"Birds of a feather flock together"
Date: 17th and 18th January, 2016
Our journey began around 04:30 am from Kelaniya. We made so early to avoid traffic jam. We reached to Kalawana without any hassle. We came to Kalawana through Kaduwela -> Hanwella -> Ingiriya -> Idangoda -> Ayagama -> Batamandiya and Nikagoda.
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| On the way through Ayagama Road... |
The Kalawana town was not so active due to Sunday. By 8:30 am, shops keep opening and we managed to buy some food items for the Temple as there are no real food stores in that area.
From Pothupitiya Junction to Milinduthalawa, the narrow road was very bad. It took us nearly 90 mins to travel just 6 km. We had a classic Austin Mini and our expert Chauffeur Kanishka managed to take us to the
Milinduthalawa Wana Senasuna (a monastery).
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| Milinduthalawa Temple |
The High Priest venerable Veherahene Dammasiddhi thero was so kind to welcome us and give accommodation at Wana Senasuna.
We have given a choice to select the cottage. So we selected the far end cottage as its in the middle of the forest which offers Nature friendly environment with peace and tranquility. Only the bird voices and wind dashing through the forest leaves gave peace to our minds. We could see different kinds of colorful birds just beside our window.
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| Pathway to the cottage... |
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| Wonderful cottage where we stayed... |
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| Colorful birds... |
On behalf of you, we have recorded the nature sounds near the cottage.. Listen... and relax...
(you may use a Headphone to listen)
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| Crystal clear water with full of minerals flowing down through Milinduthalawa... |
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After the lunch, he gave us a young 16 year old boy “Madusha” who was very pleased to take us through the village to a very beautiful waterfall . Almost every one whom we met on our way and back, greeted us and talked to us with friendly manner. I could not believe that still there are wonderful humans living in this country. The Venerable also told us that these village people are very friendly.
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| Madusha, our young local guide... |
We climbed to the closest point of the waterfall. I could not stand under the dashing water as she was poring water from more than 25 feet. Water was cold but not so. It is crystal clear water and we all drank as much as we could drink. Where do you get best water in Colombo..?
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| We had to cross this Chain bridge which was badly maintained... |
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| Breath taking waterfall... |
Madusha gave us a wonderful l explanation about this village and surroundings. The connection to this village we have to cross a chain bridge which was very dangerous to cross as it has not maintained for 10 years. Little children and elderly folks find difficulties to cross. The Divisional office or Grama Saba has neglected completely. But in Election time, they come and promise the villagers with hope of giving a new bridge and thereafter it will be just a dream...
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| Hanging Parrot / Gira Maliththa |
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| Brown-headed Barbet - Polos Kottoruwa |
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| A female spider... guess the name...?? |
When we returning to the wana senasuna, Madusha had arranged tea and biscuits for us through one village family. We reached around 6.10 pm and freshen up and met the high priest at the Buddhist shrine to participate 7 pm Buddha Puja. The Venerable gave us his blessings and gave some explanation on how he built this Temple/Senasuna. I must say he is a very strong person with dedication towards people. I admire his actions on how he developed these villages. He is a great example to our Government. There is no discrimination among Sinhalese and Tamils who live in these villages. The only shrine is this temple for both. He visits Tamil homes for any occasions and he has also built Daham Pasala (Sunday Dhamma School) and Montessori
He also does Horoscope reading, chanting for wedding and other occasions for villagers. The Venerable is a great asset to Pothupitiya village. They are really lucky to have a great master beside them. I wish we could have same in Kelaniya. Unfortunately in Kelaniya we have Nagas who create commotions among us.
Madusha arranged dinner for us with bread and two curries. We enjoyed the meal as good as a five star meal. After the dinner we were sad as Madusha had to farewell us as he has to go to school the following early morning. He leaves the temple in the morning 5.30 am and walk 40 mins to catch the bus to Pothupitiya. We wish Madusha very best. He is a wonderful child with lots of hospitality. Thereafter we went back to our cottage and had a chat in the dark for few more hours and went to bed.. What a great night in the middle of a forest...
