Waterfall Festival…

It was late July when my gang started moaning about our monthly trip and we came up with 04 Aug Wewelwatte Journey which turned out to be wet, cold and chilling.

However, there was a side story to that journey. The monsoon rains had come in full force and the waterfalls all around the country were smiling down on us revealing their hidden beauty.It was as if the Waterfall Festival had come to Sri Lanka.

Being frantic waterfall lovers we all decided to see as many waterfalls on Wewelwatte as possible but Athula had something else up his sleeve. He quietly mentioned about the water levels of Lakshapana and Aberdeen being at an all-time high and wondering if we could go there.I wasn’t to be hesitated at any rate and suggested we take a day off and do it after the Wewelwatte.

I managed to take a leave on Tue 06 Aug and Atha readily agreed to do it on the same day. When I put it forward during our Wewelwatte journey on 04 Aug, everybody looked aghast as if we had decided to throw the government.

“You guys are going on another journey day after tomorrow? What do you guys think you are doing? We’re gonna miss that. You know we can’t go on like that.” Was all that managed to mumble amid my suggestion. What to do? We couldn’t wait any longer as the water levels won’t wait for us. So Athula and I decided to get on no matter what happened. On the 04th night, Tony called and said he’d love to join but needed permission from the higher authority (you know who by now). On the following morning he realized that he needed to take his daughter for ALs and that put a stop to his whining I suppose. Fortunately, our new employee, Harinda, wanted to join as he’d been missing all the fun. Prasanna too was coming and Athula said he might be able to fix us a vehicle and we were all hoping for that coz the rains had got on our nerves during Wewelwatte journey.

We all waited anxiously and finally he came through with a van (just the front and one back seat for max 5 passengers) and it lifted our morals a helluva lot. I tried luring Danushka into joining us as he missed our trip but couldn’t get leave. It was a blessing coz the two Sumo Players (Hari and Prasanna) took up the whole of the back seat leaving no space anyone else, which meant Atha and I had to squeeze tightly into the front with the driver.

We left Colombo around 6.00am and picked Prasanna from Kaluaggala, having had to wait a long time as usual. Along the Hatton road we went and suddenly around Karawanella, Atha stopped at a place for breakfast. Hot, hot egg hoppers came and evaporated while string hoppers and bread were vanished at a ferocious rate mixed with a delicious sprats curry. All in all, it was a grand breakfast and we enjoyed it so much and got back on the road.

 Tour Highlights:

1.  Lakshapana Falls – 129m
2. Dutch Memorial
3. Aberdeen Falls – 98m
4. Gerandi Ella at Morahenagama

We reached Kithulgala and passing Beli Lena (we initially planned to visit this as well but simply ran out of time) we came to the Kalugala Junction where there was a board saying “Lakshapana 12km” and we took the road onto our right. This is also another road that leads to Adam’s Peak but not in good condition.

Lakshapana Falls & Dutch Memorial

The road took us passing the Kehelgamu Oya which was in over flowing condition forming creamy white foams and running mischievously passing rocks. We had to stop for a pic. The sky looked gloomy and threatened to rain at any moment but we were not swayed by that. Another 1km or so we reached the Bodhigira Junction where the road folk into two. The left hand side one goes directly to Norton Bridge (in between there’s the road to Adam’s Peak) which is in a slightly better condition. The one on the right or rather straight goes passing Polpitiya and Hangarapitya to Maskeliya.

When inquired with the villagers, they advised us to take the upper road saying it was in good condition but longer than the below one. However, Athula wanted to tackle the right hand path which goes to Maskeliya via Hangarapitiya. The road is not in very good condition but we didn’t come across any major obstacles. We soon saw the Polpitiya power house and the Kehelgamu Oya was on her way as if there was no tomorrow. The river under the bridge was flowing on a rocky bed which had dug a clean canal and the water was gushing down making a huge roar.

