by a vehicle, you could stop at about halfway down this road. Just remember not to enter through the gate of the estate at the far end; the workers are not very friendly or welcoming. They won’t even allow you to park your vehicle there. There’s a footpath to the right just before the gate through a rubber patch and take it all the way up to the falls.

It’s about 300-400m to the falls and about halfway you can see the derelict remains of the Thudugala Factory.

The falls was in near full flow. We savored every minute of our stay there picturing her in many different angles. After that, we took on to the footpath to the top of the falls. It was a majestic location and in My Previous Visit I noticed an upper section of her and decided to explore a bit further up. The rocks can be very slippery and take every precaution possible. It wasn’t far; just 20-30m from the top we saw the upper section of her that was simply gorgeous. We stayed there a bit enjoying this isolated beauty due to the day being a Wednesday. However it was heart breaking to see the damage done to the environment around her.

There was plenty of garbage and liquor bottles, beer cans strewn about, polluting the water stream. Broken glass can be very dangerous so tread on carefully. We left and about halfway along the road back to Thudugala junction stopped at a shop called “Gemi Bath Kade”. It really was a great place, you can easily find it by the roadside and there might be a big tipper or two stopped as well. The food was hot and tasty, plenty of varieties to choose from such as string hoppers, roti, thosai, wadei, rice and curry, bull’s eye, etc. We ate a sumptuous meal and the bill was however very small compared to other places. Everything felt great and it was time to go towards Polgampola searching for two more falls.

Majestic Kalutara Chaithya in the morning

Kalu Ganga, as large as ever

The newly erected sign, turn left from here

Thudugala Estate Factory; Do Not walk through that. There’s a footpath just before the gate to the right that goes through a rubber plantation

Here’s the path

Abandoned Thudugala Factory

The path and the bridge

The rubber plantation, you can see a diversion of water (green pipeline uphill)

Lower part

There she is

Simply great

Love the sight of her

Closer

Top of her

Base pool

From the top

The top of her

Here’s the top part of her

Covered by trees and rocks

Somewhat clearer view

Tapper met on the way

Busy at work

Razor sharp

Getting collected

Thambadola aka Rideevita Ella & Julee Ella

We turned back onto the Matugama road and passing it reached Agalawatte town. Carry on towards Kalawana and about 1.5-2km from the Agalawatte town is Bellana area, from here turn into the right road near a Bo Tree and a Filling Station. It’ll lead to the Polgampola town via Kitulgoda. Alternatively, you could take the Matugama-Horawala road (turn right at Matugama town) and get to Polgampola via Horawala, Lihiniyawa and Moragala. Arriving at the town, take a left at the 4-way junction to Polgampola-Kurupita road. Take the first right turn after 750m or so to the Meddakanda road.

Travel along this road about 1.5-2km till you reach the second bridge with a shop to your right after the bridge. Under the bridge is the Thambadola. Passing this bridge and the shop for 20-30m, there’s a well paved path to the left. Take this, there’s a sign at the beginning of the path and it’ll then cross the Thambadola. Take this path for about 200m till you reach the Thambadola Ella to your right with a big base pool. The water levels were fairly low despite the heavy rains recently. It confirmed a very scary fact which is the water retaining capability of the soil has diminished significantly over the last couple of years due to destruction of forests in the mid and up country. The water simply flows downhill when it rains but as the rain stop so does the water flow and level. If you want to see the waterfalls with water, travel when it rains, not after. I know it’s pretty difficult, challenging and dangerous but otherwise you’ll be disappointed by what you see.

As I feared, there was very little water in the tiny falls but the base pool looked crystal clear tempting Hari to go for a dip early in the morning. While we were pondering over this, there was a group of boys come for a bath and we perished our thoughts and went further uphill keeping the stream to our right. Another 200m or so we came across a hall which we suspected to be another cancerous mini hydro power plant. Looking closer, we saw a group of adults and realized it was a Dhana Shalawa (Alms Hall) of the Thundola Hermitage which is located about 2-3km along the same footpath. Those people had brought the morning meal for the monks in the hermitage and were cleaning up. They were surprised to see us there as most of the visitors only come for a bath at the Thambadola Ella. We told them that we were on the lookout for Julee Ella which made them look dubious.

