ගවරා විසූ ගවරවිල (Gawarawila plains)

Would you believe that if I said there is a mini Horton plains in the peak wilderness. Yes that’s true this beautiful savanna plain first came to my notice during an Adams peak hike in 2009 and after seen it for the second time in 2013 I started gathering information about this mysterious plains. Once there was a newspaper article but without any pictures of the plains and reading it urged me to explore this unseen territory some day in my life.  It is said a Bison like buffalo called “Gawara” once lived here long ago and hence the name Gwarawila was given. It is also said that once the Haldumulla route to Adams peak fell across this plains of Gawarawila too.

The map – click to enlarge

Google earth image

as seen from Adams peak

zoomed

On a Saturday I got on to the Colombo bound night mail train and arrived at Hatton to sleep on a chair until Chamara arrived by the Badulla bound night mail. From Hatton we took a Nallathanni bus and reached Maskeliya at around 3am and slept in a halted Gartmore CTB bus. The bus took off at around 6am and reached Gartmore estate at 7am. Since Harinda & his friend were coming from Colombo by bikes we had plenty of time to walk around this beautiful estate. We walked along the border of the tea estate while enjoying the splendid scenery towards Maskeliya reservoir. Finally we reached the plunging point of Adams peak falls where we rested for a while before returning back to the bus halt. After a one hour wait Harinda came on his bike and we took off towards Frogmore division ASAP. Initially we were bit lost within the tea estate but somehow with the aid of Google maps and advice from locals we found the correct route. A long ride on 4wd road took us to the forest boundary and the scenery on the way was just amazing. This is a place one would like to re visit at any given time. Just before entering the forest we had some breakfast at a stream with a shrine. Few hundred meters from this point the road ends and the foot path begins.

sun rise at maskeliya

festivals

Gartmore estate

mode of transport & accommodation :-P

lovely

the reservoir

towards HP

lighting up

crowd along the trail

to be plucked

the two gartmore estate falls

top most cascade of adams peak falls

plunging down

adams peak falls

holy peak

view from frogmore

Gartmore falls falling from gawarawila

the fall which plunges down

capturing

where the plain is located

Actually it’s a 1km hike with a small ascend. One needs to cross the valley and get on to the plateau but this is not an easy task at all because of the undergrowth. We decided to follow the foot path and it paid off. Initially the foot path took us along the bank of a stream (bit higher up) and at one point we had to cross it. The crossing point was just like paradise and there was a wonderful pool to dip in but the freezing temperatures weren’t human friendly. After crossing the stream it was a gradual climb through Nelu and bamboo bushes. Surprisingly the path was cleared very well but at one point it suddenly disappeared. When we checked on Google maps we noted that we were 150m away from the plains. There was no other option other than creeping through the bushes and reaching our target. After 15 minutes we finally saw the plains through the branches and we did hurry to reach this heavenly location.

covered path

one of those beauties

Common Rough-sided Snake

the path

paradise

unknown

where samber rub there antlers

cleared uphill path

forest roof

more flowers

a mini break for harinda

end of the path

last bit

We were mesmerized with what we saw and delighted with our achievement. After sitting around a bit we started walking around. Though the plain was dry when we visited most of the year this is a muddy marshy land. So one needs to be careful when stepping around during the wet period. We reached the stream which could be found in the center of the plain and there were few gem pits which were abandoned few years back. This must have been an illegal gem mining paradise once. The problem is that there is a chance of accidentally falling in to one of these pits. If one camps they would be lucky to see herds of Samber here on early and late hours of the day. On a clear day Adams peak could be seen over the mountain forest but we were not fortunate enough to see it. The stream flows to the edge of the plateau and forms one of those Gartmore estate falls which could be seen from the summit of Adams peak.

wow the plain

this is what I wanted to witness

cloud forest

Horton plains junior

staghorn clubmoss

feeder of maskeli reservoir

marshy land

on a clear day Adams peak could be seen (copyrights Mr Anil)

A pano

just like horton plains

gem pits

wow

dreamland

bit dried out

towards the main peak

what a scenery

more

young explorers :-P

this changes to green after april

the cut off line

this is where the waterfall falls down

the colours

tree tops

three layers

and more

found here and there

After hanging around this magnificent landscape we decided to return back. And as expected it was not possible to find the path we came along. So we decided to traverse the dense forest by using Samber foot paths. We targeted the place where we crossed the stream and headed in that direction, after an exhausting one hour journey we reached the river and headed up stream to reach the way point. The walk along the stream was like walking in paradise. After reaching the crossing point we had “Dosai” as lunch and backtracked along the foot path until we reached the tea estate. Ah I almost forgot there were few leeches here and there that troubled us intermittently. After reaching the tea estate we washed ourselves from the stream close to the shrine and took off towards Colombo on bikes. It was one of those tiring days for me but somehow on the same day I had to return back to Monaragala for work. This was one of those dreamily adventures I would cherish for many years and I’m sorry that I had to leave behind few Lakdasun friends who wanted to do the same.

bit of adventure actually this was the end part of the 2 hour lost session

the main stream

a cascade

like a privet garden pond

along the stream

another one

Gordonia speciosa

pure red

happy faces

where we were

a cool dip

team picture near the shrine

Indian Fritillary

Gartmore no 2 falls

crossing the bridge