Daring Mission to the Most Scared Mountain – Sri Pada (Via Maliboda Trail)

We all get these impulsive thoughts of doing things out of blue moon every now and then. Something like that happened when we visited Eli Hatha deep inside the Sri Pada Forest Reserve off Uda Maliboda in the first week of February. That journey, one of the dreams of Hari, turned out to be a great success, probably the best ever. During this journey I kept thinking of visiting the Most Sacred Mountain, Sri Pada  via Uda Maliboda trail, one of the six known paths to the summit.

I was longing for it by the time we returned from Eli Hatha and didn’t wanna do anything else but that. So when I presented the thought to Dodam, my mate for the Beloved Lakegala, he seconded it with no second thoughts. So we fixed it for the 15 & 16 Feb. Thanks to Hari, I got the contact number of Yasawardhane mama, a real nature-loving gentleman who is very friendly, humble and helpful. When I called him to check the status of weather conditions and the trail, he gladly offered to help us. I, being the cautious type, asked if he could find a guide for us at least till we reach the Kuruwita trail but he said that there was no way we could go wrong yet promised to get someone at least for a part of the journey.

Then I called Shanthasiri, our host during the Eli Hatha journey, to get our meals fixed. He agreed to provide us with breakfast and lunch packets. So it was all set within a very short period and after a couple of phone calls. As usual, the waiting game began and I kept looking at the calendar urging it to move faster but it just stared blankly at me.

Day 01

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the day arrived and I met Dodam in Avissawella around 5.45am intending to catch the first bus to Deraniyagala. It was parked and waiting when we got in an on the dot of 6am, we left for Deraniyagala. The road to Deraniyagala is still under construction and in terrible state as a result.

It’d be a nightmare if you travel in the day time as it’s full of dust. The bus kept going tackling the road and the road closer to Deraniyagala is nearly complete. We got to Deraniyagala around 7.15am went looking for the Uda Maliboda bus. Well, not many people are aware of it as we had to go on asking from many people yet not getting a proper answer. Some said there is no Uda Maliboda bus, some simply said that they didn’t know about a Uda Maliboda bus, some went on to say it goes only up to Maliboda but not to Uda Maliboda due to extremely bad road and others said it goes at 1.30pm. Golly, that’s the last thing we wanted. Finally I called both Yasaeardhane mama and Shanthasiri to inform about our arrival and to check on the bus. They said that there was one around 7.30am and we decided to wait at the bus stop.

Around 7.30 there came a bus with a board Maliboda-Deraniyagala. “Ok, we’re going to have to hire a tuk-tuk after all”, I told Dodam wondering how much it’d cost. Finally we spoke to the driver who confirmed it was going all the way to Uda Maliboda. What a relief it felt and we hurriedly went to a nearby shop and bought some dry rations such as dates, cheese and biscuits for the journey. Then we settled in for the driver and conductor to come in when they did it was past 7.45am. We took off, well not like a Boeing 747, but closer. The road up to Pothdenikanda is in decent condition and the real nightmare starts afterwards.

There is hardly any bit of road in decent condition. According to the villagers, it’s not been repaired for the past two decades, yeah, you heard it right the first time, not in the last twenty years. The lorries and tractors of the tea estate keep breaking it beyond use. It’s no wonder anyone not wanting to go there in their own vehicle. We were very much surprised to see the Deraniyagala depot had opted to operate the bus service despite them breaking down every now and then. That is the lifeline of those people in Maliboda and Uda Maliboda. One alternative route is to go to Kuruwita and take the Erathna road. There is a road connecting Erathna to Maliboda which is surprisingly in very good condition. However it won’t avoid the worst part of the Maliboda and Uda Maliboda stretch. Mainly people in the area using either motor bikes or tuk-tuks that take real beatings from driven along these pot-holed roads.

