Sinharaja new dimension-Samangala entrance

Sinharaja Rain Forest
Sinharaja Rain Forest is the most famous rain forest in Sri Lanka and considered as a world heritage site. Biodiversity of the forest is high and large proportion of the flora in this forest is endemic to the country and some endemic to the Sinharaja Forest itself. Sinharaja rain forest spreads over two provinces: Sabaragamuwa and Southern including Galle, Matara and Rathnapura districts.
I have been at Sinharaja Rain forest in quite few times through different entrances. Entrances of Sinharaja Rain Forest are
1. Kudawa-Waddagala-seems like the main entry point
2. Pitadeniya-Deniyaya
3. Lankagama-Neluwa
4. Morning side-Sooriyakanda.

Recently they have opened a new entrance to Sinharaja Rain Forest through it’s south east direction called Samangala (සමන්ගල) Entrance which is closer to Deniyaya.
Rain Forest Eco Lodge hotel is situated closer to Sinharaja-Samangala Entrance and main objective of this trip was to visit this unique hotel. All our other activities were built around the hotel stay.
Quickest way to reach Deniyaya from Colombo is drive along the southern highway. We exit from Imaduwa and passed Hakgedi Ella, Marambe Lake and Getabaruwa Temple on our way to Deniyaya.

Maramba Lake ( මාරඹ වැව) (6.146718, 80.476474) which is a road side lake at Maramba town.

Thun Bodiya (තුන් බෝධිය). Another road side place where people worship and put “Panduru” (පඩුරු) on their way.

Thun Bodiya at Deniyaya road.

Getabruwa Temple and Dewalaya (ගැටබරුව) (6.287487, 80.539510)
This is a famous temple of Matara district and situated at Kotapala town just before Deniyaya. The cave temple of Getabaruwa was believed as a construction of King Walagamba but this place is famous due to Rajjurubandara Dewalaya (රජ්ජුරුබණ්ඩාර දේවාලය). The God Rajjurubandara is a regional god at southern province and people believe he would punish culprits.
It is a 2 km drive from Kotapola town along the winding road to this hill temple. As the temple is situated on top a mountain you can have a good view on surrounding. I have been at Getabaruwa Temple in 2014 and this was my second visit. The stupa is situated just below the highest point of Getabruwa hill.

Entrance

“Getabaruwa Bodiya”- ගැටබරුව බෝධිය

“Getabaruwa Bodiya”- ගැටබරුව බෝධිය

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වැඩසිටින මාලිගය

It is an ascend from beginning….

Weekends and Public holidays this place is extremely crowded.

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Rajjurubandara Dewalaya and cave temple of Getabaruwa. The sleeping Buddha statue is situated at cave temple

The faith of people.

The bell on top of the rock

Getabaruwa Stupa

View from Getabaruwa Temple. To get this view just walk out of the gate next to Stupa.

View from Getabaruwa Temple.

Wiharahena junction (විහාරහේන හoදිය) (6.367582, 80.592768) is a small village situated about 7 km from Deniyaya town. We have followed Enasalwatta road (එනසාල්වත්ත පාර) from Wiharahena junction but road condition was not good for a low ground vehicle after Wiharahena junction. Access to the famous bathing place called Patna is also from Wiharahena junction but along another road called Selva Kanda.
Enasalwatta road goes through Sinharaja-Samangala entrance. This is another winding road through tea patches belongs to Patna division of Enasalwatta tea estate. We have enjoyed the breathtaking view of Patna, Gongala, Sooriyakanda and Kurulugala. Samangala temple is another beautiful view point came across at this road. This temple was built as a vow while they were constructing this road. Narrow winding road is margined by the rain forest on either side. The distance from Wiharahena junction to the hotel was 10.5 km.

How road divide to Patna and Sinharaja Rain Forest.

Enasalwatta estate

Sinharaja-Samangala Entrance. Under construction

Samangala-Jana Wijaya Stupa.

View from the temple. It is a good view point.

A road side click

Deniyaya Towers

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There are numbers of hair pin bends in Enasalwatta Road after Samangala temple till the hotel.

Rain forest Eco Lodge Hotel
This unique hotel was surrounded by Sinharaja Rain Forest in three sides and Enasalwatta tea estate continues in other side. The chalets were made like container box structures and most of the materials are recyclable. I love the calm and quietness of this hotel and surrounding. As it is an Eco friendly hotel you can’t expect many activities in the hotel but there are interesting things. You can have forest trekking, bird watching and cycling during your stay at Rain forest Eco Lodge. We wanted to go for a forest trekking with waterfall visiting. Here I liked to add some new waterfall to the list of waterfalls in Sinharaja Forest.

Rain forest Eco lodge Hotel is surrounded by Sinharaja Rain Forest in either side.

Main Lobby of the Hotel

Chalets at Eco Lodge

Chalets at Eco Lodge

How Chalets are named

Foot pathways between chalets.

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Inside the chalet

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View was like this….

Sun set over Sinharaja Rain Forest

The Spa is closed due to Corona

Night at Rain Forest Eco Lodge

Night at Rain Forest Eco Lodge

Forest trekking with waterfall hunting in Sinharaja Rain forest
We had a nice forest trekking in Sinharaja Rain forest from Rain forest Eco Lodge with a knowledgeable guide. At the end I could visit three waterfalls named as Kollawa Dola Ella, Piyamangala Ella-1 and Piyamangala Ella-2. There are clear foot pathways from Hotel to the waterfalls through the rain forest and this is the similar trek if you enter Sinharaja rain forest through Samangala entrance. Sinharaja is known to a number of Orchid species and it was evidenced here. We have reached top of Kollawa Dola Falls and reached to the base in it’s left side.

