Bambarakanda – Explored to the Fullest in 3 Days

The moment I read Bambarakanda trail reports on Lakdasun, the adventurer inside me kept saying “wanna go, wanna go, wanna go” like a mantra.

So I tried to get a friend or two to join me but in the end I was left alone with no one to join me. Since I’ve already been to N’Eliya and around all on my own before, I thought of doing this too all on my own.

When I called Bambarakanda Rest, Mrs Mayakaduwa and her daughter Erandi and son-in-law Lanka were very hospitable and helpful and encouraged me to come. So away I went in the wee hours on 11 August from Nugegoda in a jam-packed bus.

It was hard going since I had hardly any space to move, but luckily managed to get a seat around Ratnapura.

I got down at Kalupahana junction (which has two small shops and a tuk tuk stand) and had to wait about half hour until the friendly shop owner called for a tuk tuk. It’s about 5 km to the hotel from the Kalupahana Junction and it’ll cost about Rs. 350-400/-.

It’s always advisable to call ahead so that they’ll arrange a reliable and a cheap tuk tuk for you.

It was around 8.00 am when I reached the hotel and immediately felt at ease when I saw the place and surrounding areas

View from the Bambarakanda Rest

Painted on a rock in the hotel

One of the cottages

A letter from the mother nature (Do read) – Click Image to Enlarge

Mrs. Mayakaduwa arranged some breakfast and got Ranjith to join me for the journey. Her son-in-law Lanka also joined us carrying our packed lunch and a bottle of water.

So about 9.30 am we left for Lanka Ella which is about 2.5 km away. I thought of visiting as many waterfalls as I could so we kept Bambarakanda for the evening as the last attraction.

The journey was pleasant through pine forest. (The path can be extremely slippery but Ranjith knew what he was doing, most of the time he had to guide me through holding onto me coz I was frantic about slipping down into an abyss of some sort.)

On the way to Lanka Ella

Tiny fall before Lanka Ella

First glimpse

Lanka Ella got her name due to the shape of the base pool of her which resembles Sri Lanka. Mrs. Mayakaduwa even joked that Sri (me) and Lanka (her son-in-law) went to see Lanka Ella which is like Sri Lanka, what a combination our names made

The shape of the fall

Looks really like SL

It really was a breathtaking view even though she wasn’t on her full flow due to drought.

Lanka Ella

We then climbed to the top of Lanka Ella where the stream flows down the rocky outcrop to make her

On the way to the top of Lanka Ella, further up is over the mountains Horton Plains

From the path

It really was amazing and unbelievably beautiful. You can see the mountains all around bordering Horton Plains, Wangedigala and some others.

Ranjith (front) and Lanka

From the top

Small pool on the top

Good for a dip

Me and Ranjith

Erandi (Mrs. Mayakaduwa’s daughter) said that there are about 7 more unnamed falls along that stream and you have to travel through the thick forest to get to them. She and her friends had actually found them during one of their A/L projects.

I knew we didn’t have enough time for that, but plan to do that journey one day camping in the jungle and Ranjith said he’d be happy to join us.

So when I asked Ranjith said we can go to the first of those which still hasn’t got a name but I saw on Lakdasun that some others who had visited had named it Yalathanna falls after the village it’s located in. So I too stuck to that name and it’s about another 2km further up from Lanka Ella.

We had to go through a tea estate and then thick forest and it was hard going as no one seems to have been there before.

Finally we reached the down stream and walked up it towards the fall.

Through the tea estate into the thick forest

Finally reached the stream

Further up

It really was a magnificent one and had lot of water too. It has a huge hall on the rocky surface it falls down.

Yalathanna falls

Enough water for a drought hit area

See the big hole

Up close

The base pool was crystal clear and I suddenly felt like a dip but thought against it. After about half hour we climbed back to the foot path towards the World’s End road.

Crystal clear pool

See the foot path we took???

