There it began a journey of Seven Men out for an adventure in the mountains. Amal, who was one of the men with years of experience guided the pack and made a visit to the Wangedigala Mountain surrounded by a village called Kalupahana and also there lived Amal’s loving family. The team’s plan was to climb to the mountain top to Camp for the night and come back down the next morning.
Introducing the seven hikers starting off with Nirosha, Amal, Prabath, Chamith, Nuwan, Nipun and the youngest of all Kalinda.
It was Friday the day before the trip and we were working at the office (Archmage Solutions) in Nugegoda but also extremely excited and anxiously waiting till next morning. Soon after work we all got together and got our supplies in order with loads of Biscuits, Chocolates, and all kinds of light food for the Hike. Not forgetting canned food to be cooked during the Camp Night.
On a fine Saturday morning on the 15th of February they put their plan to motion by leaving Colombo at 5.00 A.M. aiming the Route 99 Badulla Bus. It was a five hour trip to Amal’s House in Kalupahana. Then we have Prabath, our man for photography who has an amazing experience in that subject and basically covered the entire trip with his fascinating toys. His GoPro did the real trick which made the journey colorful. End of the day, The Pictures and the memories is all we will have. And now we have an album full of bright and happy pictures all thanks to Prabath.
We had three tents with us, two were rented and one from Amal’s house and since most of the boys were highly experienced in Hiking and Camping we took all the professional camping gear needed for the trip. We managed to climb aboard a comfortable bus by getting good seats and most importantly ‘the seats with the window’ thanks to the contact given by Prabath. We got a good head start with a thrilling bus ride having a skillful driver taking sharp turns through the curvy road.
About 4 hours passed and we stopped for tea or for a tinkle rather. We stretched our legs and took in the fresh air sulking up the amazing atmosphere. We continued the bus ride for an hour and we finally reached Amal’s house. And yes! We immediately made ourselves home and relaxed by having a delicious lunch prepared by Amal’s Mother and Family. Soon after lunch we leisurely changed into our Hiking kit and prepared the Camping Gear. At Half past one Amal’s father gave us a lift to the starting point and we began the climb. We had to hike for about four kilometers with very limited amount of water, 4 large bottles to be precise.
Moments after reaching about a Kilometer we came across a beautiful stream of fresh, drinkable water. A gift of nature it was! We refilled our water bottles and relaxed for a few minutes by hearing the clam sound of water and rustling of the tree leaves. We continued the climb and yes there is always a guy or two with a lower fitness rate than the others. It was Nirosha and Kallinda battling the climb while the rest of the pack making jokes and having a good laugh. Our body builder and fitness freak Nipun, carried more bags than he should have taken while supporting Nirosha to make the climb. However Nuwan, Chamith and Amal were hiking like they were taking a small walk to the park with an extremely chilled out mood. And at last our Media Coverage Partner Prabath got a severe back pain but he fought his way through.
With joy and laughter everyone made it to the top safely. There came the viewpoint of the Wangedigala Mountain. Truly the beauty of the view from up there cannot be expressed through words. The beauty was out of this world! It was the Sunset so we rushed to set up the tents in order since it was vaguely cloudy and it was getting really cold. Everything was set and we got cozy by making a small Camp Fire to warm ourselves up.
Camp Night began! While having a good dinner we sang some nice classics and soon after dinner we enjoyed the Night Sky. Everyone remembered that special night because Amal has an amazing knowledge with the sky and the stars so we learned so much about Stars. The Sky was clear and we just stared at the stars the entire night with soothing music. That was life at nature, truly amazing!
It was the Sunrise so we woke ourselves up and rushed to the View Point. We captured the entire scene of the Sun Rise while enjoying the breathtaking view of the Mountains. After a delicious breakfast with a cup of tea we began to climb down the mountain. With a strenuous retreat we were looking forward to see that stream of fresh water again. The stream simply gave us another health bar and we continued with the similar energy that we had when we began the trip.
Climbing down was easy and very quick so we made it down within a few hours. We climbed aboard a bus to reach back to Amal’s house. Soon after we got there, Amal’s mother surprised us with some extremely delicious ‘Parippu Wade’. Everyone got back on their feet and prepared to head back home by deciding to take the train. It was an unexpected journey rather since the train ride was nearly Ten Hours to Colombo. It was a different kind of experience going on the Railway Tracks which goes through the mountains. By Half past ten everyone reached home with warm Goodbyes and telling each other “Until Next Time!”