Scenic Rakwana Mountains and Kanneliya Forest

We have been planning for a long weekend by taking Monday 3rd Feb, off – day before National day – but were not sure of our destination. Going through the options we decided on a scenic drive to Deniyaya via Buluthota Pass since we have never taken that route. We also added Lankagama waterfalls and Kanneliya forest to our list, as all these attractions were new to us.

So, on the 2nd we left Colombo around 6am and took A01 up to Gelaniyama to reach Ratnapura via Kiriella and quite enjoyed the journey along the misty winding road. From Pelmadulla we turned towards A18 and the road was good up to Madampe. Madampe – Rakwana Road was under construction and traffic was halted a number of times as trees were being cut down for road widening. We had to pass some very bad muddy patches too. Though the road was bad we enjoyed the changing scenery.
Soon we passed the 8 hair-pin bends and stopped on a number of occasions to enjoy the landscape. We could see the Rakwana mountains and the view was breathtaking.

Changing landscape of Rakwana

Numbered Hairpin Bends…

.	Enjoying a road-side waterfall…

Passing the bends it was time for a break and we came across a road-side paella where we washed the mud off (from Rakwana road) our vehicle and also enjoyed some hot-hot poll rotti from the nearby kade.

Peella with car wash facilities

After a refreshing break we passed Sooriyakanda and took the left turn from Kandamuduna to reach the peak to view the towers. But soon we had to abandon our effort as the road turned from bad to worse. The villagers assured that the bad patch will be only for about half-a-kilometer, but we did not want to take the risk – sometimes can’t rely on these “just a half kilometer” stories!

Passing Sooriyakanda

The mountain range

Road condition deteriorating

Abandoning that task we decided to visit Maduwanwala Walawwa by turning towards Kollonne from Sooriyakanda town. The road was narrow but quite all right and has not still being touched by “road development”. We reached the old Walawa by noon and spent quite some time walking from room to room in the gloomy old mansion. The restoration work has been completed and it looked quite grand from outside.

Entrance to Walawwa

Walawwa as seen from the entrance..

A page from history… – Click Image to Enlarge

Front view of main building

Adjoining building – ancient court house

Mosaic design at the entrance

One of the many courtyards

The outer wall

Complicated roof

Having spent almost 1-2 hours at Maduwanwala Walawwa it was time for lunch and we inquired about a safe bathing place and ended up at Makuluwathota River by the main road. It was almost dried up therefore safe for bathing and the kids enjoyed their river bath before lunch.

After lunch we headed towards Deniyaya via Kelle without going back to Suriyakanda. It is a shortcut and we joined A17 at Hayes. The view of the surrounding tea estates was quite breathtaking making us wonder whether we were in Nuwara Eliya.

Hayes landscape

We reached Deniyaya around 4pm and proceeded towards Kotapola, just 5 kms away, where we stayed the night at a relative’s place. The house was in the midst of a tea estate boarding a dola. The kids had a great time with their cousins splashing water in the dola till sun went down.

Next morning we were to leave after breakfast as we wanted to visit Lankagama waterfalls and planned to be there for lunch. But our relatives insisted that we visit Getabaru Devalaya which is an ancient temple on top of a nearby hill. The previous night we saw the lights of the Devalaya o n top of the hill and to me it looked liked the lit up udamaluwa of Sri Pada. A vehicle can go all the way to the top (nearly 2km) then you have to climb fleets of stone steps to reach the Bodhiya, Dageba and Getabaru Devalaya. You get an aerial view of Deniyaya from the top.

The cousins at Getabaru Devalaya

Sri Pathula in the shrine room

Fleet of steps to Udamaluwa

View from top

After observing religious rituals we returned home and it was time for a final dip in the cool and refreshing Dola before we leave.

Cool and refreshing Dola

A basin full of rambutan on the way from the Dola

Finally it was almost 2pm when we bid good bye to our relatives after lunch and we realized that we had to put off Lankagama tour to another day, but the kids did not mind at all as they had a grand time running about tea bushes and plucking juicy ramburan from the garden.

