| Year and Month | January, 2014 |
| Number of Days | Two Day Trip |
| Crew | 10 |
| Accommodation | Sudukanda lake resort, Girithale |
| Transport | Hired Van (Nissan Caravan) / Jeep |
| Activities | Photography, Visit archaeological sites, elephant safari |
| Weather | Dry and sunny, sometimes a little gloomy, unexpectedly cold at night |
| Route | Colombo -> Pasyala -> Kurunegala -> Dambulla -> Habarana -> Polonnaruwa -> Manampitiya -> Dimbulagala & Return on the same route |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
** Special Thanks to ** Niroshan |
| Related Resources |
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| Author | KasunDes |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
It was a long time since the office friends went on for a trip and felt like high time for a one. After numerous planning and re-planning, we settled for the long awaited trip to Minneriya at the end of January.
We started the journey not so early as we planned due to some serious setbacks at the last moment and reached Dambulla for breakfast around 8 am where another friend joined us. After the breakfast we went straight passing Polonnaruwa towards Dimbulagala. Our first stop was at Namal Pokuna archaeological site.
Namal pokuna RMV is right by the road to Dimbulagala, at the base of Dimbulagala rock. It is a lesser visited place by the travelers though there are a lot of things to see. I got to know about Namal Pokuna after reading Nirashan’s report. You have to take to rock steps and walk a little further passing a nice dry zone forest patch to reach the archaeological site.
 Rock steps tp archaeological site |
 they were beautiful |
 The path |
 The path |
Entry point of the archaeological site
Namal Pokuna archaeological site is a very beautiful place with many ruins scattered in a large area. The site is well preserved and it felt like being in a park. Environment was fresh and green after recent rains, surroundings were very peaceful too. There were a lot of birds too.
 what place |
 yes, we should |
 looked like landscaped |
 The wall |
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 Entrance |
 what’s left |
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 ruins |
 resident |
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 WOW |
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 Pagoda |
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 alone |
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 so peaceful |
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 Ruined image house |
 vandalized |
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The footpath by the side of the archeological site takes you towards the ancient drip ledged caves all the way to the herbal pond and ahas maligawa on top of Dimbulagala rock. The path runs through the shady forest where you may find a lot of birds, giant squirrels, squirrels and monkeys.
 The path goes on |
 through the forest |
On the way we came across one of the most amazing things I have seen, the “Nil Diya Pokuna” (blue water pond). It was a rock pond with amazingly blue colored water.
 WOW |
After that we came across some drip ledged caves and finally biggest one called “Kashyapa Lena”. We lost the path at this point, so had to give up the climb to herbal pond as we were about 3 hours behind our schedule. So we returned to the base and then went to Dimbulagala RMV.
 A cave |
 Inscription |
 Drip Ledge |
 Kashyapa Lena |
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 While returning |
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 Ahas maligawa |
 Inside Dimbulagala Cave |
Let the light in
We started returning towards Minneriya past noon. Had our lunch on the way, dropped our stuff at the lodge and came to the Minneriya park entrance around 3.30 pm. We had booked two jeeps, one good old Mitsubishi 4DR5 (which I jumped into with three others) and a Mahindra jeep which the rest of our crew went in and had their bones shuffled at the end of the safari.
The elephant gathering was not as great as we expected. There were only about 50-60 jumbos, considerably lesser count than the no of jeeps 
 Painted storks |
 The first one we met |
 The tusker we met |
 Supper |
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 formation |
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 This little one managed sneak through the heavy guard |
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 Milk please… |
 Cuddling |
 A triplet |
 The smallest one of them all |
 Dusting their way |
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 Hunter |
 hmmm what is there |
 the flight |
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 The lone one |
 Tree art |
 one got stuck |
Next day we visited Nagalakanda archaeological site near Minneriya town, again a place got to know thanks to Niroshan. The turn off to the monastery is just passed Minneriya town towards Habarana and it’s about 1 km from the turnoff. This an amazingly tranquil place with many ruins where monks meditate even today.
 Steps to Nagalakanda monastery |
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 Ruins |
 remains |
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 framed |
 Towards the image house |
 The staue was in good shape |
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After seeing the ruins we took the path towards the view point (බැලුම් ගල). It was a small hike though a shady forest for about 1km. the view point had an amazing view of full 360 degrees. Though it was not a very high ground, we could see a very large area even though it was the middle of the day. The whole Minneriya tank could be seen from there.
 Toward the view point |
 Minneriya Tank seen from the view point |
 ancient |
 what scenary |
 Pano from the top |
After admiring the beauty of Minneriya area for some time, we descended and went towards habarana where we had a nice bath in Yaan Oya and returned to Colombo.
Thanks for reading.