Trip to Kotmale

Kotmale is mostly known for its reservoir , but there are plenty of other beautiful sites in the near vicinity if you feel like visiting , especially since you need special permission to go near the dam. We went to Kotmale as one of our annual trips of the office. We stayed at the Kotmale holiday resort which is run by the Ceylon Hotel Corporation. Its a nice place with small houses where about five people can stay in one house. The food is good and the climate is wonderful after all the heat we get in Colombo. It took us about four hours to get there from Colombo.
During the evening we went to see the Kotmale Dam. You have to get special permission if you want to go near the dam and the power plant , otherwise you have to be content with the viewing pavilion built near the main road. A little further away from the dam you can visit the Kotmale Maha Seya , shown in the above picture. It was still being built when we got there so we had the opportunity to go inside the building. It was a pretty impressive sight.
In the next morning we went to clime Ambuluwawa. Its kind of a botanical garden with a temple , church a mosque and many other things on top. If you are daring enough you can climb to the top of the seya and your blessed with a beautiful site. Its a hard clime up the mountain , but its worth it. you can travel to the top of the mountain if you have a light vehicle with a little load. Below are some photos taken during the trip.

Inside the Mahaweli Maha Seya

Ambuluwawa seya , you can clime to the top ( only if your not afraid of heights )

Kotmale Dam from a distance. Follow this link for more photos.

Wasgomuwa National Park

After what happened at Habarana , one might think I would stop going to National Parks with Elephants , But the thing about going on trips with friends is majority rules. So we went on another trip to Wasgomuwa National Park. Because of the heavy flooding we had a hard time getting there , so the journey took us about 10 hours. But usually you can get there in about 5-6 hours. This time also we stayed at a bungalow , there are plenty of bungalows around the park so lodging want be that hard to find. Since we got there by night fall we decided to go into the part next day. Had a grand time during the night with the guys singing baila and etc.
Next day we went to the Park at about 9.30 a.m. , which is not the best time to go to a park. Best time to visit is between 4pm-6pm and between 7am-9am. During those time elephants are very close to the road , so you video or take photos much easily. During the whole tour we only met one herd of Elephants close up. But we saw more types of animals here that in Habarana. The guide even took us to close to the Mahaweli river giving us a little break by allowing us to get down from the jeeps. So although not as exiting as the Habarana trip we enjoyed this one as well. Be sure not to make the same mistake we did and go early if you want to see the animals closely. Follow this link for more photos.

Habarana - Elephant Land

If your a nature lover and especially fond of elephants Habarana is the place for you. Its about 4 - 5 hours journey from Colombo and the road is pretty good up to Dambulla. There are plenty of Holiday Bungalows around so lodging is no problem. In fact the closeness to the wild is pretty amazing in some of those bungalows. For example in the bungalow we stayed there was a tree house at the very edge of the jungle where you could spend a night viewing wild life. There are not many Hotels around so if your looking for a five star treatment you could stay in Dambulla. Its about 15-20 minutes journey from Dambulla to Habarana National Park.

Now to the important part of Watching Elephants. The first thing you should do is find the right guide for the tour. For one jeep which can carry about 6 people easily it costs about 2500-3000 rupees per tour. By finding the right guide I mean finding the a driver who knows how to handle himself in a crisis , especially in case of an Elephant attack. As you can see in the picture above we were very close to the Elephants , not all guides take you this close so if you didn't find the right guy you will be disappointed. Finding the right guide will guarantee you fun but it does not guarantee safety. On this trip we were attacked by the Elephants and the guy who took this video got bruises all over his body since he didn't held on to the jeep. So be sure to have fun but be careful so you come back to tell the story. And remember the best times to catch these wonderful beasts close up is either early in the morning or in the evening after 4. Hope this post helps you in having some fun with the elephants. Follow this link if you want to see more photos.