Wangedigala, Wangedi Kanda and Balathuduwa

Year and Month	22nd & 23rd of October 2016
Number of Days	Two
Crew	35 with Ranshan & Tony
Guide	Ranjith
Accommodation	Night Camping
Transport	Hired Bus
Activities	Wildlife, Photography, Mountaineering, Hiking, Exploring the nature, Camping
Weather	Good (Small rain on second day)
Route	Colombo -> Avissawella -> Ratnapura -> Blangoda -> Kalupahana junction -> Bambarakanda fall road up to 3^rd mile post
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Start your journey early morning Hire a guide and he will help you to carry the tents and stuff Take enough water (3L) Leech protection is needed during rainy season Be careful when find the foot path in the Balathuduwa hike Do not carry plastic/ polythine Reaching to the all four peaks in a one day is not possible Highly recommend Ranjith as the guide for entire Bambarakanda area.
Related Resources	Trip reports on Wangedigala & Balathoduwa
Author	MSRF
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We all gathered near to the Pettah railway station at 4.00am and the bus left around 4.15am. We stopped the bus for breakfast after passing the Ratnapura and again we stopped the bus at Pambahinna junction to buy lunch packets. After that we came near to the Kalupahana junction by 11am and we started to walk from there to the 3rd mile post. All bags and tents were transported by three-wheelers separately and all the participants were able to come to the 3rd mile post within 40 minutes. After that we met our friendly guide Mr Ranjith and he was carried our heavy weighted tents and the rest of 6 tents were carried by the participants. We stopped at the bridge where we met the only water source during the journey at the base of Wangedigala trail. We had lunch over there and got refreshed by washing our faces. And then we started our trek at 12.30pm. Ranjith guided the journey and our members were located at the beginning and at the end.
We use the mud road as it is close to the pines forest. We took the first break at the famous stone at the pines forest. We saw the dried Bambarakanda waterfall and hidden Lanka waterfall clearly. After that we started our journey again. This route is the closest and easiest route to Wangedigala as we can go to the top quickly. However we came to the top of the Wangedigala around 3.30pm. And then Ranjith went as we hired him only for the Wangedigala. Before he leave he showed the dying water stream to Tony and our guys where it was located at the closed horse track. That was a small water stream and it takes 10-15 minutes to fill a 1Litre bottle. But in the evening our guys were able to create a dam over there by covering a raincoat and collect the water.

After the all participants came to the camping area we were started to build our tents. Finally we build 8 camping tents at the Wangedi Plains where we can see a 180 degree view towards Haputale, Idalgashinna, Devils Staircase and Horton Plains. That day is a luck day because there wasn’t any rain and there were billions of stars. The environment goes dark slowly and our guys create the massive camping fire 100ft away from the camping area. That fire was about 6ft tall and we grab many woods and pines leaves. By 7.30pm we all gathered around the camping fire and light up it. Some guys went to Wangedigala and spent some time with the stars and the darkness.

By 9.30 we all went to the respective tents and all the girls were located to two scout tents. We all had our dinner and went to sleep by 10pm. We had a good time during the night and some were waked up at 2am to see the stars falling/rain. By 5.30am we waked up and one by one went to see the dam and were surprised by seeing the water. There were enough water to wash our body too and one guy had a bath too. And some were gone to the jungle to catch rabbits too.

On the way to 3rd Milepost

At a bend

Observing the guests

Preparing to the adventure

Village Beauty

at the 3rd milepost

We are ready to the trek

Giving an introduction to the journey

We started it

Getting closer to the water stream

Moving to the jungle trek

The old bridge

Strcuked at the Mud area

jungle path

Small rest at the jungle path

Dried Bambarakanda girl

Beautiful Flowers

Entering to the Pines patch

Along the Pines forest

Resting place

We are on the track

First Group photo at the common resting place at Pines forest

Along the journey

Its time to a selfie

Resting

Trek is again started

The Wangedigala peak

Wangedigala peak zoomed

Came to the top of Wangedigala

Moving to the Camping area

Searching the path

Old is Gold

We prepared the Tents

Wangedikanda at the behind

A billion star hotel

Preparing the giant fire camp

Our Night Lamp

Plain at the top of Wangedigala

We build 8 tents

Making the dam from the little water source

Dam is ready for tomorrow morning use

Fire Camp Started

Fire at the bottom & Billions of Stars at the top

Tony in action

Just singing songs

Second Group photo at the night

Lovely capture

Haldummulla Beragala Area at Night

We had our breakfast and started Gommoli trek by 8.30. We reached to the Wangedi Kanda with in half hours and came to the Balathuduwa Mountain by 12.30pm. However there was a rain at Balathuduwa and due to the time and darkness we decided to get down from Balathuduwa to Wangeduigala base. As we didn’t carried our bags to this journey we were had our lunch which is similar to breakfast at camping site. After that we started to descend the Wangedigala at 2.30 pm and all participants reached to the Bridge by 5.30pm and had a cool bath over there. After that we all went to the Kalupahana junction by three-wheelers and came to Colombo by 1am on Monday.

All together there were 35 participants including with 2 participants over 55 year old. They are Tony and Ranjith who performed the whole journey without any help or any problem. Further there were 8 participants who had their first night camping experience from this journey. Wangedigala is a good place for camping and trekking as it gives a beautiful view over the mountains. Further we noticed that the old horse track which is closed 10 years ago is still in good condition to try a bike ride to the top of wangedigala. We met a person and he said that the road will start from 1.5km before the Kalupahana junction but there were some landslides at past hence this road closed. Because he is the person who carried “Mayim Kanu” to the top of Wangedigala by his Van 10 years ago.
We as the SOBASIRI TEAM, not doing these kind of events for money. We just join others to our own trip and give them a chance to feel the adventure, night camping and forest surviving experiences. We only collect some money from each participant for the transportation, and for the tents. Hence the cost per head is about Rs.1, 500/-. SOBASIRI TEAM is a five of people and we always highly care about the participants, there are two our members will take the lead and another 2 our members will come from the back and they will help to the people who get tired and further they will encourage the participants who is getting slow. And the other members will be at the middle of the journey to check whether all the people are in line with the journey. Before the journey we send an email to all the participants mentioning the nature of the journey and about the foods, water, bathing etc. and strictly not allowed liquor. Tony aiya (senior Lakdasun member) was participated for two of our events and he will witness for us.
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