Riverston and seven waterfalls

Year and Month	October, 2012
Number of Days	Two Day Trip
Crew	3
Accommodation	Personal contact (A friend’s house close to Matale town)
Transport	Hijet van
Activities	Waterfall hunting, Scenic driving, Photography
Weather	Bright & sunny throughout, occasional showers
Route	Day 1: Wattala -> Kandy road to Peradeniya -> Katugastota -> Madawala -> Panwila -> Huluganga -> Alakola estate -> Huluganga -> Bambarella -> Huluganga -> Panwila -> Wattegama -> Matale Day 2: Matale -> Rattota -> Riverston -> Illukumbura -> Riverston -> Rattota -> Matale -> Kandy -> Kandy road Wattala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	The road from Matale to Rattota was under construction. With regards to fuel stations please read this thread. Thanks Dilhan Jayakody for your previous trip report which influenced me for this journey
Related Resources	Trip Report: Knuckles Hike from Bambarella, Thawalanthenna Side
Author	Shareez
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Riverston and seven waterfalls

As my 2nd journey of my 2012 vacation I decided to take a trip to Matale to visit few cascading beauties around the area. As many of our members has done it is no means a hike or some sought of. But just a road trip where we went on search few places where you could find the waterfalls around the area. So I got permission from my dad to have his Hijet “batta” as my transport and asked my best buddy to join me together with my wife for the journey.

Day 1

We left around 8.00 in the morning from Wattala, which is quite late than usual and reached Peradeniya somewhere around 10.30.

The 1st day journey was to head towards Bambarella through Panwila as there are quite a few waterfalls on the way. Just passing Panwila town we could see a large cascade flowing down gently from high up the mountains but couldn’t identify the name of the falls even after inquiring couple of locals form the area. We reached the small town Huluganga just close to 12.00 noon and stopped by the majestic Huluganga Falls, the waterfall which shot in to fame from the mid 80′s Sinhalese tele drama “Ella langa walawwa”. This is easily one of the most powerful waterfalls in our country and the energy and the force of the water is simply amazing. Until recently there haven’t been a proper viewing point but now an observation platform is under constructions close to the falls which will help everyone to have a better and closer look of this gigantic waterfall.

He managed to steel something

Probably a seasonal cascade

The bridge in Huluganga town Huluganga waterfall is just beneath this bridge

A Hindu god and a cow in a kovil in Huluganga town

Huluganga Falls

Powerful and gigantic force

The cascading point taken from the bridge

Then we inquired about a waterfall called Thaliya Wetuna Falls which somewhat resemble the famous St.Clare’s Falls. We had to take a small road from Huluganga town towards an estate called Alakola estate. After travelling around 2-3 kms we could see the waterfall close to the road. Interestingly within 10 minutes we were able to see Huluganga Falls which belongs to Kandy district and Thaliya Wetuna Falls which is part of Matale district. There is a clear path through the tea estates to reach closer to the base of the waterfall but it might take you an additional 1/2 an half or so. Since we were up against the time we skipped going closer and more over we were able to have a full view of the falls from the place where we were.

Alakola estate

Thaliya Wetuna Falls (close up)

Thaliya Wetuna Falls

After spending few minutes enjoying the beauty of Thaliya Wetuna Falls we continued our journey towards Bambarella. Just close to the isolated Bambarella town we could see the splendid looking Jodu Falls. This twin falls also known as Depath Falls as referred by many are documented as identical in height and flows close to each other.

Close to Bambarella

Anyone knows what’s this?

Jodu Falls

The Base close up

As a shower is around we rushed towards Bambarella town to have a look of the Saari Falls where you have to turn left uphill before the town and continue for about 500m. The place where the Saari Falls is located is just out of this world. With the rain and large number of blood suckers we walked close to the base where you find a abandoned wooden house which may have built as the observation platform just near the waterfall.

Saari Falls

The upper most level

The base pool

The abandoned hut

Cannot have a better place than this to build a house

Now it’s time to go to my friends house for overnight stay as we got few calls from them inquiring our whereabouts. We came back from Bambarella on the same route but from Panwila we took Wattegama as we needed to reach Matale. Since we have to pass Wattegama I was keen to visit at least one more waterfall and somehow managed to see Rahas Falls which is located just a couple of kms before Wattegama town on the main road itself. It is in two parts and the upper level is above the bridge on the main road and the lower level is below. Around 6.00 PM we reached my friends house and we got a very warm welcome from his family members.

Rahas Falls – Upper level

Rahas Falls – Lower level

Day 2

Our plan was to pay a visit to some of the little known waterfalls around Matale such as Kumbaloluwa Falls and Wambatuhena Falls in Laggala, Wegala Falls and the popular Hunnas Falls in Elkaduwa and few other more around. But last moment after discussing with my friends family we decided to go Riverston and Sera Falls. It was our first visit to Riverston so was really excited about it. After having a delicious breakfast we said good bye to the family members of my friend and left their place around 9.00 AM.

The journey to Riverston as most of you know is amazingly unforgettable. It took us more than three hours to reach to Sera Falls which is located about 20kms from Ilukkumura town. We stopped by many places on the way enjoying the fascinating views of Knuckles forest reserves and Riverston hills including the legendary Manigala.

Towards Riverston from my friends balcony

Little hut

Scenery

Manigala

Towards Pitawala Patana

Pitawala Patana

Sign board of Mini worlds end

Road to heaven

End of the road??

The road to Sera Falls from Ilukkumbura was not in good shape but still manageable even with a small car. The water level was not as we expected specially after the rain but still it had plenty of beauty to satisfy our eyes. We didn’t miss out to go to the small cave which is behind the falls. It was indeed an unforgettable experience as you were able to see a waterfall from behind where it flows is quite amazing. There were few “Nai humbas” or snake houses on the way. As expected we came across a baby cobra on our foot steps from Sera Falls while returning back.

Way to Sera Falls

Rural village life along Thelgamu Oya

Sera Falls side view

Left branch

Sera Falls

Amazing cave experience

Viewing hut from the cave

Path to Sera Falls

While returning from Sera Falls we stopped by Bambarakiri Falls which is located about 5kms before Rattota from Ilukkumbura. We left Matale town around 5.00 PM and reached Wattala just before 10.00 at night after 2 wonderful days of nature experience.