According to them there was no waterfall named Julee Ella but we insisted there was and one old uncle (not as old as Tony Mama) suggested we go uphill a bit more and take a look. They left for the Thambadola Ella going to join those boys and we went uphill searching for the Julee Ella. That uncle warned us the path was full of leeches and other poisonous specimens such as snakes and scorpions. However having seen the rotund shape of Hari, he further stated that the walk will do us some good; I knew he meant that only for Hariya though. Hariya was due for the shock of his life later in the day; we’ll go on for the time being till we get to that point.

After another 100m or so, we figured the Julee Ella can’t be this higher up as none of the previous visitors mentioned anything about an alms hall. We turned around and got back to the alms hall to see a notice asking the visitors not to try to get to the hermitage as it will disturb their meditation. If you read my Gala Muduna & Wannimana Journey, you would have seen a similar thing we came across deep in the Knuckles with a very tall waterfall close to Kahatagahawela area.  We decided to turn around and keep an eye out for Julee Ella between the alms hall and Thambadola Ella. We got that right as we saw a faint signs of a footpath leading to the stream about 50m below the alms hall.

We took it and Hariya nearly fell headlong into the stream as the path and rocks were like an eel’s back. There was this sound very familiar to me by now and I realized the falls must be close and we maneuvered around the rocks and arrived at the Julee Ella shortly. She too had a nice and safe base pool and I had no way of talking Hariya out of his monthly bath. The water levels were abysmal but we enjoyed the cool water kissing our sweat-soaked bodies. The fish like everywhere else took a fancy of our feet and started their therapy on us, free of charge of course. Having enjoyed the calm and serene environment for some time we got out of the water and got back to the shop near the bridge where we parked the bike. The lady at the shop was really good and said the Thambadola Ella is also called Rideevita Ella. There was this guy who was distributing things to the shop and talked to us very enthusiastically sharing what he knew. He said that there are some nice waterfalls and read out a list, but we had seen everything except one or two from his list and he looked as if we had nothing else to do. He told us to carry on with the Kurupita road as it’ll join up with the Kalawana road close to Lathpandura and it suited us quite well as our next stop was Morapitiya passing Lathpandura and Baduraliya.

The beginning of the path

Please do this

Nearly dried out

Goes downhill, full of rocks

Footpath

Through the pine trees

Grand colors

Thambadola Ella, base pool

Not much water, popular bathing spot

Close up

Tiny	Morning rays

Searching for the Julee Ella

We had bypassed the falls and now on the way towards Thundola Hermitage

Here’s the alms hall and a request not to attempt to get to the hermitage

Decided to just walk a few meters uphill

The path is well paved due to the existent of hermitage

Another hut found on the way

Not sure if it’s edible

Turned around and looking for the Julee Ella when we reached here. Taek the left turn to the water

Here we are

Nothing much to see

Full of rocks but very little water

The base pool

Lovely

Bala Ella & Maha Ella

We as per that salesman’s instructions, turned right towards Kurupita at the turn off (left will take you back to Polgampola) and joined the main Kalawana road at Bellana East close to Lathpandura. Turning right towards Kalawana, we road past Lathpandura and Baduraliya then arrived at Morapitiya. We turned to the right just after the Morapitiya Bridge to the Morapitiya-Mahawakanda road. This is the very same road that leads to the Mara Kapu Ella but there’s a Y junction you’ll come across about 1km into the road. The left is for Mara Kapu Ella and you have to take the right hand road that goes past Morapitiya tea factory. The road conditions are terrible after the factory and you shouldn’t drive in a car. Ideally, hire a tuk-tuk at Morapitiya junction or I’ll give you an alternative at the end which will help you to get closer to the falls.

Let’s for the time being stick to this. We road in this road for nearly 3-4km, the last two are simply impossible. Go straight without turning to right or left. You will cross two water streams (I guess my memory is good). One will go right across the room, no bridge or bokkuwa but the other will have a temporary bridge with 2-3 concrete cylinders used to take the water across. This area before the bridge is called Mahawakanda and beyond that is Kudumiriya. Go right up to Kudumiriya, which is technically the end of the road with a family cemetery to the left and two houses to the right. We stopped the bike here and asked the directions from the people at those two houses. We took the footpath between the two houses and crossed the Maguru River and arrived at the Aluth Mawatha.