We felt like being rocked in a boat amid a rough sea, waves pounding either side rocking the bus from side to side. Finally we came to Uda Maliboda around 9am. There was a delay getting our breakfast and lunch packets that cost us precious half hour or so. One piece of advice for you when hiring tuk-tuks from Uda Maliboda. Always, tell them exactly where you wanna go and ask for the fee. If not you would end up having to pay cut throat prices. It was nearly 10am when we reached Yasawardhane mama’s place who was waiting for us. He invited for a cuppa tea but as the time was getting flown away, we declined politely. He then joined us to go to the trail head. It starts from one of his relatives house, Piyadasa mama. When we get there he was waiting for us. At the request of Yasawardhane mama, he agreed to come with us for a short distance so that we could get a feel of the trail.

Yasawardhane mama is my kinda person who vehemently opposed to the mini hydro power plants which kill those beautiful waterfalls under the false banner, development. In his own words “you can always build a power plant, but not a waterfall”. I couldn’t agree more. According to him, the real development comes from protecting our natural resources such as virgin forests and waterfalls that are real attractions for the tourists. He’s very passionate about the Eli Hatha and Maliboda trail. He keeps referring to the Eli Hatha as a world heritage and very much against the power plant that kills the first two falls. Unfortunately our voices are not heard by the powers that be or even if they did, they appear to be deaf. Yasawardhane mama is a member of the Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha and doesn’t draw his salary giving it to the charity to improve the facilities of the kids’ education. This country nowadays needs many people like these, just wishful thinking.

From left: Nimal, Piyadasa Mama (our guide), Me and Yasawardhane Mama

Uda Maliboda to Kuru Ganga (6.9km – 4.5 hours)

Finally with his blessings, we started our journey with Piyadasa mama. The trail is clearly visible and we had to cross the Modara river or Sithawaka river at first and the trail goes steadily uphill. The track is in the middle of the virgin forest reserve of Sri Pada. There were plenty of Walla Patta plants cut and destroyed by the ignorant locals with the help of greedy outsiders in the hope of getting rich the easy way. The destruction is enormous and with that many other endemic species of plants and animals must have come under great dangers. These kinda virgin forests are destroyed by people trying to find things like that and the end result is we’d be heading for a desert. It’s nice and cool inside the jungle. Save for a few crickets, hardly a sound came. Even our footsteps didn’t make any noise. It’d been raining steadily in the evenings for the past few days and the ground was wet paving the way for the leeches.

Morning rays filtered through the thick tree cover making patterns. We didn’t feel the ferocity of the sun thanks to them and went on a slow but steady pace. Leeches kept coming after us but not many succeeded in grabbing at our feet. Dodam had brought a Salon Pas as a leech repellent and it did a reasonable job of keeping them at bay. However, nothing like the Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) which is by far the best of leech repellents I’ve come across. It wouldn’t be a great feeling to come this way in the rains. The leeches would have you at their mercy for 8km and by the time you get out of the forest, if you ever do, there wouldn’t be nothing much left. So avoid it at all costs in the rains, not only because of leeches, but also the flash floods. The path crosses hundreds of streams and at places it goes along streams themselves. As Yasawardhane mama had said, the trail was easy to make out and had been cleared recently. There were traces of human touch as we saw quite a number of toffee, chewing gum and biscuit wrappers left behind carelessly by those clumsy travelers along with couple of water bottles too. After an hour of steady hiking brought us to a larger stream where we stopped for breakfast.

Entering the reserve

Modara Ganga aka Seethawaka Upper River

Piyadasa mama explaining how to plant a Pus Tree out of a seed to Dodam

Morning rays penetrating the forest

On the prowl

The path is narrow and bordered by the thick forest

Plenty of these

One of my favorite things to photograph

Clear path

Salon Pas treatment for leeches

Wana Raja, commonly found in Sri Pada Reserve

Is the tree holding the rock boulder?

