Mandaram Nuwara to Piduruthalagala – Off the beaten track

Day 1 map

Day 2 map

Year 2018 is not for instantaneous trips but to cover up long awaited dream hikes. Mandaram Nuwara to Piduruthalagala was once a dream since 2009 and Malaka’s report played a major part in it. Last year when I saw Chamitha’s journey and the bells started ringing in my ears and in real world Harinda started ringing my phone every once in two weeks asking me “when are we going to do this hike?”. My answer as always was “lets wait till things dry out a bit”. I wouldn’t waste my time explaining the beauty of Mandaram nuwara in this post because one needs to feel it in real life rather than reading it from someones blog. Getting permission was our main obstacle of the journey and Amila was the one who got us due permission from all 3 authorities. Please note getting permission from Forest department was mandatory but very difficult to get it.

It was time for us to implement our pre planned hike so we took off early as possible to reach Mandaram nuwara. While we were feeling sleepy we decided to have a quick tea somewhere after Kandy and more than the tea the verbal fight with the rowdy woman at the boutique waked us up to our pure sense. After an non-exciting adrenergic tea tasting session we took off towards Mandaram nuwara and reached there by 6AM. We had our breakfast at the morning shop and the food was hot and spicy which was indeed a great boost. We spent about 2 hours until the guides soughted out the preparation stuff before departing.

At around 7.30A.m we started walking uphill along a newly constructed road enjoying the stunning scenery around us. Our first target of the day was smiling at us and we were ready to conquer it. At one point we had to enter the forest and few hundred meters in to the forest we had our breakfast close to a miniature stream. Before the great ascent of Kodigaha kanda we had to cross the miniature stream which forms Kolapothana ella. The 1 1/2 hour hike from the base was an exhausting one but on a rainy day it would be a miserable encounter. The summit of Kodiya ara gala was a lovely vantage point and one could rest there for hours and hours just glancing towards the valley of infinity.

Kodiya ara gala

marching

Mandaram nuwara

Bowitiya

the valley to the summit

100’s of summits

flag post seen

Muhunu gala

worshiping

light

many breaks

Rhynchoglossum sp

crossing the stream

view while ascending

almost there

Wild veralu

the seed

wild berries

.	summit of Kodiya ara gala

pano

vantage point

Sinha gala

looking back down

flag post

the path we took

mandaram nuwara

the drop

we spent the night at the base of that gap

wow

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From Kodiya ara gala we headed towards Bera gahana ella and the path to it was bit tricky. There is only one point to descend if you are not returning back on the same path you climbed up. And at this point we valued the idea of including proper village guides in our team. Anura was the main guide with the instincts while Raja was the more responsible and planning guy out of these two throughout the journey.  At Bera gahana ella there were few visitors when we visited the place and they didn’t know that one needs prior permission from Forest department to reach any attraction within the Piduruthalagala forest reserve. One could appreciate the sound of a thumping drum from far away hence the waterfall got its name as “Bera gahana ella”.

collecting veralu seeds

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Bera gahana ella

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resting

lunch

From Bera gahana ella we had to climb a steep hill so before departing we had our pre cooked lunch. It took 1 hour for us to tackle this steep hill and reach Seethas herbal pond. Seethas herbal pond is a small pit in a stream where medicinal essence were poured in to it in a controlled manner (according to folklore ). It was a walk in a park from this point through 40′ tall Ashoka trees. Finally we reached our end destination for the day which was “Kansiya dowa cave” and adjoining it was the beautiful hidden virgin falls of “Hansiya dowa ella”. While some enjoyed the cold bath I decided to snap around before leaving with others to clean the cave. We cooked Noodles and made tea and decided to have an early nap. Please note there isn’t sufficient height to put up a tent so sleeping bags played a major role that day.

the steep climb from beragahana ella

sinhagala

seethas pokuna

medicine been pored in to seethas pond

where seetha had a bath

lost.

the team

Pasi gala

.	Hansiya dowa ella

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.	the cave we spent the night

preparing dinner

cave life

Next day early morning we woke up and started preparing the morning meal before packing up our stuff and deciding to leave. We started climbing uphill close to the waterfall and the loose rocks were the major obstacle of the day. One rock just brushed my knee and went tumbling down and I felt extremely lucky to survive it. We went across the huge wall to search for a point to reach the next level and if there wasn’t any guides with us we wouldn’t have found away even with the help of GPS. After a 3 hour difficult vertical hike we reached a Nelu section and at the end of it we saw the summit for the first time in our journey.

We had to take a quick descend to reach the “Lunu kola pathana” (a.k.a Pathaliya, Hae lunu pathana). We were exhausted and Harinda didnt take one step even from the place he sat down until we departed. There was a stream nearby and we refilled our bottles after having a slice of bread with cheese. We spent nearly an hour enjoying the view towards the summit before leaving this lovely mini plains.

good morning

walls

leaving early morning

Kodigala seen

marked

Kandapola potato farms

over the forest cover

Nelu stretch

finally the summit

towers seen through the mist

.	do you see him

at Pathaliya

cleared

.	Leopard poo

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the kill

the long rest

Haa lunu pathana

Plucking Haa lunu

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.	us before the final ascent

The last stretch which seemed to be an easy task was indeed a difficult one and thanks for the guides insticnts and gps we managed to tackle the bamboo forest and all other obstacles we came across. At some point we had to crawl through bushes & jump over fallen trees which was exhausting. Finally we reached out of the forest and started marching around the camp untill we reached the entrance where we introduced our selves. Since we had informed the relevant authorities prior to our visit it wasnt a problem at all. We then marched towards the summit where we took our group picture until our hired van from Nuwara eliya arrived.

obstacles

searching for a path through baamboo

mountain forest

creeping through bushes

yes we are there

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at the entrance

hakgala seen

mandaram nuwara seen

at the summit

Shanthipura

gregory lake

moon plains

We took a van to  Nuwara eliya which cost us about 2500/= and at Nuwara eliya we had a quick lunch and took the 4.30p.m bus to Mandaram nuwara via brookside. At Rajas place we had a bath and refreshed our selves with a cup of tea and said thank you to our faithful guides and departed towards our end destinations to end a yet another memorable hike.