This is the alternative route I told you about. If you are coming from Baduralia side, about 600m before the Morapitiya junction, there’s a road to your right called Aluth Mawatha. There’s also a signage saying “Piyumantha Rest” and you can take this road all the way up to where you crossed the river. They said this Aluth Mawatha is in better condition than the Mahawakanda road but I can’t be sure as we didn’t use it. Having crossed the Maguru River and reaching Aluth Mawatha, we turned left and walked probably close to a km till we reached a mud-walled house to our right and a better one above that. It looks like the end of the road but it’s not. The river is to your left all this time along with tea patches running parallel to the road.

Now is the time to cross it again to the other bank. If you look across the river close to that mud-walled house, you can see there’s a crossing made rudimentary by using rocks. We crossed the river to the other end and turned sharply to the right, which is upstream in layman’s terms. This is a very tiny footpath and there are a couple of them going away from the river as well but they are not for you. You must follow the footpath close to the water for another 600-800m. To your left is the tea patch and if you’re lucky, there will be people working on them making it easy to find the exact spot to get into the river. We were lucky as there were two couples working but if there is no one, nothing to worry coz I’ve given some pictures with landmarks for you to figure out the exact location. However, be warned: you shouldn’t attempt this by on your own, not recommended at all. I guess it goes for all the hikes and journeys. You must have at least one other person with you as you don’t know what to expect on those mysterious and unknown places.

You will see a clear path downhill to the river after 600-800m to your right. This will get you to a spot in between Bala Ella and Maha Ella. Go downhill about 100m, you can see the Bala Ella. Go uphill about 150-200m, it’ll be the Maha Ella. Simple as that. Again be careful as the rocks are very slippery. We got to both Bala Ella and Maha Ella without a problem thanks to the pinpoint directions provided by the people at those two houses. Bala Ella is not taller than 6ft but very wider, say about 10-15ft. On the other hand, Maha Ella was nearly 20ft tall and as much wider. She had a nice but very deep base pool, especially to the left. The right hand side part was not so deep but if you want to go for a bath, be sure to stick to the right hand side. It’s better not to get into water in the first place if you can’t swim. You don’t want to get yourself killed and give way to a media circus, do you?

Well Hari wanted to go for another dip but the looming dark clouds didn’t do anything to appeal me so I let him bathe while I was ready to put on the rain coat and protect our electronic devices should it rain but they went away leaving us in peace.

At the end we crossed the river

They were playing

The crossing to the other side

Hari on the other side, on Aluth Mawatha. Go to the left

Here’s the crossing again through the water. Note the mud house

Re-crossing to the other bank; turn to your right as soon as you do that

The path through the trees, the river is to your right

Further along

Came to this opening and go along the river some more

Another tea plot, continue the walk

The path is not visible due to tea bushes but walk along at the edge

One of the rare looks at the river below

Remember the landmark, here you have to go downhill to the water

Finally at the water

Here’s tiny Bala Ella

Zoomed in

From the front, not so high

Water levels are not too bad

Looking downwards

To the side

The stream uphill

Time to go looking for the big sister

Slippery walk

Just before the Maha Ella

Rocky pools everywhere

Would’ve been great had there been more water

Closer

The bottom

The clear base pool, it’s very deep to the right

Getting dark and gloomy

There she is

Downhill journey

Time to say good bye

Hari trying to maneuver like a monkey

The turn off to Aluth Mawatha, note the landmarks

Sudu Kanda Mini Falls

Well this was sheer luck. However getting back to those two houses where we had left our bike, we were very thirsty and wanted to refill our water bottle. There were a group of ladies in front having a chat the way they do at villages when we came back.