We proceeded to Morawaka and then to Neluwa via Lellawala. This stretch was undergoing widening and we had to move at a slow pace. From Neluwa we proceeded about 1km towards Pelwatta and took the right turn towards Lankagama. We drove about 7km along this road to reach Kosmulla Duvili Ella. The sign board there announced another 10.15kms to Lankagama.

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We bought tickets from the counter and climbed the concrete steps to view the falls. There was a crowd bathing in the man-made pool constructed at the entrance. The climb was easy but the fall was not in its full glamour may be due to lack of rain.

Poor looking Kosmulla Duvili Ella

Poor looking Kosmulla Duvili Ella

It was almost 4.30 when we came back to the ticket counter and had a cup of plain tea with hot hot pol rotti from the nearby kade. The nearby sign board showed 10.5 more kms to Lankagama and we realized it was pointless proceeding along the badly damaged road as it would be dark soon.

We came back to Neluwa and proceed towards Udugama via Thawalama to our night’s rest, Kanneliya Forest Rest. Just 3-4 kms before Udugama we turned left along an uphill road leading to Kanneliya Forest Reserve. The narrow, winding road has been recently carpeted and we reached the Forest Rest within minutes. It being a Monday the place was calm and quiet and we loved the shady environment. The sun was going down but we managed to get a cool deep in the crystal clear stream adjoining the resort. Our Room was just by the stream and it was spacious with two double beds and a clean large bathroom.

Our friends from Matara joined us with their kids at night and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner. The roof of the dining area has been done with Beru leaves and the caretaker said that they did it almost ten years ago and it is still in very good shape. (Of course it is covered with sheets)

The roof done with Beru leaves

Next morning after a filling breakfast we proceeded to the forest. We were there by 8am and we were the first group to arrive. We chose the easiest trail covering Anagi Mala Ella, the cave and giant pus wella – covering just 2.5km.

The trails

We were assigned with a guide and we started our journey enjoying the cool breeze in the morning day light. Our guide was Mr.Gunadasa and he was a wealth of knowledge and was very keen on explaining things in detail. We were fortunate to have him as our guide and it was an educational walk in the forest for the kids.

Mr. Gunadasa howing something to the kids

My little Tarzen

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Wallapatta plant

…..and a grown tree

The trail went through a cave. We all had almost to crawl through it and come out at the other end to continue the trail.

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An observation platform

Note the use of Beru leaves for the roof

The next attraction was the giant pus creeper. For that we had to go off the road and climb uphill through the forest.

giant pus creeper

Anagi Mala Ella was the last attraction of our chosen trail. We had to walk into the forest for more than 300 metres to see this beautiful waterfall.

Anagi Mala Ella

Anagi Mala Ella

Anagi Mala Ella

On our way back Mr. Gunadasa showed us a very rare sighting. It was the Sri Lankan Kangaroo Lizard – a tiny lizard about 5 inches in length – hiding amongst the dried leaves. On our own we would have never spotted the tiny creature.

Sri Lankan Kangaroo Lizard

When we were coming out of the forest we met many groups walking in. There were not enough guides to assist the crowds and even the officer who issued tickets in the morning was leading a group. As we were almost close to the gate Mr.Gunadasa bid us farewell and joined a group. It looked like many have chosen Kanneliya for a day outing as it is only one hour’s drive from the Baddegame exit of the Expressway.

The dormitory at park entrance

We left the park around noon and went back to the Rest looking forward towards a cool dip in the stream before lunch. The rest was crowded with day visitors but many were heading towards the forest and we had the stream to ourselves. We all had a great time in the crystal clear water.

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After almost two hours in the water we headed for lunch and had very delicious rice and curry to our hearts’ content. We went back to our rooms and had a short nap before we left Kanneliya Forest Rest around 5pm. We drove via Udagama, Kurapanawa, Nagoda to Baddegama. The road was along the Gin River and the drive was very enjoyable in the fading sun. We reached Baddegama entrance and went our separate ways – they towards Matara and we towards Colmbo – with our hearts filled with pleasant memories.

FRIENDS

Thanks for reading.