Dummala Tree

Like silicone

Continously going up and down

Another of my favorites

Piyadasa Mama before bidding us farewell

According to Piyadasa mama, we’d come one mile (1.6km) and we unwrapped our breakfast of Rice with Polos and Dhal, fully vegetarian. I would go to great pains to remain vegetarian especially when I visit the Sacred Mountain. It’s always advisable not to consume any meats inside a jungle as it might attract the wild animals. You might disagree with me but I’ve experienced it first-hand it does pay dividends to be vegetarian on journeys like these. After the breakfast we parted company of Piyadasa mama, who had to get back to his day’s chores. He said if he was informed well in advance he’d have been able to accompany us to the summit as he’d not been there this season. We were on our own, just two curious hikers defying the wild and trying to reach the most sacred mountain in the world hoping to worship the footprint of one of the greatest philosophers who had walked on this earth. We had closer to six and half kms to tackle in the thick jungle that is frequented by the wild elephants. However so far no harm had come to anyone from them proving even those wild animals understand the sacred pilgrimages to the holy mountain.

The path is far from even, you gotta keep your head down and eyes peeled to avoid falling down. There are many obstacles right throughout such as roots, rocks, creepers and fallen trees blocking the path. The slightest mistake will leave you with a sprained ankle which will jeopardize the whole journey. That is one disadvantage when traveling small groups. You gotta stay focused all along and not let your guard down. I always prefer to travel in small groups and it helps to save time and make decisions easy. The climb became steeper and slowed our pace. We had the whole forest to ourselves and millions of trees looking from all directions curiously at us. The rays filtering through got fiercer but didn’t bother us much. There were many streams flowing every now and then with cool and tasty water. Thanks to them we didn’t have to carry a lot of water that eased our load considerably. We had very little sense of the distance covered. It’s hard to gauge it, if you don’t have the equipment, especially when you’re inside a jungle. It doesn’t help to panic but to keep to the track and go on without making a lot of noise.

The Kuru Ganga seemed far away and couple of times we got deceived having heard water gushing down but when reached it turned out to be another of those streams. Things got scarier when we saw the first of elephant dung along the path. Just imagine being deep inside a forest covered all around with trees and finding jumbo poo which are not too old. We were rattled alright but forced ourselves to remain calm and keep going. Afterwards there were many of them scattered across the path, couple of times we saw what seemed to be a jumbo probably suffering from loose motion had left a long trail of poo. Kuru Ganga didn’t come anywhere near no matter how far we went. Piyadasa mama warned that when going for the first time one would feel the distance and we certainly did. The leeches kept crawling towards us hoping to have some juicy meal. Thankfully their attacks were minimal thanks to the dry weather from the previous day. The effects of Dodam’s Salon Pas were wearing out allowing leeches to grab at our feet rather easily.

Nelu and Bamboo (favorite meals of the jumbos) bordered the path increasing our fears. There were birds and butterflies flying around us but too fast to capture them on our lenses. Some of the pics were blurred and out of focus probably due to shaking hands. We came across a couple of rocky surfaces that would make ideal camping sites. However, with roaming jumbos, it would mean a helluva adventure. I’d not recommend it unless there is nothing else to do. So be mindful to do this trail within the daylight. Ideal timings would be between 8am and 4pm. Too early you would probably have a difficulty with mist and cold. Too late, it’s the light and the jumbos you have to be careful about, and the threat of rains. So timing is crucial for the journey. So far the path was pretty straight forward and no confusing trails branching off. However, about a mile before the Kuru Ganga, we came to a Y junction with the path dividing into two.

The left side branch goes slightly uphill while the right (rather straight one) goes downhill. We were in a dilemma coz we didn’t expect anything like this. We decided to check both and Dodam went along the right hand path for a bit and found a toffee wrapper. There were even logs used to make the path. However I wanted to check the left one too just to be on the safe side. After a few meters it branched once again into two and both of them were just ordinary animal trails. So you gotta take the right hand downhill path. I even broke a small tree and put it as an indicator for the future travelers. I’d never been happier to see a toffee wrapper in my life before but I don’t think it’d justify leaving them behind as they surely weren’t meant to guide others. From here it was a continuous downhill path and we increased our pace. Elephant poo was no more and we heard a distant roar of the water and it sounded large enough to be the river. At last we arrived at the mostly sought river of the day, Kuru Ganga.

Shining

Rocky door frame

Entering into the jungle fortress

Hhmm

Leeches were there but not many

Joe Root?