From then onwards we went further and reached Hangarapitiya. Athula suddenly asked me to listen to the villager he was talking to as he was explaining how the name “Hangarapitiya” came by. This road used to be the one the old-time kings use to visit Adam’s Peak and this particular village had been where the Kings and their entourage were treated with food and accommodation. In Sinhala we say “Sangraha Karanawa” which means treat and the village had got the name as a result “Sangrahapitiya” and later had become “Hangarapitiya”. What a fabulous folklore to come across. We saw a waterfall on the other side of the mountains (the upper road) but I couldn’t find her name but Atha later confirmed her to be Gerandi Ella. She may well be a seasonal falls for all I know.

Then following the road and avoiding pot holes full of muddy water we went further up. On our left was the world famous “Seven Virgins Mountain” which was the cause for “Martin Air Flight 138” tragedy. I’ve given the story in brief below but I’m sure many of you know this as it remains the worst in Sri Lankan Aviation history and 3rd deadliest involving a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft in the whole world after Arrow Air Flight 1285 and Nigeria Airways Flight 2120.

 — Martinair Flight 138 was a chartered flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The aircraft was operated on behalf of Garuda Indonesia. On December 4, 1974, the aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-55F, crashed into Seven Virgins Mountain shortly before landing, killing all 191 people aboard – 182 Indonesian hajj pilgrims bound for Mecca, and 9 crew members.

The flight is said to have departed Surabaya, Indonesia at approximately 12.03 UTC heading to Jeddah planning a stop at Bandaranayake airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka. At around 16.30 UTC Colombo control cleared the flight. At 16.38 UTC another air traffic controller is said to have intervened and cleared the flight down to 5000 feet and reported clearing to 8000 feet. Colombo approach then cleared the flight down to 2000 feet at 16.44 and told the flight to expect a runway 04 approach.

The crew aboard the flight was then asked to report when the airfield was in sight. The crew then continued their descent until the aircraft crashed into “Saptha Kanya Mountain” at an altitude of approximately 4,355 feet and at around 40 nm east of Colombo. All 191 passengers and crew were killed. The aircraft crashed on the fifth mountain of a range of hills known as “Saptha Kanya” at Therberton estate, Maskeliya. —

Passing this we all of a sudden saw a notice on our right hand side saying “Aulanda Sohona – Dutch Memorial” and I wanted to have a look. They had built a memorial about 200m away from the road in the tea estate and several diplomats from Indonesia and Maldives had unveiled it on 22 July 1979. We were lucky to have come across this coz I hadn’t seen any evidence of a memorial anywhere before.

Athula then went onto say one of the tires of the aircraft is at display at Norton Bridge Police Station. Apparently the original memorial is located at the Police Station along with the tire. We had seen the second one built very close to the crash site by those family members of the passengers and crew. Anyhow, we couldn’t forget the local singer Anton Jones who sang this very famous song as a tribute to this crash “Kande Hapuna Waha Wananthare – DC8 Guwan Yanthare”.

Just passing that I decided to walk a bit as the path was really scenic and for some reason rain had decided to leave us alone. Further up, I came across this grand looking bungalow on my right hand side and over it the Seven Virgins Mountain full of mist. It looked like a palace in heaven. How lucky those people who live there. I was feeling very jealous then and still do.

We reached Kiriwan Eliya where they have a few shops and a small restaurant-cum-guest house. We asked the road from two boys and they asked us to go further up. Apparently they had given us the path to the top of Lakshapana Falls. We had to turn back after about 1km and came back to the shops to find a board saying it’s only 300m to the falls downhill. Yucky yuck those boys. We got off and walked downhill and they’ve done a nice path with steps right down to the waterfall which made going very easy and hardly any attack from those horrible leeches.

There were houses along this path and it could be one other reason why the path is so well maintained. In fact those villagers were repairing a part of the track when we went. About 200m down, we could here this huge roar as if a 100-carriage train coming down Kadugannawa slope without breaks and it really was very frightening. It even reminded me of Tsunami.

The whole area was so noisy to see it’s the Lakshapana falls that was making all that uproar. She was celebrating something which we couldn’t put our fingers on. It was deafening and soon we got glimpses of this milky water falling through trees. Then came the moment, Eureka…. There she was falling down full length without stopping for a breather like twin towers of New York.

