The scenery around Gampola is breathtaking, surrounded by mountains. The Ambuluwawa Tower can be seen up close with its majesty. The skies around the city are covered by the Atabage Mountains of Hanthana Twelve.
Our group including Sumedha, Isuru, Rangana Akka, Isuri Akka, Mayuri Akka and myself left Colombo Fort at 4 am and returned to Peradeniya at around 8 am. We boarded the Cinnamon Gardens bus from Gampola and proceeded to the Dolosbage Range.
Kabaragala is the highest mountain in the Twelfth Range. It is about 1,500 meters high. The second highest mountain is Rakshagala. The height is 1,438 meters. This mountain is also known locally as Kinihira Kanda, Pattini Amma Kanda and Wangedi Molgas Kanda. Legend has it that Kinihira Kanda may have been the place where Ravana made weapons.
Although the view from both sides of the road was exhausting, the light rain that fell from Gampola town was a cause for concern. Today is the right day. That’s what leprosy baths are for. However, when the bus got off at Raksha Junction, the rain stopped and everyone was happy.
We started our journey to Rakshagala with something to eat from a nearby shop.
The journey actually starts from Raksha Junction after walking through the tea estates belonging to Raksha Tea Factory to the factory. The journey from the visible horizon of Kabaragala is inspiring. The presence of small waterfalls on both sides of the road is a sight to behold. However, using our trip during the rainy season was also a bit risky. We passed through areas that were prone to frequent landslides and came to the end of settlements with small estate houses.
We asked a Tamil brother there, “How can I go up my brother ‘s hill so easily?” “Nobody left for a long time. But you can find the way. The weeds are gone. Take this manna and make your way. ”Following his guidance, we quickly set off again.
Going a little farther, the red markings showed signs of entering the forest. It took a lot of effort to get rid of the leeches in the forest. After a journey of nearly an hour, we came across an outdoor wetland. From there you can see a wonderful view of the Kinihira rock. We stayed there for a moment and started our journey again.
From then on the road became blurred. A kingdom of leeches. We thanked the friend who gave us the mannequin and proceeded on our way. It took another 15 minutes to reach the top, but the difficulty of the journey began to intensify due to the reed bushes that covered the road. Escaping from the leeches, we crawled some 200 feet [200 m] through the mist of the precipice to reach our destination.
Even after the difficulty we came to Ravana’s forge. The all-encompassing misty veil provided a mysterious inspiration. Everyone had a really weird scary feeling.
With the fog gone, the scene still haunts me. Of course it’s worth a visit. After an hour and a half of fascination, we set off again with the intention of returning to the top of Kabaragala on another day.
