Kodigala (1040m)-Other end of Samasara Range

Year and Month	Octomber 01st 2017
Number of Days	One
Crew	04-Anupama, Keshan, Nuwan and my self
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Bus and hiking
Activities	Hiking, Sightseeing and photography
Weather	Intermittent drizzling
Route	Colombo->Mawanella->Dippitiya->Hulangkapolla->Kodigala ->Back in same route
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Talk with villagers and clarify the directions. Start the journey early. Better wear long attire. Carry a bottle of water. No water sources on top of the mountain. This is an unpolluted area. Please maintain it. It takes about 1-1.5hours to reach the peak. Avoid in rainy days. Leech protection methods to be followed.
Related Resources	N/A
Author	Niroshan
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Samasara Kanda (සාමසර කන්ද) is situated at Aranayaka area and became famous since last year May due to fatal mud slides. It cost number of lives and displaced families. Samasara Kanda is a range and this landslide happened at one area only.
This unfortunate mountain is related to Rama-Rawana legend. Prince Rama has flown his arrow to King Rawana from top of this mountain in historical war. Therefore it is called Rama Sara (රාම සර), now became Samasara.
It is a mountain range and it has a proper peak-Samasara peak and accessory peak called Kodigala. Kodigala is about 1040m in height and famous trekking peak among villagers. They have put a flag on top this peak giving the name called Kodigala.
I have noticed Kodigala at my journey to Sandaraja Wana Arana. It stands with Samasara peak and sharp rock called Kukulpitiya Kanda. The flag has been placed at the view point. I decided to conquer this mountain in next week and clarified the route from villagers.
We got the first bus to Hulangkapolla-හුලo කපොල්ල (actually Ganthuna bus at 7.05am) from Mawanella and reached there by 8am. Anupama has joined with us there by his bike. There was a road towards this peak from Hulangkapolla and it is a mortable road. Tea estates occupied a major part of Samasara range. We walked along this road and got a left hand turn towards Kodigala (This was just before road side “Peela”). The foot pathway winds through tea bushes and disappeared when tea estate was over.
The climate was superb when we reached Mawanella but changed to gloomy then started to rain. We halted our hike and got an interval at a boutique. That stop was worth as I could get more information about mountain from boutique owner while having a cup of tea.

We had to restart the journey with misty weather though rain stopped. Leeches were active following rain. At the end of the tea estate forest patch started. There was no proper foot path at this forest patch and we had to tackle thorny bushes as well. It was the most difficult part of the journey and we ended up at slab rock on top of Kodigala. Surprisingly blue sky appeared when we reached the peak.

Samasara peak and Kodigala peak

Back to memories. This was captured when I was going to Sandaraja. It shows how Kodigala situated with Samasara Kanda.

Zoomed view of Kodigala.

View of Kodigala, Samasara range and Kukulpitiya Mountain in one raw. This was captured when we descend from Sandaraja Wana Arana to Sakkarakanda

Left turn from the gravel road

There was a Pinus patch between lower part and upper part of tea estate

Starting of a misty day…

Foot pathway…

Time for pose…

Climbing up…

Reaching the upper tea patch. Actually these tea patches belong to villagers

Along the tea estate

Mist….

Getting bit clear…

Tent of villagers who lost houses in mud slides

Get into forest patch….

It showed nobody has visited there for months

Bushes are above his height…

Need a help to get on to the rock…

Walking along the rock till reach the flag point

Top of the mountain was a nice long rock

Reaching the flag point…Superb view point

Kodigala is a superb view point with 270 degree view. One side of the view is obstructed with Samasara Kanda. We have observed Dolosbage range, Lepalawa Mountain, Dotel Oya area, Sandaraja Wana Arana, Moratiya Estate Falls, Asupini Falls, Ambuluwawa, Kukulpitiya Kanda, Road to Ganthuna, Dewanagala, Rahala Kanda etc.
Weather was not kind too much to enjoy the surrounding view. We had another pouring rain on top of the peak and waited under umbrellas. Return journey took only about 45minutes to reach Hulangkapolla.