It was a sight that I’ll treasure forever. One villager who was repairing the road told Athula that they witnessed the most of in 2 decades on 04 Aug. (In vain we were getting soaked in Wewelwatte, I felt for a moment but soon perished the thought). It was a sight to marvel at and we took plenty of pics and got down to the base of the falls. It was as if raining at the bottom due to vapor coming from the water hitting the rocks. We thankfully had taken two umbrellas with us (learnt our lesson at Wewelwatte) and had to unfold them in order to shield from the water droplets. Taking pics was Mission Impossible-3 coz our lenses kept getting hit by those tiny water droplets. It was the same method as two days ago. Shoot and wipe and shoot again which was a pain in the neck.

I was savoring this unprecedented beauty (maybe once in a lifetime chance) and felt like hugging her. There was so much water and all around the vapor was dancing. You had to see it to believe. We waited as long as we could and having perilously exposed our cameras for the second time in 3 days, decided to head back. I simply couldn’t make up my mind to leave this gorgeous princess. It was as if she was so alive and trying to talk to us.

We came back to the shop and had some plain tea which reinvigorated our bodies and minds. Then it was time to go looking for the other beauty – Aberdeen Falls.

Two videos of Lakshapana Falls is here:

Video 01

Video 02

The Kehelgamu Oya full of water

White water rafting, anyone?

Flowing somewhat calmly under the bridge

The Team: Hari / Prasanna / Atha / Me and our Driver

This is the junction where the road splits into two. We took the right hand one which was scenic but not in good condition. If you take this, you can come around the upper road from Norton Bridge making it a circular path

The sign at the Bodhigira Junction

Polpitiya Power Staion

The bridge at Polpitiya

Two snake-like pipes carrying water to the power plant

The network

Water gushing down the narrow rocky canal

And comes out the other side ferociously

Possibly put it up during the terror attacks

Morahenagama… Gerandi Ella seen from Hangarapitiya

Up close

It was at this place we heard how the name “Hangarapitiya” was originated

She was constantly looking for something to eat.

Defa… If it’s not us, then who will?

Scenic views were endless

The Dutch Cemetery

Atha, Prasanna getting up to the cemetery while Hari bringing the rear

Those trees are only at this place so easy to find the place

Just entering in

The plaque placed on the outer wall – Click Image to Enlarge

The memorial but not visited or cared for recently

Up close

This is not English but I could figure out something about Indonesia – Click Image to Enlarge

The trio next to the memorial

Hari had to drag me into the vehicle coz I kept getting out due to these pics

Water was everywhere creating beautiful cascades in all sizes

The Palace in Heaven

This is the place where the entrance to the falls is

Oh yeah, maybe a bit more than 300m

They are showing the path. Be warned not up the stairs though. That’s the rest house

Camera and the tripod carrying, Athula was getting down

Houses were bordered along the path…

Thankfully it was a relief to have these steps

Edible? Not sure and the house owners were not nearby to check

The path being repaired

What a structure… They must’ve had a lot of work building this in the first place

Pooooh… first glimpse

Oh my goodness… such beauty is unheard of

Close

Closer

Seen in a different angle… See the color on the rock wall

That’s the last house at the bottom but more to go to the base of the falls

Trees obscuring our view on the way to the bottom

Glamorous, isn’t she?

I don’t know what to compare

It was like a dream and the vapor was enveloping the surrounding

Finally at the bottom

Water going down and can see a dam like structure

Protein buster

Cool

Aberdeen Falls & Morahenagama Falls

We went further up the road towards Maskeliya and soon came across the path to the top of Lakshapana but decided not to venture into that. The river looked ferocious and we wanted to save as much time as possible for the afternoon coz we still had in our minds to visit Beli Lena.

Soon we entered a massive bridge and the water was flowing like the Niagara Falls underneath it. We even saw someone trying to catch fish. I was surprised to see the bridge was still standing tall coz that water had the power to take it clean off its base in seconds. We saw the remains of the old suspension bridge now only the supporting pillars on either side of the river.

