Seven Falls ( Eli Hatha ) And Six Wonderers

Sri Pada Adawiya is my favourite place on earth. Knuckles also has taken a lot space in my heart. If anybody studies the statistics in my nature trips, more than 80% of them belong to these two places. I had been planning to explore Eli Hatha for more than two years. But due to various reasons I had to postpone it. My friends were at times laughing at me telling my Elihatha was suffering from “Balagiri Dosaya”. I was waiting till the right time to come with the right crew( Some times the crew was not perfect , sometimes weather was not perfect ). So this was my most wanted trip in 2015.Finnaly after contacting Mr. Shanthasiri I drafted my plan and fixed the date 2nd February . And I informed my well experienced hiking partners in advance.
Hi King ( Ashan) ‘s experience and instincts about the wild and Waterfall hunter (Sri ) ‘s never ending desire coupled with Stunt Prince ( Prince ) ‘s faithfulness ( with whom I have done most of my adventurous / dangerous journeys ) was a perfect combination for me. Notorious Major ( Amila ) ‘s talents and equipments such as ropes was added advantage. Finally arrival of silent Warrior ( Sanketha ) at the last minute was icing on cake as he had done this trial in 2012 . If you wonder “who is Jumbo ? “ and it’s me as my friend’s told me that they had the experience of loitering in peak wilderness with a “Kuru Elephant” Mind you I didn’t encourage any of my office mates or even Prince’s brother who were willing to join. Because in these type of adventurous journeys the margin of error should be around Zero.
We all left homes around 12.00 p.m. on 2nd February though our transport methods were different due to our various other commitments specially related to work. Sri and Prince were coming from Prince’s bike and me and Sanketha met at Pannipitiya and came to Avissawella by bus and waited till Ashan’s arrival. At Avisawella we purchased majority of items. After reaching Deraniyagala I was able to stop the Udamaliboda bus for another 15 minutes as we were desperate in picking our late comer Amila.(The driver was very helpful person ) So we four ( Me, Ashan, Sanketha and Amila ) met Prince and Sri at Udamaliboda tea factory ( where the bus stops ) around 6.00p.m.
Mr. Sahnthasiri came to us in his tuk-tuk with a short notice and we hired another three wheeler and went towards Elihatha (Bambaragala) area. Road conditions were better than 2013. After travelling for nearly 3 kms we stopped at our resting place which is an incomplete, two apartment building belongs to Santhasiri. There, Sahnthasiri introduced our guide ( Suresh ). After keeping our baggage there we went to shanthesiri’ home to take dinner which was 30 min uphill journey. On the way we enjoyed the cool dip at a stream by washing out all the tiredness. Shanthersiri’s wife and parents welcomed us and served with delicious dinner. We requested shanthasiri to come to our resting place at sharp 5.30 a.m ( next day ) with all our lunch and breakfast packed separately. The task was 14 packets. But they happily obliged. (My plan was to minimize the time taken for cooking in the jungle also to minimize weight)Then we said good bye to Sahanthasiri and family and came to the resting place with our guide. He managed to bring some Paduru and we laid them in one room by keeping or bags in the other. After having a brief chat about following day journey we all went to sleep preparing our inner minds for next day adventure.

It was getting dark when we reached our resting place (Photo Amila)

Our resting place was here (main power plant is 2-3 km from this point ) (Photo Amila)

On the way to Santhasiri’s House. We were bathing and little Sri was peeping (Photo Amila)

Removing leeches (Photo Amila)

Came to our resting place after dinner …. two rooms ….there is a tap line closer ….also a anicut few meters down ( Photo Amila )

Full moon (Moon walkers ) (Photo Amila)

