Bambarella, a small township - rather a village - in the foothills of the Knuckles World Heritage forest reserve, is one area in Sri Lanka where you can find several glamorous large waterfalls and countless small cascades concentrated in a small region. Knuckles forest reserve is a major watershed area of the Mahaweli river, the longest river of the country. Huluganga river, the main feeder of the Victoria reservoir built across Mahaweli river starts from the springs in the thick jungles above Bambarella. Huluganga and its feeders create some beautiful waterfalls in Bambarella area before they join the mighty Mahaweli.
On Poson poya day four of us were heading towards Wattegama early in the morning. Non-stop rain had prevailed in the central hills for weeks and we were knew that the waterfalls must be in full flow. having reached Wattegama town as the day broke, we had a filling breakfast and took the small winding road towards Bamabrella passing Panwila.
Our first major attraction was Huluganga Falls. Huluganga river on its way to join the mighty Mahaweli, crosses a little township named "Huluganga". At the heart of the town just below the main road it creates the glamorous 75m high Huluganga Falls.
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| huluganga falls |
The waterfall is right below the bridge over the river. To get a full view of it one has to climb down the slope passing the bridge. There is a stairway built and a viewing deck at a place where you can see this beautiful waterfall in full.
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| the glamorous Huluganga falls |
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| a slow shutter shot |
Huluganga falls does not have multiple sections. But on side the water flow hits the edge of the rock and sprays forward multiplying the beauty of this fall.
If it is not raining it is possible to to get to its base carefully descending the slope. But when it is raining the path can be slippery. So, we did not attempt that.
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| see the town above the waterfall. |
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| one of my friends attempting a shot |
Then we set off for our next attraction, the Saree Falls. We drove all the way to Bamabarella. Passing the small town, we stopped the vehicle by the road and continued another 500 meters on foot through a tea estate.
Saree falls is one of the most beautiful and unique shaped waterfalls in Sri Lanka. The falls has three parts. The top part flows down a very narrow and slanted rock passage. Then it gets a little wider in the second part and changes its angle to be more straighter. Then the third part starts after a brief flat section, much much wider than the first two parts. The whole formation resembles the shape of a Saree (the ladies wear), hence named Saree Falls.
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| beautiful saree falls |
There is an abandoned log cabin facing the waterfall. We took shelter under it as the rain got heavier. After some time the rain gave us a little break, in which we jumped out of the shelter and went photo crazy, capturing the unmatchable beauty of Saree Falls.
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| view from inside the log cabin |
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| what a beauty.... |
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| the middle part |
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| bottom part |
Then again the rain came in, but not heavily, so we used our umbrellas and continued our work
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| that's how we did it |
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| on the way back. the view through the tea estate. the log cabin is on the right |
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| beauty... |
We came back to where we stopped the vehicle, crossed the road and again continued on foot to reach our next attraction, the Jodu Falls. Jodu Falls was seen in far from were we started. We took the foot path through some line houses and some cultivations, then entered the tea estate. The waterfall was seen at the edge of the estate.
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| Jodu Falls |
Jodu Falls is another interesting water falls. Formed of a little stream, flows down a mountain slope creating numerous cascades, then reaches a flat section and meets a sudden edge of a rock where the stream falls down 45 meters in two parallel section creating a beautiful twin waterfalls. Its name - Jodu Falls - meaning "the couple falls" is originated due to this reason.
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| scenic |
Jodu falls normally does not have much water in it. Usually it is seen as very thin. But this day we were very lucky to see it with a large water flow thanks to the heavy rains. The fall became so wider that it created another two little falls on its either side, which we named as their children.
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| the couple and two children zoomed from the road |
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| view from the road |
Then we continued a little back towards Panwila and reached our next landmark, a bridge. Right before this bridge there's the entrance to the "Lebanon Estate", a local tea estate. About 1 kilometer on this estate road and a little more along a foot path, took us to another very little known waterfall.
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| the bridge |
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| The waterfall |
This waterfall is very little know. Not even most of the villagers of Bamabrella area aware of its existence. But the estate workers knew. It does not have a proper name too. So it is called the "Lebanon Estate Falls 01". Though it is unknown, the sheer beauty of this waterfall of about 15-20 meters in height, is no less than any other.
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| lebanon estate falls |
There is another waterfall below the main road which is called Lebanon Estate Falls 02, which we could not reach due to its severe location and heavy rain.
See the video of these waterfalls -
Click here to see the video - Waterfalls of Bambarella
Then we continued back to the Huluganga town, took the road to the right and went on until we reached the "Allakolla Estate". A little more along the beautiful and well maintained estate road, we reached a point where we could see the Thaliya Wetunu Falls in distance.
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| beautiful estate road |
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| The fall is seen |
Thaliya Wetunu Falls is also a very beautiful waterfall of 50 meters in height. We took a foot path across a grass patch to reach the waterfall. But suddenly a rain started and in no time it was raining cats and dogs. Our umbrellas were no help for us in that downpour and the strong winds. We were clueless whether to go forward or not. after some trying we abandoned our effort already having soaked in the rain and many leeches sucking our blood. We took a couple of photos where we stopped in the middle of the rain and headed back so disappointed.
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| as we were getting closer, before the rain |
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| see the rain |
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| that's the best the rain allowed us |
having changed our wet clothes and removed countless blood suckers from our legs, we started our return journey in the middle of a pouring rain.
However it was an unforgettable journey. It was like a walk around the fictional city "Rivendell" - the Elven outpost in the Middle Earth.
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| on the way back - misty Knuckles |
Thank you for reading
