Last two months I was into diving underwater and did several diving sessions with my fellow buddy @ravindus Then I decided to make a change by organizing an extreme meet-up hiking up to the Wangadigala Mountain which are above 2000m from the sea level. Wangedigala – Balathuduwa Peaks are lying on the border of the Uwa and Sabaragamuwa Provinces Sri Lanka. Since this hiking is bit hard the meet-up was planned for two days. First day hiking to the top of Wangedigala peak and then camp one night there and explore around and coming back on the second day.
I have invited some of my friends who were really like to do adventures to join with me for this hike. Couple of days earlier I gathered camping equipment’s including tents with the help of my friends. On the meet-up day (8th) I departed from home at 1.00 am and met with my other friends along the way. We reached to the hike starting location near Bambarakanda falls which is the highest water fall in Sri Lanka at 6.00 a.m. on time. No other local guides appeared other than people I have invited and altogether we were group of 10 who pumped to do the mountaineering. Then we shared our camping gears among all and packed our baggage. We had our breakfast and locked our vehicles and it was time to walk. A villager named “Sunil Mama” joined with us to show the way to up helped us lot to find the way to the top.
Then we walk some distance along the road down and crossed a stream and entered to a trail connecting to the main Wangedigala trail starting from the Colombo – Batticaloa highway. Old Wangedigala trail was started from here and it is not using now as the small suspension bridge across the stream was broken.
First part of the hike was not big climb and it was slight flat path until it connects to the main trail at the Buddha statue in the pine forest. It took about one hour to reach there and all of us were tired we took some rest and got hydrated ourselves. After about 15 mins rest we started hiking along the trail to the top along spur through the pine woods. We met couple of other groups along the way as it was a holiday. Path was slippery as the gradual increase of the slope and due to pine leaves. After 2 hours of hiking we were able reach to the popular peak Wangedigala. This is a rock formation have nice view. We could see Bambarakanda falls nicely from there as no mist around.
After enjoying the view we started hike again. By that time I and @ravindus separated from the pack and we were lagging behind. Then we passed some camp sites and reached to the only water fountain on this trail. We filled our water bottles for two days and continued our hike. Whole peak was covered with mist when we arrived to the top of the Wangedikanda peak. There was not enough space to pitch our two tents there and there was no firewood found closely. Therefore we hike more towards Balathuduwa peak after having our lunch. I must thank @ravindus for making us yummy hot curry for the lunch.
We selected a flat camp site near the forest. We pitched our tents and gathered some fire woods for a camp fire. We were super tired and rested bit. Best time to get clear views from the peak was during the morning hours as mist appearing in the afternoon therefore we postponed further exploring to next day. We lit a camp fire and had a BBQ dinner while singing songs. Camp fire helped us to keep our selves warm during the cold night. Following morning we waked up to witness the beautiful sunrise.
Only 3 of our team (Ravindu, Sumedha, Akila) joined with me to hike further to Balathuduwa summit while others were felt themselves not fit enough to do so. After having hot coffee we started our journey again. We didn’t forget to carry our cameras, some cookies and water. First part of the hike was through a bamboo forest. Then we have to walk through a tropical forest to reach the Balathuduwa peak. After about 3.5 hours hike we was able to reach to the top of the Balathuduwa peak.
We were amazed by the panoramic view from the peak. Someone has put a flag on top of the peak. There was a ridge long about 50 m on the top of the peak. We took some nice photographs to add to our memories. From there we could clearly see the famous tourists’ attraction Great Worlds End drop as the no mist at that time. After having some snacks then it was time to descend back. We have experienced rich biodiversity through this journey. We saw many plants and flowers but not many animals.
We came back to the camping site by 2.00 p.m. We had lunch prepared by other fellows. We cleaned the site after packing our knapsacks and equipment. By this time were running out of water as well. We started hiking down to the water fountain. Whole time @ravindus was marking all possible camp sites and trail on the map. I took some 360 photos and videos along the way down.
We have filled our water bottles enough for the day. @ravindus and I collected considerable amount of plastics that have left by irresponsible hikers along the way. As Local Guides Clean The World #LGCTW it was our responsibility to bring them out of the sensitive eco system. We have disposed collected plastics in proper way at a collection point down. Hiking down also was bit hard since we have been walking all the day. At last we could reach to our vehicle parking by 6.00 p.m. and that was the end of 2 day Extreme Mountain Exploring Meet-up. At last but not least I would like to thanks all the participants Ravindu, Sumedha, Akila, Salinda, Harsha, Janaka, Sampath, Thilan and Sugath for the support given me to make this event enjoyable and success.
Here is the link to shared album of the meet-up
Enjoy the following recap video as well. Special thanks goes to @IlankovanT for the Quick video tips. It saved lot of precious time of mine.
@Aruni @IlankovanT @Julien44 @Austinelewex @InaS @ermest You all guys may find this recap interesting