Wish they were edible

More Roots

Plenty of streams to cross and it’d be a nightmare to do it in the rains

One person can go at a time

Well, just a beautiful leaf or maybe a flower

Mushroooooooooooms

Hairy looking

Poisonous Hondala

First of many Jumbo Poo

The path continuously went uphill

Only one we managed to capture

Jumbo suffering from loose motion

Keeping our eyes wide open

Many of them

The path goes along these streams

Freshly cut

Never ending

Ooops

Just imagine trying to walk along them when the water levels are high

Some kinda orchid

More mushrooms

Few of open places like these, looks ideal for camping but very risky

Where’s this Kuru Ganga?

Hundreds of them but only this I took

Thick forest

Natural Spike in the middle

Tiny bamboo, favorite meals for Jumbos

The stream just before the Kuru Ganga

Finally here we are

Has to go uphill a bit

Where we bathed

Kuru Ganga to Erathna Trail (1.1km – 45 mins)

We reached Kuru Ganga just after 2.30pm, had taken 4.5 hours to tackle that 6.9km. In the rainy season, this would be a tricky place as it’s full of unexpected flash floods. As soon as you get out of the forest and reach the river, the trail won’t be there on the other side of the river as you would expect it to be. Now don’t get alarmed coz you haven’t come all this way for nothing. To find the trail you gotta go to the left or up river for about 50m. Not a lot but keep going along the river with your eyes peeled. You will find the path and it’s nothing difficult. We were warned about this before by Hari, Atha and Yasawardhane mama as well so we knew what to do. There were a couple of shopping bags hanging from tree branches to mark the paths.

We were relieved to finally have arrived at a key destination. Crossing the river was of no challenge as the water levels were very low. I felt exhausted both physically and mentally. The glistening water was inviting for us to take a cool dip and I gave myself to the temptation. Unloading our backpacks, we soon found ourselves in the cool water and felt all the tiredness wash away. The cool water revived our sweat-soaked bodies and a mild wind kept whirling around. Gosh, that was a heavenly feeling and we devoured our lunch of rice and curry. Even though we badly wanted to stay couple of hours simply lying down, the time the elephant factors were against it. So reluctantly, we got back on the trail just after 3pm hoping to emerge out of the forest before 4pm.

The bath and the meal gave us a big boost and with the renewed energy we increased our pace. The first couple of hundred meters was steep climbing that wore us out in no time. We knew it was only a matter of time before we reached the Erathna trail. After a while, we heard voices and listening carefully found out it was a group of people saying the typical poems like things on their way down.

“Ape Budun – Api Wenda,

E Ran Pathula – Api Wenda,

Perali Perali – Api Wenda,

Dedana Nama – Api Wenda”

“Kiri Koduth – Wendewwa,

Dandu Koduth – Wendewwa,

Kodu Sewoma – Wendewwa”

It’s really something to sing in unison. We finally got out of the trail and it’d taken close to three quarters of an hour to get there from the Kuru Ganga. Golly, what an extraordinary hike it turned out to be.

The path from the Kuru Ganga, note the shopping bags

After a steep climb

Three musketeers?

Flat terrain

More	Blocked path

Just before meeting up with the Erathna Trail

A sigh of relief, here’s Kuruwita Trail

Final Push from End of Maliboda Trail to the Summit along Erathna Trail (4km – 3.5 hours)

We were knackered, I admit but felt exhilarating too looking back our achievement. We started our hike now going continuously uphill but to be free from occasional leech attacks was a comforting feeling. Now the trail was wider and to our surprise there were quite a lot of people were coming down and going up. Coming Tue was a government holiday thus the increase in the number of people. We mingled with them and those who going down sang like this:

“Wadinna Yana – Me Nadeta,

Sumana Saman – Devi Pihitai”

And we going uphill returned:

“Wendala Bahina – Me Nadeta,

Sumana Saman – Devi Pihitai”

Some cheeky ones however felt like this:

“Ehema Kiwwa – E Nangita,

Pahala Kaden – Kopi Ekai”

It was real fun and made us forget our aching limbs. After a while we came to the Geththampana and it gave a panoramic view of the Sri Pada. The mist had covered the top as if waiting for the chief guest to arrive before unveiling the curtain. Well, here we are I thought out loud, it’s time you show us your beauty before the dark envelopes you, I kept pleading. We stopped for a quick cuppa lukewarm tea which helped to warm our bodies somewhat. The crowds kept rising and suddenly it was like the Hatton route.

