Marching from Kalupahana to Ohiya (24Km’s)

Year and Month	July, 2014
Number of Days	One
Crew	3 (Lahiru, Nishan & myself)
Accommodation	Bambarakanda Holiday resort
Transport	Public transport / Train / Walking
Activities	Trekking / Scenery / Photography
Weather	Sunny and extremely windy
Route	Bambarakanda holiday resort -> V- Cut -> Yahalatenna -> West Haputale -> Devils stair case -> Udaweriya -> Ohiya – HP road -> Ohiya -> Ella -> Monaragala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Carry water you will need it, also take some food stuff Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took Best time to visit is during April or August Ask directions from locals The route we took was through Udaveriya and it is 24Km’s from Badulla road towards Ohiya Accommodation options could be found at Udaweriya and Bambarakanda Road condition were terrible after the V-cut Check the train schedule from Ohiya otherwise you would get stranded Need a 4WD vehicle (trishaw drivers won’t run on this road)
Related Resources	Trail guide: Scenic and adventure drive to Horton Plains from Kalupahana Trip reports: Bambarakanda to Ohiya and Horton plains
Author	Ashan
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The map – click to enlarge

The famous scenic hike from Kalupahana to Ohiya was one I wanted to do for a while and as usual this was decided within few hours. On the previous day we hiked Gommolliya and were spending the night at Bambarakanda rest relaxing and watching the football world cup. Since our Sunday plan was to return back to our homes we decided to alter it and do this hike. Bambarakanda rest which is managed by Mrs. Mayakaduwa is located 4km’s from Kalupahana so we had 20 more Km’s to get to Ohiya.

After packing up our breakfast and Lunch which Mrs. Mayakaduwa prepared we started hiking along the well paved road. After 2Km’s in to the hike we came across some awesome scenery towards Wangedigala and Gommolli range. The beautiful cascade of Bambarakanda was adding value to the scenery too. Our first landmark was V-cut which was very windy; passing it we came to the causeway where the Bambarakanda stream crossed the road. The windiest part was the stretch from this stream to Yahalatenna which was waiting to blow us away. Passing Yahalatenna we reached West Haputale and after passing west Haputale it was a lonely path. The scenery towards the Walawe valley started to fade away and we were crossing the gap towards Udaveriya side.

dawn at Gommolliya

tiny stream of Bambarakanda

Wangeidigala seen on the way

Wangedikanda range

beautiful scenery

alltogether

the new road to ohiya

v cut to be carpeted

enjoying the wind

bambarakanda stream

what a scenery

scenic route

enjoying the wind and scenery

at Yahalatenne

4wd only

curious onlookers

landmarks

Rest in heaven

Delica no 1

Delica No 2

never seen a pagoda painted like this

through the houses

shortcuts

lovely leaves

Delica no 3

entering west haptale

road side beauties

this was found below a bridge

upper part which could be seen by the road

Udawalawe was seen clearly

crossing towards Udaveriya

entering the devils staircase

The acute descent with hair pin bends which we passed through was known as Devil’s staircase. The scenery became much more fascinating and we couldn’t stop clicking while hiking along the road. We were walking through many line houses and at one point we reached the Horton plains short cut which takes one to the main road from Ohiya to HP. Since we were not going to Horton plains we proceeded along the road and reached a mini lake at Udaveriya where we had some snacks. Next mile stone was the Udaveriya abandoned factory. After traveling 7Km’s from the previously mentioned junction we reached the turpentine patch which lead us towards the Ohiya Horton plains road. We were very happy that we finally reached the main road but we had to hurry to Ohiya to catch the train. So the running part begun, after walking for 18 plus Km’s running was not easy at all. We somehow reached Ohiya railway station 10 minutes before the train arrived. It was almost 6 hours of uphill walking and we were dead tired, for our pleasure the train arrived on time at around 2.30pm. We got in to the new power set and started untying our lunch packets for lunch thanking Mrs. Mayakaduwa for this wonderful meal. My friends got off at Haputale to return to Colombo. And I did proceed towards Ella to end my two day memorable journey around Kalupahana.