A Long Way Back

(From Bambarella through Kalupahana along Kalu-ganga to Rambukoluwa and Pallegama) Continuing from  The Hike of My Life - 4 Days in the Knuckles Range: Day 3 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...

(From Bambarella through Kalupahana along Kalu-ganga to Rambukoluwa and Pallegama) Continuing from  The Hike of My Life - 4 Days in the Knuckles Range:Day 2 Day 3 The morning was cold, way colder than the night. After having a little breakfast, some crackers with cheese and coffee, we set out around 8 a.m., heading for the place where the trail branched off to two just after passing the tree-trunk bridge. The previous day, we tried the trail to the right. Since it did not give us much hope, our only chance was to try the trail to the left. The set of waterfalls, including Doowili Falls, belongs to Kalu Ganga, the river flowing northeast, initiating from the middle of the Knuckles Range. So our decision was based on pure logic; just follow a stream that would eventually lead us to the river and that is exactly what we did. Although the trail got lost, we kept pushing forward, descending, following the sound of the streams and eventually found the starting point of a stream tha...

(From Bambarella through Kalupahana along Kalu-ganga to Rambukoluwa and Pallegama) Continuing from  The Hike of My Life - 4 Days in the Knuckles Range:Day 1 Day 2 Amidst the freezing cold and thick mist, we managed to pack our camping gear early in the morning and start the hike. Our plan was to climb down a little further and find a way to go around the mountain to avoid the cliff, so it took about one and a half hours when we were climbing another mountain, which seemed to be to the east where the huge cliff was, and could get to the top of it where there was another cloud forest beginning from the top, which we had no choice but to cross. You can see the mountain I mentioned below (first photo) and the forest on top (second photo). If you zoom in, you’ll notice the cardamom trees, which are about 6 feet tall. This is the sight that made us jump for joy, since this was the first clue that our first destination was closer. ...

(From Bambarella through Kalupahana along Kalu-ganga to Rambukoluwa and Pallegama) “The hike of my life” as the title says, was an experience of a lifetime for me and four of my friends, which pushed us to our limits for four days in the wilderness in the Knuckles Range. Day 1 On July 17th, 2013, it was 7.30 a.m. when the Wattegama-Bambarella bus reached its last stop-Bambarella, 38 km away from Kandy. After getting some misleading directions, we finally found the entrance to Lebanon Estate and along the estate vehicle track, we headed for Rathnagiriya Estate. Lebonon estate vehicle track Lebonon estate On the way, we met ‘Maniraj’, a farmer living in that area who used to work in a cardamom estate in Kalupahana 15 years ago. He showed us great hospitality by inviting us to his house and also put us in contact with another person named ‘Kob...