An old lady asked if we managed to find the falls and we said we did. As usual, women being women, they wanted the list of questions they had in mind answered for which we duly obliged. When they were satisfied that old lady asked Hari, pointing at me, “Did you come with your son?”. I couldn’t help laughing like a madman; this was simply crazy for her to take Hariya to be my father’s age. I was so tired but hearing this all the tiredness vanished and I wish I had taken a pic of Hariya’s face when she asked that.

He was beamingly answering all the questions when this came out of nowhere and all the others started giggling having seen me laugh. Other ladies felt sorry and it made Hariya mad as hell. Anyhow they gave us a tip when I asked if the Maha Ella was called Sudu Kanda Ella, they said, it’s not and the Sudu Kanda Ella is in fact in Mahawalakanda. I felt intrigued and decided to go find it on our way back. Afterwards, having refilled our water bottle, we got back on the road while they were still trying to stifle their giggles. Hariya rode like a mad bull despite me trying to calm him down. However, not even Tony, Sheham, Atha or Ana has ever been faced with a question like this so naturally you get angry.

We reached the bridge with cylinders, (now if you’re wondering what bridge is that, I’ll give you a clue. Press ctrl+F on your keyboard and then type “cylinders”, the search will take you to where you need to be) now supposing you know where I am, this is the boundary between Kudumiriya and Mahawalakanda. Passing the bridge, we stopped by to ask a nearby house for directions and having checked we were not on a some secret mission, a person told us to climb up along the water stream about half a km to see the Sudu Kanda Ella. Hari was reluctant but I didn’t wanna miss out this beautiful lady having come so close. We walked uphill parallel to the water stream and got down to it. Then it was sheer climbing uphill maneuvering through water and slippery rocks which was so tough.

We hadn’t had anything after lunch and it wasn’t gonna help our cause. After about 300m of hard work, Hari sat down complaining he was feeling faintish maybe due to lack of food. But, thinking back, it might even have been that lady’s remarks that made him feel dizzy. However I decided to let him rest a bit and go ahead to see if there was this Sudu Kanda Ella. The going was so tough and after 200m or so I decided to return to Hari but found he’d after all followed me slowly. From there we got a bit upstream and saw a somewhat higher rock which was wide as well. Still I saw no sign of anything to fit the bill “Waterfall”. Maybe there was more to climb up but the steep rock that blocked the water stream discouraged us going any further and it was getting dark too. Thankfully there was this tiny falls about 20m below the rock which I called Sudu Kanda Mini Falls. She was as tall as Thambadola Ella and we had to be content with her.

Then came the million dollar question, “How on earth are we going back?”. It took us best part of an hour to reach this point and would certainly have taken even more downtown journey. Time was running out fast and we had to find an alternative. We decided to climb up the forest patch to our right when we were facing downhill. Hari was up for it and it was nearly 150ft climb through the forest and then tea to reach a road that took us back to our bike. We were exhausted and rode to Morapitiya looking for something to eat. After some short eats and plain tea we headed towards Baduraliya searching for Raja Maruna Ella. But not before stopping to check the alternative route to Bala Ella and Maha Ella.

The house where you have to get down to the water

Great flowers

Got down to the river

Tiny cascades all around

Where’s this falls?

More to go

Close to the Mini Falls

Cave like near that

This kinda blocked the whole river and wonder if a fall can be created here when the water levels are high.

No going beyond this

Base pool crystal clear

Sudu Kanda Mini Falls is about 50m below the big rock

Hitting the base in two segments

The base pool

One of the fellas met on the way

Remains of, probably a bull or a cow

The path we found was even more challenging, you can see the slight blue in the form of Hariya downhill

Gosh, we have to climb up

What to do Napuru Kalata?

Sharp pointers

Looks like Gotukola but apparently not

Failed Attempt at Raja Maruna Ella

I was torn apart whether to put this or not as we couldn’t actually see the falls but decided to do it nevertheless as it’ll help future travelers finding the place with ease saving precious time. I have faced situations where we had to waste so much time to find something out because we didn’t know exactly where it is located or haven’t been able to find the proper directions. You must have experienced the same thing like me. How many times have you wondered if you had the proper directions? Well I have wondered many times. That is one reason I try to give as much directions and clues possible in my reports so that it will help others plan their journeys easily managing the precious time. I hope others will do the same because it will give up-to-date directions.

