| Year and Month | October 2012 (and one random visit in July) |
| Number of Days | Two Day Trip |
| Crew | 7 (4 monks) and one dog |
| Accommodation | A Friends place |
| Transport | Hiking, Archeology and scenery |
| Activities | Safari / Photography / Wild Life |
| Weather | A mixture of Sunny and overcast weather conditions |
| Route | Monaragala -> Siyambalanduwa-> Wadinagala -> Inginiyagala -> Ampara -> Deegavapiya -> returned back on the same route |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
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| Author | Ashan |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
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The map | Spill in pink, Ovagiriya in violet, path in green | Click Map to Enlarge
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Mount Inginiyagala as seen from Pallan hela
Inginiyagala is a well-known travel destination for most of us but have you’ll ever noted the mountain peak which forms one side of the dam? The summit of mount Inginiyagala (1035ft) is one of those most scenic points I have ever seen which is why I wanted to climb it so much. So together with few friends working at Ampara, I decided to give it a try on a public holiday. So we arrived at the starting point which is the “Inginiyagala Piriwena” at around 9am. There is a path starting from the temple which will take you to one of the peaks which the locals call as “Punchi Siri Pade”. Four little monks from the temple did volunteer to take us to the summit happily with no hesitation at all.
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Dam of Senanayake reservoir
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  view towards ul hela of Gal oya park |
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Gal oya reservoir
The path will first take one towards the Mini pagoda built on a rock from where you can see the fisheries of Inginiyagala clearly. From here onwards the uphill adventure was quite a challenge and the little monks were jumping, crawling, screaming and happily climbing uphill with us. We did take few pit stops before we reached the “Punchi Sri pade” summit where the “siri pathula” stone is kept for worship. Though the surrounding panoramic view was bit obscured we did identify some common landmarks such as Ali oluwa lake, Namal oya reservoir, parts of Gal oya reservoir, fisheries etc. after having some “Weera fruits” we descended a bit to find a rock pond which was formed in the rocky wall, which we had to climb up to collect some pure water to satisfy the thirsty young ones and our four legged guide (a temple dog) Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  our guides |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  plucking Weera |
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the mini pagoda
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the wise one |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  more to climb |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Wasp’s in vicinity |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  a natural cave |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the little monks |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  they really loved taking snaps |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Punchi siri pade |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  on the summit of punchi siri pade |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the siri pathula |
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towards Ali oluwa lake
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Wadinagala, Walasgala, govinda hela and part of jayanthi wewa can be seen
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Gal oya reservoir through the bushes |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  an old mill |
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Govinda hela and walasgala zoomed
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Pallan hela seen on the right
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the other peak which we need to get to
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  mans best friend |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  getting down from the rock pond |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  crystal clear water |
I actually wanted to get to the second peak but time was a major factor on that day. So I would add some info about the second peak which I visited recently for the sake of completeness. Actually the second peak is not so far away and one need to go along the neck which connects both peaks together and it won’t even take 15 minutes to reach it. After tackling some bushes we came to the 2nd peak which has one of the best views as I expected and I would never forget the scenery which I enjoyed on my second visit. From the top of Mount Inginiyagala one can easily visualize the Gal oya reservoir, the dam and the bund house, the spill, fisheries, Pallan hela, mountains of Damana, Ekgal oya, wadinagala, Ul hela, Danigala and Rathugala mountains, the Iginiyagala – Wadinagala road, Gal oya power house and out of all of them I loved the sight of bathing elephants. Very close to the summit there is a huge cave which belonged to the “Vedda” called “Igini” which can easily accommodate 100 people.
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Namal oya reservoir
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towards Makare
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namal oya zoomed
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on the way scenery
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the cave of IGINI |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the perfect shelter on the summit |
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the summit of Iginiyagala
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a Panorama of gal oya reservoir
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towards Wadinagala
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the 1Km bund of the reservoir |
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the forest reserve
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towards the spill
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  The spill of inginiyagala zoomed |
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time for a bath
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hay are you fine pal
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Senanayake reservoir
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the fisheries
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the power house and gal oya |
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the largest reservoir in Sri Lanka
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drought has affected the water level
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  an isolated island |
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superb scenery
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the bund house
The downhill journey on both occasions was tricky and we lost are way on both instances, while descending we came across a Wasp hive and fortunately we saw it on time before experiencing nightmares in day light. After getting down to the mini “sthupa” we had some bread to satisfy our hungry stomachs, before we left the temple premises saying good bye to the little monks.
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having some bread
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Spill of senanayake reservoir |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  on the spill |
Our next plan was to visit Kossapola camp site and enjoy the dusk while spotting few elephants and birds. And guess what we were lucky enough to achieve our objective before leaving the camp site. At around 5.30 pm just before the sun decided to set we arrived at Ampara tank and watched how the sun disappeared to rise again on another day.
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  on the way to Kossapola |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  mixed with nature |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  care of a mother |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  oh three jumbos seen far away |
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and more of them
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towards Wadinagala
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  a fish eagle |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  an Indian roller |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  a Path of an Elephant |
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I really love this picture
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Fly away birdy |
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honestly I wanted to have a dip
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  at Ampara tank |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  sun sayed good bye to us |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Walking on gold |
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Wadinagala at the back drop of Sama Pagoda
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annual gathering
Next day morning my friend and I left towards Deegavapiya and on the way we did stop at Irakkamam tank too. Before reaching Deegavapiya we took the right hand turn towards Deegavapi “Parivara sthupaya” which seemed to be a modified place with nothing much ancient to be found. At this point we were lucky enough to observe a fish eagle at close range by a nearby tank before leaving towards Deegavapiya. Deegavapiya premises remained crowded at that day we visited, because the previous day was a full moon day. It was very interesting to witness excavation been carried out in large scale. After having a “Beli mal” drink with “hakuru” we left towards Ampara where I had to say good bye to my friend.
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Sun rise on the very next day |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  fishing at Irakkamam lake |
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seems like all are fishing
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  at Deegavapiya Pariwara pagoda |
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scenery from Deegavapi pariwara pagoda
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  another majestic fish eagle |
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a Brahmin kite
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Deegavapiya |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  to be re constructed |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  parts of the wahalkada |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  part of a budhdha statue and some siri patul stones |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Athulu maluwa |
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inside the newly built image house
Since it was around 8am I decided to go to Kondawattawana in search of some ancient ruins (this place is very difficult to find). A farmer volunteered and showed me some ruins which were across an elephant fence. Sadly there was no one in this deserted area to inquire further about any other ruins. So ending my brief visit I got in to a Iginiyagala bus and left towards Ovagiriya(at Polwatte junction) which is a very unique road side archeological reserve that one needs to visit. At that time the most fascinating findings were the Budhdha statue resembling the Maligawila statue and the remains of the building which had two floors once. At that stage the pagoda was not excavated but recently after they excavated it I paid another visit to see this unique construction where the “athulu maluwa” was found to be an Octangle in shape. After hanging around a bit I had to decide to end my plans of any further adventures because my camera battery ran dead. So I got in to the very next bus and returned back to Monaragala with some awesome memories.
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  the board which led no where |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  a ancient building at Kondawattawana |
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few stone pillars
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lush green kondawattawana
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the kondawattawana lake
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ruins at Ovagiriya
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the statue and remnats of the image house
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more ruins
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  note the korawak gala and , moon stone |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  a chatra stone |
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another building
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ancient tiles
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remnants of a two floor building
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  minature umbrellas |
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in October
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note the octangle shape of the athulu maluwa
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  vandalized years ago |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  a siri pathul stone |