Ashan’s Magic

We started our journey around 6.30 a.m. after doing some rituals at the nearby Kovil. Our guide Suresh accompanied another person called “Kadol “and we didn’t interfere on that. We had to walk for another 2-3 kms along the road to the entrance point to Eli hatha. Sometimes we used short cuts too.
Rough indication about how we reached Eli Hatha
1st Fall – climbing down from Power house
2nd fall and top – using the foot path laid left from the stream
3rd ,4th and 5th hiking parallel to the stream from the right hand side of the stream
6th Hiking along the stream then hiking from left at last few meters.
7th hike using the foot path from left to the stream
We carried two tents, Packed breakfast & Lunch and enough snacks and just one pan for cooking. My plan was to cook only for the dinner. Noodles for night and bread and butter for morning. Dates, biscuits, cheese, chocolates for snacks. How good is that 
Rope which was brought by Amila was handy in difficult sections
This is how we achieved and there is no such specific way of doing same. One thing I have to tell you is you have to use your common sense and watch for the changes in weather and stream

Kovil Where we did rituals before the journey

Walking to the trail head (Photo Amila)

Using Short cuts (Photo Sanketha)

Nice place to have a break

Entrance point( Technically breaking only the first rule , But for a better purpose) (photo Amila)

Six Wonderers ( From Left De Waterfall hunter, Silent Warrior , Hi King , Jumbo , Stunt Prince , Notorious Major )

First and second fall seen at trail head (Photo Ashan)

Power plant ( You have to descend from this to see first fall )

First Fall (Photo Ashan)

Amila was drown in her beauty (Photo Amila)

Stunt Prince was stunned by her beauty (Photo Ashan)

We had our breakfast there (Photo Amila)

Our guides Suresh – Bottom and Kadol – Top (Photo Amila)

On the way to second fall .We were traveling parallel to stream ( from left hand side ) closer to this tunnel

There was an easy foot path to reduce adventure but it’s little far from this (Photo Amila)

Came to the Second Fall

Fall with two sections (Photo Ashan)

Major part

Calm base pool

you can select a less deeper section and have a good bath

Lower section of 2nd fall seen from it’s base (Photo Ashan)

We returned back from fall no 2 and hiked along the tunnel. After a hectic uphill journey we reached the top of Fall no 2 where the dam is built.

Dam and the anicut

Deep base pool

View from Top (Photo Sanketha)

Relaxing time

Severe drop

Posting for another group photo .From here we had to hike in the jungle from right hand side from the stream

Entering The Forest Again (Photo Ashan)

Small cave and a man built resting place

There was no path but hard climbing (Photo Ashan)

Beautiful NAYA GANGA Aka Seethawaka Oya

After nearly 45 min hike we reached the Base of the Third Fall

Third fall ( Not as prominent as other falls )

We climbed along the rock to get a better view

But descending was tough and had some fun too…( Used a new rule – Friction of Buttocks  ) (Photo Amila)

Another cave cave , A big one

Gon Diva (Photo Ashan)

Misty & Mystery Forest (Photo Amila)

We had some rest on the top of Fall No 3

Time to have some snacks

Crystal clear water

Oh what’s this. According to our numbering system This was 3 (A) ….. Because 4th fall is far from this

The Top of Fall 3A………………………………………………………… (Photo Amila)

I did tell you that we should control our words in Peak wilderness( Kata parissam Karaganna one ) …But Our member Amila just forgot that and just Told ”Meke Wathura Nane” along with a good suddha Sinhala word in front  .and continued the journey. We couldn’t go even 10 minutes after that. It Began to rain…..And it began to rain heavily…we were helpless as we did not have any shelter……We tried our best to survive holding the fly sheet of Ashan’s tent …But it was barely enough and we all got wet….After nearly one hour rain stopped and we resumed the journey…..We noticed that the Fall no 4 was very closer to where we stopped for rain..But to reach it we had to descend trough a dangerous slippery rock…Everybody in the group except Ashan refused to see this fall. But Ashan’s natural instincts found a method to get down to a section where we can observe the fall . So me was the first to follow him. I took the rope but it was not that needed..Finally one by one we all reached a flat rock where we could observe the fall no 4

