The Hike of My Life-4 Days in the Knuckles Range:Day 4

(From Bambarella through Kalupahana along Kalu-ganga to Rambukoluwa and Pallegama)
Day 4

We were determined to find a way to get to the bottom of the 9th waterfall. The night before, each of us agreed to take two-hour shifts to guard the tent, but by the end of the night it had changed, at least two of us were awake the whole time and spent time talking (I'm just gonna drop the fact that we were too scared to take the watch alone :) 


Since our food supplies were running out and mostly because we had no clue when we'd be able to reach human habitat, we decided to start the journey as early as 6 a.m. after having a little breakfast and packing up the tent. To reach the bottom, we had to go around the waterfall, and it was a slippery slope, but actually that made us go faster using tree branches as a support. It felt like flying. After more than two hours of climbing down, we found the river, but it was a little further away from the bottom of the fall. Under the circumstances, we didn't bother to go back and see the waterfall. Instead, we moved forward along the river.


I suppose I don't need to explain in words the paradise we were in for anyone who sees the pictures below. As a matter of fact, I believe it's not even possible to express in words what we just witnessed. 


 
Welcome to the paradise...


More waterfalls along the way...




The elevation was around 600 meters. We were still going forward with a moderate descent, but it was easier, jumping from rock to rock along the river. After three days, we were like professionals. "Rivers are highways in the jungle." That is so true. The river widened as we moved forward. By accident, Dulitha discovered a Hump-nosed viper(පොලොන්තෙලිස්සා) coiled on a rock. They are moderately venomous species that are quite common in the dry zone. 




Hump-nosed Viper - පොලොන්තෙලිස්සා


A look back at the direction we came from.
Far away is the mountain Thunhisgala


This is the last waterfall we came across.


Giant pools all the way....


The river became wider and wider. It was just past noon and something we had not anticipated happened. The river was flowing straight. We could see far away along the river and that's when we noticed someone bathing in the river. After 4 days, for us, it was like a miracle. We just quickened our steps and when we got closer, it became even more miraculous.  It was a Buddhist monk. He had been meditating in that area for quite some time. Finally, we were able to figure out where we were.  I got so thrilled that I forgot to take a photo. At that time, we felt like mother nature was helping us.  

Anyway, the monk showed us a footpath leading to the village, Rambukoluwa. It was around an hour of walking. After offering some food left in our bags, we bid farewell and headed to the village. After a half hour walk, the paddy fields of Rambukoluwa were visible and the first structure we came across was the village school. Rambukoluwa is a little village with good hospitable people. They even invited us for lunch, but we had to respectfully decline since there were about 10 kilometers left to go to reach Pallegama. But I have to mention the nice kid who volunteered to show us around  the village. This time I did not forget to take a photo of him, actually he posed for the photo like a pro :)

No more footpaths; from Rambukoluwa there's a paved way, more like a jeep track, which eventually joins the road from Matale to Pallagama via Revestone, but we still had to walk a long way. So we bid farewell to a village full of nice people and headed for Pallegama. 

Footpath leading to the village Rambukoluwa
    

Paddy fields in Rambukoluwa Village


Rambukoluwa Village School

Entering Rambukoluwa Village...


The little henchman of the village head and our guide around the village...

Road from Rambukoluwa to Pallegama

            
The road from Matale to Pallegama via Riverstone


We reached Pallegama at about 4.30 pm, took a bus to Dambulla and returned home with memories of a lifetime. So here's the end of the four day hike. It has been one hell of an experience for me and my friends.

Thank you for reading.


The crew from the left - Udana, Buddhila, Dulitha, me, Supun

Location: Knuckles, Knuckles Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 16, 2015 at 10:25 AM

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