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| From left: Nihal (me), Chamara, Lakmal, Mahesh, Kanishka |
In the morning we could see few birds when we rush to temple The Venerable was sweeping the garden. He wakes up at 4.30 am and starts work. He talked to us and asked the young boy "Chamara" who is going to go for priesthood very soon, to arrange our breakfast as we need to depart to Sinharaja Rain Forest. We had our breakfast and got blessings from Most Venerable and paid some donation to our stay. And we departed to Sinharaja...
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| The only bus from Pothupitiya to Milinduthalawa.. |
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| Classic Mini Off-Road... |
Sinharaja Rain Forest
We reached Singharaja forest entrance through the Kudawa Road. Before that we looked for Birds Paradise Hotel. My friend Mr. Nimal Dewage who runs the hotel, was not there. His manager Dhammika, was kind enough to show around the hotel. I would say those are very beautiful rooms and the surroundings give a real feeling of a rain forest. And the facilities are best in that area.
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| Birds Paradise Hotel @ Kudawa Road |
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| One can have a great stay & meal here... |
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| Comfortable Rooms... |
From the Birds Paradise Hotel, we walked 2.5 km to the rain forest entrance. You need to take entrance tickets and a guide who explains the terrain..
Also my friend Mahesh who accompany us, is a bird lover and an artist who do wildlife paintings and specially Sri Lankan birds, gave us a good biology and zoology classes during our journey through the Sinharaja rain forest. We could see most uncommon birds which we are not able to see in city areas. (Have a visit to Mahesh's paintings:
https://www.facebook.com/Mahesh-Weeraman-Wildlife-Art-579123368801187)
I never came so close to certain birds. We saw Green pit viper (Palaa Polaga) and two other snakes including Green vine snake (Ahatulla).
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| Green pit viper (Palaa Polaga) |
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| Green vine snake (Ahatulla) |
We also saw some water holes where certain kind of fish related only to the Sinharaja rain forest. Among birds, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie was the highlight and we could see them just a few feet a way.
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| Sri Lanka Blue Magpie |
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| JungleFowl (Wali Kukula) - The National Bird of Sri Lanka |
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| Female junglefowl |
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| Caterpillars... |
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| Bandura Flower (non vegetarian..) |
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| Kangaroo Lizard - Pinum Katussa |
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| From left: Kanishka, Mahinda (our guide), Mahesh, Nihal (me), Lakmal |
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| To birds to sing... To flowers to bloom... To rivers to flow... no need to teach..! But.. to Humans to save the Nature... need to teach...!! |
We returned to Birds Paradise Hotel for lunch. Dhammika had made a great Sri Lanka lunch for us. After one hour, we departed to Kelaniya via Kalawana -> Athweltota -> Baduraliya -> Bellana -> Bulathsinhala -> Ingiriya -> Hanwella and Kaduwela. Near the Athweltota area, we made a stop for Belimal drink with Hakuru (Jaggery).
Our second stop was at a vegetable seller and we bought some fresh vegetables to make our families happy.
We reached Kelaniya around 6.30 pm with a remarkable memories of real nature and good hearted people who treated us with kindness.
We four of us, who is a great rally driver, takes zig zag quick turns and Bird lover & Artist Mahesh, Lakmal who got the blame for giving wrong Google Map GPS coordination from his phone. Actually it was not his fault as someone has given the wrong location coordinates to google. I have to look after all three as I was the senior person and played the role of an Uncle...
Whoever
likes loves nature, should visit Milinduthalawa Wana Senasuna and the Sinharaja Rain Forest...
"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better" - Albert Einstein
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| "The forest makes your heart gentle. You become one with it… No place for greed or anger there.." - Pha Pachak |
Correct location of Milinduthalawa Wana Senasuna:
