| Year and Month | August, 2014 |
| Number of Days | Two Day Trip |
| Crew | 5 (between 24-27 years of age) |
| Accommodation | Lodge (Martin’s Lodge) |
| Transport | Bus, cab service and Jeep
|
| Activities | Hiking, Wildlife and Photography |
| Weather | Excellent – Weather was excellent and there was no rain and it allowed us to focus on more interesting creatures. Daylight was still there until 7 pm |
| Route | Kandy -> Ratnapura -> Kalawana -> Sinharaja rain forest |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
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| Related Resources | |
| Author | wolfgang |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
Last year August our team had a chance to make the long traverse over little-used paths that connect the two major entrances of Sinharaja. Sinhagala is roughly 17 km from the core-zone entrance above Kudawa.
The path to Sinhagala is arguably one of the most beautiful rainforest walks in terms of the diversity of scenery, landscape and the view from the summit.
On Aug 8 2014 three of us started the journey from Kandy at 14:30, it was a rainy day and we were about to miss the bus to Ratnapura but managed to catch it. We reached Ratnapura around 19:30, two of our crew were on their way to Ratnapura from Colombo and they reached around 21:30. There was a cab service we hired previously and they reached to the town around 22:00 and we all set to go.
The road to Kalawana was so dark and no street lights. When we reached Kalawana area the jeep service from Martin’s lodge arrived there to pick us. All our gears were transferred to the jeep and we started the journey from there to the lodge, the road was uneven and in some areas it was a nightmare to move forward. Our room was ready at the lodge and we slept as soon as we reached there.
Kudawa Conservation centre
Aug 9
After a breakfast and tea at Martin’s Forest Lodge we started our journey to Snhagala at 07:30, The forest was waking up after a night of nearly little rain. Early in the morning we spotted a monkey, a Red face Mal Koha and some of the rarest birds that found nowhere else in the world. We continued walking through the trail, at the research center the trail thins and it is clear that the Sinhagala trail is a different sort of route.
The path was overgrown with tree ferns and shrubs.
There were brief climb ups and downs, broken bridges in some sections.
This area of the rain forest is heavily infected with leaches but the repellent we carried allowed us to focus on more interesting creatures. Water from the streams was clear and good to drink without any treatment.
0 to 1.9 KM after passing the entrance to the protected area
A bird spotted
Bee nest
Clear path and good weather
Since we wanted to spend more time at Sinhagala peak we were forced to take the full advantage of our time for the first part of the trail until we reach the climbing point.
After crossing several small streams after waypoint S18 we reached to a little larger stream way point 21, it was impossible for us to cross this area as the water level was high, a temporary bridge was made to cross this part of the trail.
We made the way to cross the stream
Crossing
Thick dense forest
The path was overgrown with tree ferns and shrubs.
After crossing this stream we felt that we have started climbing up, within the next 400 to 500m we reached to another stream where there is no clear sign or path to continue the trial, from this point we climbed up and found the continuation of the trail trough the small cave. This part of the trail takes a long time as it’s a steep and extremely hard climb to reach the summit.
Climb up
At the last water source
It was 14:30 when we reached the Sinhagala peak; the view from the summit is absolutely amazing and breathtaking.
View from the Sinhagala Peak
At the summit
At the summit
Hike statics – Two way
After spending an hour at the summit, we stared descending and arrived Martin’s lodge at 19:30. It is un-doubtfully a very challenging hike that you could do in Sinharaja.