Fall no 4

No 4 & Me. Watching from a middle platform

We Re- started hiking along the jungle and sooner we reached the fall no 05. We enjoyed the beauty and had lunch there..There was a section like a cave where you can observe the furious water flow of the fall….Mind you it was dangerous to reach it . On a dry season one might think of climbing to the top of the fall along the rock…but it was deadly dangerous and we never even thought of it…But to our utter surprise a group of young boys climbed to the top along the rock and served with a big Hoot to us for not attending such an adventurous climb. But we were stick with our plan and slowly climbed to the top though the thick forest…Bt It was not an easy task at all

Fall No 05 (Photo: Amila)

Mist had invaded the area (Photo : Sanketha)

Parts Fall no 05 with another angle (Photo Ashan)

Cave which I mentioned before

Beautiful Flora (Photo Ashan)

Final look at fall no 05 (Photo : Sanketha)

Top Bio diversity spot in sri lanka (Photo : Amila)

Side view of fall no 5 while climbing from right (Photo : Sanketha)

I loved this misty weather

Top of the fall no 05 (Photo : Ashan)

Sharing the holly experience

After spending some time there we proceeded further. We had two plans at this moment. Try to reach rest of the falls and camp in a suitable place. If we didn’t find a suitable place for camping, descend to this place as we found two camping areas suitable for pitching tents here.

Mind you from this point our guide played cock and Bull. We were traveling upstream trough thick forest with a greater ascend. We were carrying our back packs which were so heavy. And path was slippery too. Because of the thickness of the forest we had a difficult time to creep through. Guide had cut the bushes in some areas but it was barely enough to creep to a person like him or prince. But not for a jumbo like me….and he was not sure about the path at all. Once he realize that he missed the path , he returned back and found another…but it was a dead end too. We were following him blindly and technically we were lost in wild. Drizzling seemed like not stopping and it was dark in the jungle although it was around 4.00 p.m.. So we all decided to get back to Top of fall no 05 where we thought of camping. My mouth just starting scolding at poor guides but Ashan made me calm down. Ashan made a good point. This Sri Pada Adawiya is a rain forest which gets rain throughout the year and the paths are soon disappeared because of the quick growth of plants. So even a person who had come here few months back has a tend to miss the route. So after hectic attempt we all came to the place ( Top of fall mo 05 ) to settle down.

Came back

With a difficulty pitched the two tents on uneven wet rocks (Photo : Ashan)

Greatest difficulty was firing the wet firewood in drizzling conditions

Preparing tea and Dinner (Photo : Ashan)

Early dinner (Photo : Amila)

View from our camping place (Photo : Amila)

More views (Photo : Amila)

Camp fire did not last long due to heavy drizzle…..

We crept into our tents after having dinner. It was around 6.30-7.00. Me , Ashan, Prince and one guide were in Ashan’s Tent and Amila, Sri, Sanketha and the other guide were in Sanketha’s tent. Actually it was a sleepless night. It was continuously drizzling. Water was creeping under our tent so water could penetrate even through the thick ground sheet of the tent. We all were shivering and prince was the most. Every hour or so Ashan woke up and opened the tent to check water levels of the stream. ( He had seen a bad dream of our tent being taken away by flood . Since the camp fire was gone there was a danger of wild beasts. Somehow rather we were able to close our eyes and stay still till dawn comes

Sinking Moon (Photo : Ashan)

Arrival of dawn (Photo : Ashan)

Life around our camping site

Wana Raja

Iru Raja

Having Breakfast and Mostly affected Prince gets the fire treatment

After having breakfast we resumed the journey. I suggested that we should go upstream as much as possible because of the bitter incident happened last day. For our advantage the rain was settled and it was sunny. So without unfolding the tents we proceeded taking only our valuable things.
But walking upstream was not an easy task and some of our team slipped and had minor injuries too. But we didn’t have any other option. Also we met few beautiful cascades and we named them 5A, 5B, 5 C, etc…..