Get into the forest with the guide

A “Dun” (දුන් ගහක්) tree.

Wanaraja

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Spiky….

.	බෝධිලිමා. Bit rare finding but we were fortunate to see.

බෝධිලිමා

A lizard

අක්මා ශාක

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.	Orchid spp.

Orchid spp.

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මහ හැඩයා

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This stream called Kollawa Dola.

On top of Kollawa Dola Ella.

On top of Kollawa Dola Ella. Here we entered the forest in left side of the stream and reached the base of the fall.

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Kollawa Dola Ella /කොල්ලව දොල ඇල්ල (25-30 m)

Kollawa Dola Ella. It is about 25-30 m in height.

Kollawa Dola Ella

Kollawa Dola Ella

Kollawa Dola Ella

A Minor fall

Piyamangala Ella-1 is situated about 50 m away from Kollawa Dola Ella. It is formed by a different stream but later it joins with Kollawa Dola stream. Piyamangala Falls-1 is about 15-20 m in height. Piyamangala Ella -2 is formed by the same stream after about 200-300m distance along the stream. We walked along the stream and reached top of the waterfall but can’t get a clear view due to acute drop. Then we reached base of Piyamangala Ella-2 in it’s left side. This reminded me Kansiya Dowa Falls found in Piduruthalagala forest reserve. Piyamangala Ella-2 is about 20 m in height. There might be more and more waterfalls along this stream and later it feeds Gin Ganga. (Actually there is a fall called Piyamangala Ella only. The second waterfall doesn’t have a name and I named it as Piyamangala Ella-2 and previous one as Piyamangala Ella-1.)

Piyamangala Ella-1 / පියමoගල ඇල්ල-1 (15-20 m)

Piyamangala Ella-1 in distance.

Piyamangala Ella-1.

Piyamangala Ella-1.

Along the stream.

Along the stream.

Some minor falls found in downstream.

Along the stream.

Piyamangala Ella-2 /පියමoගල ඇල්ල-2 (20 m)

On top of Piyamangala Ella-2

Piyamangala Ella-2.

Piyamangala Ella-2.

With the fall

There is another acute drop after Piyamangala Ella-2.

ඇටඹ

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It was about 3 hour trekking in Sinharaja Rain Forest but we learnt a lot within a short time. Sunset was over the forest top but it was not clear. We didn’t have any disturbances in the night only with background sounds of the forest.

Sun set over Sinharaja Rain Forest.

Sun set over Sinharaja Rain Forest.

Second day of the trip
It was bit gloomy and dark when we got up in early morning. Mist was touching the top of the forest edge and it made beautiful sceneries. Here I just hanged around the hotel premises to get captures. ITN-Deniyaya and SLBC-Deniyaya towers are situated closer to this place but it needs permission to visit. We were able to get aerial pictures over the area in that morning. As we didn’t have exact plan for second day we have checked out following breakfast. On our way to Wiharahena we were able to visit famous bathing place called Patna.

Morning view of Rain Forest Eco Lodge

Forest and the mist

Mist has touched the forest cap

බලු නගුට

Sinharaja Rain Forest

Blue Magpie at our balcony

Some aerial photos of the hotel and area

Aerial view of Rain Forest Eco Lodge

Aerial view of Rain Forest Eco Lodge. Note it is margined by Sinharaja Rain Forest.

View of upper part of Enasalwatta tea estate with Rain Forest Eco Lodge. Other buildings are their staff accommodation

View of Kurulugala. Another beautiful location at this area.

Another view of the hotel.

ITN Deniyaya and SLBC towers.

Patna Sliding Rock/ පැට්නා ලිස්සන ගල (6.375398, 80.603037)
This is a famous bathing place with a sliding rock situated at Patna division of Enasalwatta estate. A lot people come to visit the place and enjoy the sliding along the rock. There is a formal road to this place from Wiharahena junction via Selva Kanda road. There is a short cut through Patna division of Enasalwatta estate. On our way back to Wiharahena from hotel we got down at tea estate and followed this short cut to Patna. As it was a weekday the place was not crowded. Then we followed the formal road to Wiharahena junction from Patna. It ends two days trip to Sinharaja forest and Rain Forest Eco Lodge. Kurulugala (කුරුළුගල) hike is another travel destination of the area but we couldn’t do it in this trip.

View of Kurulugala. Another destination of the area.

Kurulugala side from Enasalwatta estate.

Towards Patna.

Red leaf Tea

Follow the shortcut to Patna

Follow the shortcut to Patna

View of Deniyaya Towers from Patna

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Patna

They name it as Silver Hill Nature Park.

Over the sliding rock of Patna

Patna sliding rock

Patna sliding rock

Patna sliding rock

Patna sliding rock

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Aerial view of Patna sliding rock

Aerial view of Patna sliding rock.

Update list of Waterfalls in Sinharaja Rain forest

1. Lankagama entrance (5 waterfalls): Brahmana Ella, Thattu Ella, Duwili Ella, Gal Oruwa Ella and Uran Watuna Ella.
2. Pitadeniya entrance (3 waterfalls): Pathan Oya Ella, Kakuna Ella and Malmora Ella
3. Samangala entrance (3 waterfalls):Kollawa Dola Ella, Piyamangala Ella-1, Piyamangala Ella-2

Thanks for reading