Hike to Beliya Kanda /බේලිය කන්ද (613m)

Year and Month	2017 December 31st
Number of Days	One
Crew	05-Anupama, Eshan, Nuwan, Vikum and Myself
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	By bus and bike
Activities	Hiking, Sightseeing and Photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo->Galewela (ගලේවෙල)->Yatigalpoththa (යටිගල්පොත්ත)->Beliya Kanda->Back to same route
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Start the journey early in the morning. Better wear attire. Carry 1l bottle for each person as we didn’t find any water source during the journey. This is a moderate strenuous climb. No foot pathway. But it is not difficult as we had to walk under dry forest. No risk of trap guns. Don’t pollute the area with plastic items. No wild elephants. We have noted a foot path on top of the peak. I can’t tell exact places of viewpoints. It is not hard to find view points when you walk on top. Some photographs are not clear due to gloomy weather. According to the workout it was 2.6 km trail and we have spent 2 hours and 24 minutes to reach the trail end including rest time. Elevation gain is 332 m. You can get more information about Meegahahena pre historical burial site from Amazing Lanka web site.
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Hike to Beliya Kanda /බේලිය කන්ද (613m)

Beliya Kanda is a triangular shape isolated mountain seen at Galewela area when you travel towards Dambulla. Your right hand side view is filled by giants of Dambulla-Matale and left hand side view is balanced by Beliya Kanda.
Anupama and myself were planning to conquer this 613m tall mountain for a long time but having a forest cap on top of the mountain discouraged us always. Our wild guess told it may not have a view point therefore it might be a useless journey.

Beliya kanda is situated close to Kurunegala-Dambulla road. This might be the probable path we followed. Click image to enlarge.

Beliya Kanda was noted from all nearby peaks we conquered.

Triangular shape Beliya Kanda-Photo taken from Karanampotha Mountain (කරනම්පොත කන්ද)

Beliya Kanda (right) and Gonmottawa (left)

Beliya Kanda is seen from top of Yakdessagala

Beliya Kanda is seen from Sandamadala

Beliya Kanda is seen from top of Manikdena

Beliya Kanda is seen from Ambokka

Meegahahena ancient burial site is situated near Beliya Kanda. Therefore we had to visit very close to the base of the mountain. House owner of the land where burial site is situated mentioned boys climb the mountain to collect “Gal Siyambala” during season. That was a good point and it made us to climb this giant of Galewela.

Meegahahena pre historical burial site/මීගහහේන ප්රාnග් එතිහාසික සුසානය
This pre historical burial site is situated at Galewela-Megahahena area at a private land.

Megahahena pre historical burial site

This half a day climb happened on the last day of 2017 and we started the journey early in the morning as usual. After having breakfast at Galewela town we have moved to Yatigalpoththa to get the turn to Megahahena. We have parked our bikes at the premises of Megahahena burial site. It was a straightway climb to the mountain. First we had to cross a mana patch which is bordering the mountain. Following that the journey was a continuous ascend almost under dry forest till we reached the top of the mountain. There were few sections we needed our rock climbing skills. We spent about forty five minutes to reach the top of the mountain. The top of Beliya Kanda is almost flat and we were able to find a foot path lies on the peak. It was hard to find a view point through the forest cover.
First view point was faced to Galewela-Matale area. Gedaragala Pathana/ Wahigala Pathana, Manikdena, Lenadora, Kadigala (Maratuluwa), Ambokka, Etipola (only the top) and Arangala were seen. (Photos are not much clear due to slight gloomy weather).

View of Beliya Kanda from Meegahahena burial site

We proceeded along the road to Meegahahena burial site.

This road ended at Mana patch and we couldn’t find a foot path to cross the Mana patch.

Mana challenge

Entering to dry zone forest

Beliya kanda forest

Mushroom

Going up….

Using some rock climbing skills…

It was a continuous climb till we reached the summit

Close up….

It was not a hard climb due to forest cover

Ancient stone found on our way up…

It was hard to see blue sky through trees

The foot path at the top…

The top of Beliya Kanda is almost flat

Gedaragala Pathana / Wahigala Pathana is seen from first view point.

Lenadora (left) and Manikdena (right)

Kadigala (left) and Arangala (right)

Ambokka and Nawagala

Might be Etipola is popped up…

Paddies at Galewela area

Kurunegala-Dambulla road

Nearby Lake-? Dissawage Lake

All in one. Maratuluwa is mentioned as Kadigala.

The road from Yatigalpoththa to Megahahena

Signs of wild bores

Creepers

Giants…

Second view point was facing northern side. We were able to identify Rosa Thiruwana Kanda / Namal Uyana Kanda, Gonmottawa Kanda, Daduru Oya reservoir, Nikawewa Mountain, Galgiriya range and Kahala Pallekale reserve etc. It was fairly a narrow view point compared to the first. Further walk on the top has brought us to the highest point of Beliya Kanda where someone has collected stones to indicate that. We did our return journey in half an hour to reach Megahahena. It was an accomplishment of long awaited task at the end of the year.