We were planning to spend the night at the summit underneath the sacred footprint, one of my long time dreams. Looking at the number of people, I suddenly felt depressed as there was very little room at the summit for the pilgrims to stay, especially away from bone-chilling winds. It only made our pace quicken but Dodam, who’d been largely out of touch all of a sudden started to struggle. Nevertheless we managed to overtake quite a lot of people on the way increasing our chances. The evening light was beginning to fade yet compared to the ordinary days, it was surprisingly better. Seeing Gal Wangediya, where Sri Palabaddala trail joins Erathna in the distance, brought a smile on Dodam’s face. Yeah, we were making good progress.

The path is so much eroded exposing the rocks

Dodam was surprisingly struggling big time

Kunu Diya Pawwa looking like Sigiriya and Bathalegala

Steady climb

They were going downhill

Very difficult to get a pic without people

The power lines

Animal trails

Sri Pada is up there

He was making a phone call informing his relatives about the achievement

Slippery rocks

Kunu Diya Pawwa tall as ever

Colorful

Geththampana where we stopped for a cuppa tea

Back on trail

Through the trees

Flat areas like this were a big bonus

Majestic

Geththampana taken from the path uphill

Mountains in the dusk

Not sure what but looks like a miniature Wal Del

Colorful

Jutting out rocks made it hard for the bones

Dead tree arts

Sri Pada still hiding

Galwangediya

Dodam was laughing from ear to ear

Most of the people rested their tired feet there but we kept going coz we were a team with a mission. We couldn’t rest until we reached our goal even though it’d be a failure we had to give our best shot to avoid being regretful later. We pushed on while the sun started his descend behind us beyond the Kunudiya Pawwa. We felt the warm rays on our backs but the trees either side offered comforting shade. Having slaved a lot we arrived at yet another milestone, Andiyamalathenna around 6pm. The light was still great and I asked Dodam if we should push on to the top or call it a day here and bunk down for the night. He was ready to push on despite the risk of us having to climb down once again if there was no space at the summit. We decided to give it a go and kept going.

It was time to unveil the curtain and show us the gorgeous summit. The Mother Nature obliged and the mist was lifted off revealing the amazing beauty of this wonderful mountain. Fading sun stopped in mid-way as if not wanting to leave for the day missing all the beautiful scenery unfolding. Copper colored rays fell on the summit while the sky turned into a deep blue. The leaves covering the top of the mountain glistened and waved at us. A cool breeze blew across making us tighten the muscles and the sky turned into a deep orange and the last rays of the day reflected on the clouds turning them into bright orange, pink and purple. We were in heaven, surely this was heaven, I kept staring at the magical power of the Mother Nature. “Hey, let’s go, it’s getting late”, Dodam brought me back to the earth out of my reverie.

This was my sixth visit to the holy mountain. Three times I’ve climbed via Hatton trail and once each via Sri Palabaddala, Rajamale and Uda Maliboda. There are only two more to complete the complete package. Gosh, I really want to do it as soon as possible. We kept up increasing the speed while the sun dipped behind the horizon reluctantly plunging us in darkness. As if on cue, the lights along the path were switched on creating that pearl necklace. The cold was getting unbearable but we didn’t wanna stop to wear the sweaters. So in the freezing cold, we climbed up while the mist came from all corners making us feel like we were floating in a milky sea. Finally, feeling numb but excited we reached the summit and without wasting a second rushed into the halls where people can stay for the night.

From Galwangediya

Found a kid finally

Sri Pada slowly unveiling

Almost

Buddha statue was being painted

Reddish leaves

Dusk was setting in

The concrete paved path

Fading sun

Orchids

Galwangediya Ambalama and other structures

Managed to get this black eagle

Reddish spots

Royal blue sky

Dark red Nelu leaves

Very hard to capture these ones

Setting sun illuminating the mountains

This one looks like the Horn of Africa

The moment of truth

Simply gorgeous

Closer

The summit

From Andiyamalathenna

Tiny flowers

These railings are a great help

Wish we were at the summit

Final rays

Clouds came from everywhere

Galwangediya seen from above

Being enveloped by the mist

The last bit

Remains of how our ancestors used to climb Sri Pada

Must’ve been a nightmare

Good night!