Around halfway we stopped at another stream to have lunch. We were hungry after the long and tiring excursion but I was beaming inside

Where we had lunch

Lanka Ella from World’s End Road

Then we reached the road (This is the one you can take to reach the World’s End from Kalupahana) and came down towards the Bambarakanda

Oh yeah, She’s the tallest

We had to climb down another steep path to reach the upper part of the Bambarakanda which has another small waterfall. Ranjith had to give me a helping hand every now and then

Parissamen Paya Burulen Thaba Waren

The top of the fall was a miracle and it has another beautiful small fall

Small fall on top of the Bambarakanda

Our hotel seen from the top

From up there we saw our hotel tiny like a toy house and you could see miles and miles into the distance. It still had substantial amount of water. You can safely have bath up there but I decided against it.

I stood legs apart where the small stream falls through to make the tallest waterfall in SL. It really wan one in a million experiences.

Good for a safe bath

790ft below

The start of her

Hey, it flows through my legs

Then we climbed down to the base of the Bambarakanda. I wish there were a bit more water but had to be content with what was there.

Like a silk saree

Not enough water for my liking

Again ample chances for bathing

Around 3.30 pm, after another unforgettable journey we reached the hotel and had some tea.

Vivid colours

From the hotel

Pencil thin

A small beauty

I had no fixed plans for the following day and while having tea, Mrs. Mayakaduwa, very impressed with our journey, suggested we do the Wangedigala Rock trail. However Lanka had to go to Colombo due to an interview so it was Ranjith and me who had to do the trail.

Erandi said that we even could go to Seven Basins; Ranjith then suggested we climb the Wangedigala and then come through the forest path to the seven basins. I was naturally hooked.

So early morning we set of again with lunch and a water bottle (If you do the Wangedigala, do take lots of water coz it’s very sunny and you tend to get dehydrated very soon) along a foot path and met the pine forest.

Along the way

Redundant suspension bridge

It was steep climbing again and slippery like nothing.

There were lots of pine leaves on the ground due to dry season. However one relief was there were no leeches to disturb us. I was horror stricken when I did the Sinhagala Trail in July when we were attacked by waves after waves of leeches.

The Scary bit

Who’s there?

This is the mountain which harbours Bambarakanda

After a tiring climb, we reached the top of Wangedigala Rock and all around were so beautiful.

Wangedigala, almost

Below from Wangedigala rock

Ranjith said that you can see the sea beyond Yala on a clear day and have a binocular with you. The top is somewhat flat ground and has a length about 800m towards the other end

View from top

Ranjith admiring the view, someone has left a flag on a pole but didn’t like the idea of using polythene

Flat summit

There was sign that there had been a road right up to the top from Balangoda side but not in use anymore. Mrs. Mayakaduwa later confirmed that she used to go there with her husband on a jeep. We even called her from the top and could see the hotel far away.

Never ending beauty all around

Campers?

We stayed about half hour on top in the scorching sun however it was a pleasant stay

Further up is Balathuduwa Kanda

Poles put up by Survey department

Beauty

Anyway little did I know that we had one of the most arduous journeys downhill through thick jungle evading razor sharp thorn bushes, pits, loose rocks and other dangers such as Giant Spiders, snakes too? (To my amazement I came across the Giant Spider which was fortunately dead)

Oh my god……………

Giant Spider… very very poisonous

Dead Rahaiya

Razor sharp thorns… was thinking of using for tooth picks

Another poisonous wasps

Never easy

Gosh, is it far?

It was nearly dark inside the jungle and I felt a bit nervous too. Every time I ask Ranjith how far more, he would say “a little more” and in the end I was fed up asking and getting the same answer. I was ravenous but wanted to get down to seven basins for lunch.

I was thankful for Ranjith bringing a 1.5l water bottle coz you need a lot of water to go on like that.

Eventually after a tiring journey I got a glimpse of the waterways below and immediately felt relieved. Ranjith said that he’d never taken anyone in that path before and was anyhow surprised to see I was not giving up.