Cascades on the way`(Photo : Sanketha)

Hiking Upstream

5B (Photo : Sanketha)

Helping Each other (Photo : Ashan)

More cascades

5 D

From this point we had a problem . Although we saw the glimpse of a big fall there was no way of going further upstream due to large rocky boulders. So our guide suggested that we should hike through the jungle. But this time also he did a mess. We climbed from right side of the stream. It was very difficult and risky. One occasion I just touched a fallen tree and it was further loosen and hit the head of Sanketha who was coming behind me. But he managed to move his head at right time and had only a miner swelling in his head. After some useless effort we realized that again we were going nowhere. Only option was to descend to the stream again. But it was also too difficult due to severe drop. Again Instincts of Hi King Saved us and he find a place (somewhat risky) where we can get down to stream. After getting to the stream Sanketha’s experience came in to part and he said that they had crossed the stream and climbed from left side in there last visit. So we did that and found the beautiful Hidden beauty Fall no 06

Getting Down to the stream

Crossing the steam . See fall no six is very close now

Hiking from left side

Hi King Helping The Hunter

Here is the Hidden Beauty which most of the travelers miss / FALL NO 06 (Photo : Ashan)

Zoomed Upper Part (Photo : Sanketha)

Beauty and the worrier

There was a foot path from 6th fall to the base of 7th fall. Guides were also confident about that path. We just had to follow the clear but difficult foot path. Then reach our target, mission, dream and have a good time

Foot path through the jungle

First Glimps of Fall no 07 (Photo : Ashan)

Top of Fall no 06/ Base of fall no 07

What a beauty . Fall no 07 (Photo : Ashan)

Zoomed top Part (Photo : Ashan)

Full View. You can compare the height of the fall

Major, King & Hunter

Happy Worriers after completing the mission (Photo : Ashan)

Our Guides (Photo : Sanketha)

We should not forget this guy too…It helped us in difficult sections

Beauty of nature

More flora

Yellow Beauty

Then came the fun time …bathing in ice cold water

Expert swimmer

Samanala Adawiya

Samanalaya Ha Ashan Lamaya

Of course we did not climb the top ..but satisfied with looking at this gorgeous Girl

Clear View

Silent worrier completes his second visit to Eli Hatha . Which is a rare incident for an outside hiker

We enjoyed to the fullest and returned back . Our guide played an innovative role and used a different foot path. It ended up in the stream somewhere between 6th and 5th falls. Then we descended to our camping site by hiking downstream. After coming there we finished all the remaining snacks and packed our baggage and climb down throght the forest. At the top of second fall I informed Mr. Shanthasiri to bring packed lunch for us to where we stayed before the hike. He had done it perfectly

Beauty of Nature

Bio diversity

Came back to Top Of Fall no 05 and Re packed our Bags

Udamaliboda Tea Factory Zoomed (Photo : Ashan)

Descend Through the Thick Forest

Too Sharp

Life is everywhere………That’s why I love Wet forests

Slipping , Falling , and creating new paths were common

Lost Again. While waiting till guides find a path

Top of Fall no 02

We came to the resting place and enjoyed delicious lunch after having a perfect bath at nearby anicut. It was around 2.30 p.m. We settled the payments of our guides. One thing I have to tell you although they missed the path at several occations these Tamil young boys were very humble to us. And they even asked such a small tip for their service but we paid them much more than that. Amila just explain how they should improve as guides and we all said good bye to them and our friend Sahnthasiri. We walked towards udamaliboda factory while sri and prince enjoyed the bike ride.At some place we got lifts from a tri wheeler and another jeep. We caught the udamaliboda Bus and came to Avissawella. We all went our homes around 9.00 p.m.
So this is how we ended our dreamy journey. It was one of my best hikes for ever. I wish the readers too enjoy this memorable journey. But please remember “Safety is first”
Thanks for reading

Enjoy this dream journey. But remember “SAFETY IS FIRST “ . BYE FOR NOW