We might feel why bother with the directions or all the details as it was there in one of the reports but it might be an old report. The directions and details must have been changed so much. There may be easier ways to get to those places now than before, which is why it is crucial we update those things for others. Ok, I’ll get back to the story in hand. We carried on towards Baduraliya and stopped by a roadside shop to ask for directions when I noticed nearly 1ft long bunch of bananas in the shop. The lady said they were the famous “Nethrappalam” and I wanted to taste it coz I had never eaten them before. They were not even fully ripe but we shared a banana with Halapa. Well it didn’t taste any different, maybe not being fully ripe, but the price made my head spin. She said it was going for 200/- each but said she’d take 200/- for both the banana and the halapa. Gosh, we were nearly made penniless by that single banana. What would have happened if we had one each? Hari said that we were robbed in broad daylight, which might have been the case.

About 1.5km from Morapitiya junction towards Baduraliya, you have to turn left onto the Hedigalla road. Go on this road for about 2.5km till you reach a bend with a by road to your left. I’ve given a pic of it. This is the Hedigalla estate road which is after 500m or so is not in good shape. Go along this road for about 1.5km till u reach a Kovil (around midway, there will be a junction with a by road to the left with a sign saying “Manager’s Bungalow”, please ignore this and travel straight). You’ll notice close to the kovil the road is concreted. Just passing this kovil there will be a gravel road to the right and take it. It’s called Batahena road. The condition is not so good but surprisingly, after a couple of hundred meters, it’ll be well concreted and go straight till the end of concrete (about 0.8km) and turn left onto another gravel and terrible road that goes uphill.

After 1.2km, there’s a by road to the left bordering a rubber plantation. This is about 100m in length and at the end is a house and a nicely done Budu Medura that can easily be seen from the road. Take it or the path through the rubber plantation next to the road. You will go past tea cultivation and beyond that is the stream where the Raja Maruna Ella is. Unfortunately we had a tough time finding the right place, having wasted nearly 40 precious minutes we finally found it and reached the stream but had no clue whether to go upstream or downstream.

It was getting dark and the rain looked imminent. The light was so bad even if we found the falls; it’d have made the pics not so good. We both went upstream about 200m; we came across several cascades but nothing resembling the Raja Maruna Ella. I knew it was hopeless and dangerous to try to find it at the time, so very reluctantly decided to call it a day. However we figured in the end, having heard a familiar sound of a waterfall, Raja Maruna Ella to be downstream about 200-300m away from where we reached the water. We were so close yet so far. I guess that’s the life, we have to learn to give up when it seems not favorable otherwise the repercussions would be hazardous. It’s something I’ve learned thanks to my old gang, now Hariya too a part of it thanks to the proper identification by that lady.

1ft-long Nethrappalam

The turn off to Hedigalla Estate

Note the sign

Here’s the turn off to the house and the road

The road to the house

Just next to the road is the rubber plot and this path that will also lead to the water stream

A hut along the path through the rubber plot

If you go through the house, here’s the turn to go down the pallam to the stream

The Budu Medura

Gorgeous colors

Planted around the Budu Medura

Some more

At the water stream, we wrongly went upstream

Nothing but shallow pools like these

“Enough is enough, let’s come another day”, said Hari.

Well folks, there ends my 9th episode of Tour de Waterfalls. I hope you enjoyed this as much as others. The episode number 10 is also in the works and should come online soon.

If I’m lucky enough, I’ll be able to do one or two more episodes this year. Just wish me good luck to achieve that. I guess I’ve reached one of my two-year old dreams by now. That was to visit 200 waterfalls in Sri Lanka. I’ve 100+ waterfalls in my FB page by now and I’m sure the total tally has crossed that magic number by now.

It’s always a great pleasure to see waterfalls in full flow and very sad to see them being killed for those lousy mini hydro power projects. Well, I’ll leave you to think about it further.

This is Sri signing off for now. Keep exploring this wonderful country, help protect the Mother Nature and more importantly take care of yourself. It’s important you get back in one piece to share your experience with us.

Cheers,

Sri…