We stopped for quick snaps which turned out to be long ones for Harinda’s dismay coz he kept saying that he needed to get home soon. We soon came to a junction where the road on the right went towards Maskeliya and the left one took us back towards Lakshapana which we took. It again forked into two after a few kilometers; the left one taking us to back Lakshapana village and to the Bodhigira Junction (making it a more like a circular road) while the right one taking us towards Norton Bridge 2km away and further away Ginigathhena.

We turned right and less than 1km into the road came to a by road on the left but went passing and Harinda however wanted to check where it went. He proved right coz it was the one that leads to Aberdeen falls. Took a U-turn and came back and it’s the road to Kalaweldeniya Village about 6-8km away. There even was a hotel about 1.2km away according to the sign board.

Taking the path which was in dire need of repairing wasn’t an easy task. There’s also a bus service from Norton Bridge to Kalaweldeniya and the road is barely enough in width to pass two tuk-tuks let alone other vehicles. We asked for the directions about 4km away and a person said it’s only about 1km away. We went more than 2km before Harinda got his sixth sense and said we must have passed it. We had reached the Kalaweldeniya School by that time. There was this grandma who said that we had come it passing (Hariya should’ve been at the wheel) and there’s board pointing the direction.

“A board?” We were shocked to have missed it and there was no way a board was erected on that road. But we turned around and after sometime reached a place with a few houses and the path was just there. Unfortunately the big sign board had fallen face down and nobody had apparently bothered to put it up again. To make matters more humorous, there was this tiny notice stuck on a jack tree saying “Aberdeen Ella” both in Sinhala and English.

So much for directions and we got down along the nicely built steps. Again, we felt very grateful for whoever built this path and it’s longer than the Lakshapana and there was no village or house along it. So the path was meant for the waterfall only. There were a few leeches that bothered us then and there and two dogs were on our tail sensing some food is sure to be given. The last bit of the path had been built on 1 Dec 2012. There were tiny waterways going down along with the steps and at certain places there were rocks popping up and the builders had very wisely built the steps on either side.

We suddenly reached a barrier where a tree had fallen right across the path but tackling it was no problem. All of a sudden, we saw the whole area below is covered in white mist which turned out to be the water vapor just like at Lakshapana.

We reached the bottom and there she was.

All I managed to say was “Holy, Moly, and Guacamole…” What a magnificent girl she was dancing like a ballerina showing off her beauty without hiding it at all.

This giant waterfall was in full flow (couldn’t have been any bigger) and she looked as if she alone could feed the whole country with that amount of water. We couldn’t see any rock but water completely covered the whole surface and the vapor was travelling in all directions obscuring our view. There was this viewing platform they had built but we had to stay right at the edge coz we could’ve got wet so much. It was frightening to get any closer but Harinda wanted to get closer and take pic with his signature pose getting drenched in the process.

Taking pics was crazy and it took about 5mins to take one then hide it under the umbrella or keep our driver or Prasanna as a shield then wipe it completely before taking the next one. I managed to shoot a short video and you’ll be able to see the level of water clearly.

I’d never seen a waterfall carrying so much water in real life and what a treat this was. I was mesmerized and lost in a different world. She was simply spectacular and breath-taking and I’m speechless and can’t find any words to describe her any better. If I thought I’d seen water, I felt ashamed of myself when I saw this one.

However, I suddenly felt this heartache coz there are plans to build a hydro power plant near her probably killing her altogether. I’m sure you know what happened to St. Claire and many other waterfalls and it seems the same fate is gonna come upon her. What a tragedy? These darn hydro power plants are spreading like a cancer and soon we gonna have nothing but a dead body. My country will be devoid of any eco-friendly things like this in the near future at this rate.

Having seen her, we came back to Lakshapana Village using the upper road and suddenly Athula asked the driver to stop the van got down. We too came down to see the waterfall we could see from Hangarapitiya is here and the village is Morahenagama. I couldn’t find a name at the time but Atha confirmed it’s also called Gerandi Ella.