The time was just after 7pm and there were already people coming in and settling down for the night. The first had very little space so went to the second and bingo, we struck luck and found a better place to stay overnight. There was a family from Moratumulla who helped us settle down even offering a spare blanket to Dodam. They had been staying at the temple near the peace pagoda and climbed that day. When they heard of our trail, it surprised them to no end. We kept cracking jokes while shivering like skinless polar bears. I decided to take the chance to go have a wash. It was so cold and I had to cut it short and got back indoors and changed into more suitable attire. Leaving Dodam with the baggage I went up to the summit that was surprisingly empty and worshipped the sacred footprint in peace.

The inner peace you feel when you kneel down at the sacred footprint is hard to express. You gotta be there and feel it for yourself. I got back and sent Dodam to do the rituals. There were two foreigners settled down near us. They were very friendly but suffered from the cold more than us. I got into the sleeping bag, the savior of the day and settled down. However the cold and continuous shuffling of people coming and going, complaining about the cold, some girls crying hysterically clinging to their family members kept me up throughout the night. It was all mayhem and I saw people who had never seen or met before hugging and sleeping together in order to get some warmth.

The cement floor was so cold and the flimsy mats that were worn out didn’t help much. I saw people trying to cover themselves with plastic sheets that were next to useless. They kept moaning about, turning around, mumbling to themselves, and pampering the kids and this and that. Nothing seemed to work. I felt guilty being somewhat warmer than the rest. The winds picked up speed and kept hitting the walls and I felt sorry for the pilgrims who had no choice but to stay out waiting for the morning. Many people hung around the oil lamp getting some warmth. The hall got crowded with no space even to keep a foothold. The night wore on but very slowly as if mocking us. However nothing could deviate the peacefulness I felt being so close to the Lord Buddha’s footprint.

Crescent up in the sky

Shivering like skinless polar bears

Huddling together

Day 02

Throughout the night people got up and started to get down not being able to bear the cold. More people came in to fill the vacuum but they too took leave. It was like a movie and we watched all this unraveling before us helplessly. Finally the dawn arrived, with it the cold was pushed back and the prospect of witnessing the sunrise came forward. Around 5am, most of the people were beginning to stir, with them we too followed suit. The summit was cramped with people and the security had a tough time controlling them. We got up and bid farewell to the family next to us and went down the Hatton route for about 100m before settling for the sunrise.

It was so packed with people trying to get a better view not giving a toss about the surrounding. We were forced to go further down, the announcements kept coming asking for the path to be cleared and let others either come up or go down. They all fell in deaf ears coz those who got a better position wouldn’t dream of giving it up. Number of foreigners kept increasing much more than the locals. Some of the people were still coming up timing their arrival to coincide with the sunrise but most of them were highly disappointed when they were stuck around the Bhagawa Cave. We were not in a better position either but had to be content with it. Wearing gloves limited the maneuverability of the fingers so I reluctantly removed them. Within seconds I didn’t feel a thing and taking pictures balancing at the edge of the path holding onto the iron railings were a real nightmare.

The sky just above the silhouettes of the mountain tops started to get colorful. There was a layer of red, orange and yellow above the outline of the mountain tips. It kept rising up widening in size spreading more colors across the sky. The crescent moon was so far up the sky. The whole sky was devoid of any cloud, none at all. Down below, in the distance Moussakelle looked placid while the forest was largely dark. The Rajamale trail was barely visible and just below the mountain tips, we could make out the Horton Plains-esque Gawaravila.

Towards Rathnapura, Balangoda and beyond were the milky mountains. There were millions of clouds bunched together covering the whole area only the dark tips of the mountains were visible. Marrow-chilling cold was forgotten, numbness in my fingers was no more and I was in a dreamland. Orange glow kept brightening and the crowds were getting impatient. Most of the people voiced their disappointments out loud as if the sun purposely kept them waiting. 6am came and went, still no sign of the lava-red ball that should be up and about.