Hurrahhhhhhhh…. finally

Very very steep

We then climbed down to the stream and after a wash had our lunch. It must have been the most delicious of all coz I was that hungry. I nearly choked on my food as I was wolfing it down.

This is where we had lunch

One of the seven basins

Then lying there about half hour did me real good and started to go upwards through the seven basins (It’s a collection of seven basins along the path and in the end come to a small waterfall.)

Really nice after the tiresome down hill

Some more

Gushing down

It was such a grand excursion and I was glad amid all that tiring we made it to the seven basins too

I named this “Seven Basins’ Falls

Up close

Ranjith was also exhausted

After about an hour we started to go back and it was one of the scariest walks through slippery pine and I was holding onto a stick and Ranjith too for support.

See yah sometime

However when we reached solid ground, I was relieved and reached the hotel around 5.00 pm. While having tea, Mrs. Mayakaduwa was surprised to hear what we did that day.

I’ve marked the path we took from the top… can’t imagine we actually did it

We then discussed our plan for the following day, and decided to walk up to devil’s staircase and visit Uduwara and Nagadowa falls too.

I was feeling feverish that night however was adamant on finishing my stay in grand style. In the morning to my surprise I was feeling a lot better and it was Mrs. Mayakaduwa’s birthday too. So Erandi hand made a delicious Kiribath and after cutting the birthday milk rice we went on our journey.

Birthday Kiribath

Mrs. Mayakaduwa and me

We didn’t take any lunch as I was planning on returning around 2.00 pm coz I had to go back to Colombo the same day.

So we first went to Ranjith’s house and he got us some guavas from his gardens which came handy as we had no snacks to have on the way. The road is in dire need of renovation, it’s been concreted a bit more from the hotel and from there onwards gravel till it meets Ohiya-World’s End road about another 18km away

Wasps are a constant threat

The green serpent (Ahatulla)

We then reached the famous V cut where the road is bordered by two rocky hills on either side making it look like a V.

V cut

From the other side

After that junction, Ranjith took a short cut through the tea estate and we cut our distance about 3km.

The drought has caused some serious problems for tea industry

View from the short cut Ranjith took

We again came to the road and went through Udaveriya bungalow to the devil’s staircase

They use solar panels to get electricity and mini hydro power plants too

Mini hydro power plant

Tiny fall along the path to devil’s staircase

.

Hawk in waiting for a prey

After about 15 minutes and a couple of guavas we turned back and came along the same path to visit Uduwara and Nagadowa falls.

It’s about 2-3km from the hotel and we had to turn take a turn about 750m from the hotel to our right towards the hill.

The path lies over those houses

That journey was almost breathtaking and it was very sunny too. However there was a nice cool breeze coming across the mountains to take our tiredness away.

Everywhere is amazing

Col-Badulla highway, Kalupahana twin bridge

Around halfway, we both were hungry but had run out of our supply of guavas. Lucky as we were, I saw a couple of guava trees full of yellow and green bulbs and felt overjoyed. Ranjith climbed up and plucked about dozen of ripe guavas and we continued happily on

They need lots of rain

Finally a re supply of energy

Tea factory on top

Lead the way

We then reached the view point to the Nagadowa and Uduwara falls which and be seen simultaneously.

On either side, very much dried up

The falls to the left of Uduwara falls and slightly above it is called Nagadowa falls. It’s very difficult to reach the base of these waterfalls as it requires walking through a deep rough valley with thick forest cover

Uduwara Ella

There are two parts

Nagadowa Ella…

Ranjith asked if I wanted to tackle those and reach the base of the pool, I said we could try another time and really meant it.

Everywhere

They have to carry the goods for day-to-day use like these… even the kids have to do their bit

Then we came back to the good old Bambarakanda Rest and Erandi had made a celebration lunch for us. We even had a lot of guavas left and since I had no present for Mrs. Mayakaduwa, offered them to her.

I left there around 3.30 pm and reached Colombo around 9.00 pm.