After that we went further and followed the road to the Kalugala Junction all the time listening to Harinda’s whining about being hungry. We reached Kithulagala and had rice and curry and during the meal Athula was screaming holding his chest and I thought he was having a heart attack. He put his hand through the shirt buttons and took out a big leech having fed on his blood all the time probably from Aberdeen. If it was Prince, we’d had to take him to the hospital.

Video of Aberdeen is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLDogxsm9c0

We however had gone passed the Beli Lena turning point and decided to skip it as Hariya was wanting to get home soon.

It was a memorable day coz we saw two beautiful waterfalls in full flow and worth every bit. I do hope there’ll be a stop to these stupid ways of building hydro power plant here and there killing our country and her nature.

Here my fairy tale comes to an end and actually I wasn’t meaning to write this but Hariya was very busy and Atha wouldn’t hear of doing it for me.

Hope you like it. Take care…

The Kelani Valley

Couldn’t blow them away due to dew

Seven Virgins Mountain, somewhere up is where the Martin Air Flight 138 crashed into

Harinda wanted to elope and live in a place like this

Up close…

Dancing water

Endless cascades kept me walking along the road

Getting down the steps

Posing for the pic

Mother and son was busily collecting firewood

Camera was roughly treated putting it down on hard surfaces and exposing it to water

White Water rafting would’ve been interesting in this

Hand like rock

Remains of the suspension bridge

The replacement bridge for the suspension one

Icing on the cake

St. Claire?

What a marvelous place

Out of a dream

Making numerous shapes

Tea flower

Scenic views everywhere

The road towards Maskeliya

A huge layer of mist covering the Seven Virgins

Upstream and there’s tiny fall right at the top

This is the one

Our faithful vehicle

It’s not a giant cake

Here’s the junction I mentioned. The road to right goes to Maskeliya and we took the left… The waterfall is the Lakshapana where we came from

Umbrella like flower

Another hidden cascade

The bottom part of it

Plenty of wood was piled along the road

The Lakshapana falls – Darn those cables

Gorgeous one, isn’t she?

Ok, here’s the other junction where the road goes along the upper road towards Lakshapana

We took the right hand side towards Norton Bridge

A tiny cascade where we turned around as we had passed the turning point

Here’s the Kalaweldeniya road on the right hand side

The house where the path to the falls is close by

I don’t miss any of these

Here we are… they’re showing the path entrance

The board but the big one had fallen off

Many of those were everywhere

They are coming down… Hariya trying to get into a decent pose

It’s built through this forest patch

The two companions

Even hand railings were built

One would feel like taking these and planting at their houses but please don’t

Kind of a snail I guess

The supporting wood plank had been a home for these mushrooms

Water was following us

Missing all the obstacles

The last bit built date. Thank you folks….

Artistic fern

Atha trying to negotiate the fallen tree

Oh ho….

Fiercely getting down

It’s not the rain but the water vapor

Not a leaf on it but an artistic touch

Just getting the first glance… yahooooooooooo

The platform is drenched in water and slippery while the vapor is spreading like a smoked bomb

It was crazy trying to point your camera at

Holy Moly Guacamole…

You can see the water on the lens

She alone could’ve watered the whole country

Finally some sunlight getting through the cloud cover

She even made us a rainbow to welcome us

Time to go girlie

Tend to fall down any minute

Those two couldn’t leave Harinda… but were rewarded with plenty of biccies by him

Prasanna…. Exhausted beyond words

Along the upper road towards Lakshapana Village, we saw her smiling from afar

Oh ho, it’s Lakshapana falls…

Closer… time to go

The one we saw from Hangarapitiya – Gerandi Ella

The path lies to the left

The lower part

Compare the shapes of both of them… What a coincidence… Either Banana imitated her or she imitated the Banana

Clear view… not much water so probably a season fall. Pretty high though.

Upper bit

Fed by Atha… This one was nestling on his ribs when he found