Eleventh Highest Peak of SL-Mahakudugala (2096m)

Year and Month	2017 May 14th
Number of Days	One
Crew	03-Chamara, Nuwan and Myself
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Bus and hiking
Activities	Hiking and photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Polonnaruwa->Kandy->Nuwara Eliya->Mahakudugala Estate (මහකුඩුගල වත්ත)->Mahakudugala (මහකුඩුගල)->High Forest 1->Alakolawewa (අලකොළවැව)->Mathurata (මතුරට) ->Padiyapelalla (පදියපැලැල්ල)->Kandy->Polonnaruwa
Tips, Notes and Special remark	They say it needs permission from estate manager to go along the estate. Start the journey early. No leeches. Carry a bottle of water. Better have a guide. But not essential. If you go from estate side they will forcefully give a guide. This is an unpolluted area. Please maintain it. We spend only one hour to reach the peak and another hour to get down from the peak. It is a continuous descend from High forest to Mathurata and Padiyapelalla.
Related Resources	Trip report : Mahakudugala the most awaited hike (2100m)
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Eleventh highest peak of SL-Mahakudugala මහකුඩුගල (2096m)

Mahakudugala / Mahacoodugala (mentioned in estate board).

Mahakudugala is one of a peaks comes in Rawana legend. It says King Rawana’s body was hidden here 5000 years ago.
This is considered as the eleventh highest peak of Sri Lanka with 2096m height situated in Nuwara Eliya district.
The list of mountains of SL has been updated recently as Agra Bopath has come to the list as 4th highest peaks of SL. (Thanks Ranshan for preparing such a nice list and keep on updating it).

1. Piduruthalagala 2524m
2. Kirigalpoththa 2388m
3. Thotupola 2357m
4. Agra Bopath/Kudahagala 2320m
5. Sri Pada/Adam’s Peak 2243m
6. Kikiliyamana 2237m
7. Great Western 2212m
8. Hakgala 2169m
9. Conical Hill 2166m
10. One Tree Hill 2100m
11. Mahakudugala 2096m

Mahakudugala in Google map

Chamara and Myself were seeking for a peak for a one day hike and suddenly Mahakudugala came to my mind. As inter monsoon has been started we were in a doubt about rainy weather and mist. We three got together at Kandy and travelled to Nuweraeliya by bus. Weather in Nuweraeliya was brilliant and our next bus was Gonapitiya bus from Nuweraeliya. We have got down at Mahakudugala estate where we could find few boutiques. According to Ashan’s report there are two routes to reach the mountain. One is near the forest office but this route is steep. Second route is through Mahakudugala estate. We walked along the estate road to the tea factory which is not functioning now. One of a field officer of tea estate mentioned we need permission to go along the estate and he recommended us to have a guide. (Later he introduced a person who regularly goes to the peak. His charges were Rs 2000 for this mini hike and we bargained to Rs 1500).
Another two school children also came with us and altogether four guides for three clients. !

Start the journey

Framed view of High forest road

Beauty of Mahacoodugala Estate

Guides

First we went through the tea estate and reached the estate boundary. Here onwards the mountainous forest started and wild life department pillars were seen. There was a clear foot pathway and we thought better we got a guide as we can climb in peaceful mind. It was a continuous ascends from forest boundary and we came across a camp site as well. After one hour of the journey we reached the summit point of Mahakudugala where a flag was waving off.

Tea den

Beauty of Mahacoodugala estate

Tea pluckers

Smiley faces

Through tea estate

Other partners of the journey: Nuwan and Chamara

Entering to the forest patch

Enjoying the journey

Mahacoodugala forest reserve

There was a clear foot pathway

Having a break

Mountainous forest

Clear foot pathway

Camp site is situated somewhere below the peak.

Reaching the peak

Surrounding view was clear from this view point. Highest point of Sri Lanka with transmission towers were seen clearly and it hides behind the mist intermittently. Conical hill, other peaks of Piduruthalagala range, Hakgala and number of peaks of central hills were visualized. We could observe Ragala town, High forest town and tea factories as well. It doesn’t provide 360 degree view. Then we moved to next view point where you have enough space to walk. It also provides the same view.

View point-1 where flag is placed

On top of Mahacoodugala

Piduruthalagala peak is covered with mist

Cleared view of highest point of SL

The drop

Towards High forest area and Kukulagala is seen far behind

On top of first peak of Mahacoodugala

Towards Ragala, Sandathanna worlds’ end

Zoomed view of vegetable plots at Mahacoodugala

Mahacoodugala tea factory and line houses

Zoomed view of estate owner’s bungalow at Mahacoodugala

The road towards High forest-1

Maharathmal (මහරත්මල්)

At view point-2

The Heritance tea factory at Kandapola in right hand side. Other tea factory must be in Ragala area.

Surrounding view towards Piduruthalagala range

Conical Hills and? Great Western

Nice landscapes

Trio on top of Mahacoodugala

Surrounding beauty

Getting back

We have spent half an hour on the top and started to descend along other route. This route was steeper than the one we followed in coming up. Though we hoped to exit near forest office later they accompanied us to the same route through estate.

The descend

Beauty

Velvet

Thorny

Coming down….

Horny Lizard

Media coverage for Horny Lizard

Leaves

Dry leaves

The descend

Back to the estate

Mahacoodugala Tea Estate

Mahacoodugala Tea Factory

Shapes….

We have reached the junction of Mahakudugala-High forest and had some snacks. Our next target was to trekking from high forest to Mathurata and reach Kandy via Padiyapelalla.
We walked first and then got a bus to High forest junction. Then we got a foot pathway to Alakolawewa (short cut). We have entered the normal route at Alakolawewa and then walked to Padiyapelalla town. This was a scenic walk and could enjoy the cross section of Knuckles range as well.
After having a dip at Belihuloya at Padiyapelalla we got the bus to Kandy.