Some of the people who could no longer wait or bear the cold started to leave reminding me of Indian cricket fans who have no patience to wait till the show is over. However majority of the crowd, very much like Sri Lankan cricket fans who don’t abandon their players come rain or sunshine, kept their composure and waited and waited then some more waited. The surroundings were now more or less fully lighted. Still sun refused to appear as if a 10-year old kid refusing to get up in the morning to go to school. “Isn’t the sun coming up today?”, I began to wonder. Even the NASA has given only 99% probability of sun rising and I was wondering if the 1% finally here.

Finally, closer to 6.30am, upper part of the lava circle appeared above the mountains. Most of the crowd cheered as if we won the world cup, they didn’t stop there and gave a big round of applause too. The older people chanted “Sadu! Sadu!! Sadu!!!”. Within seconds the sun was fully up, unlike other days when he flirts with the clouds. Today there were no clouds and it must have been the reason for him to have been so reluctant to appear. We decided to get down amid the sea of people and reach Del Housie soon.

Here comes the painter

Silhouette of the mountain tops

Maussakelle in the morning

Clouds hanging onto the mountains

Orange hue

No sign of the sun yet

Packed crowd to witness the sunrise

Some are going after waiting for ages

He’s had enough and ready to come out

There he is

Finally

Amazing sight but a couple of stray clouds would’ve have been grand

Last bit of scenery

Getting Down along Hatton Trail

We came to the first shop and had a cup of steaming coffee. It shot some warmth into our bodies. I could feel my fingers once again and the blood circulation got back to normal. Afterwards we tackled the Mahagiridamba and kept going at a brisk pace.

Geththampana, Rathu Ambalama and Seetha Gangula came but we didn’t stop for a break. The mountains were showing their beauty in the morning rays. We arrived at the Peace Pagoda just before 9am. Finally it’s seen a coat of paint and glistened in the sunlight. Yaka Andu Ella looked abysmal, just a pencil thin line of water falling along the rocky wall. Even a demon would have cried at the sight of this level of water.

While the vendors who must have had a late night trade were opening their shops once again, we reached Del Housie. The CTB bus that was next in line for departure all of a sudden changed its mind. Instead the conductor and the driver pushed us to a private bus that had just arrived from Hatton. I’m not implying they got up to any mischief. Same thing happened when we were going via Sri Palabaddala trail last year. It was good to know that CTB bus drivers and conductors are in good terms with their private counterparts.

Amazing sights

I’m lost for words

Endless view

Peace Pagoda below

Contrast

Above the trees

This blue sky is only available when seen from up country

Buddhist Flags

We’re making good progress

There comes the Sherpas of Sri Pada

I just can’t imagine their plight

Lights of the path

Sri Pada now bathed in the sunlight

Closer

Amazing view

Closer

Yaka Andu Ella, what a poor sight

Far away

Foreign couple we met

The rocky mountain behind the Peace Pagoda

What?

Oh dear!

Many of them

Parting shot

We reached Hatton closer to 11am. As usual the tug-of-war between the buses and passengers were in full force. It was so sad to see the pilgrims are being inconvenienced over and over again. Feeling depressed and angry we finally managed to get into a CTB bus and reached Colombo plenty of daylight to spare.

Finally, another dream of mine came through. It’s surprising how our focus and directions change so quickly. Last year, I was all over Meemure, well not quite but explored a decent chunk of the area. The icing on the cake was the Lakegala, that I still consider the pinnacle of my traveling career. This year it’s so far mainly been around the Most Sacred Mountain in the whole wide world. Hopefully, there will be more to come and if and when they do, you will be the first to know.

Hope you enjoyed my narration of one of the most difficult trails to the Sri Pada. I’m sure it must have taken a helluva lot of time. I hope it was worth the trouble.

Keep traveling and be safe. This is Sri signing off for the time being hoping to come back once again with another delightful fairy tale.

Sri…