Day 1 My Little Island Travels - Enroute to Kitulgala which became Elle which became Bergala

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After getting postponed many times, I finally managed to make a start today 11^thApril 2012 at 915am. I was on my way to Kitulgala and took the route Kottawa – Homagama – Meepe – Hanwella – Kosgama – Avissawella.

However the traffic to get to Avissawella was so bad it was literally not moving at all. Hence decided to scrap the Kitulgala idea for now did a U-turn and headed straight to Ella via Eheliyagoda on the A4. Traffic was due to people doing last minute shopping before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in Sri Lanka which falls on the 13^th and 14^th of April each year but this year it’s on the 12^th and 13^th of April.

Traffic getting into Eheliyagoda town was quite bad but not as bad as Avissawella so even at snail pace managed to pass by. Passed some very interesting locations see pictures below.

The new route was:

Getaheththa – Eheliyagoda – Kuruwita – Ratnapura – Balangoda – Belihuloya – Beragala

Stopped by at restaurant and had a Seeni Sambol bun and a vegetable bun along with an ice coffee and kept moving.

Around 630pm we were passing Beragala, still a good 40 minutes to get to Ella. A lot of mist and light was really low to look at anything hence decided to stop in Beragala instead of missing out on sights in Beragala.

We checked into a place called Hotel Nature Horizon. Their usual room charge is LKR1,500/= for a double but since it’s the season they are charging me LKR2,000/=. Apparently from this location it is possible to see Ampara beach, Kiri Vehera in Kataragama, Hambantota and Devundara. If thats possible it will be awesome can’t wait for tomorrow to check that out.

The owner of the place told me that this place is 3.5 acres and it is up for sale and he wants LKR 75 million. He also told me from here I can visit Bambarakanda falls which is Sri Lanka’s tallest water fall and as per Wikipedia with a height of 263m it is the 299^th highest waterfall in the world ;-)

Also I should and see Lipton’s Seat. Apparently Scotsman Sir Thomas Lipton used to supervise his tea estate from this location. His Dambatenne Tea Factory is happy to have visitors so perhaps I will pay a visit and also Diyaluma falls and the Adisham Monastery.

Just had dinner, prices are reasonable, Kumara and I shared a Vegetable noodle (LKR 200/=) and a cheese omelette (LKR 200/=).

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